NZ under GrahamB (story)

[GrahamB]

3RD TEST - NZ v INDIA 2009 (Day 4)



After Hiini and Weston fell to the first two balls of the day's play, the writing was well and truly on the wall.
Hay, having come in at the fall of the second wicket, was still there when the final wicket fell.
NZ all out for a pitiful 258 and India only required a token 108 runs for victory.
Gillespie and Oram picked up a wicket each along the way, but the visitors wrapped things up pretty easily as expected.

India take the test series 3-0.

[acook]

neil broom is the future!

how come broomy still hasn't been given a go?

[GrahamB]

how come broomy still hasn't been given a go?

Which one?
Neither of them fit into my plans at this stage.

[GrahamB]

NZ Squad for ODI series v India

P.Fulton
A.Redmond
J.How
R.Taylor
M.Sinclair
G.Elliott
J.Ryder
J.Sheed
B.McCullum (wk) (capt)
J.Oram
L.Woodcock
B.Hefford
B.Scott
D.Tuffey
B.Martin

[GrahamB]

1ST ODI - NZ v INDIA 2009

Ross Taylor was injured and unavailable for this game, so Sheedy made his debut in the middle order. Aaron Redmond was also playing in NZ colours for the first time.



A disappointing start going down in the first clash.
Aaron Redmond made a good debut, and Grant Elliott held the innings together as we laid a good platform to build from.
However, when we tried to up the scoring rate, three quick wickets fell and we had to settle for a score of 220.
We bowled tightly and fielded well and the Indians found things just as difficult as we did as far as scoring quickly went.
Laxman was the key to their win as he looked the most comfortable of any batsman in the game. He seemed to be a class apart.

[GrahamB]

2ND ODI - NZ v INDIA 2009

With Taylor not yet fit enough to play, Sheedy retained his spot in the playing eleven.



Aaron Redmond again helped us get of to a good start and Sheedy also played a mature innings as we posted a much more challenging total.
The Indians managed to keep up with the required run rate, but lost wickets at regular intervals. Once the fifth wicket fell, we were into their long tail. Laxman ran out of support and their innings crumbled. Ryder and Oram both finished with impressive figures.

[GrahamB]

3RD ODI - NZ v INDIA 2009

With Ross Taylor now fit enough to come back into the side, an unlucky Sheedy had to make way, despite his fine batting in the second game.



Grant Elliott has proven to be quite solid at the top of the order, and we again got ourselves into a position where we could make a charge.
However, again we lost quick wickets as we made our charge.
It was left to captain Brendon McCullum to indulge in some big hitting towards the end in order for us to post a competitive 249/9.

Shoot that fella Laxman!
Laxman again guided the visitors to victory with a majestic knock and India now have a 2-1 lead in the five match series.

[GrahamB]

4TH ODI - NZ v INDIA 2009

Allrounder Woodcock makes his debut today in place of Bruce Martin, who didn't fire in the previous match. A big call, but Woodcock adds extra firepower to the batting and he has impressed with his offspin bowling in the domestic season.



This was a difficult pitch and cloudy overhead conditions added to the equation.
Peter Fulton played a magnificent innings to lead us through to 245/7, a good score under the conditions.

The lack of depth in the Indian batting order again proved to be their downfall as we saw almost a repeat scenario of the second game.
Once the long tail was exposed, their challenge disintegrated. Woodcock benefitted to finish with the fine figures of 3/35 on debut.

The series locked up at 2-2 with one to play.

[GrahamB]

5TH ODI - NZ v INDIA 2009



The pitch for this match was a disgrace and brought back memories of the previous Indian tour.
The moaning after this game was just as long and loud as it had been back then also!

We looked done for early at 36/4, but Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum kept cool heads to avert total disaster.
However, a score of 209/8 didn't fill the NZ fans with much confidence.

When the visitors came out to reply, just how well we'd actually done quickly became apparent!
Only a late flourish from tailender Patel saw the Indians get past 100.
A decisive win with Tuffey producing an almost unplayable spell of bowling and we take the OD series 3-2 to exact some sort of revenge!

