Chris Gayle is too good at the moment.
The rest of the West Indian players scored 180 off 193 (incl extras), roughly 5 and a half an over. New Zealand scored 260 off 47 overs, roughly 5 and a half an over. And yet this match was not even close. Gayle is just too good.
The match had the usual ebbs and flows, but throughout it West Indies were better in almost every area.
It started with New Zealand keeping the West Indies under some control for the first 4 overs. West Indies were 1/10, and it was looking like the decision to bowl first was a good one. Then Gayle hit 3 sixes off Kyle Mills.
Despite New Zealand's fielding and bowling being a lot sharper than in previous games, the score kept climbing. For a large section of the game they were looking like they were going to get more than 350. At the other end first Dwayne Smith then Marlon Samuels kept the pressure on the New Zealand attack, occasionally scoring with big shots, but feeding Gayle the strike well.
Gayle seemed to make a special effort to attack Mills and that was probably the best battle of the match. Mills got his man eventually, but he had conceded 34 runs off the 33 deliveries that he bowled to Gayle. The other key battle was Samuels against Nethula. Nethula made life difficult for Samuels, who looked eager to get on top of his fellow spinner. Nethula held Samuels to 19 off 26 deliveries.
West Indies looked all set to explode on 227 off 37, but the New Zealand bowlers stepped up at the death. West Indies only scored 66 off the last 10 overs, a good effort on a 220 pitch, but they really should have been looking for 40 more. Not that it mattered. In the last 6 overs the New Zealand bowlers hit their lengths very well and the West Indian batsmen managed only 3 boundaries.
The New Zealand innings started off well again, having the highest opening partnership for the 4th consecutive match. But Guptill managed to keep picking out fielders. The defining feature of his play in the New Zealand summer was how straight he hit the ball. Often mid on and mid off had to stand so close together that they left gaps in the covers and at mid wicket for him to work singles. Today he managed to hit the ball directly to mid on or mid off a number of times. Part of this may have been due to the West Indian bowling plan.
One of the advantages of playing at home is that you know how a pitch is going to behave, and consequently what length is the hardest to score off. The West Indian bowlers (particularly their spinners and Sammy) bowled a shorter length than the New Zealanders. Chatting to Marlon Samuels after the match he said that that was a deliberate plan, because the pitch tended to hold up as the day went on. Perhaps the difficulty in timing the ball was in part due to this.
The major highlight of the New Zealand innings was BJ Wattling. On Thursday he looked scratchy and out of form. It was almost like he scored the runs more by good luck than good management. Today however he looked classy. It was as though his fifty in the first game convinced him that he could play at this level, and he went out today believing it. His 72* off 62 was as good an innings as you are likely to see, and was a surprise to me, because I have never seen him display that level of ability.
For a brief moment it even looked like Wattling and Oram might take New Zealand home. But 316 was always too much, and it proved to be so.
Today was the West Indies day, and Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels' day in particular.
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Friday, 6 July 2012
Ryder v Watson, part 2
Overnight Jamaica time an epic sporting mismatch took place. Jesse Ryder demolished Mark Watson in a boxing match. Ryder was comprehensively better, and Watson really had very little to offer against Ryder’s power, precision and skill. A few hours a sporting mismatch of a similar magnitude took place at Sabina Park, this time with New Zealand playing the part of Mark Watson and West Indies taking on Jesse Ryder’s role.
Andre Russell celebrated being given one of the new balls by producing a demanding display of swing bowling that asked questions that Guptill, Flynn and Nicol were unable to answer.
Williamson looked like someone who was batting while thinking about other things. He is normally so clinical with his placement, and while he showed some nice touches, he managed to hit the fielders more than the gaps. At one point Sammy created a large gap for him at mid-wicket off Bravo, and almost had him the next ball, as Williamson got a leading edge while trying to hit a ball that was on off stump through that gap. It was field setting par excellence, something Sammy has not yet developed a reputation for. Finally Williamson fell for 24 with the score on 71.
At the other end, putting the batsmen under his spell was Sunil Narine. Watling didn’t get out to him, but never really looked comfortable. Brownlie, however was completely bamboozled, and his lbw looked as much a mercy killing as a wicket.
The New Zealanders recovered from there to post a moderate total, with two good partnerships between Wattling and Ellis and Wattling and Oram. But it felt like too little too late.
