A good problem to have.

New Zealand have 4 good quick bowlers at the moment. However there's only space in the team for 3.  This means that one of them has to miss out.  Here's a quick look at the 4 contenders, and their strengths and weaknesses.

Mini-session Analysis, 1st test, NZ Eng, University Oval, Dunedin 2012/3

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the first test between New Zealand and England at University Oval, Dunedin, New Zealand

A mini-session is (normally) half a session, either between the start of the session and the drinks break or the drinks break and the end of the session. Occasionally a long session will have 3 mini-sessions where it will be broken up with 2 drinks breaks.

Mini-Session	Score	Winner
2-1a	England 35/3 off 17	New Zealand
2-1b	England 46/2 off 14	New Zealand
2-2a	England 54/3 off 17	New Zealand
2-2b	England 32/2 off 7	Draw
2-3a	New Zealand 45/0 off 14	New Zealand
2-3b	New Zealand 45/0 off 13	New Zealand
2-3c	New Zealand 41/0 off 15	New Zealand
3-1a	New Zealand 49/1 off 17	Draw
3-1b	New Zealand 75/1 off 18	New Zealand
3-2a	New Zealand 64/2 off 15	England
3-2b	New Zealand 83/3 off 16	Draw
4-1a	New Zealand 58/2 off 8.4	New Zealand
4-1b	England 29/0 off 11	England
4-1c	England 29/0 off 11	England
4-2a	England 50/0 off 17	England
4-2b	England 31/0 off 15	England
4-3a	England 49/0 off 16	England
4-3b	England 46/1 off 17	New Zealand
5-1a	England 41/1 off 18	Draw
5-1b	England 54/0 off 18	England
5-2a	England 32/1 off 13	New Zealand
5-2b	England 21/1 off 15	New Zealand
5-3a	England 39/2 off 19	New Zealand

Final update, click here
New Zealand win the mini-session count 12 - 7, but the match is a draw

First drinks, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 1-0

A commanding start by New Zealand. Cook was dropped on 9 off Boult, but it only cost 1 run, as Wagner did to England's batsmen what he's been doing to NZ domestic batsmen at this ground for 4 years now. Trott and Bell are going to have to bat well to get the initiative back. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 2-0

England started off the hour well, but a couple of breakthroughs and it was advantage New Zealand again. Boult has now bowled 9 overs for 14 runs, and had a wicket and a catch dropped. And he's probably been the least impressive of the bowlers. - Mykuhl

Middle drinks, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 3-0

Bruce Martin didn't have a great start to his international career dropping the English Captain, but he's made up for it by dismissing Trott, Prior and Broad. It was a typical spell from Martin: some fantastic deliveries and some awful ones, but the result of it was that he's put England in more trouble. If he's causing this much trouble on a pitch like this, he might be a real handful if it starts to break up. - Mykuhl

Tea, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 3-0

The English tail scored their runs quickly, but New Zealand wrapped it up before they did too much damage. - Mykuhl

Drinks, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 4-0

New Zealand continue their good start. Rutherford hasn't really been worked over like I was expecting, but Fulton has looked a little suspect to the ball coming back at him. However he's countered that by hitting a lot of balls on to the leg side, to encourage the bowlers to bowl outside off. It will be interesting to see when he decides to start unleashing his cover drive. At the moment he hasn't played one. - Mykuhl

Final Drinks, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 5-0

More runs from New Zealand. They looked like they were taking it easier, but they scored faster. Rutherford brought up 50 on debut. His father got his 5oth run in his 9th innings. Quite different starts to their careers really. - Mykuhl

Stumps, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 6-0

That brings to the end one of the best days in recent memory for New Zealand. England were poor all day. The wickets were often to loose shots, the bowlers struggled to hit the right lengths and they put down Rutherford twice.

