We are just a wicket away from a WI collapse.

Dochart:

 

Henry is also injured as well. At this rate we might even lose this test match against West Indies if we can’t get the current two batters out tomorrow. 

 

Yep, once Henry was gone my mind switched to RPO and then NZ started playing bouncers trying to buy wickets, that just upped WI run rate. Hope may not be known for Red Ball but given his averages and scores in white ball he is plenty talented enough to put on a double century. If they put on 4rpo tomorrow they win, and knowing the fight that the WI players are known for, I wouldnt write them off.

Ferguson, Milne, Orouke, KJ, Matt Fisher, Sears, Nat Smith, Henry............................... We had the potential with those exceptional fast bowlers and the amazing talent of KJ to produce a pace team that would beat any team, especially with Henry also turning the corner in his career the last few years with his channel consistency. 

Dochart:

 

We should try Rhys Mariu as opener. He averages 56.05 in first class cricket so far opening the batting. 

 

Good shout Dochart, Conway is living on Henry Nicholl's-style borrowed time now. Better to get him in there now when England and Australia haven't seen him.

thermonuclear:

 

Good shout Dochart, Conway is living on Henry Nicholl's-style borrowed time now. Better to get him in there now when England and Australia haven't seen him.

 

I agree, actually Nicholls is playing better than Conway imo, all be it Domestic FC :-). 

We talked about Mariu last season and I'd have thought given how quick they were to chuck Rachin in a sub continent tour and Will Orourke into Tests, they would have done the same with Rhys. Mind you I did think this about Mitch Hay WK over Blundell. Im not sure why Stead selects the players he does, or more so when he does.

We have a number of young (ish) mid order players producing the goods too, so thats promising. 

Blundell made the Test team as a #2 replacement with a FC avg of 32. If they going to pick old guys at least pick ones avg'n closer to 50 ;-p

My real concern is all our X factor Pace bowlers dropping like flies with injuries.

Edit: the new ball isnt far away, but with only two pace bowlers left, they better dislodge Hope with the new ball or it could well turn out a loss for the team from a hard to lose position under normal circumstances.

I was just about to say they are too inaccurate short balls with Duffy not being accurate like Wagner was, then Hope has a brain fog moment and strangles a short one down leg. Thank goodness, because Hope was looking SOOOO good, get him within 150 with his world class ODI and T20 career and id have backed WI. Brilliant innings nonetheless.

I felt like Foulkes with his prodigious movement (too much at times) should go around the wicket too the right handers because his movement would bring LBW into play unlike 99% of right hand bowlers. And then with the straight ball going across the righties especially from out wide of the crease. 

Oh and now thats exactly what hes doing haha

WI will dig in now, its going to be hard to get 5 wickets in ~2 sessions

Edit: What the, Duffy gets a wicket and near thing and is replaced. I know hes done some overs but a couple more while on top wouldnt have hurt.

Edit: Gorgeous from Foulkes, his seam presentation is second to none in the world. if only he could add 10kph to it. I think Bondy would get him there. He got Southee to mid 130s and Boult to high 130s. Foulkes at 135kph with that seam presentation would be a 5fa frequently. Great wicket.

So, the question now is will the West Indies hang on to get the runs and create history with the largest fourth innings chase of all time?

k1w1k1d:

 

So, the question now is will the West Indies hang on to get the runs and create history with the largest fourth innings chase of all time?

 

I think the bigger question is, if they do; where does this rank as our worst ever test loss? Surely at the top? At home, against the worst Windies team on record, a monstrous target. Everything about it is embarrassing (injures or not).

NZ have a good chance at the moment to lose this test. Such a shame we lost 2 pace bowlers during this test due to injury. 

Dochart:

 

NZ have a good chance at the moment to lose this test. Such a shame we lost 2 pace bowlers during this test due to injury. 

 

They also had a very good chance to win it, I just couldnt understand why Rachin and Bracewell were bowling without 5 men around the bat, when the captain finally realises thats the most likely wicket chance it was WAY TOO LATE.

Our bowling stocks should be, potentially the best in the world, now its questions of which nuffy is going to get selected for the second test which WI could well win due to lack of strike power. We went over the names, 10 odd pace bowlers injured. 