The brief New Zealand revival continued into the first few overs of the West Indian innings. The first two overs were maidens (although there were some leg byes scored) and after 3 overs, West Indies were 6 for 1. Mills bowled an outstanding spell to end with the figures of 5 – 1 – 7 – 1. But as well as Mills bowled, it is difficult to win a game by yourself if you are only given 5 overs. After the match I asked Kane Williamson why he didn’t bring Mills back at the end. He replied that he had planned to, but the match was taken away before he got a chance. Perhaps he needed to make that call earlier.
From the end of Mills’ spell it was a Jamaican benefit, with Gayle rearranging the furniture in the ground with frequent big sixes. Smith looked less certain, but kept the strike turning over and occasionally launched a big shot himself.
Tarun Nethula came on to bowl and got one ball to turn quite sharply, and with another deceived Smith with a googly, but dropped the last ball of his second over short to Gayle and disappeared into the third tier of the stadium.
Once the rain came West Indies were in a commanding position of 91/1 off 18 overs. The only thing that could save New Zealand was a washout. The washout never arrived, but instead the match was shortened. The Duckworth-Lewis method is designed to weigh up how strong a position a team is in, and adjust the target accordingly. The system is designed to make sure if a team is in a dominant position before an interruption, that they are in a dominant position after the rain. That was how it played out. West Indies went from needing 100 off 32 overs to needing 43 off 15. Like Ryder after the second standing 8 count, they finished it off with a flurry of big blows. It took only 6.2 overs for them to score the runs.
Just like Mark Watson against Jesse Ryder, New Zealand had no answer against the power, precision and skill of the West Indians.
Andre Russell celebrated being given one of the new balls by producing a demanding display of swing bowling that asked questions that Guptill, Flynn and Nicol were unable to answer.
Williamson looked like someone who was batting while thinking about other things. He is normally so clinical with his placement, and while he showed some nice touches, he managed to hit the fielders more than the gaps. At one point Sammy created a large gap for him at mid-wicket off Bravo, and almost had him the next ball, as Williamson got a leading edge while trying to hit a ball that was on off stump through that gap. It was field setting par excellence, something Sammy has not yet developed a reputation for. Finally Williamson fell for 24 with the score on 71.
At the other end, putting the batsmen under his spell was Sunil Narine. Watling didn’t get out to him, but never really looked comfortable. Brownlie, however was completely bamboozled, and his lbw looked as much a mercy killing as a wicket.
The New Zealanders recovered from there to post a moderate total, with two good partnerships between Wattling and Ellis and Wattling and Oram. But it felt like too little too late.
The brief New Zealand revival continued into the first few overs of the West Indian innings. The first two overs were maidens (although there were some leg byes scored) and after 3 overs, West Indies were 6 for 1. Mills bowled an outstanding spell to end with the figures of 5 – 1 – 7 – 1. But as well as Mills bowled, it is difficult to win a game by yourself if you are only given 5 overs. After the match I asked Kane Williamson why he didn’t bring Mills back at the end. He replied that he had planned to, but the match was taken away before he got a chance. Perhaps he needed to make that call earlier.
From the end of Mills’ spell it was a Jamaican benefit, with Gayle rearranging the furniture in the ground with frequent big sixes. Smith looked less certain, but kept the strike turning over and occasionally launched a big shot himself.
Tarun Nethula came on to bowl and got one ball to turn quite sharply, and with another deceived Smith with a googly, but dropped the last ball of his second over short to Gayle and disappeared into the third tier of the stadium.
Once the rain came West Indies were in a commanding position of 91/1 off 18 overs. The only thing that could save New Zealand was a washout. The washout never arrived, but instead the match was shortened. The Duckworth-Lewis method is designed to weigh up how strong a position a team is in, and adjust the target accordingly. The system is designed to make sure if a team is in a dominant position before an interruption, that they are in a dominant position after the rain. That was how it played out. West Indies went from needing 100 off 32 overs to needing 43 off 15. Like Ryder after the second standing 8 count, they finished it off with a flurry of big blows. It took only 6.2 overs for them to score the runs.
Just like Mark Watson against Jesse Ryder, New Zealand had no answer against the power, precision and skill of the West Indians.
Ryder vs Watson
Mark Watson was one of the contributing factors in me starting this blog. He is quite outspoken on the radio, particularly harsh on New Zealand cricketers. I listen to his show, and used to get quite upset at the things he said. As a result I started researching statistics to challenge him on.
The first time was to do with Kyle Mills, whom he said wouldn't make any other team in the world. At the time Mills had almost identical career figures to Waqar Younis. So I rang Watson and spoke to him about it. To his credit he admitted that he was unaware that Mills had such a good record, but then (in typical Watson fashion) he then went on to say that Mills had obviously been very lucky, and if he actually had the work ethic of a triathlete he would have an even better record.
