NZ under GrahamB (story)

[GrahamB]

2nd T20 International - Sri Lanka v NZ 2013

We retained the same playing eleven for the crucial second T20, taking both young spinners in again.

They say that form is temporary, but class is permanent and Stephen Murdoch proved that correct today. Lacking form in both the tests and ODIs, today he smashed a brilliant unbeaten century to set up a big score for the home side to chase.

Sri Lankan batsman of the moment, Chandimal, did his best to keep his side in the hunt. However, wickets tumbled too regularly at the other end, with only Diwage and Jayawardene providing any support.
Wilmott claimed some sort of revenge for his mauling in the first game, going clean through Chandimal's defence to dismiss him and end the home side's chances of pulling off an unlikely victory.
Diwage bludgeoned a quickfire 36 off just 13 balls, but it was all too late as we won to level the series.
Wagner picked up 3/32, while both Arnel and Wilmott finished with 2/35.



In summary, our summer in Sri Lanka resulted in:
- test series lost 1-0 with the other drawn
- ODI series won 2-1 by us
- T20 series squared at 1-1

[GrahamB]

NZ Test Squad to tour India 2013



Opening Batsmen
Stephen Murdoch and Ben Smith will open in the tests. 22 year old Smith impressed making a century on debut in Sri Lanka.

Other Batsmen
Dean Brownlie, Kane Williamson and Tim Weston keep their spots although Williamson still needs to produce more consistently at this level.
With Neil Broom and Jesse Ryder unavailable through injury, 30 year old Iain Robertson has been rewarded for consistently good stats over the past three seasons with a place in the squad.
The remaining spot was a toss up between seasoned campaigner Ross Taylor and promising youngster Harry Boam. Boam got the nod with an eye to the future, aided by Taylor's poor form in first class cricket this season and in tests over the past two seasons.

All-Rounder
With Ryder out, only three names came into contention here - Sam Wells, James Franklin and Colin de Grandhomme.
With the idea being too look at the possibilty of playing an all-rounder as a fourth seamer, it was felt that bowling stats were the biggest consideration. In this regard it came down to either Wells or Franklin, and because Wells has been a consistent wicket taker for us in all forms of the game, he got the nod.

Keepers
Kruger Van Wyk has done nothing to warrant us looking at replacing him, so he stays as our number one keeper.
The back up was a choice between the dependable Derek de Boorder or the up and coming Joe Austin-Smellie. The youngster got the call up based on his better keeping record plus his more consistent batting form at first class level over the past few seasons.

Pace Bowlers
With Sam Wells providing the option of a fourth seamer in the unlikely event of us playing an all seam attack, it was only seen as necessary to take four specialist pace bowlers. Vic Skinner, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult and Norman Norman got the spots, with Tim Southee unlucky to miss out.

Spin Bowlers
Anticipating that we might have to entertain playing two spinners on Indian pitches, we decided to take three specialist spinners. Williamson will provide a part time option too.
Sam Lyman was the obvious first choice and the other promising youngster Richard Wilmott was also chosen. Bruce Martin got the third spot ahead of Nethula.

[GrahamB]

Karnataka v NZ (Three Day Match)

Karnataka took first use of the batting conditions and recovered from 204/5 to get through to 350/8 declared. We took the opportunity to give the part time spinners a useful spell in addition to giving Lyman and Wilmott a good workout.
Lyman and Wilmott finished with three wickets each on the turning pitch. Norman Norman only took 1/48, but also put the home keeper out of the match with a nasty ball that went crashing into his midriff.

Murdoch and Smith got us off to a great start, but after the former departed at 87/1, the innings suffered an embarrassing collapse and we were still short of the follow on at 180/9! Fortunately, Austin-Smellie farmed the strike as Lyman stood firm at the other end, and the two put on a last wicket partnership of 53 to spare our blushes.
Just as one their batsmen had been invalided out of the match by a brutish ball, we suffered a tour ending injury to our all-rounder Sam Wells. He was going along nicely with Robertson at a crucial stage of the innings when he failed to connect with a pull shot off Arvind and the ball cracked the top of his hip.

Amit Verma scored his second half century of the match as Karnataka batted through to 124/4 before declaring, leaving us just over a session left to get in some batting practice.
Sam Lyman picked up 2/44 to go with his 3/78 from the first innings.

In our second innings, Ben Smith was dismissed just short of his half century for the second time in the match, while Kane Williamson got some good time in the middle following his first innings failure.

[GrahamB]

The teams for the 1st Test (with their FC averages)

[GrahamB]

India v NZ 1st Test 2013

After winning the toss and choosing to bat, we got off to the worst possible start when Kumar yorked Murdoch with the first ball of the test!
Things got worse when Kumar removed our other opening batsman, Ben Smith, in his next over and we were reeling at 7/2.
Brownlie and Williamson looked as though they might resurrect our innings, but after getting us through to 62/2, the wheels fell off upon young Kane's dismissal.
148 all out was pathetic, but due credit to Kumar, who was just devastating. Chawla showed that he was going to prove a real menace for us again as he also finished with four wickets.

