New Zealand in West Indies 2014

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New Zealand's tour of West Indies comprising of 3 tests and 2 T-20Is is getting into the act today as the first test gets underway today.
The West Indies are going in with a new captain in Denesh Ramdin after Daren Sammy was sacked as captain following which he retired from test cricket. For New Zealand, they are slowly getting their act together in test after Brendon McCullum's captaincy first year was largely disappointing.
As far as the squads go, West Indies have recalled fast bowler Jerome Taylor after 4 years since he played a test. Taylor can form a pretty decent opening attack with a fit again Kemar Roach, and Jason Holder is added to the squad in case they need more seam bowling cover. Suliman Ben is also recalled to the test squad, and Shane Shillingford is making a comeback after a suspect action suspension. Sunil Narine is banned for the series after he decided to prioritise the IPL over West Indies cricket as he missed a deadline for a West Indies training camp. Chris Gayle, who is playing his 100th test, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels and Daren Bravo form the backborn of the batting unit. The other remaining positions have to be worked out between Kieran Powell, Kraigg Brathwaite and Kirk Edwards.
As for New Zealand, Peter Fulton and Hamish Rutherford who both struggled for consistency last season, face competition from Tom Latham for a top order position. But in Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and skipper McCullum, they have a settled middle order to be backed up by wicketkeeper BJ Watling. Corey Anderson's injury before the first test is a setback and it is interesting to see who they would go in with at 6 for the first game. It could be Jimmy Neesham who scored a ton in his debut test, or it could be reserve wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi who has shown greater consistency with the bat in ODIs last year, or it could be Tom Latham down the order. The advantage with Neesham is that he can add to the depth of the bowling unit and is more of a like-for-like replacement for Anderson. . Daniel Vetori's test career seems to be finished as he yet again failed to regain fitness, and so Ish Sodhi will be leading the spin attack to be backed up by debutant Mark Craig. But Trent Boult and Tim Southee form a potent new ball attack to be backed by the ever persisting Neil Wagner.
It is not a high profile series, but it should be an interesting one with 2 closely matched sides fighting it out.

Brathwaite gets a single of the 3rd ball he faces, and after facing a maiden from Boult, its time for Chris Gayle to face up to Tim Southee!.

And after 2 deliveries, Southee bowls a peach to Gayle and the big man somehow survives!.

Brathwaite already collected 3 singles in his short innings. Good to see that, as he used to get stuck for long without being able to rotate the strike......
Southee can't get Gayle this time, Boult has knocked him over....! The Collapso has started!!!. WI 4-1.

Ben in as nightwatchman. Another 10 minutes to survive.

West Indies go to stumps at 6-1.

NZ getting Gayle could be vital. Gayle is a player who can do a lot of damage when you're defending a low score, even a quickfire 60-70 can really set you back. Someone like Chanderpaul, great though he is, won't score so quickly, so you can work over the other end.

Great effort from the WI bowlers who stuck to it superbly despite some ordinary fielding. Nice knock from Latham, he's really taken to Test cricket. Lack of application from some/most of the rest.

Game nicely poised, WI's batting is brittle (and that may be putting it kindly) so NZ will feel they're still in the game...

After looking solid in the mini session yesterday, Kraigg Brathwaite is living rather dangerously here, survived a review on umpire's call, and then edged short of slip next ball. Southee it is who is giving him lots of trouble.......

Now Ben reviews an onfield call. He was given out LBW of Southee, but he was struck just outside off, good review from Ben.

Benn rubs a bit of salt in, as he smashes Southee through the covers to get off the mark.

and Southee eventually gets his man, textbook inswinger which cleans Benn up, lovely ball, Benn had no chance with that.

Southee and Boult are forming a very very good new ball partnership, as good as any in the contemporary world......

Edwards happy to play his shots against Craig whenever an opportunity presents itself. West Indies have survived the first hour of the day with the loss of the nightwatchman Benn.
WI 46-2.

West Indies 94-2. Edwards and Brathwaite are targeting the 2nd line of the New Zealand attack. Craig has gone for 36 in his 6 overs and Neesham for 22 in his 3.

Edwards is dealing in 6s, he brings up his half-century with his 3rd 6. He's 55 and West Indies 107-2.
Edwards' position was under scrutiny before this match, a timely performance from him......

