Mini-Session Analysis, Second Test, Ind NZ, Bangalore, 2012

Here is the mini-session analysis for the second test between India and New Zealand at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, India.

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 45/1 off 15	New Zealand
1-1b	New Zealand 63/2 off 14	draw
1-2a	New Zealand 88/1 off 13.2	New Zealand
1-2b	New Zealand 44/1 off 16.4	India
1-3a	New Zealand 64/1 off 16	New Zealand
1-3b	New Zealand 24/0 off 6.3	New Zealand
2-1a	New Zealand 33/4 off 8.4	India
2-1b	India 63/2 off 21	New Zealand
2-2a	India 61/2 off 12	draw
2-2b	India 44/0 off 14	India
2-3a	India 57/1 off 11	India
2-3b	India 58/0 off 20	India
3-1a	India 52/4 off 13	New Zealand
3-1b	India 18/1 off 5.5	New Zealand
	New Zealand 29/0 off 5
3-2a	New Zealand 40/3 off 13	India
3-2b	New Zealand 67/1 off 17	New Zealand
3-3a	New Zealand 45/1 off 14	New Zealand
3-3b	New Zealand 64/4 off 20	India
4-1a	New Zealand 16/1 off 4.2	India
	India 67/0 off 11
4-1b	India 21/2 off 9	New Zealand
4-2a	India 59/0 off 12.5	India
4-3a	India 27/3 off 12.1	New Zealand
4-3b	India 39/0 off 11	India
4-3c	India 49/0 off 7.2	India

Latest update here. India win the match, after the mini-session count is tied 11-11

Tea, Day 1: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 2-1

An absorbing day of cricket. Punch and counter punch; featuring one of the best captain's innings you are likely to see. Taylor came out in the media before the match and said that New Zealand's batsmen needed to be more positive, and attack the bowling. He then went out and demonstrated what he meant.

He came in after the umpires again decided that the benefit of the doubt should go to the home side twice. The ball may have just clipped the off stump for McCullum's lbw, and may have flicked the bails for Williamson, but both of them were at best tight decisions, and have continued the trend of close calls going the way of India in this series.

Taylor could have responded to the team being under pressure by shutting up shop. He could have tried to get his eye in. Instead he started to swing the bat. His 18 boundaries have covered almost all the points of the clock, with only 12 o'clock and 5 o'clock missing out so far.

Taylor needs 11 more runs to become the fastest New Zealand batsman to score 3000 runs in terms of matches (one behind Martin Crowe in terms of innings). New Zealand have to a chance to get over 300, and allow their bowlers something to bowl at.

Final drinks, Day 1: New Zealand leads the mini-session count 3-1

The third hour that New Zealand have scored at more than a run a minute. To be over 300 before the end of the day would be something that the New Zealand team could hardly have dreamed of after the debacle at Hyderabad.

The Indian bowing has been exactly what the modern game tends to provide. Defensive bowling to attacking fields or attacking bowling to defensive fields. There had been a bit too much leg-side filth, trying to bore the batsmen out for my liking, but to be fair it seems to have worked against Guptill and Taylor.

The new ball will be interesting. I'd expect the spinners will get a bowl with it, rather than the quicks, but the extra bounce might be quite dangerous.

Stumps, Day 1: New Zealand leads the mini-session count 4-1

It's New Zealand's day here. 3 players in particular really took it to the Indians, first Guptill, then Taylor and finally van Wyk. Ojha was the lone bright light for India. He looks like he is the sort of bowler who is good against quality batsmen, similar to Trent Boult for New Zealand. Often the rule is that you take the ball away from the batsmen, but bring it into the bowlers. Ashwin started to look more dangerous once Taylor was out. While he didn't manage to get Bracewell out, he did manage to make him look troubled a couple of times.

It's a truism that the next morning is going to be vital. However If New Zealand manage to bat through the first 4 or 5 overs without losing a wicket, they could potentially go on to score 400, and really make the Indian team work in the second innings. There is not likely to be a complete reversal of Hyderabad, but it's amazing what scoreboard pressure does to players.

Inning change over, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 4-2

A combination of good bowling, poor shots and some really bad luck saw New Zealand only add 33 runs for the loss of 4 wickets at the start of the day. India are certainly back in this game, but New Zealand still have the runs on the board, as the cliche goes.

The Indian response will be interesting.

Lunch, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 5-2

Another session, another tough decision against New Zealand. Sehwag looked to be out off the first ball from the second over. There may have been some doubt on height, but after seven decisions that had more doubt than that being given out in the last three innings, it was surprising to see the umpires finally giving the benefit of the doubt to the batsman.

The bad news for New Zealand is that Sehwag is not one to often squander a start against them. He has 7 centuries against New Zealand in international cricket. Once he is in he is a difficult man to stop. At the other end is Tendulkar. While he is hardly looking in vintage form, (4 off 41, no runs off his last 26 balls) the longer he bats, the closer he is to recovering his touch.

New Zealand need at least two more wickets before the clouds burn off. As the pitch is wearing quickly, they can't afford to give India a first innings lead.