The next time I challenged him was when he was calling for the New Zealand selector to be sacked after moving Brendon McCullum up to opening the batting in ODI's. Again I rang him and pointed out that after they started picking him there regularly he had scored 644 runs in 14 matches, averaging 56 at a strike rate of 109. At this point he changed from criticizing the selectors for picking him as an opener to criticizing McCullum for not scoring converting his 50's to 100's.
And yet I know Watson outside of cricket, and I actually quite like him. When he isn't talking cricket. He has strong opinions, and plays the villain well. However, the cricket fan in me was really hoping for him to get knocked out.
There were three reasons for this.
1. Watson has constantly bagged Ryder for his weight, but I think that Ryder isn't in as bad condition as people think.
He has always moved well in the field, and is surprisingly quick between wickets. As a former triathlete, Watson thinks that to be fit you need to look like a triathlete, (where they need to carry less weight in order to be able to run/cycle long distances) but carrying weight isn't a major disadvantage in cricket, and as a result the size of a player is not such a good indication of his fitness.
2. Boxing training seems to be a good idea for batsmen
The essentials of boxing are moving your feet, avoiding danger and attacking a target. These are quite similar to the skills required when batting. When Ryder first came back from his first try at boxing he looked a much better player for it. He started moving his feet again, and hit 50 against South Africa, before off-field issues sidelined him again.
3. I like boxing ending with a knock-out.
While we complain about DRS decisions, Asoka de Silva giving out everything that touches the pad, Australian umpires not giving out Australia batsmen, at least we have some positive decisions to compare the bad ones to. Boxing has never been an easy sport to judge, but even given this it has a poor record of terrible decisions.
Given this, I was quite pleased when I got up early in Jamaica and watched the fight. I was happy that Ryder won. Happy that it was a TKO, and happy that Watson didn't get hurt too badly.
Ryder showed what I expected him to, good footwork, good timing, good strength and (better than I expected) hand speed which was good enough to rival professional boxers.
He actually showed enough to suggest that he might be capable of fighting someone with skills that are a better fit to boxing than triathlon. The thought of Ryder vs Sonny Bill Williams is one that all New Zealand sports fans would relish, as would a large number of Australia fans.
If you want to watch the fight, try this link.
The first time was to do with Kyle Mills, whom he said wouldn't make any other team in the world. At the time Mills had almost identical career figures to Waqar Younis. So I rang Watson and spoke to him about it. To his credit he admitted that he was unaware that Mills had such a good record, but then (in typical Watson fashion) he then went on to say that Mills had obviously been very lucky, and if he actually had the work ethic of a triathlete he would have an even better record.
The next time I challenged him was when he was calling for the New Zealand selector to be sacked after moving Brendon McCullum up to opening the batting in ODI's. Again I rang him and pointed out that after they started picking him there regularly he had scored 644 runs in 14 matches, averaging 56 at a strike rate of 109. At this point he changed from criticizing the selectors for picking him as an opener to criticizing McCullum for not scoring converting his 50's to 100's.
And yet I know Watson outside of cricket, and I actually quite like him. When he isn't talking cricket. He has strong opinions, and plays the villain well. However, the cricket fan in me was really hoping for him to get knocked out.
There were three reasons for this.
1. Watson has constantly bagged Ryder for his weight, but I think that Ryder isn't in as bad condition as people think.
He has always moved well in the field, and is surprisingly quick between wickets. As a former triathlete, Watson thinks that to be fit you need to look like a triathlete, (where they need to carry less weight in order to be able to run/cycle long distances) but carrying weight isn't a major disadvantage in cricket, and as a result the size of a player is not such a good indication of his fitness.
2. Boxing training seems to be a good idea for batsmen
The essentials of boxing are moving your feet, avoiding danger and attacking a target. These are quite similar to the skills required when batting. When Ryder first came back from his first try at boxing he looked a much better player for it. He started moving his feet again, and hit 50 against South Africa, before off-field issues sidelined him again.
3. I like boxing ending with a knock-out.
While we complain about DRS decisions, Asoka de Silva giving out everything that touches the pad, Australian umpires not giving out Australia batsmen, at least we have some positive decisions to compare the bad ones to. Boxing has never been an easy sport to judge, but even given this it has a poor record of terrible decisions.
