TEST CRICKET ZOMG

Yay for tomorrow and watching the 1st ball/hour/session/day of a test again

Dunno about you lot, but lately my interest in cricket has been waning somewhat, and I place the blame squarely at the feet of the explosion of T20.

I'll still watch T20 games, but actually caring about results is impossible. And unfortunately this apathy has extended somewhat to ODI's. I suspect its the same for many, given the distinct lack of interest around here in the last ODI series. We beat pakistan away which is pretty rare and barely a burble from what used to be a cricket mad message board. Seems its only series vs the hated Australians and conceited safas gets us interested these days


Anyway, thats enough crying. 3 tests vs the Pakis. greenish looking wicket. Red Ball. Shane Bond. New NZ Batsmen trying to establish themselves. Im interested in cricket again

Heh, I just don't have as much time to post on biggie anymore...

I'm a bit worried that Bond is going to break down after this test series and that will be the end of him. Can his back handle bowling 25-30 overs an innings anymore?

he bowled 40 overs in a 4 dayer for canty last week But ya...always a worry with that man

Out of it... Didn't even know those tests were on! Hoepfully we can make some progress in the test arena, but I'm not expecting too much tbh.

As for not much posting, I'm also a bit busy atm. The boards are getting quiet in all areas though. Gotta wonder about promotion etc...........



gc.

Yeah... He wants to play, then good on em. First time in years our bowling attack has a bit of weight about it.


Bond
Martin
Tuffey
O'Brien
Vettori

Teams

New Zealand: 1 Tim McIntosh, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Daniel Flynn, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Peter Fulton, 6 Grant Elliott, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Shane Bond, 10 Iain O'Brien, 11 Chris Martin

Pakistan: 1 Khurram Manzoor, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Fawad Alam, 4 Mohammad Yousuf (capt), 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Mohammad Aamer, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Mohammad Asif, 11 Saeed Ajmal


Pakistan to Bowl first, overcast with a slight green tinge

McIntosh out 1st ball.

Yay for a great start to the test series.

Perfect ball to open the series. Would have taken most world class batsmen out with that yorker.

Flynn and Guptill looking good though

Flynn Gone

that was a pretty awesome way to start a series

lool @ dropping/Falconing that catch @ slip. vadz would have caught that one and he's blind as a bat

Did someone falcon a slips catch!? OUCH!



gc.

A 6 and two 4s from Guptill in the space of 2 overs. Hopefully he doesn't go out next like always.



gc.

What a excellent 50 by Guptill

Taylor seems to be opening up a bit too

latest over so far | . 5nb 2 4 4

Guptill is gonna be a monster one day

1st appeal of a decision as I type! I like this system. Too highwas my 1st thought live

outside the line it seems. Thats one review down Pakistan

And since they have only one review left, there won't be the silly speculative reviews like that series we had with the Windies.

Guptill out. Sounds like a pretty typical Guptill dismissal?



gc.

Pretty much, but this Ameer is a pretty nasty lookin customer. So much Akram about him. He donked taylor on the helmut a couple of balls before


2 metre Petrr ahoy. he;s been in good touch and is looking pretty settled already

ffs taylor out.

wtf is it with NZ batsman and not going onto big scores once they're set?!?

i blame stephen fleming

Classic middle order rot. Elliot not improving on his single figure average!



gc.

Never to worry, Vettori will save the innings

SUX!!!!

300 up. Vetorri passes 50.

Not looking too bad now. Hopefully these guys can get us up to somewhere close to 400.

Danny's test batting average just hit 30! Which is awesome.
And in regards to Maestro's 20/20 tirade, i agree, as does Beefy,

Interesting Stat

I don't necessarily agree that it shouldn't be on the world stage but I definitely do agree that it's completely overdone at the moment. I think it has its place, where that is... I don't really know at this stage.

Eventually the three codes will settle into an equilibrium. We just haven't found it yet.

Oh and go Captain/Coach/Selector/Best NZ Test Batsman Vettori! We'd seriously be fucked without him.