Final drinks, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 5-4

On the first day we saw a fantastic counter-attack from Taylor, assisted by Flynn and van Wyk. Today it was Kohli, assisted by Raina and Dhoni. The game is quite even going into the last hour. We really have an absorbing test match on our hands here.

Stumps, Day 2: The mini-session count is tied 5-5

The game is now probably slightly in India's favour. New Zealand can not afford to allow India a lead, as the New Zealand lineup is not as suited to playing on a wearing pitch.

It's been a great partnership from Kohli and Dhoni, but batting will be more difficult in the morning with (probably) some cloud cover and a new ball. Again the first hour will be really important.

Tea, Day 3: New Zealand leads the mini-session count 8-6

This game is still very evenly poised. Both teams are yet to really grab the game by the scruff of the neck. New Zealand are probably still 150 runs from a score that's likely to win, but even chasing 200 will be difficult on this pitch for India.

The star of the day has been Tim Southee. His 7/64 is one of the best ever returns for a New Zealand bowler. He really took the spotlight off Virat Kohli's fantastic hundred. Kohli has scored 450 runs in his last 5 tests, at an average over 50.

Stumps, Day 3: New Zealand leads the mini-session count 9-7

R Ashwin has managed to get India back into the game. The second one side looks like they are winning, the other one strikes back. This is test match cricket at its' most absorbing.

Going into day 4, there is almost certainly going to be a result (unless there is some terrible weather or a phenomenal rear guard effort by Patel and Boult tomorrow.) We may even have the exciting prospect of a day 5 with a very small number of runs needed, and only a couple of wickets in hand.

First drinks, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 9-8

A very aggressive start from India, after another horrible decision to end New Zealand's innings.

Sehwag and Gambhir have looked like they are playing an ODI match. If they keep this up, the game will escape New Zealand very quickly.

Lunch, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 10-8

The roller-coaster lurches again. This test is starting to feel like the Hobart one. Tendulkar looks all at sea against Boult, but if anyone can battle through a bad patch, it's him. There is still a lot of work for New Zealand to do, but the momentum is back with them at the moment.

Rain break, post lunch, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 10-9

India have taken hold of this match. It will take either some very poor cricket from India, some very good cricket from New Zealand or a combination of both for India to lose this now.

Brendon McCullum's missed stumping may prove to be very costly.


Final drinks, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 11-10

It looked like India's game at lunch. Then an hour later it was New Zealand's. Now Dhoni and Kohli have taken back control. Is there another twist?

End of match: The mini-session count was tied 11-11

India won the match, mostly due to the batting of Virat Kohli. The rest of the teams cancelled each other out, but he shone above everyone else. When Dravid described him as India's best batsman in all three formats, he was not exaggerating to make a point. Kohli has turned potential into delivery. There is a long time to go, but at the moment he is truly a wonderful batsman.

Mini-session Analysis 1st Test Ind NZ Hyderabad 2012

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the first test between India and New Zealand at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad, India

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.

MS Dhoni said before the match that their aim was to win the most mini-sessions, because the team that does that normally wins the match. His team certainly executed his plan.

Mini-Session	Score	Winner
1-1a	India 65/1 off 13	India
1-1b	India 32/1 off 12	New Zealand
1-2a	India 39/1 off 15	New Zealand
1-2b	India 46/0 off 14	India
1-3a	India 75/1 off 16	India
1-3b	India 50/1 off 17	draw
2-1a	India 26/0 off 12	India
2-1b	India 38/0 off 9	India
2-2a	India 41/2 off 15	New Zealand
2-2b	India 26/3 off 11.3	New Zealand
2-3a	New Zealand 39/3 off 14	India
2-3b	New Zealand 45/1 off 19	India
2-3c	New Zealand 22/1 off 9	India
3-1	New Zealand 53/5 off 19.3	India
3-2	New Zealand 41/1 off 18	India
4-1a	New Zealand 30/0 off 14	New Zealand
4-1b	New Zealand 21/0 off 11	draw
4-2a	New Zealand 30/2 off 14	India
4-2b	New Zealand 24/3 off 16	India
4-3a	New Zealand 18/4 off 6.5	India

Final update here. India win the match by an innings and 115 runs. The win the mini-session count 13-5

Lunch, Day 1: The mini-session count is level at 1-1

New Zealand really missed a trick in the morning session. They dropped Sehwag twice, and left a gap for him to score at 3rd man, allowing him to score 24 of his 47 runs to that spot.

However despite that, the first session was quite even. Boult again looked dangerous. He is turning into a very handy bowler.

Middle drinks, Day 1: NZ lead the mini-session count 2-1

Trent Bould bowled Tendulkar. In his 5 matches, his victims now include Gayle, Kallis, Gambhir, Tendulkar and Michael Hussey. It seems that the better the batsman, the more they struggle with Boult.

Tea, Day 1: The mini-session count is level at 2-2

Kohli and Pujara have put together a great partnership here. New Zealand will want at least one more wicket before the new ball.

