The Silver Fern

@gunner ah casual stereotyping. why not. And upvoted too.

All those stereotypes about "nice guy" kiwis and the like.

@chris-b said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:

@majorrage They've got to bat three sessions and bowl us out in one?

That doesn't sound like the power is with them.

However, while we're anxiously sitting here with a modest lead of 32, spare a thought for our friend @newsjunkie, who's going to be behind his sofa sweating on his fear of 20/4!

Up since 4.30 am here, and the 1st session is going to be stressful for sure!

@chris-b Bit before my time, but I would have liked to read the book. Cricket books are a weakness, I end up buying a whole bunch whenever I go to India. Hard to find them in the US.

@chris-b

I've personally met Mohinder Amarnath when I was a kid, and he had some stories to tell too!

One thing that was shocking to me, especially as a naive teenager, was when he shared the anecdote about how he was at the non-striker's end, and the 'home' umpire informed the Pakistani pace bowler that he was overstepping, and to just mind it. Didn't call the no-ball, just politely asked the bowler to mind the line. The bowler showered the umpire with a torrent of punjabi f-bombs, and told him to do his job while he does his!

And of course, the umpires allowed the Pakistani team to take the match ball into their dressing room during breaks, to do with as they please. The 80s were a very different time.

@crucial

Siraj missing out in these conditions sucks, but Shami isn't that much of a downgrade either.

Conditions definitely favoring NZ and significantly at that. If this test was to be played anywhere else - Aus, SA, WI, I'd be feeling so much more confident about Indian chances. Asia obviously as well. But England and NZ are the 2 places where the conditions level things off for NZ.

If the ball is darting around and India end up 20/4, thats the ball game then.

That sort of collapse is NZ's best shot at winning this test. Outside of that, I'm not that worried.

@chris-b

Jadeja only sits if he's hurt.

I'm assuming/hoping Virat plays only 5 batsmen along with Ashwin and Jadeja, given the fact that Ashwin isn't injured and the # of leftys in the Kiwi XI.

Question is whether the Indian team play Mohammed Siraj or not - they may have to bench Shami to fit him in, which is very contrary to Virat's loyalty to 'senior' players.

Regardless, there's not much to worry about on the bowling front for India - they will be OK in spite of Virat's selection stupidity, and the outcome of this one-off test primarily rests on the competency of the batting unit. Which for an Indian fan that grew up on decades of Indian teams with cannon fodder for 3rd seamers, is....different.

For all of Shubman Gill's heroics in Australia, both him and Rohit Sharma have obvious weaknesses in their technique that really make it difficult to be optimistic about their chances in 'English' conditions. Gill is a #3 bat who converted to opener, in order to get into the national team. And as good as Che Pujara is, if he's having to deal with 10/2 in both innings, it just sets up the team to fail.

So not too worried about the bowlers, but just hoping that the openers surprise in a good way.

I expect India to have a different opening pair by the end of the 5 test series against England.

@godder From an Indian perspective, I'd love to see NZ pick CDG ahead of Patel or Ravindra.

@Godder said in Indian Cricket Tour of NZ 2020:

Not sure how that's much of a story or why racism was suddenly part of that.

Well according to the article, the rent-a-guard was hassling the viewer after the hip flask question was already resolved. Not sure how reliable the account is, has that vibe of an over-eager student stridently trying to win points in a middle school debate.

@Siam Toygers are usually strong at the u19 level, thanks to some questionable ages, choking spin bowlers, and some focused investment by their board to provide their u19 boys with games and exposure. Shame they don't apply the same level of focus and investment on their FC cricket, but that's that.

Unless NZ has a top order collapse against them, I think they are on their way to the final.

@Chris-B saw this too late! Anyway, Afghans were a typical Afghan team - strong on spin, weak on batting. They actually punched above their weight with the bat I think.

I hope NZ gets past the Bangla toygers and makes it to the final against India - The toygers will be too easy for India to swat aside.

@canefan 2 games in a row where Kiwis gifted it away. Not good to see.

@Hooroo Windies kids indiscipline in batting out the full 50 overs cost them the game.

Watched a bit of the WI-NZ game, as well as the Ind-Aus. Both Aus and NZ teams fought till the end in the face of top order collapses - very good to see the temperament from the kids.

Ind-NZ final looks quite probable, and I think its a 50-50 game - this Indian unit is not nearly as strong as last time - the batting is good, but not great - Jaiswal and Garg are very promising and proficient, but they are not ready for prime-time stars like Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill were. The biggest difference is the bowling - the pace bowlers Tyagi and Akash are not dominant. Decent, but not stand-outs.

Congratulations to the Kiwi u19 boys for pulling off a remarkable win in the QF.

More of the same tonight? Margin of 50 runs or so?

200 on the board, Rohit Sharma fails, No Dhawan, No Hardik Pandya, Virat fails to kick on.

And India get home with an over to spare?

Not looking good. This tour could get ugly fast.

On the plus side, if India wrap up the series early, you guys will get to see Sanju "Rohit Sharma Redux" Samson launch his India career in style.

Good luck to the black caps, will be rooting hard for them.

I had expected an India-NZ final, with India winning - but it just wasn't meant to be for India.

NZ and the Windies are the guys I'd like to see win it if not India. And here we are.

After all these years of regularly making the knock-outs, I really hope the kiwis can manage to finish the job - would hate to see the pompous pommies win it.

Here's hoping Colin Munro is back in the XI and does the haka on England bowlers in the 1st 10 overs.

@No-Quarter Lockie wouldn't, the other 3 would. A team with both Bumrah and Boult in it, with Bhuvi/Shami available, plus the Indian wrist spinners?

Guptill in place of Munro, Lockie in place of CDG - that's a capable Kiwi XI.

Don't go by the results in this series, yes it looks ugly. But other teams are not as formidable as India. I think Kiwis are likely to make semi-final in the WC. Obviously top order needs to make it count - but Guptill, Kane, Ross, I think they can do it more often than not.

Astle is a tempting pick, he can obviously bat. But I think NZ has to pick the leggie that's more likely to get wickets, and Astle looks more of a T20 leggie to me, not a guy who can get that breakthrough against a team that plays spin decent and has a partnership going.

Boult, Henry, Santner, Sodhi, Neesham, Add Lockie or another bowler who you can bank on for 10 quality overs. There's enough batting up top to needlessly pick guys like Munro, CDG. Maybe use Munro against teams with weaker new ball bowlers in a few games in the WC, but not against the quality of Bumrah, Cummins, Rabada, etc.

Fuji apples - that's where its at!

@Siam said in Black Caps v India:

my opinion is that in a discussion involving an impossibly subjective verdict, allocating and inferring a mental shortcoming says more about you than your opinion.
We call it playing the ball and not the man.

Fair point.