NZ squad and the pitch for Napier test

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Cricket: How called in to cover doubtful Flynn Jamie How has been called into the New Zealand cricket team as cover for Daniel Flynn, who is in doubt for the second test against India after suffering a hand injury. Dropped during the latter stages of the one-day series against... More... Cricket: How called in to cover doubtful Flynn New 4:22PM Tuesday Mar 24, 2009 Jamie How has been called into the New Zealand cricket team as cover for Daniel Flynn, who is in doubt for the second test against India after suffering a hand injury. Dropped during the latter stages of the one-day series against the West Indies in January, How was to join the New Zealand squad tonight after Flynn's bruised left hand prevented him from training fully today. Flynn suffered bruising and ligament damage when batting in the second innings of New Zealand's 10-wicket loss in the first test at Hamilton last Saturday. He was struck by Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma during his dogged knock of 67. Flynn had throw downs at practice but could not bat in the nets or take part in fielding drills. He will need to pass a fitness test in order to retain his place at No 3 in the batting order, otherwise How is in line for his 19th cap when the test begins on Thursday. How heads to Napier after the four-day State Championship match between Central Districts and Canterbury ends at New Plymouth today. Meanwhile, fears eased over seam bowler Iain O'Brien's availability as he recovers from a side strain. - NZPA

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Cricket: Despite concerns the Napier pitch shows no ill-effects A major talking point ahead of the second Test between New Zealand and India has been muted, with McLean Park groundstaff and cricket officials expressing total confidence in the pitch's preparation More... Napier pitch shows no ill-effects Published: 8:59PM Tuesday March 24, 2009 Source: NZPA A major talking point ahead of the second Test between New Zealand and India has been muted, with McLean Park groundstaff and cricket officials expressing total confidence in the pitch's preparation. The pitch for the match starting on Thursday emerged as a potential concern when New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said it had been moved because of an outbreak of fungal disease on the wicket block. However, groundsman Phil Stoyanoff on Tueeday confirmed there had been no disease and his decision to move the pitch was based on fears his original pitch might break up. He has produced a new pitch bordering the pitches used for the Test and one-dayer against the West Indies earlier this summer. Stoyanoff said the pitch to be used would not break with McLean Park tradition - it had a hard base and after offering some early assistance for the quick bowlers it would flatten out into a good batting surface. Despite occasional bad weather, Stoyanoff has had 10 days to prepare the pitch and NZC on Tueesday issued a statement saying it was confident the pitch was in "excellent condition". Ironically, New Zealand would prefer a surface offering seam and bounce as they perceive the Indians to be more vulnerable when facing relatively foreign conditions. New Zealand experienced their greatest success against the tourists on this tour in the final one-day international at Auckland's Eden Park on March 14, where the Indian batsmen crumbled in on a pitch that offered assistance to the seam and swing bowlers in overcast conditions. New Zealand won by eight wickets but conceded the one-day series 1-3. India bounced back to comfortably win the first match of the three-Test series by 10 wickets with more than a day to spare in Hamilton last Saturday. Meanwhile, India will inspect the pitch for the first time on Wednesday when they arrive from their training base in Auckland. The New Zealand team gave it a once over on Tuesday. .

