Its Summer! - the Fever Cricket Thread. (Part 2)

none of the commentators were saying this. But I thought if you are chopping on that much, combined with Thirimane's chipping out, surely you are getting through your shots quicker than you think? Indicating a slow pitch?

I heard the commentators hinting it was slow yesterday. They were being carefull with their words though. This morning Bracewell said it was variable bounce and holding in the top a bit while Boult said it was slowish tennis bally bounce. Not what you want to hear as a groundsman.

You have to hand it to Sangakkara. A brilliant innings from a brilliant player. Deserves to be talked about in the same breath as Lara, Tendulkar and Ponting if you ask me.

Don't forget Kallis.  

Kallis is in a different category altogether. Him and Sobers are the only two cricketers who are truly complete in every area of the game. 

But then don't forget that Sangakkara was also a wicketkeeper early on in his career and therefore an all rounder in his own right.

Both Kallis and Sanga are hugely underrated - I think it's more a reflection of their relatively quiet personalities both on and off the pitch than any lack of talent. Each are very technically correct batsman who play traditional cricket strokes with little flair and flamboyance but much consistency and effectiveness. 

Watched Kallis in the Big Bash the other night and he had sixty-odd and a strike rate in the very high hundreds but you'd have barely realised he was there... then he opens the bowling and still gets them through in the *mid-high 130's without breaking a sweat. At 39 years young.

*I do have some doubts as to the accuracy of some of the Aussie speed stats lol

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Good partnership - last another session and I might even start to feel cautiously optimistic

Williamson is so measured as a batsman. He always seems in control no matter the situation.

Even after giving up a chance his temperament doesn't change. He's gaining a fair bit of attention around the world. I hope the more he bats the better his conversion rate gets

I think the Halbergs are increasingly losing interest from the public but I voted McCullum for moment of the year. Biased or not I think it's hard to beat.

Vote here

https://www.radiosport.co.nz/whats-on/new-zealands-favourite-sporting-moment/

What a player Williamson is. His average is taking off now too - it's gone from 30 to 45 in the last 2 years. Wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't plateau until somewhere over 50, I really think he is that good. 

Mccullum, Taylor and Williamson all in the same batting lineup for the next couple of seasons is amazing really. 

This is our best team on paper for a long time, maybe ever...

Should of let him get 300.

Better give Watling a mention here too. Very good innings, did he even give up a chance?

Average whilst keeping is up to 42ish, puts him into the top 5 for keepers with 20+ tests I believe.

I had this conversation today and I guess I can see that McCullum is not a guy that settles however you are up 1-0 in the series, you were in a hole and 2 players just dug you out of it, 390 off 110 overs (now 340 off 90) is gettable on a batters wicket that saw 1 wicket today and 10 on the 2 days before that. I think it would have been a smarter move to potentially let Williamson get his 300 and bat them right out of the game. As it it, I think they will finish on 260/4 meaning the declaration was worthless other than robbing Williamson of a potential 300.

they don't really have a chance of winning. It'd take a record innings to do so. Whereas we did. Good on him for declaring so that at least we had a chance to bowl them out on a day 5 pitch. 

That last couple of overs from Craig (and rutherford) give me a lot of hope going into tomorrow. We bowled very well and could have easily had them 3 down. Played and missed numerous times

It's not really in this team's philosophy to bat it out like that. The plan would have changed once we got a sniff given the time left in the test. I highly doubt the series win is in jeopardy and as good as milestones are the two at the crease still have time in their career to achieve them. Getting into a position to win was one thing but there's no way this team settles for that the way they are going. Don't forget they broke a world record too and McCullum's own record at that.

There's also some drizzle due overnight and low cloud tomorrow. Could well suit our boys.

I was thinking this. However, neither of us are Brendan McCullum and there is a reason he's winning test matches. He likes to smash, smash and smash. Makes for a damn good finish. But yeh- wouldn't have minded a declaration mid first session tomorrow. However, who knows what will happen with the pitch and weather tomorrow? 

FIFY

Sangakara is a pure cover driver- I love it and hate it because it happens again and again and you can't stop it.

Be nice if the team could skittle them in 1 day.

I like Baz, but that was a dumb declaration. Would never have happened in the 80s when you never game a sucker a break and test victories were holy. At the very least he should have batted for another 7 overs, scored another 40 runs and that would have meant 100 overs at them and a run rate above 4.00.

I think he still remembers that draw against engalnd at Eden park and how they were down to their last wicket. The difference is Baz you are one nil up in this series.

I won't be impressed if we stuff this up after watching for 5 days.

I'm glad you aren't our test captain AP.

A chance at a huge world record, big huge centuries to both the guys and Sri Lanka completely played out of the series. This gives them a sniff. I guess that's aggressive test captaincy, but thinking about the big partnerships of the last three days it's also quite risky.

I reckon declaring at that stage was the right thing to do - we've set a target which is much bigger than any that's been successfully chased at this ground, and we've given ourselves enough time to get the second new ball at the end of today if we need it. We've got two of the best swing bowlers in the world to come at them, and by giving them this much time to bat we've put them in a situation where they might think they can get the score, and therefore are more likely to get out going for it than if they just shut up shop and tried to play out for the draw. Sure Sri Lanka might pull off an unlikely chase and win but I'd much rather see us trying to win every game we play than being comfortable playing out draws so we can get series victories (at home at least).

Looking at the weather and the overnight rain, I reckon we could be on for a later start but the conditions are going to be tough for SL. Lots of swing, pitch may have a bit of juice in it depending on how much wind was around last night to get the rain under the covers.

Anyone know if the start has been delayed this morning? I took the day off work and I'm getting ready to head down but I don't want to get there and find out the first ball isn't until midday or something

Doesn't sound like there's gonna be much of a delay if any CT. Enjoy the day!

Haha cheers. Great start!

Great start - if we can somehow get Sanga before lunch it'll be game on... hmmmm... I may have a migraine coming on...

Got to feel a bit sorry for sanga on that one but great for us.

On another note I've been on holiday and missed the start. Why was Bracewell picked over Wagner? Just seems slightly harsh cause Wagner hasn't done badly recently but Bracewell had been good too.

110/5 at lunch, both Sanga' and Mathews in the hut... we have two sessions (weather permitting) to take 5 wickets and win the series 2-zip.

What can't Williamson do?