With the early demons in the pitch now gone, the Indians made the most of their great start, piling on 452 to establish a big first innings lead.
When the Indians were at 153/3, there were hopes that we might be able to restrict the damage, but they have a long powerful batting line up. A cracking century from Vijay, plus half centuries from both Sehwag and Mukund took the score through to 353/5. Once Vijay fell, Kaul chimed in with 49 as the tail wagged to rub the salt in further.
Vic Skinner was magnificent, taking 4/80 on a track that suited the spinners. Although our spin duo of Martin and Lyman toiled manfully in the Indian heat to finish with 4/146 and 2/90 respectively, we'd been hoping for more from them.

Saving the test from a position of being over 300 runs in arrears on a sharply turning wicket was just too much of an ask.
Murdoch (36), Brownlie (55) and Weston (38 ) all showed grit and determination, but at 196/7 we were in serious danger of an innings defeat. Then Harry Boam combined with Skinner to construct a record stand of 79 for the ninth wicket. It was cruel that Boam eventually fell short of what would have been his maiden first class century, but at least his knock proved that his selection ahead of Robertson was worth it.
The Indian pacemen again proved dangerous, picking up six wickets between them, but it was Chawla who picked up man of the match honours with another haul of four wickets.



There is much work to be done if we're too spare ourselves embarrassment in this series!

[cricfan1]

Why Newzeland so poor Every match struggle ?

You to build your team with young blood that will take time

[GrahamB]

Why Newzeland so poor Every match struggle ?

You to build your team with young blood that will take time

We struggle in the tests, but do okay in the ODIs and T20s. Guess that's pretty much like NZ in real life.
Yes, building up youngsters can take time as you say, some longer than others.

[GrahamB]

India v NZ - 2nd Test 2013

Both sides kept the same playing eleven as for the first test.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat turned out better than previously, although 297 was an average score at best. Murdoch played a captain's knock of 72, while Weston (42) and Van Wyk (52) were the other main contributors.
Chawla again did the damage with the ball, picking up 5/104. Ishant Sharma was a real handful too.

We had the Indians struggling at 124/4 in reply, but Mukund (77) and Rahane (137) put on 147 runs for the fifth wicket to put their side firmly in control. R.Sharma was the other batsman to do well, scoring 57, while Skinner, Lyman and Martin all picked up three wickets.
Reaching 399 all out, the home side had a useful lead of 102 on the deteriorating pitch.

Murdoch (35) and Smith (68 ) gave us hope with an opening stand of 74, but after that it was all downhill, with only Weston (31) and Martin (28 ) showing good resolve in difficult conditions.
Chawla (6/61) again proved too classy for our batsmen, while Sharma picked up a further three wickets.
226 all out only left the Indians 125 to chase down for victory, clearly not enough. A further 100 runs would have made things more interesting.

Wagner had Sehwag caught in the slips for 10 at 20/1, but unfortunately Gambhir and Sharma strung together an unbeaten century partnership to see their side through to victory.



India take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series.

[GrahamB]

India v NZ - 3rd Test 2013

India made one change to their third test side, bringing in one spin bowler Abdulla to replace another in Parmar, who had been disappointing in the first two tests.
After careful thought, we retained the same playing eleven for the third consecutive test. We are really missing an all-rounder and I now regret just bringing one on tour (Wells, who is injured).

India won the toss and made full use of the best batting conditions of the series.
Sehwag (140) and Vijay (106) both scored magnificent centuries, while all of the other batsmen contributed also - Gambhir (52), Sharma (60), Mukund (49) and Rahane (48 ).
Of the bowlers, Martin picked up 4/147 and Skinner 3/92.
The massive score of 525 essentially meant that we would again be fighting for survival.

Our response was really disappointing. After a fired up Ishant Sharma had removed both of our openers. the spinners then ripped out the heart of the batting. Boam was the top scorer with a paltry 39 as we succumbed rather meekly for just 205 all out!
Abdullah celebrated his call up with 5/51, while Chawla had to play second fiddle with 3/68.
Predictably, we were forced to follow on, 307 runs behind.

If NZ fans back home had been hoping for a famous NZ fightback, they were to be sadly disappointed.
Young opener, Ben Smith, tried to hold things together at the top of the order with a battling innings of 45, but none of the other batsmen were able to establish themselves and dig in.
The Indian bowlers were yet again too good for us, with Chawla showing why he was man of the match for the third test in a row, claiming 5/67.

A thrashing by an innings and 145 runs seeing India whitewash us 3-0 in the test series.