Tomorrow will be interesting, as England will look to strike back. The big question will be how New Zealand respond to the increased intensity. - Mykuhl

First drinks, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 6-0

A steady start to the day's play. New Zealand started off scoring quite freely, but once Fulton's wicket fell, Williamson made sure he didn't throw his away. The highlight was Hamish Rutherford bringing up his hundred with a drive through extra cover. There are not many better ways to do it really. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 7-0

It felt almost like there were two different games being played this hour. At one end the English bowlers had Williamson and then Taylor under some pressure. At the other end Rutherford was plundering the bowling. Rutherford scored 52 of New Zealand's 75 runs in that hour. - Mykuhl

Middle drinks, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 7-1

England finally had the better of New Zealand in an hour. The new ball did it's job, and removed Rutherford first ball, and then Taylor departed a couple of overs before drinks. New Zealand have a lead of 152. They will want to extend that lead to be at least 250 by the end of the day. - Mykuhl

Stumps, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 7-1

I combined the 5 overs after tea with this mini-session to make it long enough to be meaningful. New Zealand have pushed the lead up to 235 England took quite a few wickets, but Southee and McCullum hit their runs quite quickly and as a result tied up the hour. It feels like the race is on for this match between New Zealand and the rain. If England manage to score 400 in their second innings, New Zealand are still only going to have to chase 150. - Mykuhl

Change of innings, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 8-1

An absolute whirlwind start by New Zealand. McCullum and Martin left no doubt as to what their intentions were. McCullum hit three of his first ten deliveries for six. Once he got out, Martin carried on swinging at almost everything. - Mykuhl

Drinks, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 8-2

A solid start for England. Boult in particular has bowled some challenging deliveries, but so far no chances have been created. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 8-3

More good progress from the English openers. Their first objective would have been to make it to lunch. They can tick that off the list. - Mykuhl

Tea, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 8-5

Slow going this hour from England, but they still haven't lost a wicket. It's hardly T20 style cricket, but it's a test of character for both teams. - Mykuhl

Final drinks, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 8-6

49 runs in the hour, it's good cricket from England. Martin has asked a couple of questions, particularly of Compton, and Boult has keep the batsmen under some pressure, but these two have been very solid. - Mykuhl

Stumps, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 9-6

Boult got a well deserved reward for his bowling. He's taken 1/34 off 19, and 9 of those runs have been off edges. It's been England's day without a doubt. However they are still slightly behind overall. New Zealand will need to take 4 or 5 wickets before lunch tomorrow to have a realistic chance to win the game. - Mykuhl

First drinks, Day 5: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 9-6

The formula gave that hour to New Zealand, but I honestly think that the draw was a lot more likely after that hour than before. New Zealand's bowlers managed to ask a couple of questions, but they didn't bowl enough deliveries on the stumps really. On a pitch that keeps low, you need to make the batsmen pay if they miss. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 5: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 9-7

A great hour for England. They have almost worked themselves into a position where they have a sniff at winning this match. If they were to score 150 in this session, and then declare, New Zealand would be chasing 180 at 6 an over. They would certainly try it on, which might mean the England could have a chance to win the match. However that's a remote possibility, just like the chance of New Zealand winning has become almost non-existent. - Mykuhl

Middle drinks, Day 5: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 10-7

The slight glimmer of hope for England that had appeared has now dried up. New Zealand also has almost no hope of a win anymore either. The only chance for a New Zealand victory now is for 3 wickets to fall before the new ball, and then Boult and Southee to clean up the tail with the new ball. - Mykuhl

Tea, Day 5: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 11-7

Steven Finn's epic resistance has finally ended, but he has well and truly done his job. He batted for longer in this test than in the rest of his career combined. It was a fantastic effort. Without him there frustrating the New Zealand bowlers, his team may have fallen over, but that's something that we'll never know. - Mykuhl

End of match, Day 5: New Zealand take the mini-session count 12-7

The English batsmen did sufficient to hold on for the draw. Prior and Bell survived the new ball, and in the process denied the New Zealand bowlers the wickets they needed to have a chance to win the game. Trent Boult had the scarcely believable figures of 1/49 off 35 overs. He doesn't really have a reputation as a particularly difficult bowler to score off, but the English batsmen were not in a mood to take risks. - Mykuhl

Land of the long list of lefties

In a few hours New Zealand will take the field against South Africa. There are two players likely to be named in the team who's selection will be quite remarkable.

Corey Anderson is a big all rounder from Canterbury (originally) who hits a big ball and bowls left-arm medium fast. He was a prodigious talent at youth level, making the Canterbury side at age 16, while still at school.