Given this, I was quite pleased when I got up early in Jamaica and watched the fight. I was happy that Ryder won. Happy that it was a TKO, and happy that Watson didn't get hurt too badly.
Ryder showed what I expected him to, good footwork, good timing, good strength and (better than I expected) hand speed which was good enough to rival professional boxers.
He actually showed enough to suggest that he might be capable of fighting someone with skills that are a better fit to boxing than triathlon. The thought of Ryder vs Sonny Bill Williams is one that all New Zealand sports fans would relish, as would a large number of Australia fans.
If you want to watch the fight, try this link.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Cricket in USA
I have previously watched baseball at Dodgers stadium in LA, so I was expecting that it would have a similar feel. There were a few things that I noticed at the baseball. There were people walking the aisles selling food. The people were generally not particularly engaged with the match. Everything was very well organised and orderly. I can honestly say that none of these things were true of the cricket.
The first thing I noticed was the queues to get into the parking. I arrived about 2 hours before the game, and it took me about 30 minutes to get a park. There were two reasons for this: firstly there was a lot of people there. Secondly there were two significant bottlenecks in the way that the carpark was laid out, and poor signage, meaning that a lot of people (myself included) drove the same stretch of road 2 or 3 times.
Then the next thing I noticed was the queues. There were thousands of people queued up for tickets, an hour and a half before the match started. It turned out that these were the smart ones. Once they had their tickets they had to go to their particular gate and go through security. The gates, however were not labelled, so people often waited in a long queue only to find that they were at the wrong gate. This was partially because they only had 6 ticket machines. If it takes 5 seconds for each person to go through (and it normally took more) and there are 6 machines that's 72 people per minute. Given a crowd size of 14000 it would take 194 minutes to get the crowd inside. This was never going to be enough.
To add to the chaos security were taking people's food and drink off them. While this is a policy that is common at sporting events round the world, normally there is some sort of warning, so people know not to bring it. Before going to an event I will normally look up the conditions, and see what I'm allowed to bring with me. Some of them are strange (ie Auckland Cricket's no branded food rule - where you have to take the labels off everything), but normally the conditions are listed somewhere reasonably prominent to avoid people turning up to the ground with a box full of food and drink and having to leave it at the gate.
To add to the confusion it was a very hot day. With the match starting at 3pm, the people were mostly queuing between 2 and 3, which is the hottest hour of the day. There was no shelter where people were queuing, meaning that grumpy people got grumpier as they waited to get inside. I was still outside when Dwayne Smith hit the first ball for 6. The crowd roared. The couple of thousand queuing near me started to grumble. Smith hit the 3rd ball for 6 also. This got the queuing group more agitated.
Once the issues with my pass were sorted out, it was the 11th over, so I didn't get to witness the buzz of expectation from the crowd at the start of the match. However the atmosphere that greeted me once inside was electric. There were flags of every West Indies nation being waved vigorously. There were people blowing into trumpets, shouting, dancing to the loud music, and all seemed to be having a sensational time.
Every quick single was greeted with ooh's and aah's every four was cheered and every six was an excuse to go completely insane. There was even a murmur from them for every dot ball. The crowd displayed the excitement of a small dog who's beloved owner had just returned from a long journey away. And for some of them this was a fair analogy. They were West Indian, they loved their cricket, and the were getting to see some for the first time in years.
Despite missing more than a quarter of the game due to an administrative mix-up, having to stand for 2 hours in the sun and then seeing New Zealand get completely destroyed, it was one of the best cricket watching experiences of my life. I was so taken in with the atmosphere that it wasn't until the 15th over of New Zealand's innings that I noticed that we were not even close to mounting a successful chase.
I stayed behind, wrote up my match report and chatted to a few people. I was still at the ground about 3 hours after the match. But it was not even slightly empty. There were still probably just over a thousand people dancing to the music. As I left the ground there were still groups of (very happy) West Indian fans milling round the car park celebrating.
The second match was much smoother. The organisers had learned a lot from the previous match. They had better barriers to stop people jumping the queue, they had people manually taking tickets and people at the start of the lines telling people what gate it was for. The parking was still chaotic, and the queues were still long, but things were much better.
It was frustrating and disappointing at the start but ended up being one of my most treasured cricket memories. In future it would be better to have a tri-series with USA included as the first two games and then a final. While it is unlikely that USA will beat a top team, it does give each side a warm up match, and that would have been very valuable for New Zealand in this series. It also means that the USA team gets to play good opposition, play at their home venue and start to build a following. If USACA, WICB and Broward County manage to get the details ironed out this could become a very popular and profitable start to every series.