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India set take on demoralised Kiwis With a historic Test series victory in sight, the rampaging Indian cricket team takes on a demoralised New Zealand in the second cricket Test in Napier. More... India set take on demoralised Kiwis Agencies Posted: Mar 24, 2009 at 1238 hrs IST Napier: With a historic Test series victory in sight, the rampaging Indian cricket team takes on a demoralised New Zealand in the second cricket Test in Napier on Thursday aiming to end a 41-year wait for triumph in the antipodes. Leading 1-0 in the three-match series, the Indian team, which has been decimating one foreign bastion after another since the conquest of Bulawayo in 2001, is high on confidence and will be keen to wrap up the series. Neither pace nor bounce, neither grass nor seam have held back Mahendra Singh Dhoni's confidence-personified legion. In recent times, India have trounced the West Indies (Trinidad, 2002); beaten Pakistan in their backyard (2004-05), humbled the Australians in their outback (Adelaide 2003-04 and Perth 2007-08), bearded the English lion in its own den (2007) and tamed the South Africans (2007). Interestingly, if India (118 points) win this Test they could possibly replace South Africa (119) at the number two position in the ICC Test rankings. Australia are comfortably perched at the top with 128 points in their bag. The ultimate test of this on-a-roll Indian team's character would be a series triumph here. If the current bunch can't achieve what Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi's men did in 1967-68, India will certainly find it tough to conquer the Kiwis in their own den when the Sachin Tendulkars, the Rahul Dravids, the VVS Laxmans and the Zaheer Khans are gone. Tendulkar has been on a high on this tour, scoring big hundreds in both forms of the game (163 retd hurt in the third ODI at Christchurch) and 160 in the first Test at Hamilton. Encouragingly for India, apart from Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Gambhir are on song as well. Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni provide the thrust to the middle order. Not to be forgotten is Virender Sehwag. The opener, whose last 11 hundreds have been in the excess of 150, has psyched the Kiwis so much that they dread to see him at the square. Having been run out in the first game for 24, Sehwag will be eager to score on this small ground. Like Sehwag, Zaheer has also scared the Kiwis. He has frazzled them with seam, swing and cut, something which the Kiwis have comprehensively failed to do. If the left-arm quick strikes early in the innings here, as he did last week, the inexperienced Kiwi batting would be in disarray. Ishant Sharma lacked zing in the last game, where he tended to go astray while searching for pace. But now, the pacer has found his rhythm back. If this deck has the pace and bounce that the Kiwis seek, the 20-year-old Ishant should be more dreadful than Kyle Mills and Iain O'Brien. Then there is Harbhajan Singh. Despite not being at his best, the off-spinner has already cast a web around the Kiwi batsmen, who hesitated to step out of the crease to smother his threat. He may have returned with a six-wicket haul in the second innings at Hamilton, but he would admit that he didn't bowl as well as he could. If the Kiwis don't stand up to the challenge, they would be driving their already disillusioned supporters farther away. When Daniel Vettori's men crushed India 2-0 in the Twenty20s, they were hailed as heroes, but since losing the ODI series 1-3 and the first Test by 10 wickets, they are being branded gutless losers. Having experienced the steep highs and the abysmal lows in the series, Vettori is desperate that his men produce something extraordinary in the second Test at the Mclean Park, starting Thursday. Unfortunately, Vettori lacks the arsenal to quell the Indian insurgence. He doesn't have batsmen, who can last 100 overs or more in an innings. Besides, he doesn't have bowlers of the Shane Bond ilk who can run through the Indian batting line-up. To make matters worse, his fielders have been far from impressive, spilling catches which they have caught blind-folded on better days and letting the cherry slip through them in the outfield. Desperate that he is, Vettori could look to the grounds man to prepare a wicket which would have a lot more pace and bounce than the one at Seddon Park. But he is unlikely to ask for a seaming track as he is aware that the Indians are a lot more effective in this aspect of the game, than his four-pronged pace attack is. New Zealand's aspirations of asserting themselves on a bouncy deck in the first Test had evaporated within the first session should remind him of what befell his batsmen, who virtually clambered over each other to leave their side tottering at 60 for six.

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Moles unhappy over the pitch for second Test More... Moles unhappy over the pitch for second Test Napier (PTI): New Zealand coach Andy Moles is quite unhappy that his bowlers would not be getting a seaming track on which they could bowl out India in the second Test, beginning Thursday at the McLean Park here. Much to his chagrin, the surface had been moved two to three feet and now includes half the original pitch and half of the adjacent one which was used for the one-day game between the two sides earlier this month. "We need a typical New Zealand wicket where it nips for about a couple of days so it brings our seamers into the game against their batting attack, which is used to the ball being true and turning a bit," Moles said. He had sought to checkmate the rampant Indian batsmen with sideways movement. "If the wicket is very dry it can turn a lot, which is obviously something we don't want to experience down there," rued Moles.

