Tag: Kane Williamson

Cricket: Southee doubtful for Black Caps at Basin

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New Zealand’s 2014 was uncharacteristically positive.  Sri Lanka’s was decent too.  Now, in a World Cup year the focus is less on the five day format and more on the one day international showpiece starting in February.  That shouldn’t stop the teams from taking the second test at the Basin Reserve seriously though.  Sri Lanka need a win to continue their solid overseas record of late and draw the series, while New Zealand will look to continue their momentum after the first up win in Christchurch.

Whatever the motivation for this match up, it’s likely to be played on a very green wicket, with early indications suggesting this pitch will do plenty early on.

The Last Time These Two Met

New Zealand’s first up win confirmed their rise to genuine world beaters.  A blistering 2014, which saw them record 5 test wins, has set the tone for their immediate future and for their World Cup chances.  The Black Caps dominated throughout the Christchurch first test; Brendon McCullum wrestling away the early initiative and despite some second innings stoic resistance from Sri Lanka, Trent Boult and Tim Southee finished it off.

The Teams

New Zealand (likely): 1 Tom Latham, 2 Hamish Rutherford, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5  Brendon McCullum (capt), 6 James Neesham, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Mark Craig, 9 Neil Wagner, 10 Tim Southee/Doug Bracewell, 11 Trent Boult

Tim Southee is under an injury cloud after suffering a minor ankle problem in training.  Doug Bracewell is on standby and didn’t play the latest round of domestic cricket in NZ in what could be a strong indiction he will play.  Corey Anderson is fit again but won’t push out Nessham after his crucial runs and wickets in game one.

Sri Lanka (likely): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3  Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Lahiru Thirimanne,  5 Angelo Mathews (capt),  6 Dinesh Chandimal, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Rangana Herath/Tharindu Kaushal, 9 Dhammika Prasad/Nuwan Pradeep, 10 Shaminda Eranga, 11 Suranga Lakmal

Sri Lanka could make any number of changes to their side.  Heath could be fit and will walk into the side as the third best test bowler in the World.  Danish Chandimal may play instead of Niroshan Dickwella, and lastly, Dhammika Prasad’s place may be under threat from Nuwan Pradeep.

The Key Players

Mark Craig – Easily the most improved member of the Black Caps side.  Craig may be a late bloomer but he’s certainly making a great impression in his first season of international cricket.  He’s averaging 45 with the bat, is a sound slip fielder, and has already registered a five wicket bag and ten wicket bag in just seven matches.  Look for him to continue to contribute at the Basin Reserve.

Dimuth Karunaratne – How good was the little left-hander in game one?  Facing a stern Boult and Southee test the opener showed his fellow top order batsmen how to cope with the unfamiliar conditions by playing late and deciding in advance his best areas to score.  If Sri Lanka are any chance in Wellington they need to prevent losing early wickets, something Karunaratne can help achieve.

The Odds*

New Zealand – $1.73

Draw – $5

Sri Lanka – $3.25

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Betstar.

The Prediction

The weather looks good for all five days and with the rate that modern day teams score their runs draws are few and far between these days.  The $5 odds are tempting, and Sri Lanka did bat for long periods in their second innings.  That said, we’re picking 10-13 wickets on day one and New Zealand to win by an innings.

Cricket: Williamson’s runs and Henry’s wickets deliver NZ win

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New Zealand finally settled the long running debate over who was having the better tour between them and Pakistan.  After a tied test series, a tied T20 series, and the first four one layers also being split between the teams, the Black Caps’ 68 run win gave them bragging rights for the flight home.

The final one layer at Abu Dhabi was one of the more one-sided out of any of the games the two played.  In friendly batting conditions New Zealand’s middle order mainstay of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor combined to do the bulk of the scoring.  Williamson completed his eight half-century from his previous ten innings (one of the others was 46) and Taylor made a measured 88 not out to see New Zealand through to 275/4 from their 50 overs.  The wickets in hand suggested New Zealand could have pushed on to a bigger total but without the likes of Brendon McCullum and Corey Anderson to clear the rope, 275 had to suffice.

