Black Caps in India
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Well India really did what I hoped we'd do, bat first and get 300+ with a number of guys chipping in. In saying that, it was a great fightback from the boys to restrict them - very different to the SA series where SA had them on the ropes a number of times but then allowed them to get to something respectable.
We're still in this, but losing the toss has really put us on the back foot despite our fightback. We're going to need 400+ in our first dig, or ideally 500+ so we don't have to bat last which will be more then challenging. If we're chasing 150 or more on the final day we're up against it.
I'm hearing more and more calls for doing away with the toss and just allowing the visiting captain to decide what happens. An interesting idea but I'm not sure I'm completely sold. It is annoying how important it is in a lot of matches though - particularly when the pitch is guaranteed to fall apart come day 5.
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It was a really great fightback after a poor start - the curse of the Black Caps bowler, some peaches unfortunately smushed between 2 or 3 pies, which allows a batsman to leave the good and plunder the bad, and before you know it, they are cruising at 6-7 an over.
But they have two important jobs today, one is getting the pesky 10th asap, and two, getting runs on the board without the usual BC opener walk on, walk off cameo. If we can set a great platform and then unleash Ross and Kane...the test gets very, very interesting.
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@No-Quarter said in Black Caps in India:
Well India really did what I hoped we'd do, bat first and get 300+ with a number of guys chipping in. In saying that, it was a great fightback from the boys to restrict them - very different to the SA series where SA had them on the ropes a number of times but then allowed them to get to something respectable.
We're still in this, but losing the toss has really put us on the back foot despite our fightback. We're going to need 400+ in our first dig, or ideally 500+ so we don't have to bat last which will be more then challenging. If we're chasing 150 or more on the final day we're up against it.
I'm hearing more and more calls for doing away with the toss and just allowing the visiting captain to decide what happens. An interesting idea but I'm not sure I'm completely sold. It is annoying how important it is in a lot of matches though - particularly when the pitch is guaranteed to fall apart come day 5.
I like that given how far some (most) countries are in producing pitches that advantage their team. It's not quite a checks and balances kind of thing but it might have a positive influence on overall pitch quality... maybe!
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good fightback after a poor start, but we are still fucked i reckon - losing the toss on this pitch was pretty much game over. balls are already keeping low: variable bounce on day 1, and how much more difficult they made it look at the end of the day vs the start is probably a pretty good indicator unfortunately. our only chance is some really outstanding batting to get a decent first innings lead, as we won't be getting fuck all in our 2nd dig.
play straight as much as possible to negate the bounce, punish anything short. patience and concentration and not getting flustered when you do play and miss. -
They've still scored 300. We'll need 400 to have a hope i reckon. That's a fucking big ask if the best of the batting conditions has already been.
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Kane was saying day 2-3 should be the best conditions. But fully agree that if we don't get a decent lead we'll have them taking advantage of conditions and have to chase the game on a day 4 and 5 pitch.
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@reprobate said in Black Caps in India:
good fightback after a poor start, but we are still fucked i reckon - losing the toss on this pitch was pretty much game over.
Yeah, you'd think that chasing anything over 200 will be tough in the fourth innings. Assuming we roll them for 400, that means we need to score 500 here to have a crack. And you wonder who will do that - possible if Kane settles in and gets a 200, but it is hard to see the top 6 putting together 350 runs.
I'm ever optimistic, though!
P
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Wow that's a lucky break for Latham. Hits it onto his foot, fielder takes the catch but before he had control it hit the grill of his helmet invalidating the catch. Not sure I've ever seen that before!
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