Zimbabwe just beat Bangladesh in Bangladesh. Their first test win in 5 years and their first overseas test win in 13!

Well done Zimbo's!

Ben Foakes long awaited test debut for England has also gone swimmingly  against SL as he and Sam Curran (yes him again - 48 this time) salvaged the England innings to a respectable 8/320 odd. He is on 80 odd and not out. He got the opportunity because Bairstow was injured in the warm up. 

Foakes is reputed to be the best gloveman in England. So Bairstow may have to finally give up the gloves when he returns.

Have a chuckle when I have a look at the Pom lineup.. Stokes, Woakes and Foakes.

I am always of the opinion you play your best keeper for Tests.

Foakes is a quality bat as well.

But that will give them Rory Burns opening (who is a keeper), Buttler, Bairstow and Foakes now. 

Having tried Pope earlier in the year (also a keeper). It is positively Sri Lankan!

Foakes with a century on debut. 

Really pleased for the lad. I called for his inclusion ahead of Pope during the English summer - well this is a magnificent debut for a young wicket keeper.

Ben Stokes will need to do something in this match if Bairstow is fit for the next test.

Anderson with a wicket in his first over. England is on top here! SL 7/1 - England all out for 342.

Curran and Anderson are swinging the new ball in SL

SL 14/2 one wicket each to the swingers.

SL will be hoping that the keys run out of the bowl in this soon in this swinger's party.

SL 40/4 - England havn't been this on top in SL since they sent missionaries there.

Ha ha!

England declare 6 down, 461 runs in front, with Sri Lanka needing to make this many runs to win in their last innings.

Good to read about Zimbabwe winning in Bangladesh! Australia must be the worst team in Asia with current results.

England beat Sri lanka in Galle by 211 runs.

England 9-274, with Curran 59 not out.

Last wicket stand of 50 plus from Curran and Anderson.

Black Caps are holding their own in the UAE. Well done cuzzies.

Paddles will be beeming this morning after his Black Caps snatched victory from defeat from the Paks overnite. Now win the second and series BCs.

Very happy with Ajaz showing the way to the team as to how to bowl in Asia. Bowls like a carbon copy of Ravindra Jadeja. Flat, fast, accurate, lots of side spin from the seam, not much in the way of over spin, just drives the ball into the pitch. Not sure he'll be much chop outside of Asia - but its brilliant to have him around for touring there. 

NZ has massive injury problems with Santner and Tastle out injured. And Sodhi has to be dropped. I doubt NZ will win the next one if Sodhi is retained. He took 3 wickets in this test, 2 were from full tosses, and the third was from a overpitched half volley that the batsman pushed out to and lollipoped up to a cover fieldman. Terrible test bowling. Just too many short and full balls, and all these endless full tosses are inexcusable. Sure - he got two wickets with them, but he also gave up a lot of runs. He is not a test level bowler, he is a limited overs bowler.

Fortunately Wagner bowled beautifully. Did 13 overs on the trot at full steam in the desert. Damn impressive. And his E/R over 30 overs in this test - less than 2 runs an over. Not bad for a guy who bowls so many bouncers. 

KW's captaincy was excellent. He used in out fields to great effect - attacking and cutting off runs. He pulled Sodhi from the attack on a dustbowl because he was leaking runs and let Wagner bowl through to the end despite having Boult who excelled in the first innings. I think he's going to be a better captain than McCullum. And what's more - he leads from the front with own batting. Now if the selectors could just give him the right team...

Good read, mate.

I was told the Poms won the second test against  Sri Lanka !

Two away wins in a row!

England team for the third test appears to be

1 Jennings 2 Burns 3 Bairstow 4 Root 5 Stokes 6 Buttler 7 Foakes+ 8 Ali 9 Rashid 10 Leach 11 Broad

Curran is injured and Anderson rotated out. England seems to have some real selection headaches now of who to leave out. Leach appears to be the premier spinner. Ali has bowled well against India and SL. And Woakes will return when fit one would think.

Still pretty amazing Curran is not able to secure his spot when he turns so many losing position into game winning chances for England, so so often. He has the happy knack of making runs when the batsmen on both teams are struggling.

Pak A beat the England Lions in their unofficial test match.