[GrahamB]

NZ Squad to tour India 2009

Openers
Peter Fulton (capt)
Sam Fairley
Luke Murray

Other Batsmen
Andy Daley
Iain Robertson
Greg Hay
Brandon Hiini (also bowls RFM)
Ross Taylor
Matthew Sinclair

Keepers
Ben Rae
Brendan McCullum

Allrounders
Jesse Ryder
Jacob Oram
Dan Vettori

Pace Bowlers
Tama Canning
Greg Hegglun
Bradley Scott

Spin Bowler
Bruce Martin

Peter Fulton has been reinstated as captain.
21 year old Andy Daley has been earmarked as a potential future star with 5 centuries in his first thirteen first class matches. He gets the call up ahead of unlucky Tim Weston.
Sinclair has been selected specifically with the ODIs in mind.
No other surprises amongst the batting selections.
Ben Rae is expected to keep in the tests while McCullum will do so in the one dayers.
Probably the most fortunate player to be selected is Vettori. We really need to take a couple of spinners over to India, and Dan got the nod ahead of Luke Woodcock.
Specialist pace bowlers continues to be a problem area for us. Canning and Scott have yet to demonstrate that they're test class, while we've taken a punt with young Greg Hegglun.

[GrahamB]

KARNATAKA v NZ (Three Day Match)



This was a useful warm up match against a reasonably strong Karnataka side.
All of our batsmen had time in the middle, and Dan Vettori demonstrated why he should still be regarded as our number one spinner.
Andy Daley also showed why NZ fans have high hopes regarding his future, as he raced to a century in the second innings.
The lack of success for our pace bowlers was the major area of concern leading into the first test.

[GrahamB]

NZ team for the 1st Test

Peter Fulton (capt)
30 years old
FC average = 44 (77 matches)
Test average = 23 (12 matches)

Sam Fairley
29 years old
FC average = 36 (36 matches)
Test average = 27 (6 matches)

Andy Daley
21 years old
FC average = 66 (13 matches)
Test debut

Iain Robertson
26 years old
FC average = 58 (35 matches)
Test average = 53 (11 matches)

Greg Hay
25 years old
FC average = 51 (40 matches)
Test average = 64 (11 matches)

Brandon Hiini (RFM)
27 years old
FC average = Batting 47 (42 matches) Bowling 103 wickets at 30
Test average = Batting 37 (11 matches) Bowling 9 wickets at 66

Jesse Ryder (RM)
25 years old
FC average = Batting 39 (52 matches) Bowling 84 wickets at 25
Test debut

Ben Rae (wk)
23 years old
FC average = 31 (20 matches)
Test average = 48 (2 matches)

Daniel Vettori (SLA)
30 years old
FC average = Batting 30 (153 matches) Bowling 498 wickets at 32
Test average = Batting 28 (85 tests) Bowling 266 wickets at 35

Bruce Martin (SLA)
29 years old
FC average = Batting 21 (90 matches) Bowling 267 wickets at 31
Test average = Batting 29 (2 matches) Bowling 9 wickets at 45

Bradley Scott (LFM)
30 years old
FC average = Batting 19 (56 matches) Bowling 192 wickets at 27
Test average = Batting 29 (3 matches) Bowling 7 wickets at 55

India

S.Badrinath (debut)
V.Sehwag
V.Laxman
Y.Singh (debut)
R.Dravid
G.Gambhir
P.Patel (wk)
S.Anish (debut)
G.Singh (debut)
Z.Khan
R.Singh

[GrahamB]

1ST TEST - INDIA V NZ (Day 1)



India won the toss and made full use of what would likely be the best batting conditions in the match.
All of the batsmen contributed, but none were able to go on to a ton.
The NZ spin pair of Martin and Vettori shouldered most of the work and picked up three wickets each.

[GrahamB]

Now that the patch is out, I'll be starting afresh, so this story has now finished and the game file deleted.