Dean Brownlie continue his puzzling run of form.  His last few bats have yielded 47, 42, and 34 to indicate a level of comfort at the top of the order that could help solve NZ’s World Cup dilemma, but it has frustrated some that he couldn’t completely anchor the innings and score large totals himself.

As Pakistan set about their chase to win the series they immediately found themselves in early trouble when Matt Henry and Anton Devcich reduced them to 38/3.  Unfortunately, the Pakistanis could not find the consistency and momentum to get anywhere near the target – Henry in particular compounding their woes with 5-30.  Henry has already shown a tendency to take bags of wickets – this is his third fourth wicket in just six games – and like Brownlie is now a strong favourite to feature in the reduced World Cup squad.

Haris Sohail top scored for Pakistan, but as has been the case for much of the series, the top order left too much for him and Afridi to do.  Save for game three, the top order for Pakistan just haven’t been able to find form at he same time, with early wickets always curtailing the chances of big scores.  Ahmed Shehzad was the exception in this one, however he wasn’t able to recreate his game three knock and scored only a half century of his own in the disappointing chase.

Cricket continues soon for both sides.  New Zealand host Sri Lanka in 2 tests, 5 ODI’s, and 1 T20 before hosting the rest of the World when the World Cup begins in mid-Feb.  Pakistan on the other hand host Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in two short sharp encounters.

New Zealand 275 for 4 (Williamson 97, Taylor 88*) beat Pakistan 207 (Sohail 65, Shehzad 54, Henry 5-30) by 68 runs

Cricket: Seamers and Williamson help NZ level series

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New Zealand broke their Sharjah duck overnight after defeating Pakistan by 4 wickets to square the one day international series.  Having lost their previous ten matches in Sharjah, the Black Caps needed a calm Kane Williamson – who scored his sixth half century in his last seven matches – to see them over the line.  Chasing 253 for victory the pursuit got off to the best possible start when Anton Devcich (58) and Dean Brownlie (47) eased the concerns hanging over the openers to put on 103 for the first wicket.  Despite the start, New Zealand still needed their captain Williamson’s nous to get them hoe in the 46th over.  Amongst a middle order collapse that saw Ross Taylor miss out on a fourth consecutive hundred, Williamson held firm and after watching several middle order colleagues throw wickets away, found able support from Luke Ronchi (36).  Ronchi’s rapid cameo helped to ease any lingering doubt in the New Zealand camp and quickly put the result beyond doubt as the gap between us needed and balls remaining widened.

Williamson shouldn’t take all the praise however.  The Black Cap’s seamers also played their part taking all ten wickets in Pakistan’s innings.  Matt Henry and Mitchell McClenaghan were the chief destroyers albeit in different circumstances.  Henry (4-45) took the bulk of his wickets at the top of the order helping dismiss four of the top six and reducing Pakistan to 20/3 at one stage.  McClenaghan, notwithstanding the early wickets of Younis Khan (he got him twice, once off a no-ball) took his wickets at the end of the innings to finish with 3-56.

Pakistan will rue their inability to kick on from handy starts.  Of their batsmen to cross 14 (there were 7 of them) only Mohammad Hafeez (76) passed 50.  That left Shahid Afridi (27 from 14) with too much to do, and while he made a decent fist of it striking big blows off both Henry and Milne, he couldn’t sustain the attack and joined the others in failing to see out the allotted overs.

Haris Sohail was once again a big plus for the number four ranked ODI team with wickets and runs.  He made 33 and took 3-48 in another fine all-round display.  His efforts superseded Corey Anderson’s efforts as New Zealand’s all-rounder worries worsened, and helped mitigate the impact from Hafeez’s bowling ban.

A quick turnaround sees Sharjah host game three on Sunday.  Of particular note are the potential injuries to Umar Gul and Misbah-ul-Haq.