New Pak paceman who has been doiminating ODI  and T20i already, Shaheen Afridi just blew England away with 7 cheap wickets. This is some serious pace stocks Pakistan now have. It is like an arsenal. Anyway - he will he in the test team soon I am sure. Look out for him, he's tall, left arm, 140+ and skilled.  This was a desert pitch. Caused the NZ ODI batsmen no end of trouble.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/19019/scorecard/1165040/england-lions-vs-pakistan-a-only-unofficial-test-eng-lions-in-uae-2018-19

Just imagine Abbas, Amir, Ali, Afridi vs Rabada, Steyn and Ngidi in a few months time. Juicy! The two best seam attacks in the world going at it on sporty Safrican pitches.  Pak are still short on new batting talent, though. But their allrounders they needed for limited overs have already come through.

NZA with some spirited tail end hitting had the better of Ind A in their first drawn unofficial test match.

The second A test is underway now, and it is official that Will Young having moved to opener just for this series, is now the next best batsman not in the NZ test team currently for any and every position.

Hitting 49 in the first "A test" he is currently 70* with the team collapsing around him from the get-go.

http://scoring.nzc.nz/livescoring/match38a9345b-4b88-4c4f-a3a0-cac8e4bcfd7e/scorecard.aspx

Don't know why Aus is not selecting their replacements from A games and relies on Shield cricket. Seems a tad silly to me. Nevermind, NZ gets the benefit of the A tour that Aus did not want.

Of course CA is going to choose our national side on the basis of superior Shield performances. We always have and should always do so. In addition strong A performances lead to national selection. That was how Steve Smith was returned to test cricket if memory serves.  

So OZ should have been playing India A at present?  I wanna see an A tri series sometime. matter of arranging the schedule. Will have to be in Oz's off season as CA will never allow our S Shield  to be compromised. Nor should it. It remains the strongest domestic comp in world cricket.. or does that honor belong to India's Ranji Trophy.

Imo, noone should invite Australia into the A series world if Australia is not prepared to reciprocate and host at appropriate venues and times itself. It is just not in the interests of England et al to do so. It would simply give Australia an unfair advantage. Who wants to give that away for nothing back? Pakistan, England, India, NZ, WI are all prepared to sacrifice something at domestic level to let the A system work. If Aus just wants the benefit and not the burden of A tour tests, they'd all be fools to let CA participate in a meaningful way as a "free rider". I mean CA would be rational to try for it, but I'd be disappointed if the Boards acquiesced to that selfishness. Let Australia select from domestic and shield as they always have and always should  do so, and everyone else who has left domestic cricket to feed the A teams may make international test selections based on the basis of A games - that all seems fair to me.

A tours are about mutual reciprocity for mutual advantage. People sacrifice their domestic scene and let foerigners play in typical conditions which will help them in the future should they make the test teams. It is not about 'free riding' and taking the benefit of a tour but not hosting in real season. 

As for the strongest domestic comp? That's a very bold claim given Australia's away record of late (Bangladesh, England, SL, SA, UAE and Ind all spring to mind). But if you think so - sure make this claim. But Ranji? India also has the Duleep and IPL as well which are at a much higher level than the Ranji... India without a doubt has the most international quality cricketers of any single nation right now. Their squad of intl ready talent is huuuuge. Their A captain has a test tripple century scored against England...(Perhaps he fluked it - and he's a long way from ever getting a recall as I count 12 current intl Indian batsmen ahead of him). They're not all Kohli standard, but they have people on the sidelines much better than are wearing intl shirts for the members of other full member test nations in many formats... Why? Number 1 in tests, number 2 in ODI and t20i - what are they getting right if the Ranji is so wrong?

The only position India is weak in right now is seam AR - H Pandya is the only one they have. They have 3 spin allrounders, another 3 spinners, and 5 seamers not including the pie chucking Ahmed that somehow has started appearing in their teams - Idk why.

You're entitled to defend the Shield from A level cricket. Like I said earlier - I believe this is why CA has not been integrated into the A world - because it prefers the Shield.... So hopefully the Shield delivers for you guys...

This is what I count just off the top of my head:

Spinners: Chahal, Kuldeep, Mishra, 
Seamers: Yadav,  Kumar, Bumrah, Shami and the intl joke I Sharma bowled beautifully in SA and England this year with a 21 average for the year thus far
Batsmen: Shaw, Vijay, Dhawan, Sharma, Rahul, Kohli, Vijay, Pujara, Rayudu, Rahane, K Jedhav (handy spin too) with Vihari knocking the door down.
Keepers: Karthik, Pant, Saha, Dhoni (though I really think he is finished)
Spin AR: K Pandya, Jadeja, Ashwin,
Seam AR: H Pandya

Not even including the likes of Nair, Ahmed, Raina nor Pandey... It is easy to see why Kohli so often gets selection wrong...