To be fair Duffy and Foulkes have given it their all and no team in the world will win with only 1 first choice strike bowler who then gets injured alongside one all rounder. So yeh it could be a world record loss, but I think it needs to be put into context.

Another issue I have, was the batting, I felt like after Rachin got out, the team needed to put the foot down and for Blundell to be able to bat (with a runner I assume) and didnt, that might be one deciding moment. A couple of reasonably difficult catches going down didint help.

Now due to frivolous use of our reviews by our captain, a catch has now been missed as no reviews left. One was close to the bat and maybe worth a gamble, but the ones off the Helmet and then off the Chest was ABSURD. another potential loss of the match.

I said yesterday it was there for NZ to lose, that was before Henry pulling out.

Edit: another couple of points with the captaincy/bowling. They tried to buy wickets, got one, but went on, Id like to have seen far more effort ball yorkers in between the bouncers.

Oh finally, just as they about to Draw, NZ put in the 6 men around the bat. TOO LATE.

NZ win with 4 wickets in the final 4 overs into the tail with the new ball? ROFL.

But if I was serious, Id be resting Duffy right now so Duffy and Sears can give it a real go with that cherry. Which means bowling Young or Williamson if Rachin's shoulder is actually busted.

Tickner also could be a point of not winning with missing the stumps and running GP off what looked a certain catch. 

So many things coulda, shoulda ! but didnt.

Edit: Greaves cramping in the calves, yorker after yorker at the toes.

However Im actually rooting for Greaves to get that 200, which is a massive score for him, avg 22, one century only one fifty prior. Simply amazing and match drawing.

I was busy saturday so missed most of it. It sounded to me like if they carried on batting at the pace that they were they would have chased down the NZ total? I have no idea why they would take the meek approach and bat out for a draw. They deserved to win IMO and took a very easy way out.

JPNZ:

 

I was busy saturday so missed most of it. It sounded to me like if they carried on batting at the pace that they were they would have chased down the NZ total? I have no idea why they would take the meek approach and bat out for a draw. They deserved to win IMO and took a very easy way out.

 

It was poor Selection, Coaching, Captaincy and execution by the players. Who knows what might have been if Tickner hadnt run GP off that catch and so many more similar incidents.

NZ had done this before, was it WI or SL, a few seasons back, they batted on too long and it was won in the final over by an LBW from Santner. I thought to myself then, if NZ keeps being too defensive they are going to leave themselves short of time one day.

On another note, 2nd Test squad;

Mitchell back is good. I do not like Bracewell in the test squad. Im assuming both GP and Santner are still unavailable, odd given GP came on as the 2nd relief fielder last Test, after a 98 for Otago days prior. 

Im not a fan of Tickner either. Rae is named which Im ok with. Kristian Clarke also named would be my preference over Tickner, Clarke nearly a genuine all rounder with a Bowling Avg of ~32 and a batting avg of ~24 vs Ticker ~34 bowling and a mere ~13 with the bat. I think he is an excellent choice back up all rounder for KJ. Clarke is also coming into his prime at 24yo, the type of player you want entering the team. 

No WK named, just Latham and Conway, I think that is a mistake. I would leave Bracewell out and play Mitch Hay, again at 25yo and averaging ~49 with the bat imo hes an auto select. 

I should know by now not to listen to early squad announcements.

Mitch Hay is expected to have his Test Debut today, replacing the wonderfully talented Blundell :-)

Cricinfo have Bracewell/Phillips fighting for a spot, I do not understand this, compare their stats in both bowling and batting and GP is in another league.

Same with Will Young/Daryl Mitchell for #5 and Kristian Clarke/Michael Rae, I think that should be Michael Rae/Blair Tickner. Clarke out bowls both of them with the bat and ball.

Cricinfos probably squad: 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Will Young/Daryl Mitchell, 6 Mitchell Hay (wk), 7 Michael Bracewell/Glenn Phillips, 8 Zak Foulkes, 9 Kristian Clarke/Michael Rae, 10 Blair Tickner, 11 Jacob Duffy

From that imo our best Team is obviously

 

1. Latham
2. Conway
3. Williamson
4. Rachin
5. Mitchell
6. Phiilips
7. Mitch Hay
8. Kristian Clarke
9. Foulkes
10. Michael Rae
11. Jacob Duffy

That is a blimmin deep batting line up with 9. Clarke being similar to KJ with the bat, obviously nobody else is good as a swing bowler.