New Zealand 255 for 6 (Williamson 70, Devcich 58, Haris 3-48) beat Pakistan 252 (Hafeez 76, Misbah 47, Henry 4-45) by four wickets

Cricket: Openers and all-rounders the concerns for Black Caps

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The Black Caps are in familiar territory.  After losing the opening the one-dayer they find themselves behind for the third time in the tour.  That’s not the only familiarity of the NZ situation either.  The Black Caps also face dilemmas over their openers and their all-rounders.  Both are of equal concern; causing headaches for the selectors as the look to settle on their best lineup for a World Cup that some (Kevin Pieterson included) are expecting them to do very well at.

The Black Cap’s average ODI opening partnership over the last two years is the worst of test playing nations at 18.36 with a run rate of 4.17 and highest stand of 66.  Next worst is the West Indies average partnership of 29.57.   That’s because they have tried a whole host of different names. Players like Rob Nicol, Jesse Ryder, Luke Ronchi, Hamish Rutherford, Tom Latham and BJ Watling have all had a go, with limited success.  While Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill look set to be the openers for the Black Caps at the World Cup both are unavailable for this match and there’s some serious concern for the form of Anton Devcich and Dean Brownlie.

Also suffering from massive a form slump is Jimmy Neesham.  The military medium paced Dunedin all-rounder hasn’t scored over 18 runs in any of his last 11 innings’, in all formats.  With Corey Anderson out concussed, Neesham needs to do much more to cement a spot in the top Black Caps XI.  Especially considering Kane Williamson can return to the bowling crease.

Pakistan have less worries but will be looking for runs from their top order.

The Last Time These Two Met

Pakistan won a nail-biter that they never should have.  The Black Caps struggled (with a soft ball) to dislodge the well-set pair of Haris Sohail and Shahid Afridi.  The pair’s partnership ensuring a 1-0 series lead.

The Teams

Pakistan (likely): 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Haris Sohail, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Shahid Afridi, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Mohammad Irfan

New Zealand (likely): 1 Anton Devcich, 2 Dean Brownlie, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Latham, 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Adam Milne/Matt Henry

The Key Players

Haris Sohail – The maturity shown in his match-winning knock in game one was a pleasure to watch.  He paced his innings s o nicely it was surprising that he had made his way to 85* by the end of it, without a shot in anger.  For a player that makes so many first class runs perhaps the first ODI knock will be the catalyst for further International success.

Daniel Vettori – Vettori did it all in game one.  He made runs, took wickets and also chimed in with a stunning catch.  Proving that age is no barrier, the left armer turned, sprinted, and clung on to an epic catch to dismiss Misbah, a catch that should have set NZ on their way to victory.  Look for Vettori to be treated more cautiously in game two.  Most teams prefer to see out his ten overs for 30 runs and score big of the others – Pakistan will catch on to this too.

The Odds*

Pakistan – $1.57

New Zealand – $2.40

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Tom Waterhouse.

The Prediction

We have one eye on the result here and one eye on whether Ross Taylor can score four consecutive ODI hundreds.   Tom Waterhouse has him at just $4.25 to top score, but we don’t think he’ll get there.  We also don’t think the Black Caps have the game winners to get them over the line either.  Pakistan by 4 wickets or 40 runs.

Cricket: Hit and Giggle gives NZ youngsters a chance

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Resting and rotation are sacrilegious words in New Zealand sport after disastrous Rugby World Cup efforts in 2003 and 2007. However, the New Zealand cricket team has opted for exactly that by resting Brendon McCullum, Trent Boult and Tim Southee. This has immediately seen their odds worsen amongst bookmaekrs. Rotation does though allow for a lot of tinkering and testing. New Zealand will get to check the progress of both speed merchant Adam Milne and beard merchant Anton Devcich who have been drafted into the squad for those leaving.

Pakistan will not underestimate their opposition. They too are looking to incorporate new faces into their squad. Although these aren’t exactly ‘new faces’ rather than old faces rejoining the squad for the first time. Umar Gul has been injured for long periods, Wahab Riaz returns, as does Ahmed Shehzad who was last sighted suffering a frightening head injury.

The transition from test cricket to T20 cricket will be even more fascinating for the inclusion of a host of new faces.