Monday, 2 July 2012
The Pollard and Gayle innings
Yesterday I got to witness two outstanding innings from Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard. It made me wonder how they measured up against other innings in T20 internationals this year.
To do this I used a modified batting index score. Batting index is basically the average multiplied by the runs per ball. It is a good measure of how effective a batsman is in limited overs cricket. The problem with using it for single innings is that anyone who gets not out has an infinite score. To counter this I have created a modified index, that I'm going to call innings value. To calculate this there are two options. If the batsman is out, then it is his score multiplied by his score minus 5 divided by the number of balls he faced. For example, if someone got out for 90 off 45 balls his score would be 90 x 85 / 45 or 170. If a batsman gets not out it is his score squared divided by the balls faced. I chose to subtract 5 as when I did an analysis on the cost of wickets each wicket that fell tended to cost a team 5 runs. So if a batsman gets out his team scored 5 runs less (on average).
Here are the top 10 innings this year:
Now there are a few scores in here against 2nd tier nations, but those runs still had to be scored, and so I feel they merit a place in this list. Paul Stirling managed to make the list twice in the tournament in Dubai.
Both of yesterday's innings are in the top 10, and are both ranked about the same as Hales 99 and Taylor's 75*, which feels about right. Both would have been match winning scores in most situations, and coming together in the same match made the West Indies target completely unreachable for New Zealand. It will be interesting to see if there is a repeat dose today.
It also highlights just how good Levi's innings in Hamilton was, in that he scored faster than Pollard, but for almost twice as long.
To do this I used a modified batting index score. Batting index is basically the average multiplied by the runs per ball. It is a good measure of how effective a batsman is in limited overs cricket. The problem with using it for single innings is that anyone who gets not out has an infinite score. To counter this I have created a modified index, that I'm going to call innings value. To calculate this there are two options. If the batsman is out, then it is his score multiplied by his score minus 5 divided by the number of balls he faced. For example, if someone got out for 90 off 45 balls his score would be 90 x 85 / 45 or 170. If a batsman gets not out it is his score squared divided by the balls faced. I chose to subtract 5 as when I did an analysis on the cost of wickets each wicket that fell tended to cost a team 5 runs. So if a batsman gets out his team scored 5 runs less (on average).
Here are the top 10 innings this year:
| name | score | balls | Against | At | Value |
| RE Levi (SA) | 117* | 51 | v New Zealand | Hamilton | 268.41 |
| PR Stirling (Ire) | 79 | 38 | v Afghanistan | Dubai (DSC) | 153.84 |
| MJ Guptill (NZ) | 91* | 54 | v Zimbabwe | Auckland | 153.35 |
| CH Gayle (WI) | 85* | 52 | v New Zealand | Lauderhill | 138.94 |
| KA Pollard (WI) | 63* | 29 | v New Zealand | Lauderhill | 136.86 |
| AD Hales (Eng) | 99 | 68 | v West Indies | Nottingham | 136.85 |
| BRM Taylor (Zim) | 75* | 43 | v New Zealand | Hamilton | 130.81 |
| PR Stirling (Ire) | 61* | 32 | v Canada | Dubai (DSC) | 116.28 |
| WTS Porterfield (Ire) | 56* | 27 | v Kenya | Dubai (DSC) | 116.15 |
| CA Ingram (SA) | 78 | 50 | v India | Johannesburg | 113.88 |
Now there are a few scores in here against 2nd tier nations, but those runs still had to be scored, and so I feel they merit a place in this list. Paul Stirling managed to make the list twice in the tournament in Dubai.
Both of yesterday's innings are in the top 10, and are both ranked about the same as Hales 99 and Taylor's 75*, which feels about right. Both would have been match winning scores in most situations, and coming together in the same match made the West Indies target completely unreachable for New Zealand. It will be interesting to see if there is a repeat dose today.
It also highlights just how good Levi's innings in Hamilton was, in that he scored faster than Pollard, but for almost twice as long.
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Pollard Magic
It is not often that Chris Gayle can bat through an innings and be totally overshadowed, but Kieron Pollard managed that today. His 63 can off just 29 balls. It was brutal, but calculating, controlled and clinical as well. He hit five 4's and five 6's, but he scored 13 off the remaining 19 balls with some deft touches and fantastic placement.
The New Zealand team were not helped in the slightest by some poor fielding. Both Gayle and Pollard were dropped at least once, and Charles was given two lives in one ball when Latham first dropped a catch then missed a stumping.