Mitchell McClenaghan is a left-arm fast bowler who is a little erratic and injury prone, but who has a tendency to take wickets. Lots of wickets. Think of him as a New Zealand version of Mitchell Johnson. Not always on target, but capable of occasionally bowling a ball that could get through Rahul Dravid or Brian Lara.

While their selections are not in themselves particularly notable, there is one thing that is: they are both left-arm pace bowlers, adding to a very long list of NZ left-armers.

This year New Zealand has used Trent Boult, Niel Wagner, Andy McKay, James Franklin and Michael Bates at the bowling crease. There is only one other year in history when a team has selected 5 left-arm pace bowlers to play international cricket. In 2007 Sri Lanka actually picked 6 (although Zoysa didn't actually bowl in the one match he was selected for).

And New Zealand are probably against the best team to bowl left-arm pace against. South Africa's batsmen have done well against every type of bowling, but they have done less well against left-arm pace than any other type. In the last 4 years they average about 41 against right arm spin, 39 against left-arm spin or right arm pace but only 35 against left-arm pace. An average of 35 suggest that left-arm pace isn't a silver bullet, but it is a significant difference, and one that New Zealand might be aware of.

So far this year most of the South African batsmen have been dismissed at least once by a left-armer, despite many of them having only faced a couple of innings from a left-armer. Here are the stats for everyone who has faced a left-arm pace bowler at least 5 times:

Name	Total Runs	Total Dismissals	Average
Smith	122	1	122
A Petersen	66	4	16.5
Amla	162	2	81
Kallis	100	4	25
de Villiers	142	1	142
Levi	34	2	17
Duminy	21	0	-
du Plessis	96	1	96

The New Zealand bowlers are likely to be eagerly waiting to bowl to Petersen and Kallis. The battle between the South African batsmen and the New Zealand left-armers is certainly one aspect of the tour that I'm going to be looking forward to watching immensely.

Mini-session analysis 2nd Test, WI NZ, Sabina Park, 2012

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the second test between West Indies and New Zealand at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica.

A mini-session is (normally) half a session, either between the start of the session and the drinks break or the drinks break and the end of the session. Occasionally a long session will have 3 mini-sessions where it will be broken up with 2 drinks breaks.

Mini-Session	Score	Winner
1-1a	New Zealand 35/2 off 12	West Indies
1-1b	New Zealand 39/0 off 15	New Zealand
1-2a	New Zealand 45/1 off 13	New Zealand
1-2b	New Zealand 33/2 off 12	West Indies
1-3a	New Zealand 22/1 off 13	West Indies
1-3b	New Zealand 86/4 off 17.5	West Indies
	West Indies 11/0 off 5
2-1a	West Indies 32/2 off 13	New Zealand
2-1b	West Indies 19/1 off 12	New Zealand
2-2a	West Indies 43/2 off 13.1	New Zealand
2-2b	West Indies 58/2 off 11.5	West Indies
2-3a	West Indies 46/3 off 9.3	New Zealand
2-3b	New Zealand 30/0 off 11	New Zealand
2-3c	New Zealand 29/2 off 10	West Indies
3-1a	New Zealand 25/2 off 15	West Indies
3-1b	New Zealand 25/3 off 15	West Indies
3-2a	New Zealand 45/3 off 14.2	West Indies
3-2b	West Indies 56/2 off 12	West Indies
3-3a	West Indies 26/0 off 12	West Indies
3-3b	West Indies 53/2 off 19	New Zealand
4-1a	West Indies 56/1 off 14	West Indies
4-1b	West Indies 15/0 off 6.2	West Indies

Final update here. West Indies win the mini-session count 13-8

Stumps, Day 1: West Indies lead the mini-session count 4-2

New Zealand has imploded on day 1, after a solid start from Taylor and Guptill. A third successive 50 from Guptill was this time brought to an end by an injury causing him to get run out. Guptill managed 7 successive 50's. Again the New Zealand bowlers came out and attacked, and looked effective. Again that should be a worrying sign.