Anyone watching the game today? How's the pitch? Has it settled down a bit from yesterday? Yesterday morning it was seaming a lot...

Yep its settled down quite a lot. Theres def still a bit in it though for effort balls. The odd ball is spinning/bouncing too. Its also a great batting wicket. All in all the groundsmen deserves a pat on the back (so far anyway) Perfect test match wicket

NZ are getting a few lucky breaks with the ball landing betwen fieldsmen etc after typically odd Vettori shots. We must be one of the most frustrating teams to bowl against

McCullum gone

Always on the last over of the session!

Another fucking batsman falls short of a ton.



gc.

stephen fleming's influence i tell ya!!

from the little i saw at lunch there is still a bit in it for the bowlers if they keep it in the channel, it is swinging as well, but the green top has burnt off, so seam will be negligible after 15 or so overs of new ball when we bowl today. Gonna be a road by the end of the week though imo.

thats less annoying than getting out in the over before lunch

Seems like it was a corker of a delivery

and now we have rain...

this rain should work in our favour though, a touch of moisture on the pitch, swinging conditions, get Danny to his ton and declare imo.

Jinxed! >_<

LOL. Martin gets a duck. Dunno why they didn't just declare when Bond went out. What did they expect Martin to add?

Vettori did if for the lulz imo

Pretyy strange decision alright, the only thing I can think of is....ermmm no, gummies theory is probably better than mine

Shane Bond in whites

Now we have three days to bowl them out twice. I bet the odds on a draw have shortened to SFA.

Shane Bond bowling 145km/h


...admittedly with a very strong tail wind.

Also, this:

Pakis are in trouble!

This is even better though!



And as I post that he takes his 3rd wicket. Pakistan now 85/5.

And then Dan takes him off I don't get it.

He'd bowled 8 or 9 overs on the trot. And he's always been fragile in the past. They're probably being cautious.

Way to many 4 balls, 5 in the last 2 overs

Well done to Umar Akmal. First test and he gets a fifty. Too bad it's at our expense but still. Well done.

FUCKEN PIES!!!!

O'Brien WTF.



gc.

Although we leaked too many runs (O'brien OMG), still our day, and we're now ahead in the test. Some application from the top order (lol) and we can put ourselves comfortably out of reach of losing the match. Definitely not talking about winning yet, but we're far enough ahead to at least put ourselves in a firm position.

Although it's NZ test cricket, so should probably STFU.



gc.

That dropped catch by Flynn probably cost us any chance of winning. Pakistan have too many runs now ...and NZ will probably get the wobbles in the second innings.

Finish em off early in the morning session and then bat all day, declaring on saturday morning leaving about 70-80 overs to bowl them out. Maybe a bit more if you want the new ball twice.

Lead of 97 runs. Probably not enough?

Boo to Radio Sport going to a stupid ad break in the middle of the last over and resulting in missing the wicket.

I don't think that is to bad. Would love to see NZ pile on 300 runs today or get a 380 lead (we won't lose with that on the board) and then get them back in ...

Guptill out. NZ second innings jitters rearing its ugly head in the first fucking over. Just send Dan in now.



gc.

0/2.

Only we can make a 100 run lead look like a disadvantage.



gc.

Jesus.

Same as first innings really... few early wickets before letting New Zealand off the hook with bad tactics

heh @ Ross clonking that poor wee tyke on the back of the head with one of his leg side thunderbolts

Theres a lot of negative comments ITT, always amuses me how hard we are on our boys. 1st test match in forever and we are effectively 165-2 setting a target. We're doing fine. If we were SA in this position *Re-Action* neil and gummi would be creaming themselves over how awesome their team is

stop talking so much shit!

Im very upset with my team atm. And hardly hard on the boys ...

mate I remember when someone (smf I think) had the gall to suggest Kallis might have batted a little slowly in ODI's than was ideal.....and you nearly blew a circuit!

0/2 is bad for any team. Not just us. Some good solid batting now though, Taylor looks* good!



*am following it on cricinfo not on tv...