Gayle ended up man of the match, in what seems a strange decision to me. There is no doubt that 82 off 59 is a fantastic innings, but what Pollard gave us was something that nobody who was at this match will ever forget.
The ropes were in quite close, but even still, most of Pollard's big hits would have been 6 on the MCG. One shot in particular over extra cover was breathtaking. In dismantling the New Zealand bowling they also managed to dismantle any fears about the quality of the pitch.
The people that run the ground can be congratulated on a great pitch, and a very good outfield. The one negative from that perspective was that they either severely underestimated the number of people coming to the game, or they planned for that number very poorly. Due to an unfortunate mix-up with ticketing I wasn't able to get into the ground until the 11th over, despite arriving almost 2 hours early. While I was waiting I witnessed people queuing for over an hour, often in a disorganised rabble, despite the few security guards who were there trying to keep them in order. The staff who were there were trying hard to process people quickly, but there were not enough of them and there was inadequate signage. After waiting for 40 minutes people were being told that they were at the wrong gate. This was a particularly understandable mistake, as the gates were not marked. Also people had not been told that they were not allowed to bring in food and drink, so a lot of them were furious when told they had to leave their food and drink at the gate.
While the heat was not unbearable, it was hot, and for people to not to be able to bring in water seemed a little unreasonable, particularly when there were people selling water just outside the gate.
However once inside the ground the performance of first Pollard and Gayle, and then the West Indian fielders meant that most of the people stuck outside will have completely forgotten the difficulty they had getting in.
The New Zealand team were not helped in the slightest by some poor fielding. Both Gayle and Pollard were dropped at least once, and Charles was given two lives in one ball when Latham first dropped a catch then missed a stumping.
Gayle ended up man of the match, in what seems a strange decision to me. There is no doubt that 82 off 59 is a fantastic innings, but what Pollard gave us was something that nobody who was at this match will ever forget.
The ropes were in quite close, but even still, most of Pollard's big hits would have been 6 on the MCG. One shot in particular over extra cover was breathtaking. In dismantling the New Zealand bowling they also managed to dismantle any fears about the quality of the pitch.
The people that run the ground can be congratulated on a great pitch, and a very good outfield. The one negative from that perspective was that they either severely underestimated the number of people coming to the game, or they planned for that number very poorly. Due to an unfortunate mix-up with ticketing I wasn't able to get into the ground until the 11th over, despite arriving almost 2 hours early. While I was waiting I witnessed people queuing for over an hour, often in a disorganised rabble, despite the few security guards who were there trying to keep them in order. The staff who were there were trying hard to process people quickly, but there were not enough of them and there was inadequate signage. After waiting for 40 minutes people were being told that they were at the wrong gate. This was a particularly understandable mistake, as the gates were not marked. Also people had not been told that they were not allowed to bring in food and drink, so a lot of them were furious when told they had to leave their food and drink at the gate.
While the heat was not unbearable, it was hot, and for people to not to be able to bring in water seemed a little unreasonable, particularly when there were people selling water just outside the gate.
However once inside the ground the performance of first Pollard and Gayle, and then the West Indian fielders meant that most of the people stuck outside will have completely forgotten the difficulty they had getting in.
Mini-session Analysis 2nd test SL Pak SSC
Here is the final mini-session analysis for the second test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan at Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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.
Latest update click here.
Stumps, Day 1: Pakistan lead the count 6-0
An even more dominant day than Sri Lanka's first day in the last test. 6-0. Today was all about Mohammed Hafeez. He was patient at first, (he had only scored 12 off 62). He had a lucky reprieve just after he brought up his century, getting strangled off a no ball. But 172 is his highest test score, and he only needs 9 more for it to become his highest first class score.
There is a small asterix beside this, as this is the SSC, and it has been a haven for top 3 batsmen recently (average score for the top 3 in the last 2 years at SSC is over 60), but this cannot take away the outstanding effort that Hafeez has made. He has almost put his team into a no lose situation. Sri Lanka are going to have to bat a long time if they want to take a series lead to Pallekele. Which means that we could have some absorbing mental battles coming up as the Pakistani bowlers try and wear down the Sri Lankan batsmen.
Stumps, Day 2: Pakistan lead 8-2
Now there is hope for Sri Lanka. Just over half of the days play was lost to rain, and the mission for Sri Lanka just got a lot easier. They will not need to last as long as they would have, and the pitch is a lot less likely to break up.
