Ah well, can't win them all.

NZ 3/2 with both wickets to Ashwin who has opened the bowling

Only another 430 needed...!

Should be 3 down

One of the worst not out decisions I've seen in a long time from Umpire Kettleborough

The ball would have missed off and leg stump as it was hitting middle stump less than half way up

What a massive error from Ross Taylor

Doesn't ground his bat and is run out

Afghanistan doing well against Bangladesh, see if they can keep their head, big win if they could pull it off. Banglas are a quality one-day side on their own patch.

Good call

They collapsed late on and Bangladesh won by 7 runs

Not a bad week for Afghanistan nearly beat Bangladesh and supposedly going to get test status next week.

I do hope the English spinners are watching the India vs NZ series so they can learn what works in India and what doesn't.
At the moment cricinfo are writing some gem articles on what is the difference between indian spinners and the nz spinners.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-...y/1059118.html


"But how easy or tough is it to bowl quicker? Also, how quick must you bowl without compromising the guile in the air and accuracy on the pitch? Talking to Ashwin at the end of third day, he said while it's critical to bowl quicker, it's more important to know your optimum pace and how quick is not too quick for you. For Jadeja, bowling quicker isn't an issue because his action and body are tuned to bowling at a much faster pace. That's not the case with Sodhi or Craig and therefore their attempt to bowl quicker leads to bowling either too full or too short too often."

also good articles on why batting will be difficult as well since with the place fielding and the accuracy and threat of the spinners basically means the players go nowhere and are struggling to survive as well.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-...y/1059131.html

"When the New Zealand batsmen fought and fought and fought in their first innings in Kanpur, it was tempting to imagine a scenario where these batsmen faced their own bowlers. When after tens of minutes of concentration they could get a loose ball. What they got instead was this. In the second innings, R Ashwin took the new ball, bowled to their right-hand batsmen from round the wicket, had only two men on the off side, and the first time he was hit there was in the sixth over."

"Since the start of the last home season, India's captain Virat Kohli has had the luxury of setting fields where even taking a single has been an almighty effort for the batsmen. There's Ashwin turning the ball sharply in, there are backward and forward short legs, there is another ring of short square leg and short midwicket behind them, and if you manage to beat them there is either a long-on or a deep midwicket or at times, both. A batsman will not take the aerial route with that field because with the turning ball chances are the ball will travel vertically more than horizontally. To add to this, in the second innings, you have a man on the sweep too.

So if you are facing Ashwin you have to pierce two gaps for one run."

only works if the spinners are accurate and are able to bowl with suffocating fields.
Thinking about it the 2012 win by England was more special since they beat india in their own game.

Also for the person that is thinking about going to india.
cricinfo wrote an article on kanpur which mentions some rules the grounds have and some grounds you can not leave the stadium and come back again, some are not even allowed phones or pens.
http://www.espn.co.uk/cricket/story/...-not-regretted

Jeeten Patel called up by new zealand to replace mark craig.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-...y/1059178.html

I thought Patel had packed in Test cricket....

Anyway he looks like a pretty handy replacement.

I think they panicked when they saw my post about him qualifying for England......

He is a terrific player isnt he ? had a great season. I am a big fan.

just reading some of the stuff on cricinfo about Ashwin being the second fastest of all time to reach 200 wickets in terms of matches played

one thing jumped out at me about the overall list was that MacGill reached 200 wickets in one game fewer than Warne did, has there been an unluckier player to have his career co-incide with someone like Warne and have his opportunities limited as a result ?

i know his figures might be slightly skewed as alot of his games where in conditions which were favourable to spin and the aussies played 2 spinners but he still must consider himself unlucky to have played at the same time as Warne

I'm pretty sure Nasser reads this thread

South Africa's captain AB de Villiers has been ruled out of the home ODI series and away Test series against Australia because of a persistent elbow injury. He will have surgery early next week and will need eight to ten weeks of recovery time.

"AB has failed to come through his fitness test this morning," Mohammad Moosajee, SA team manager said. "Although the physio strapped his elbow while he was batting and he did have some relief with some shots, the elbow pain has not gone away completely.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafr...y/1059349.html

after seeing this lookalike pic we should maybe be careful what we say about him

http://www.fakingnews.firstpost.com/...in_nasser2.jpg

Max Walker has died RIP

http://https://www.theguardian.com/s...r-dies-aged-68

Sad News indeed

He was a tricky first change bowler after Lillee and Thompson.I used to love his front on bowler action.

Shame about Max Walker. As cantos said, a great bowler. And another one of the great names that The 12th Man brought to life with his terrific comedy albums.

anderson and wood out of the bangladesh tour with injuries

i might have been tempted to rest anderson anyway even if he was fit but a bit of a blow to wood after just getting back into the squad

finn added to the ODI squad, jake ball to the test squad

Thats no age to pass away at, only in his late sixties.

His bowling as you said was very tricky, sometimes he could swing it a large amount and take down the unwary.

really fast start from australia here

88-1 after 12 overs

South Africa flying along chasing 295 to win against the Aussies.

193-1 off 24 overs and that is without ABdV.