The Last Time These Two Met

Notwithstanding the recent drawn test series, the sides most recently met in a T20 cricket match in 2012 during the ICC World Twenty20. In that game Pakistan won by 13 runs.   They also lea the overall head to head 6-3.

The Teams

Pakistan (likely): 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Awais Zia, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Saad Nasim, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 7 Shahid Afridi (capt), 8 Anwar Ali/Umar Gul, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Raza Hasan, 11 Mohammad Irfan

New Zealand (likely): 1 Kane Williamson (capt), 2 James Neesham, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Corey Anderson, 6 Luke Ronchi (wk), 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Mitchell McClenaghan, 11 Adam Milne

The Key Players

Umar Akmal – At his best Akmal is a destructive middle order dasher capable of taking any international cricket attack apart. Conversely, at his worst he is terrible. He has failed to register a half-century in his last 11 first class innings. Pakistan will be hoping the best comes out against NZ as it did on test debut when he scored 129 and 75.

Kane Williamson – Captaining the side in McCullum’s absence will be a challenging prospect for the top order batsmen, but with former captains Daniel Vettori, Ross Taylor and Kyle Mills to help out, he should have all the support he needs. Williamson will be hoping the leadership doesn’t get in the way of his run scoring that peaked at the recent Champions League T20 Cricket Tournament.

The Odds*

Pakistan – $1.62

New Zealand – $2.25

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Ladbrokes Australia.

The Prediction

This is crazy good money for New Zealand. The Kiwi’s are quality limited overs crickets. The following are all reasons why we’re predicting them to prevail: fielding, Vettori’s economical four overs, Six hitting from Taylor, Anderson, Neesham, Guptill and Ronchi.

Actually put money on NZ to hit the most sixes ($1.83) too.

Cricket: New Zealand secure surreal record-breaking win

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In a match delayed and deeply affected by the loss of Phil Hughes, New Zealand played with the kind of freedom that coincided with the feeling that there is more to life than cricket.   Led by their imaginative and aggressive captain Brendon McCullum, the Black Caps played their cricket without pressure, rather with fun as the predominant aim.

The result was a startling display of record breaking batting feats, even after losing a crucial toss and being well behind after the first days play. New Zealand’s innings and 80 run win was built around a monumental first innings effort of 690. The total, New Zealand’s best ever, featured massive hundreds to McCullum (202) and Kane Williamson (192), and half-centuries to Ross Taylor (50), Corey Anderson, Mark Craig (65), and Tim Southee (50). It was an emphatic response to Pakistan’s first innings of 351, which for all intents and purposes should have been even better considering their position of 281-3 at the end of the first day’s cricket.

The returning Mohammad Hafeez, who scored 197, spearheaded Pakistan’s effort when the majority of his colleagues fell for the guise of left-armer Mark Craig. Craig’s 7-94 is comfortably his best bowling figures in Test cricket; the figures also overshadowed the return of Daniel Vettori, who managed a solitary wicket in each innings.

New Zealand’s emphatic response to losing the first test and drawing the second was to pepper the boundary while scoring at just under 5 runs per over in their first dig (in fact, NZ managed their largest number of innings boundaries in their short test cricket history). McCullum’s positivity was undoubtedly at the heart of that response (he managed 21 4’s and 11 6’s in his knock) and obviously contagious amongst the other players as they began the task of taking ten wickets on the flat deck.

Trent Boult was the catalyst for the ten Pakistan wickets that fell on day four and completed NZ’s victory. His opening spell of 3-19 was menacing as it was skillful and removed any chance Pakistan had of holding out for a draw. Only Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed offered anything resembling fight, and even there efforts include luck and endeavour rather than resistance.

The cricket test will be remembered not necessarily for the fantastic individual performances that were abundant in each of the teams turns at bat, but for the spirit in which it was played. Throughout the game, very few bouncers were bowled, wickets were not celebrated, and tributes flowed for a fallen superstar.

New Zealand 690 (McCullum 202, Williamson 192, Rahat 4-99) beat Pakistan 351 (Hafeez 197, Craig 7-94) and 259 (Shafiq 137, Boult 4-38) by an innings and 80 runs.