However it does bring Abdul Rehman into the game. When Pakistan played New Zealand he was absolutely toothless on the dry tracks. But once there was some moisture he suddenly looked like Bishan Bedi and Alf Valentine's lovechild. A slightly sticky track and he might become a real handful.
If the first day was about Mohammed Hafeez, the second day was about Azhar Ali. He hit his third test century, equaling his previous best of 157 (scored against England at Dubai). But the real thing to notice was his strike rate today. He normally scores at just under 40 runs per 100 balls. Today he scored 65 off 108. That's a strike rate of over 60. It was exactly what the team needed, but it was still a surprise. The strike rate from the other end was even more of a surprise, and an obvious sign of team tactics. Misbah-ul-Haq scored 29 off 40, at a strike rate of over 70. These are two of the slowest batsmen in world cricket, scoring at well over 50, a clear sign that the Pakistan team were trying to increase the pace, in order to get enough time to bowl Sri Lanka out.
It will be interesting to see their approach in the morning session, as their tail is hardly noted for lathering it to all parts. The big question is if 550 odd will be enough to make Sri Lanka follow on. I don't think that it will be personally, but it will be interesting to find out.
Stumps, Day 3: Pakistan lead the count 9-3
There is still time for Pakistan to win, but the chances are increasingly unlikely. Misbah played his part perfectly, scored the runs at a rapid pace then declared inside the first hour. Junaid bowled well, but then Dilshan did what Dilshan does best and counter-attacked beautifully. A day of good cricket and bad weather.
Stumps, Day 4: Pakistan lead the count 10-7
I wouldn't be surprised if this match is called off at lunch tomorrow. Sri Lanka have almost done what they needed to do in order to secure their series lead. Dilshan played a controlled, mature innings (which was a surprise) as did Sangakkara (which was not a surprise). Pakistan made some progress in the final session, but they are unlikely to have sufficient time to finish the match. A test match is supposed to go for about 450 overs. This one has one day to go and is at 232.4, only just over half way. It makes me wonder if the idea of a reserve day for tests is a good idea. It can only be used if less than a certain number of overs have been bowled at the end of the 5th day, possibly 400, and the overs available can not allow the match to go over 450 overs, but it could make games like this one have much more life in them.
First drinks break, Day 5: Pakistan lead the count 10-7
Sri Lanka edge slowly towards the follow on target. Once they reach that hopefully the captains and umpires will call the game off. Hopefully.
Stumps, Day 5: Pakistan win the count 12-10, but the match is a draw.
But what a draw. I apologise to anyone if they stopped following the game due to me thinking it was dead. 5 wickets in an hour, and then a good declaration from Misbah brought this game back to life. Imagine if there was a reserve day.
Junaid Khan becomes possible the first person to take only 5 wickets in a match where two batsmen scored 190's and win the man of the match. However it was the correct decision. On a pitch where every other bowler struggled, he knocked over some of the best batsmen in the world, and remained threatening throughout the match.
I'm glad that they didn't call it off at lunch, and I'm sure any spectators there are too.
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 | Pakistan 39/0 off 14 | Pakistan |
| 1-1b | Pakistan 55/1 off 14 | Pakistan |
| 1-2a | Pakistan 70/0 off 16 | Pakistan |
| 1-2b | Pakistan 53/0 off 13 | Pakistan |
| 1-3a | Pakistan 62/0 off 14 | Pakistan |
| 1-3b | Pakistan 55/0 off 19 | Pakistan |
| 2-1a | Pakistan 37/1 off 15 | Sri Lanka |
| 2-1b | Pakistan 33/0 off 10.2 | Pakistan |
| 2-2a | Pakistan 61/1 off 13.4 | Pakistan |
| 2-2b | Pakistan 23/1 off 5.2 | Sri Lanka |
| 3-1a | Pakistan 63/2 off 12.4 | Pakistan |
| 3-1b | Sri Lanka 70/1 off 15 | Sri Lanka |
| 4-1a | Sri Lanka 36/0 off 12 | Sri Lanka |
| 4-1b | Sri Lanka 29/0 off 12 | Sri Lanka |
| 4-2a | Sri Lanka 43/0 off 17 | Sri Lanka |
| 4-3a | Sri Lanka 58/1 off 14 | Sri Lanka |
| 4-3b | Sri Lanka 42/3 off 15.4 | Pakistan |
| 5-1a | Sri Lanka 30/0 off 16.2 | Draw |
| 5-1b | Sri Lanka 59/0 off 14 | Sri Lanka |
| 5-2a | Sri Lanka 24/5 off 8.4 | Pakistan |
| 5-2b | Pakistan 99/2 off 16.4 | Pakistan |
| 5-3a | Pakistan 1/0 off 1.2 | Sri Lanka |
| Sri Lanka 55/1 off 14 | ||
| 5-3b | Sri Lanka 31/1 off 8 | Sri Lanka |
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Stumps, Day 1: Pakistan lead the count 6-0
An even more dominant day than Sri Lanka's first day in the last test. 6-0. Today was all about Mohammed Hafeez. He was patient at first, (he had only scored 12 off 62). He had a lucky reprieve just after he brought up his century, getting strangled off a no ball. But 172 is his highest test score, and he only needs 9 more for it to become his highest first class score.