NZ needed that. Sodhi comes on and gets some turn to Edwards, and strikes with his third ball as Edwards doesn't quite cover the spin and is caught behind. Nice knock from Edwards, but he'll be gutted he didn't kick on.

Sodhi should really have been bowling earlier you feel, Craig was getting some turn but the ball turning into the batsmen was making it too easy.

Sodhi into the attack and gets Edwards 3rd ball. Good innings from Edwards but he should have gone on after such a good start. West Indies loses a wicket 10 minutes before lunch. They are 109-3, Bravo joins Brathwaite.

Bravo comes in and starts with 2-4-4!. We are minutes away from lunch, he should keep his cool here.

West Indies go to lunch at 124-3. They have scored 118 runs in that session for the loss of 2 wickets, one of which was of the nightwatchman. So that is their session, but with the nature of the West Indies batting lineup, New Zealand are never too far away from a major comeback.......

Half-century up for Kraigg Brathwaite.

Rain arrives with West Indies 138-3.

Half-century for Daren Bravo. West Indies 198-3.

West Indies 209-3 at tea. Brathwaite on 85, Bravo on 58.

West Indies into the lead. They are 224-3.

First test hundred for Kraigg Brathwaite!. Well played young man!.

Darren Bravo brings up his hundred. He's been even more aggressive than he was in the post-lunch session and its been a very attractive innings.

This is Bravo's 6th test hundred, but his first at home. And it has come at his home ground itself.

Big wicket for New Zealand just before the new ball is due. Its that man Kane Williamson with his goldan arm. Bravo goes after Williamson and finds the deep fielder. A fine innings from Bravo, but he got out at a particularly bad time.

West Indies closed out the day on 310-5. They had to face the loss of Kraigg Brathwaite just before close. The young opener made a very impressive 129. Rather than exposing the debutant batsman Jermaine Blackwood so late in the day, West Indies opted for a 2nd nightwatchman as Kemar Roach joined Chanderpaul in seeing it through to stumps.
I have been very impressed with young Brathwaite. In fact I was saying that he, and not Kieran Powell, should be Gayle's opening partner since the time of the India series last year. Brathwaite is someone with the right approach and his technique is a lot more solid than that of Powell. Unlike his previous knocks, what was striking about Brathwaite's innings was the steady flow of runs that he maintained. He could bat time even at the age of 17, but those days he was a bit shotless and would often get stuck and wouldn't have a lot to show for all the time he batted in the middle. But this innings, he started with a few singles right away, and though Gayle' fall late in the day forced him to take more of the bowling in the mini session, yesterday he again resumed the way he started. He brought up his 50 of 100 balls, 100 of 199 balls and he was eventually out for 129 of 258 balls.
Hope Brathwaite has turned a corner in his career with this innings and that he will take a lot of confidence with this innings.

so after a difficult start for NZ they finally get rid of the nightwatchman Roach.

here's the debutant Blackwood, tough test for him with Boult just getting a bit of swing out there.

Also is it just me or has Chanderpaul's stance got even more pronounced over the years?

West Indies 333-6. Kemar Roach the last man out for 6, but not before doing his job. He played no less than 41 balls and batted for 45 minutes today, helping Chanderpaul see off the new ball to a great extent. Debutant Jermaine Blackwood has joined Chanders.

Aha!. What do we have here? Blackwood got his first runs in test cricket through a thick that went away for 4. Unimpressed, the bowler Trent Boult delivered an absolute ripper of an in-swinger that somehow went over the middle stump. Blackwood then responded with a fine lofted hit down the ground that went flying over the boundary for 6. Happening start to his international career!.

West Indies have clearly decided to target Mark Craig. Yesterday it was Edwards and then Bravo, now its Sir Shiv!. Would you believe it!? He steps out and hits him for 6!.

Chanderpaul goes, padding up, again, to Sodhi. He looks bemused again by the decision (given on review), but really that's a silly leave, use your bat Shiv!!

Chanderpaul goes just before lunch. Like yesterday, its Ish Sodhi with a pre-lunch strike for New Zealand. Chanderpaul padded up to an incoming ball from Sodhi and was given not out, New Zealand have successfully reviewed the onfield call and Chanders had to go 3 short of his 50. WI 388-7.

