Its Summer! - the Fever Cricket Thread.

done

Done Barry. A worthy cause unlike that other Kony bollocks.

Mark Gillespie back in for the first time sice 2009. He has been bowling well. He's more agressive than the other options so I wonder if they want him to intimidate the Africans. Not sure he's the full quid though

I really hope they take Nethula into the test. Don't see Gillespie or Arnel doing any damage, and Ellis (to me) is mediocre both with the bat and ball.

By the looks of the pitch today they won't be playing an extra spinner.

Then i'm buggered if I know who to pick as Southee's replacement in this squad.

I think it'd have to be BA, knows the pitch well, is the time of bowler who bowls best on a road.

In awful umpiring news, complete cop-out in the ND v wton game, fantastic ending set up, 3 overs left, 1 wicket needed for ND, and the umpires go off for bad light without a cloud in the sky. Very frustrated

Apart from the one the sun went behind right before the umpires took the light metres out.

Thats frustrating. Surely they'd use a bit of common sense. Though at the same time, common sense is what made it inconsistent in the past, which also frustrated people. They can't win really.

Gillespie will be in the 11 - straight swap for southee.

I agree that he probably will be, otherwise why bother bringing him in, I just don't know if thats the right move.    But then, I want a 6th batsman or at worst a batting allrounder to act as 4th seamer (*cough* Franklin *cough*) so what would I know?

This is the pitch for the next test as it looks today:



I don't think we will be playing 2 spinners

Yep like I said yesterday.

I'm a bit worried it might be a bit too green tbh. Could be a three day test match. We'll see though, two days of good weather and some intensive work can make a huge difference.

*looks at pitch*

*lumps on us getting skittled for under 100 in either innings*

That is some green grass two days out from the test!

can be browned off pretty quickly if they get some sun up there. green or brown we are still going to be killed, we can't play spin we struggle against fast bouncy deliveries.

On the other hand, the only test matches I see us win have been on ridiculously green wickets acting as a leveller.

Very dry hot day today so will be drying the pitch out some

What's the air temp and wind direction up there today?

21deg, NWers

If the pitch browns up a bit I think it might be a good track, and today's weather should at least dry some of that grass out. I'm with Tegal, a seaming pitch levels the contest and gives us a greater chance of taking 20 wickets

Yeah good drying conditions. Different clays dry at different rates but I'd be interested to know the moisture content %'s because that means more than the colour of the grass. They may well get it brown but if the clay in the top doesn't dry enough it will still seam around a bit. That can be a problem later in summer/autumn when the tempretures drop a bit. Not 100% sure about the Wakari clay though

Heading along for all 5 (likely to be 3) days, should be good to watch (mainly the South Africans)

Saffas won the toss, we're batting. Hope it's not too ugly.

Uh oh...losing the toss wasn't part of the plan

Boult out, didn't expect that.

Is anyone watching?

Cricinfo

Have it on, but wanted info on how the pitch is looking and behaving.

Nicol out.el grapadura2012-03-15 10:52:30

Radio Sport not talking about the pitch much, raving on about air conditions and what makes a ball swing. Makes me think the pitch can't be too green.

+1

Guptill goooooooone. I'm having deja vu.

Guptill gone now, need a big partnership from McCullum and Taylor now.

I'm listening to radio sport too. But yeah you can bet Doully and co will be talking about the surface a lot.

Good session for us I think. If we had won the toss and chosen to bat I would have said we were 20/30 runs short but getting put in and only being two down is acceptable. Still need big runs out of these two post-lunch though.

Yeah, Cricinfo says he has a swollen right hand, any indication how bad it is?

Dissapointing that McCullum fell to such an obvious trap - two back, bowl short and hope he puts it down deep backward square's throat. Really average. Why play the shot in the air with two back?

Another bloody middling score from both Taylor and McCullum. Our batsman HAVE to go on when they get starts. Far to many 30-60's.

Edit: Especially if we are to continue with this nonsense of having 4 specialist seamers. aitkenmike2012-03-15 16:59:01