CA may well defend its home bastion again this year in tests (not ODI), but I don't see how on picking random Shield player Australia will chase this team down globally to number 1 for quite some time... Labuschange, Harris, Bancroft - who are these guys? They just appear to be randoms drawn out of a hat... Pakistan (both formats) and England (tests) look to be on the up and up, though. The latter is remarkable since they only have 3 batsmen, of which are 2 noobs, 1 sucks at home, and then there's Joe Root... They're hilarious!

Let Australia select from domestic and shield as they always have and always should  do so, and everyone else who has left domestic cricket to feed the A teams may make international test selections based on the basis of A games - that all seems fair to me. [quote]
Players who have left domestic cricket would be far too inferior for what was needed at A level imho. Too old for a start. Some blokes going around in the second tier domestic red ball comp.. we call the Futures League.. could at a pinch make a fair A side. But CA chooses our A side to play India from our best performed Shield players outside of the Test side. We could cobble together our best Under 19 players and one or two older blokes that have left the Shield or having trouble breaking into it. In additrion, our CAX1 squads, made up mostly of NPS scholars have been competitive against touring teams so they should acquit themselves ok against an A side. Question is will the other A nations accept this?

You misinterpreted me - by everyone else i meant Eng, Pak, Ind, WI, NZ et al... You would hardly choose those who left domestic cricket into the international team now :P

Your suggestion is why tour games have been cut back to a bare minimum and just treated like a outdoor net session. :P

Just imagine how you'd feel if CA sent an A team to England and they gave you a Lancashire League team to play against... "Sorry - clashed with the NatWest Blast and County schedule this weekend".. It just defeats the purpose and the entire point of it all...

Your suggestion is why tour games have been cut back to a bare minimum and just treated like a outdoor net session. 
Just imagine how you'd feel if CA sent an A team to England and they gave you a Lancashire League team to play against...[quote]

In another lifetime the touring side played the strongest Shield sides. A week must have been put a side from the SS to accomodate this very popular fixture. There were three if memory serves prior to the First Test.. or was it two prior and one during. How about the Poms tours way back when our tourists played every county side before and during the tour. That was about 30 sides. That was in Bradman's time. Over the intervening years the matches declined to the ludicrous situation we have today with our blokes playing two second division sides.. usually minus their best players. At least we provide  touring teams with players that have the potential play for Australia one day. Talented and hungry.. not stale like has been county pros.

Not that I am putting these blokes in the same category as those greats.. but you could well ask who were Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist when they were first chosen for a Baggy Green cap. Unless you were an avid cricket tragic in those days you did not have much idea who was making a name for themselves at domestic level. I was familiar with the Waugh brothers as I wrote for the Bankstown Torch..their local paper. They were streets ahead of anyone their own age and when they were chosen to play for Bankstown in Sydney Premier Cricket they were also too good for seasoned pros. As for the three you alluded to.. Labu I knew nothing about until late last year.. Bancroft played in the under19 WC in 2012.. Harris may have attended the Academy. 

It is my understanding that Ponting was followed as a school kid after Tasmania Cricket had to change all sorts of youth and junior rules because he wasn't getting out...

As for Steve Waugh - despite debuting in 1985 he took until the 1989 Ashes to get fan acceptance - and even then he was still in and out until 1992 or so? There was 1990/91 for his brother - and I think it happened again later...

But this isn't India's talent list - this list is India's current international squad!!!! I included no A players, nor Pandey nor Raina. I didn't even include Ahmed because I think he sucks. This is literally their talent pool for picking ODI and test teams from right now... They have more intl ready talent than anyone. I didn't even include Iyer who averages over 40 after 6 ODI's (probably because I forgot about him as him and Shaw are being billed as the next generation...)

Between the IPL, the Duleep, the A tours and all their intl games each year - India has assembled a mass of true intl level quality players. By contrast - excluding Saffir eligibility timers: NZ has one intl quality batsman not in the side, and arguably one in the team who should not be there...

England has no batting reserves* - at all... All rounders and wicket keepers - they got plenty...

Safrica's batting reserves appear light. And with Amla's decline and ABdV's retirment - problematic... I think they're one min if not two short now in their best test team unlesss some star debutante steps up.

WI are a batsman short in their main teams at least in Powell. And this is giving Chase, S Hope, Hetmeyer and Braithwaite a lot of generous credit...