MFC, what are your initial impressions of Jermaine Blackwood?

Looks a very natural batsman, nothing complicated and a lovely timer of the ball. Strikes me as someone who likes to hit boundaries and score quickly so will be interesting to see if NZ can tie him down and frustrate him.

Good session for WI. Since it's topical, poor over-rate from NZ considering how many overs the spinners bowled...

WI go to lunch at 396-7. Blackwood on 31 and skipper Ramdin on 5.

Half-century on debut for Jermaine Blackwood!.

WI bowled out for 460. The last 3 went down all of a sudden but that is a handy leady of 239. Blackwood's debut innings ended on 63. Good effort from the young man, had a few moments of trouble at the start of his innings, survived a a review on 34, and stayed positive throughout the innings.
Ramdin also chipping in with 32.
Ish Sodhi finishing with 4 wickets.
More problems for New Zealand, Hamish Rutherford didn't take the field today with some stomach problem. He can't bat till close 3 hours of the NZ innings or at number 7 before that. So the skipper is opening with Latham.

Taylor and Roach are moving the new ball, but Roach, like what he has been doing throughout the series, is not making them play enough.

McCullum didn't have much success as opener, went for only 3, LBW to Jerome Taylor. McCullum reviewed the onfield call but could not survive.

NZ trying to save the game have scored 57 runs in 30 overs. Even i, could not watch that.

NZ went to stumps at 73-1. Williamson and Latham resisting and fighting hard for survival and they came across testing spells from Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach, and Suliman Benn and Shannon Gabriel also didn't prove easy to deal with. But importantly for New Zealand, the 2 went to stumps together. West Indies ahead by 166 with 2 more days remaining. But if any side can fluf this one and turn the tables on themselves, it is the WI.....

msp83 wrote:NZ went to stumps at 73-1. Williamson and Latham resisting and fighting hard for survival and they came across testing spells from Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach, and Suliman Benn and Shannon Gabriel also didn't prove easy to deal with. But importantly for New Zealand, the 2 went to stumps together. West Indies ahead by 166 with 2 more days remaining. But if any side can fluf this one and turn the tables on themselves, it is the WI.....

any side who can fluff this type of well placed position is first and foremost the current Indian team.
In a similar set-up in their last test which was against NZ....India( read Dhoni) allowed McCullum to score a triple century and NZ came back from the dead to earn a draw

KP_fan wrote:

msp83 wrote:NZ went to stumps at 73-1. Williamson and Latham resisting and fighting hard for survival and they came across testing spells from Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach, and Suliman Benn and Shannon Gabriel also didn't prove easy to deal with. But importantly for New Zealand, the 2 went to stumps together. West Indies ahead by 166 with 2 more days remaining. But if any side can fluf this one and turn the tables on themselves, it is the WI.....

any side who can fluff this type of well placed position is  first and foremost the current Indian team.
In a similar set-up in their last test which was against NZ....India( read Dhoni) allowed McCullum to score a triple century and NZ came back from the dead to earn a draw

With the Sharma led bowling unit and Dhoni's reactive captaincy it is not unexpected. But the difference is that West Indies can still end up on the losing side in a game like this.
Hope they don't though........
KPF, did you watch Brathwaite or Blackwood in action? What do you think about their batting?

Hi Msp.......I live in Switzerland and do not get any live cricket on TV here.
I do get to see highlights of English cricket on Channel-5
for India games I watch online streaming live....throuhg sometimes free and mostly paid packages

so I did not get to watch the WI game

West Indies dislodge in-form Latham and Williamson before lunch through some lively bowling. Benn got Latham with a ripper that turned and bounced, and then KW was done in with some accurate offstumpish bowling by Kemar Roach.
NZ 114-3.

Neesham can't equalize Azahruddin's record, he's gone to a stunning return catch from Suliman Benn. Only 7 for Neesham, and NZ find themselves in trouble at 129-4.

Ross Taylor goes just before the new ball becomes available. NZ struggling at 154-5. Hamish Rutherford has eventually come out to bat.

Now Rutherford goes, a terrible leave from him, LBW leaving the ball for 13 as Jerome Taylor gets his 2nd. NZ 179-6 as Ish Sodhi joins Watling. Another 60 more for New Zealand to avoid an innings defeat.