Interesting they put Mitch Hay ahead of GP, that won't happen. But if you keep this side Ive listed and you put our prime injured bowlers back in, thats the squad of Aus imo, the only player missing that I think they should be testing out now is Rhys Mariu, currently averaging 53 in FC, pretty similar stats to an early Kane Williamson. Id have him replacing Conway.

Id keep Young in the squad to cover any top to middle order injuries. Along with Tickner until some of our Test bowlers are healthy again. IMO KJ should be playing tests now, 2/27 & 3/39 in FC 5 days ago. His back like any bowlers back you cant guess when/if its going to slip a disc or fracture a vertebrae. All of these tests are highly important for the WTC, we need real strike bowlers opening and KJ averaging ~19 in tests is a strike bowler. Smith, Henry, Santner ruled out for the rest of this series. Ben Sears is playing white ball club cricket in Melbourne, like KJ is being monitored. I just wonder how long they monitor them for. Clearly they would be really helpful for the Tour of Eng and Ind. With Sears it was luckily a hamstring issue not a back problem that ruled him out. For me he is a must have for the Aus tour, with his height and pace he will be trouble despite often losing his line, KJ also will be needed there. Michael Rae will be fascinating as hes is 6ft6, fact is tall bowlers are harder to face. He doesnt have the FC record but its not bad at ~32. Those through, KJ, Sears, Rae are the kind of bowlers you want on those fast bouncy Aussie wickets, along with Henry. 

Wellington weather looks good for the 5 days, of course being Wellington that can change overnight but lets hope, tomorrow looks cloudy which would be good for NZ to be bowling in.

Hope Hay goes well coming in, Blundell's time with the gloves is probably up. Ave of 34 with 5 tons against aussie, england and WI a pretty good return. Likewise Youngs time in the setup must be coming to a close, pretty underwhelming record over 20+ tests. 

Mariu is exciting but I hope they give him time to develop in FC and ODI's before pushing him into the test team. 

lachlanw:

 

Hope Hay goes well coming in, Blundell's time with the gloves is probably up. 0

 

Mariu is exciting but I hope they give him time to develop in FC and ODI's before pushing him into the test team. 

 

Yeh I kind of agree with Mariu. Only thing I'd say is they have put other players with less potential into the Test team very early. But right now, Latham has scored some runs after averaging only 24 for the last few years, Conway much the same avg wise, whilst he hasnt scored tons much in last few yrs, he has scored in white ball and he got a start and looked good in the last test until just a mind fart waved the wand and ball out wide he should have just let go.

Mitch Hay finally, Cam Fletcher should have been in there long ago but such is the nature of NZ Coach/Selector.

The only one they didnt pick for me was Clarke who has proved himself as an all rounder in FC, but hes still young enough to make the team, I dont see Foulkes as a like for like for KJ as much as I have suggested him for a while now. Clarke could have extended the batting length, I think he could have been a better choice than Tickner. At least we have a couple of tall bowlers. The reality is if your top 6 cant score the runs, the bowlers shouldnt be exopected too, stil nice to have Mitch Hay in there, putting GP to 7 suggests they finally value him as an all rounder. Between Hay and GP we should be able to book end any top/middle failures with a couple of guys in the final 4 who can bat a little to partner with Hay/GP etc, much like what Watling use to.

Mariu and Clarke for me will be part of the NZ future squad, Im happy they have finally put a couple of young guys into the squad who imo deserve to be there.

Latham needs to be a LOT more aggressive with his bowling line up. NZ needs to stop dropping the ball. Do that and this squad should win.

The Basin looks a picture of beauty as a genuine Test ground.

Edit: That is interesting, the Basin becomes only the 8th Test Ground to have had 70 Tests played on it. In all honesty until Auckland gets its act together, I'd like to see all NZ tests played on Hagley and the Basin. Bay Oval is too slow, its a good white ball ground but not a Test ground. University Oval is a test ground aside from the small boundaries like Eden Park.