SL and Bangladesh seem to be carrying spuds - Mahumudullah as captain of the Bangas - what is his playing role? - but in fairness to SL - I just don't follow their players enough to pass fair comment. I mean I follow Chandimal and Mathews, but most of the new names I know nothing about. Its been a long time since Saama, Jaya, Sanga, Tirrii, Dilshan - and you could see depth by who was left out. Now I don't.

Eng has Hales in odi, but they have no test spares at all... And Jennings has only ever looked good in Asia so far..

England 7-300 against Sri Lanka.

Stumps 7-312.

Bairstow made a century.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/18602/scorecard/1140387/sri-lanka-vs-england-3rd-test-eng-in-sl-2018-19

England well on top in a dustbowl it would appear. Bairstow with a hundred, but then in the press conference says he wants the wicket keeping back. 

His candor is great and all - but he's basically saying to Foakes - I do not want you in the team...England needs a number 3, they already have 3 quality wicket keepers.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/25353977/jonny-bairstow-hits-back-critics-emotional-hundred-wants-gloves-back-too



The English guys need to get used to this - they have too many players who now have claims to a spot:

This year - S Curran, Foakes, Buttler and Leech have squeezed into Ali, Stokes, Woakes, That's 7 people. Now 2 openers. And Root. Bairstow. Anderson. Broad. That's 13 not including Rashid. The simple truth is people will often now be left out.  Curran has been an incredible match winner for England... 

Leech, Woakes, Stokes, Curran and Ali are in competition for 2 spots I think. 1 Jennings 2 Burns 3 Bairstow 4 Root 5 Stokes 6 Buttler 7 Foakes+ 8 Ali/Curran/Woakes 9 Leech 10 Broad 11 Anderson.
England has a selection squeeze big time

I have far more idea of what the Australian test team will look like for the next Ashes than what the English team is going to look like in the West Indies. And I don't believe Stokes is a certainty any more, nor Ali... 5 Buttler 6 Foakes 7 Curran 8 Woakes  9 Leach 10 Broad 11 Anderson

Okay as I observed recently, 2018 ha been a year for the bowlers. But try this for size, right now the average per wicket for the year is 25.94!!!!!!

This is the lowest it has been for 50 years right now.

It will climb a bit I imagine with the Aus v India tests  likely to be played on roads, and NZ will be slaughtering Sri Lanka before the end of the year most likely on roads as well. But this is a drastic drop as bowlers have cashed in, especially in SA, Eng, UAE, WI, SL, Bangla, IND...

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2015/engine/records/averages/batting_bowling_by_team.html?class=1;id=2018;type=year

Buggar A comps bring on the real thing.. Test cricket.. 10 tests annually is nowhere near sufficient to sate this purist's appetite.

Sri Lanka had circa 100 runs to win, with England needing three wickets for a clean sweep of a three Test series.

Shah has reinstated your Black Caps back to earth Paddles. All out 90. 

I'm not sure the Black Caps ever left earth, but he sliced straight the Black Caps. Tbf, this collapse was rather predictable, and I did do so before the start of the day's play on cricforum. 

NZ were epic fools for playing an unchanged XI. As I said on here before the second test, Sodhi had to be dropped and replaced by a finger spinner, and elsewhere I said Will Young should come in for a lengthened batting order. Hopefully he is on the first plane over there right now. I hate being right at times.

Selectors and their "don't change a winning team mentality" is stupid. If a team wins despite glaring faults, remedy the faults so as to keep winning...

Still your BCs made a good first of the second innings. Showed real character to comeback from that humiliation.

Team needed more batting and less Sodhi. I called it before the match.

NZC Selectors are dumb.

Took ten wickets in a day

Poms win three test series against Sri Lanka, in Sri Lanka, 3-0.

That is a turn up for the books. Stokes is evidently getting plenty of praise. He did not score all that many runs but the Lankans are saying that he pulled off some vital plays in the field and  took some vital wickets. Always said he is better suited to the shorter formats. From what I heard and I did watch a little.. their spin pair of Leach and Rashid were the driving force behind the wins. That and the huge loss of spin maestro Herath early in the series.

Wow that is harsh on Ali. He took 18 wickets at 24.5. It was very much a spin trio :P

Herath was barely keeping his place in the team of late and was given a farewell retirement test. Perera, Dananjaya andSandankan all had better years than Herath, with Pushpakumara not that far behind.

This was a 3 match test series. Over 100 wickets feel to spin. A world record.

 If Sri Lanka ever gets a good seamer and they lose him, that will be a huge loss.

It is interesting  to read your post about the Sri Lankans' view of Stokes, Baggers.