There is a small asterix beside this, as this is the SSC, and it has been a haven for top 3 batsmen recently (average score for the top 3 in the last 2 years at SSC is over 60), but this cannot take away the outstanding effort that Hafeez has made. He has almost put his team into a no lose situation. Sri Lanka are going to have to bat a long time if they want to take a series lead to Pallekele. Which means that we could have some absorbing mental battles coming up as the Pakistani bowlers try and wear down the Sri Lankan batsmen.
Stumps, Day 2: Pakistan lead 8-2
Now there is hope for Sri Lanka. Just over half of the days play was lost to rain, and the mission for Sri Lanka just got a lot easier. They will not need to last as long as they would have, and the pitch is a lot less likely to break up.
However it does bring Abdul Rehman into the game. When Pakistan played New Zealand he was absolutely toothless on the dry tracks. But once there was some moisture he suddenly looked like Bishan Bedi and Alf Valentine's lovechild. A slightly sticky track and he might become a real handful.
If the first day was about Mohammed Hafeez, the second day was about Azhar Ali. He hit his third test century, equaling his previous best of 157 (scored against England at Dubai). But the real thing to notice was his strike rate today. He normally scores at just under 40 runs per 100 balls. Today he scored 65 off 108. That's a strike rate of over 60. It was exactly what the team needed, but it was still a surprise. The strike rate from the other end was even more of a surprise, and an obvious sign of team tactics. Misbah-ul-Haq scored 29 off 40, at a strike rate of over 70. These are two of the slowest batsmen in world cricket, scoring at well over 50, a clear sign that the Pakistan team were trying to increase the pace, in order to get enough time to bowl Sri Lanka out.
It will be interesting to see their approach in the morning session, as their tail is hardly noted for lathering it to all parts. The big question is if 550 odd will be enough to make Sri Lanka follow on. I don't think that it will be personally, but it will be interesting to find out.
Stumps, Day 3: Pakistan lead the count 9-3
There is still time for Pakistan to win, but the chances are increasingly unlikely. Misbah played his part perfectly, scored the runs at a rapid pace then declared inside the first hour. Junaid bowled well, but then Dilshan did what Dilshan does best and counter-attacked beautifully. A day of good cricket and bad weather.
Stumps, Day 4: Pakistan lead the count 10-7
I wouldn't be surprised if this match is called off at lunch tomorrow. Sri Lanka have almost done what they needed to do in order to secure their series lead. Dilshan played a controlled, mature innings (which was a surprise) as did Sangakkara (which was not a surprise). Pakistan made some progress in the final session, but they are unlikely to have sufficient time to finish the match. A test match is supposed to go for about 450 overs. This one has one day to go and is at 232.4, only just over half way. It makes me wonder if the idea of a reserve day for tests is a good idea. It can only be used if less than a certain number of overs have been bowled at the end of the 5th day, possibly 400, and the overs available can not allow the match to go over 450 overs, but it could make games like this one have much more life in them.
First drinks break, Day 5: Pakistan lead the count 10-7
Sri Lanka edge slowly towards the follow on target. Once they reach that hopefully the captains and umpires will call the game off. Hopefully.
Stumps, Day 5: Pakistan win the count 12-10, but the match is a draw.
But what a draw. I apologise to anyone if they stopped following the game due to me thinking it was dead. 5 wickets in an hour, and then a good declaration from Misbah brought this game back to life. Imagine if there was a reserve day.
Junaid Khan becomes possible the first person to take only 5 wickets in a match where two batsmen scored 190's and win the man of the match. However it was the correct decision. On a pitch where every other bowler struggled, he knocked over some of the best batsmen in the world, and remained threatening throughout the match.
I'm glad that they didn't call it off at lunch, and I'm sure any spectators there are too.
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