LOL @ Pakistan going up for a massive appeal for a catch where Taylor didn't hit the ball. Umpire turns it down and they don't ask to refer the decision ...so what was the massive appeal for in the first place? Surely that comes down to trying it on with the umpire when you don't think it's out?

Good thing the referral is in place for situations like that in case the umpire did wrongly give it out.

Pls don't associate me with these hacks -- I'm a paragon of objectivity

You fkn nit

That is quite true as well, I do apologize *bow*



wow ez call too, u freakin nit

the sub contient teams have always been chronic for this. Pretty sure the Lankans behaviour sparked that rule that appealers are not allowed to advance on the ump while appealing. Dirty little shits

wtf.2 metre Peter just demonstrates he has the brains of a balloon

good bye peter fulton. nz cricket will not miss you

neil broom to return for the 2nd test and smash 114*

Hahaha



gc.

Recent overs . . . . . . | . . . . . . | . . . . . . | . .

Elliott and McIntosh grafting hard!

ahhh fuck, jinxed again i suxor.

Haha! Referral goes against Pakistan again. LBW referral gets turned down due to a no ball that the umpire had missed. Would have been out for sure otherwise ...was very close no ball as well.

NOW IT'S FUCKING RAINING AND I WON'T GET TO WATCH ANY OF THIS CUNTING TEST MATCH AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGH



gc.

Bro talk about rose tinting.

We were 0/2 and in the poop big time. Aside from Taylor at that point all we have is unproven/out of form batsmen and bowlers to come (except Vettori).

Fulton, Elliot, an indifferent Macca, then after Vetorri it's Bond FFS.

Now we're 130/7. Do you think we're worth criticising now? When was the last time we scored more than 300 in the second inning of a test? When was the last time a top order NZ batsman scored a century in the second innings?

These are ongoing concerns with NZ cricket mate, not just casual observations about this current struggling unit.



gc.

Good start this morning, but it irks me that Pakistan should not be in a position where they can win the game.

Thank god for our bowlers.

Yeah both teams relying heavily on their bowlers atm. Their batting lineup is only marginally less fragile than ours. Only Yousuf and Umar are any good really!



gc.

Kamran Akmal has proved himself consistently in limited overs cricket...

Bond out of next 2 tests with an abdominal tear

Wow

^%$#%@

Fucken someone is really having a laugh at us eh.



gc.

Same injury that caused him to retire from tests originally. Fucks sake! I am Jacks utter and complete lack of surprise.

Give up the dream Shane! Just play limited overs stuff and you could play till you're 38 ala Sir Richard!

Wasn't it his back that made him give it up originally? Which is why he changed his action etc?



gc.

Fuck, this dude has a worse run of injuries than me!

Bummer however.

The Herald originally reported that it was the injury that forced him to quit test cricket but now they've changed that to it being the same injury that forced him to quit the last test series he was involved with, which is quite different imo. I reckon it was the combination of all his injury woes that was the reason he quit tests originally.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10612801

Sometimes the mind is willing and the body isn't

Plenty of people said he should have stayed retired

Didn't listen

It was worth it just to see him dominate again!



gc.

Oh well. This at least means that we will see him get amongst the Aussies this summer. We know he's always up for that!

yeh, i hope thats his goal, help us win a test series against OZ, then flag it. It will be his one chance at eternal rememberance if he can pull that off for us.
Anyways, Tuffey's favourite test side is Pakistan with 24 wickets at an average of 26.5, If (touch wood) we bat well, we can still get them out imo.

Gotta feel for Tim Southee IMO.

Perfect chance to bring him back against less than dominant opposition, on home pitches etc. Help him build his career and play in the shadow of Bond etc...

Instead they go for old man Tuffey who'll probably reap the benefits, and then they'll bring Southee back next time we have a fkn test against Aussie on the WACA or some such smash fest.



gc.

save him for Bangladesh imo, he's had a couple of good first class returns so far, a few more will get him really feeling good.

Also, Tuffey's last test (as pointed out on Cricinfo) was against England. He played with Astle & Cairns, and against Thorpe, Butcher & Trescothick.

Fark.



gc.