[GrahamB]

NZ ODI Squad in India 2013



Sam Wells is injured, but should be available for most of the ODIs.
The squad was selected based on the different scenarios that might occur due to pitch conditions.
In the main, the specialist bowlers also offer something with the bat in case required. Therefore the selection of pace bowler Michael Bates ahead of Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

[GrahamB]

Mumbai v NZ (One Dayer)

With Wells unavailable, we took the punt on using opening batsman Josh Brodie as our fifth bowler. He is actually quite useful with the ball and he proved his worth here by picking up three wickets.
The game was a rout, with Mumbai providing little resistance.

[GrahamB]

India v NZ - 1st ODI 2013

Our playing eleven for the first ODI was:

D.Hakaraia
J.Brodie
K.Williamson
D.Brownlie
D.de Boorder (wk)
R.Taylor (capt)
P.Fulton
M.Bates
N.Wagner
N.Norman
S.Lyman

The decision was made to stick with Josh Brodie as our fifth bowler. This meant that because we preferred one day specialist Dusan Hakaraia as our other opening batsman, there was no room for Stephen Murdoch.

The Indians chose to bat first and limped through to 176/9 on a slow difficult wicket.
All of our bowlers were superb, with young Sam Lyman conceding a miserly 1/24 from his first ten over spell in an international one-dayer. Brodie stepped up to the mark again with 1/45 and he has certainly been a valuable find.

Pathan got his side off to the start they needed by dismissing Hakaraia for 8, but then a tremendous partnership between Josh Brodie and Kane Williamson took us through to the cusp of victory.



NZ 1-0 up in the five match series.

[GrahamB]

India v NZ - 2nd ODI 2013

Both sides retained the same playing eleven for the second ODI.

This time we chose to bat first, but it all looked like turning to custard at 66/5!
However, Derek de Boorder and Peter Fulton fought back in courageous fashion, putting on 136 runs for the sixth wicket. Upon Fulton's departure, de Boorder got good support from the lower order to get us through to an extremely competitive 274/7.
De Boorder's unbeaten 118 was a pleasure to watch and the Indian crowd generously clapped him off.
Pathan was the best of the Indian bowlers with a tight spell of 2/36.

Wagner and Norman both picked up wickets in their first over to have the home side on the ropes at 15/2. Gambhir (48 ) and Mukund (37) staged a recovery, but then a further flurry of wickets reduced the innings to 123/5.
However, just as our keeper had been our champion, the Indian keeper Gautam followed suit for his side. With good support from Pathan (31) plus the tail, he guided his side through close to victory at 265/9. It was an incredibly tense finish, but Sharma smashed a couple of brave shots through to the boundary and Gautam did the rest.

A win to India by 1 wicket!



The series now level at 1-1.

[GrahamB]

India v NZ - 3rd ODI 2013

Both sides kept the same line up for this game, although the Indians switched Rahane into an opening spot and shifted Sehwag further down.

Batting first, we were soon in trouble at 20/2 with both openers gone.
Williamson and De Boorder fought back and things had recovered to 85/2, but then Williamson (37) was foolishly run out and a further mini-collapse ensued to leave us in tatters at 118/5.
Fortunately, Ross Taylor got some determined support from the tail, but we could only limp through to 207/8, a score that was unlikely to trouble the home side. Bates finished on 27no.
Sharma was dynamite with the ball and fully deserved his 2/29, while Abdulla with 2/37 and Kumar with 2/39 also troubled the NZ batsmen.

Once that Gambhir and Rahane had got the Indians off to a rollicking start, there was no real stopping their charge. After Gambhir's aggressive knock came to an end, Mukund took charge to guide his side to victory.



India take a 2-1 lead in the series.

[GrahamB]

India v NZ - 4th ODI 2013

We were horrified, but not surprised, to be confronted with a turning wicket for this crucial game.
The Indians stuck with their victorious side from the previous match, but we made two changes, bringing in Nathan McCullum in place of Michael Bates, and bringing back Stephen Murdoch to partner Brodie at the top of the order. However, Taylor will continue as captain.

After winning the toss, we gratefully took the chance of batting first.
Josh Brodie (77) came out and played a sparking innings to get us off to a brisk start. When he departed at 153/3 following a useful partnership with De Boorder (59), Dean Brownlie took charge to get us through to 260/6.
Abdulla (2/33) and Pathan (1/33) kept us from an even better score, but this was going to be a tough challenge for the Indians on the deteriorating wicket.

Mainly thanks to Rahane (48 ), India were looking threatening at 98/1, before the introduction of Nathan McCullum sparked a collapse. Our spin trio of McCullum, Lyman and Williamson (more spinners than the Indians used - LOL) reduced the home side to 139/7 and the writing was pretty much on the wall.
However, Chawla had other ideas and his belligerent 59, aided by a more than useful 29 from Kumar took the Indians to within 12 runs of victory before our pacemen polished things off.
Despite an expensive first two overs, McCullum was the most impressive of our bowlers with a tidy 2/34. Sam Lyman took a bit of a hammering, but was rewarded with three wickets in return.



With the series again level, all now rested on the final ODI.