Kane Williamson keeps writing his legacy. His composure has ensured the Black Caps will post a competitive score to kick off the Third UAE Test.  Wattling offered good support as per usual.

A major talking point this side of  the ditch.. is the inclusion of  former Blues off spinner Will Somerville in the Black Caps lineup. Will played several years for the Blues but was never able to cement a permanent spot. Will, who was evidently eligible to play for both Australia and NZ.. obviously aspired to play international cricket. When CA did not come calling I suspect NZ Cricket pounced and signed him.  I always rated Will with his classic off spin action but a bowling spot in the Baggy Greens was never going to happen while we had the GOAT occupying the off spinner's role. So a year on and the big fellar is now making his Test debut at 34. Well done Will.

Will, born in NZ, played 3 years of FC in NZ from 2005-08 when he went to Uni at Otago, and because he never rep'd Australia - was always eligible for NZ as well (more or less). 

He showed very good composure with the bat. And I am hopeful he bowls with good control. I wanted him in for the last test. I've not seen him bowl that I recall. But with Santner and Tastle injured, and Sodhi just not test standard, Patel needed support that was better. Sommerville has very good stats for an NZ/Aus FC career. Mid 20-s is not to be jeered at. So I am hopeful for him. 

Right now - he just needs to try and bat and hour two with Watling as NZ seek to post 300. The ball was turning dquare on day 1 from their off spinner. Believe it or not, Somerville's batting right now could be as influential as his bowling. Because Watling is not a dasher. And Pakistan will not have a FC innings collapse on their hands, they do it in the second innings... but there may noit be a 4th if NZC do not enough runs first up. Because this pitch is getting worse... and the NZC top and middle order was horrid...

Came to OZ while a child. Returned to NZ in 2005. Back in Oz where he entered Sydney Uni or was it UNSW? It was from there that he was chosen for the Blues. He must have graduated before returning to his birth country. Was wondering what he was learning.

Will hung around with Watling for 99 balls. Boult strikes early with a double. Gee hes a good bowler. Wish we had a lefty with his ability.

Moved to Aus after 9 years of age,

He went to Uni in NZ at Otago (possibly 2002 or 2003 I'd imagine), played FC for 3 years playing  from 2005 - 08 then back to Sydney after graduating after a couple of years in England...

https://www.nzc.nz/news-items/will-somerville-replaces-todd-astle-in-blackcaps-test-squad

According to Wiki he is an accountant...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Somerville_(cricketer)

By my rough maths, he equalish time in NZ and Aus with 2 years in England... and was NZC academy...

Came back to NZ at the end of last season...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjnuIgpIFwg

He is very much a modern day journeyman...

NZC has a tone Safricans on a timer that kiwi fans cannot wait to see in international. Rippon, Nofal, Foxcroft, Conway - we have stacks of them over here. :-)

He's not getting much spin - that I will say...

4 overs 0/6 - seems to go for flight and accuracy so far..

The slower he bowls , the better he looks, but he's bowling too fast at the moment. 

Still - seems to have far more control than Sodhi...

I saw Somerville bowl last summer in the big bash. It was obviously pretty flat and fast, he didn't flight too many. I think he's more of an economy bowler than a wicket taker. 

4/75 off 36 (incl 3 batsmen) - and bowler during a run out - I'lll take it.

Definitely an improvement on Sodhi...

I agree that think he bowls too fast (too much time on roads). But his economy is due to his control (possibly as a result). He can hit a line and not overpitch or bowl short.

He can turn it nicely when he slows it down.

Very good debut - if he had played the last test - this series may have already been NZ's...

As I predicted he would - he bowled more overs than Ajaz - so he already has the captain's trust...

KW has got NZ into a good position here.

Lead 119 - plenty of wickets in hand - but only 4 sessions left after this one.

Will he play for the guaranteed draw... or look to snag a win?

(The problem isn't KW - SR 66 - it is Nicholls SR 37

Black Caps are thanking god for Kane Williamson.

One of the Tas Crick Assoc members is a former Shield Vice Captain and subsequently a state selector. He finds fault in nearly every batter's technique.

Williamson is one of the few whose technique is close to flawless according to him.

He's a joy to watch. He hits the ball so softly that he costs himself a lot of boundaries straight and through the off side - but in some ways this actually demonstrates just how good his technique is.

When watching the likes of Crowe, Kane and Jesse Ryder, I wonder why does NZC just totally and utterly fail at regularly making high quality intl batsmen? These are the sole 3 since Turner who one would say are technically sound and make runs (whereas Flem could not convert). Latham looks technically sound, but he undoes his style work with chasing wide ones and offering pop up shots to the infield like he either does not know where the fielders are, or just lacks control of shot placement.