The positive sign for New Zealand was the bowling of Trent Boult. He is now probably the most dangerous bowler that New Zealand has. With 2 left-armers in the side, (for only the 4th test match in New Zealand's history) Taylor has the option of having a left/right combination constantly in this test. That's something that batsmen will not be used to facing, and could work to New Zealand's advantage. However, the pitch was not a major factor in many of today's dismissals, and it is unlikely to come to New Zealand's rescue tomorrow.

Innings break, post tea, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 6-5

New Zealand's bowlers have stepped up today. This wasn't calypso collapso, it was quality bowling: 6 of the wickets fell to batsmen trying to defend, and 2 fell to batsmen trying to hit a single to relieve the pressure.

Boult led the way removing the first two. Then some disciplined bowling from the rest of the bowlers managed to generally pick away the West Indian wickets before Bracewell went rabbit hunting at the end.

New Zealand have often struggled to clean up the tail of teams, but Bracewell has now done it a number of times. With Boult removing the batsmen and Bracewell removing the bowlers this could be a very good combination.

Marlon Samuels stood magnificent amongst the rubble. He scored more than half of his team's runs, and, other than one half chance early on, looked like he was batting on a different pitch. In the end he perished when hitting out, but his century was, In Brian Waddle's words "as good as you are likely to see."

Final drinks, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 7-5

Two contrasting approaches to this innings. Guptill has looked to get after the bowling more than he has in the rest of this series: 24 of 32 and showing some real intent. Wattling however has been content to wait. He batted fantastically at Sabina Park in the second ODI (his 50 in the first match was quite scratchy), and he will be hoping to recapture that form in this innings.

New Zealand now lead by 81. In the history of Sabina Park, there have only been 2 times that a team has successfully chased more than 100, and no team has ever chased down 250 here. If these two are together at stumps, New Zealand will be in a commanding position.

Stumps, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 7-6

Two quick wickets from Narsingh Deonarine has taken the game back towards being even. Guptill again failed to convert a start. It was clever captaincy from Sammy, as both batsmen tried to turn the ball round the corner for singles into a gap that he'd left for them. Both of them missed, and so were out. New Zealand will be looking for a score of at least 250, but they will probably need someone to do what Samuels has done and convert a start to at least 100.

Final drinks, Day 3: West Indies lead the mini-session count 11-7.

Since I started keeping track of the mini-sessions, the closest any team has come to winning a game, but losing the mini-session count was Sri Lanka vs South Africa, where the mini-session count was tied, but Sri Lanka won convincingly. New Zealand will need to be the first to over turn the mini-session count if they are to win this match.

The set up is similar to Hobart. One batsman is playing well, the rest are looking shaky. There is a feeling that BJ Wattling may have dropped the match when he put down Samuels, who is looking imperious.

Earlier New Zealand managed to implode in dramatic fashion. 5 wickets went to batsmen trying to hit boundaries and 2 to batsmen trying to hit singles. Only Wagner, McCullum and Bracewell got out after being beaten by genuinely good deliveries. Ross Taylor probably needs to re-assess his decision to play the cut shot early in his innings. He's gotten out to it a few times now, he should probably either try and place it for 1, or just leave those deliveries alone until he has his eye in a bit better.

Stumps, Day 3: West Indies lead the mini-session count 11-8

West Indies need Chanderpaul to stay there and one batsman to stick with him. New Zealand need at least 1 good spell of bowling. The bookies currently have NZ at $7 for the win. I feel if the two teams were to play from this position 20 times that New Zealand would win 4 or 5, so $7 looks like a good price to me.

There is one joker in the pack: Ernesto. Hurricane Ernesto is likely to hit Jamaica about midday tomorrow. The NOAA have it 70% likely to have hit by 1pm local time. It is unlikely that play will be possible after it hits (although if it turns slightly to the left it may only last for an hour or so). If play progresses too slowly tomorrow, and neither side has won by lunch, then the game may be a draw.

End of match: West Indies beat New Zealand and the rain by 5 wickets. They win the mini-session count 13-8.

New Zealand were unable to make the vital break-throughs, and West Indies walked home in less than 2 hours on the morning of day 4. A terrible tour for New Zealand, who were comprehensively out played by a West Indies team that produced some of the best cricket they have played for about 7 years. Every time it looked like New Zealand were going to get back into a match or series, a player would step up and take the game away.