[Fontaine]

If I was him then I would be pissed off too. In India/Sri Lanka/England you get pitches that favour the home bowlers and I would have really liked to see a seaming track to get our young players some much needed experience in those kind of conditions. I wasn't impressed by the way our batting crumbled in the last ODI when the pitch was doing a bit and this team needs more pitches like that in order to get the experience otherwise we're just paper tigers.

[Sachinism]

Did he not watch the 1st session of the 1st test match where there was a bit of seam, what happened to his batsmen?

[dial_100]

Credit for India's recent success on the seaming pitches mainly goes to Virendra Sehwag and the bowlers. Sehwag, when in form, can score @4 RPO and in less than 60 overs we get enough on board that puts lot of pressure on opposition. Especially if their approach is more careful/watchful. Because games are decided by 1 or 2 men as they make huge difference in the outcome. Off course that encourages our bowlers as well. If it is a wicket with lot of grass in it, then the game will be very interesting to watch.

[graphic23]

I think we're all being very overconfident about green pitches. We've been a bit inconsistent on green pitches in the recent past (as a batting and bowling unit). Its better to wait, then comment.

[zubinpepsi]

so another batting track ..

[Fontaine]

Did he not watch the 1st session of the 1st test match where there was a bit of seam' date=' what happened to his batsmen?[/quote'] All three fast bowlers were getting consistent movement off the pitch at good pace. I meant they were playing and missing and in general couldn't get settled in let alone score at a good clip. Zaheer was also getting the ball to swing both ways. But it wasn't dangerous movement. It was just more prolonged. What really hurt NZ was the Indian bowlers played as a unit with all bowlers holding up their end which meant NZ couldn't score easily and they were under constant pressure.

[Guest gaurav_indian]

I think we're all being very overconfident about green pitches. We've been a bit inconsistent on green pitches in the recent past (as a batting and bowling unit). Its better to wait' date=' then comment.[/quote'] I dont think that we are overconfident.Infact other teams are underestimating indian team.They always talk about indian batting but forget that indian bowlers knows how to exploit bowler friendly conditions.Australia did it in perth and england did it in 2007.They both got pwned by indian bowlers.The reason india has started to do well abroad is because of the quality of bowlers.

[coffee_rules]

Whatever it is, that is the only way they can hope to win a test against this Indian team. Unfortunately, their team will bat worse in these conditions. Either way, they are toast.

[Ram]

Andy Moles is trying to talk the Indian team into feeling insecure about swing and seam bowling. :D He should probably spend all that time trying to teach his cricketers to…to..umm… play some proper test cricket maybe?

[Guest gaurav_indian]

Andy Moles is trying to talk the Indian team into feeling insecure about swing and seam bowling. :D He should probably spend all that time trying to teach his cricketers to…to..umm… play some proper test cricket maybe?

:hysterical::hysterical:

[cowboysfan]

if a 3rd rank team with the best opening seam attack cannot beat a 8th ranked team on a greentop then we have problems.

[dial_100]

I cant agree more on this. We have very decent bowling options. If it was One day game, I would be littled worried but Test match is of 2 innings. NZ will have to Bat well at least once and bowl very well twice to beat us. 20 wkts is way too much asking for thier bowling attack.

[cowboysfan]

just checked the weather and it looks very good for all 5 days.

[suraj]

When does the match start US EST time??

[King]

Doesn't matter what track NZ is short in quality for test cricket both in bowling and batting department. There are some very good cricketers in the NZ line up but at this point in time they are still to develop. With few years experience this NZ team will do well. If NZ can consistently pick the same select players, NZ will be a team to beat in about 5 years. Experience is what is lacking in the NZ team, there's a lot of raw talent but consistency will not come without more experience. Andy Moles has to say something and he's saying something. Every Tom, Dick and Harry in NZ knows if NZ couldn't score more than 300 runs in either inning in Hamilton like wickets there is no chance for them to score runs on a green top.

[Laaloo]

When does the match start US EST time??

5:30 PM Aish karna yaar.