Taylor's onside play is straight up village cricket. Raval is a fighter (which I like - and he is punishing on the drive), but he looks awkward on the onside and struggles to rotate the strike freely. 

Nicholls' technique is absolutely awful. His driving is woeful, his defense is questionable, all he seems to have is one of the best cut shots I have ever seen, and a good sweep shot with his pull shot being rocks and diamonds. But - he is the fittest player in the team, fitter than the pacemen (this is rare for any batsman) runs hard, and has crawled his way into the top 10 batsmen in the world rankings with Smith and Warner still ahead of him). So - he may just make a career for himself just yet despite having a dodgy method.

Will Young is knocking the selection door down, technically sound, but has a massive hundred conversion problem (27 50's to 6 hundreds - and he score one of those hundreds last month...)

Amazing run down of a world top 10 batsman.

More amazing that he is in the top 10 right now to be fair. Consider me surprised.  If you only knew how many NZC fans wanted him dropped before his last hundred....( 2 DRS reviews later...)

Lets see how many runs he makes in Australia next year - I am going with not many... if he does not sort out his gap between bat and pad defence... I doubt he will even try to straight drive your quicks that much... could see him trying a cover drive on the up to his peril...

If he does make runs - I will reassess how he made those runs... (I am guessing he will be sweating on the long hops and rotate off Lyon)

I am not the kinda fan who says this guy is good because he plays for my team...

He has a FC average under 38 and he is now apparently a top 10 batsman based on some form in the last 8 games... of which only that Pakistan century was all that impressive... given his Eng century came when England was already played out of the game entirely...

Paddles Southee is loving these NZ green tops. 

Its not seam doing it... its purely swing. These pitches are flat roads....

You must have laughed when you saw Baggers post Paddles, you know it was just an assumption. I watched Boult's performance and Latham and Williamson bat on Fox, I just couldn't watch Day 2 of the Aus V India borefest bowling. Flat wicket is an understatement, just brilliant bowling. 

Im getting used to do it...

But, I still like Baggers will treat him with respect, though.

But yes, I agree with you and disagree with him. Entirely.

I had read that morning that it was a green top at Hagley. No? Southee is a specialist seamer. Does he swing it too?

Southee is only an outswing bowler... stock ball is a big hooping outswinger... his variation is an off cutter where he rolls his finger over it.

 Boult does swing it both ways when there's swing on offer, but his stock ball is a hooping outswinger to the left hand batsman...

Boult and Southee both are all about swing... not seam...

NZ pitches often look green with grass cover, but they're flat roads after the first morning...

I can only think you're mistaking Tim Southee for Matt Henry or Adam Milne... Southee is very much a gentle outswing bowler...

Southee can be rather innocuous when there is no swing? Perhaps a bit like Nathan Brackan.

Innocuous? Just totally ineffective. Southee is a swing bowler. Read his cricinfo profile - they got it right - except he has gone from 145 to 130 since it was written I suspect...

http://www.espncricinfo.com/newzealand/content/player/232364.html

He's just an outswing bowler - that's all he is... he lost his pace years ago... but if there is the potential for swing - Boult and Southee will find it BEFORE the English boys - they really do sniff out any swing in the air... their wrists are better than Jimmy Anderson's... And they have proven this time and time against England heads up... On roads - they suck - on non rreversing dustbowls - they suck - on seaming green tops - Philander owns them... But even just a hint of swing that even Anderson struggles to find... - Boult and Southee are in the game... big time... that's when they shine... that's why Boult loves England... Boult is a better swing bowler than Jimmy - Timmy isn't all that far behind Jimmy... for swing... But Boult is the better of the two - 9 days out of 10... and beats Jimmy most days too for swing...

So NZ upped the ante from ball 1, NZ slogged 81 runs in 9 overs or so... Declared... Set 280 in 79 overs.

NZC had Pakistan 5 down by Lunch... Just good bowling.

Then Pakistan rallied a bit... But NZC got it done with over 30 overs to spare. 

England white washed SL, NZ beat Pakistan in UAE, now which SENA will conquer the Indian* Everest...


*Bangladesh ain't been beaten at home in a while neither...

Congrats on our Kiwi cuzzies taking out the UAE series. 

Master stroke to pick Will Somerville by the Black Caps. I feel he had the game to be Australia's off spinner had Lyon not been there.