Post tea drinks, Day 1: India lead the mini-session count 3-2

Two more dropped catches in that session. The Kohli-Pujara partnership was fantastic. New Zealand will be very frustrated with this match. They have played some good cricket, and yet are behind in the match.

Stumps, Day 1: India lead the mini-session count 3-2

It was a day of missed chances for New Zealand, and yet they are still well in this match. Boult bowled very well, as did Jeetan Patel, although with very little luck. The 4 bowlers who took wickets all had at least one catch dropped off their bowling, so all can feel a little unlucky.

The star of the day, however is Cheteshwar Pujara. His 119* so far has been head and shoulders ahead of any of the other Indian batsmen. It wasn't quite chanceless, but the one half chance that he did offer up was still after he'd scored more than anyone else managed.

Tomorrow there is likely to be some good cloud cover, which, when combined with a two paced pitch, should make for tricky batting conditions.

Tea, Day 2: India lead the mini-session count 5-4

Due to my TV dying, I've been unable to watch much of this day, but Kruger van Wyk seems to have pulled off one of the stumpings that he made his name with. The partnership between Dhoni and Pujara threatened to take the game away from New Zealand, but in the end 438 is a fair score, but not much more. In the last 6 first class matches at this ground, at least one of the first innings have scored more than 400, so it's about what would be expected.

How the New Zealand batsmen go about building their innings now that Hesson is in charge will be interesting.

Stumps, Day 3: India lead the mini-session count 10-4

New Zealand are in a lot of trouble.

While India are dominating the match, I don't think that the difference between the teams has been quite as great as the scorecard would indicate. There have been number of 50-50 decisions by the umpires, and only one of them has gone to New Zealand's favour. India have also had the luxury of having a lot of men round the bat. It's a luxury that their batsmen purchased for them.

Ashwin and Ojha really made the most of the advantage that their batsmen gave them, and looked more dangerous than I've seen either of them before. Ashwin bowled one of the best deliveries I've seen to Chirs Martin. That was really a waste, as he could have probably gotten out Martin without needing such a good delivery. He should really have saved his best for when he's bowling to someone who is good against spin, like Misbah-ul-Haq or Darren Bravo.

First drinks, Day 4: India lead the mini-session count 10-5

Good work from McCullum and Williamson. McCullum has really gone into his shell here. He has quite a poor record when he defends. In innings where he has a strike rate of less than 45 he's never scored a 50. In his career he's only batted more than 150 balls 8 times, so to face 92 balls for only 31 runs is certainly not batting according to his normal script. If these two put together a very large partnership it could be the start of a very good period in McCullum's career.

Lunch, Day 4: India lead the mini-session count 10-6

McCullum and Williamson are still there, and have batted through the entire session. Realistically they need to bat for another session before New Zealand start to look even marginally likely to draw the match.

Second session drinks, Day 4: India lead the mini-session count 11-5

The umpire strikes back. Brendan McCullum was out bat before wicket, then Ross Taylor left one that bowled him. Still, the Indian bowlers put a lot of pressure on the batsmen, and created the situation where the umpire had to make a decision.

Williamson is still looking solid. This is the 7th time he has faced more than 100 deliveries, in only his 27th innings.

Tea, Day 4: India lead the mini-session count 12-5.

Ashwin and Ohja have continued to weave a web of mystery over the New Zealand lower order. Dhoni made a fantastic change bringing in Raina for an over to Williamson. The lack of overspin seemed to unsettle him. The next over Ojha came back in and got out Williamson immediately.

End of match: India win the mini-session count 13-5

A complete thrashing. New Zealand went from 98/1 to 164 all out. 9 wickets for 66 runs. The innings was typified by the dismissal of Doug Bracewell. He was beaten by a good ball, edged it. The catch was grounded by Kohli, but Bracewell didn't notice, and walked off in a hurry. If he had stayed around, he might have been given not out, but he had given up. Ashwin and Ojha were too good, and New Zealand were awful, despite good, fighting knocks from Guptill, McCullum and Williamson.

New Zealand will need to make an enormous improvement in order to level up the series in the second match.

Mini-session Analysis 3rd test Eng SA Lord's, London 2012

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the third test between England and South Africa at Lord's, London, England.

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.

1-1a	South Africa 27/1 off 13	England
1-1b	South Africa 38/3 off 11	England
1-2a	South Africa 40/1 off 14.1	draw
1-2b	South Africa 46/0 off 16.5	South Africa
1-3a	South Africa 50/1 off 15	South Africa
1-3b	South Africa 61/1 off 17.4	South Africa
2-1a	South Africa 45/2 off 13	England
2-1b	South Africa 2/1 off 0.4	South Africa
	England 29/1 off 10.4
2-2a	England 25/3 off 12.4	South Africa
2-2b	England 40/0 off 14.4	England
2-3a	England 48/0 off 14	England
2-3b	England 66/1 off 20	England
3-1a	England 35/1 off 14	South Africa
3-1b	England 34/2 off 11	South Africa
3-2a	England 38/2 off 10.3	South Africa
3-2b	South Africa 33/0 off 15	draw
3-3a	South Africa 37/2 off 15	England
3-3b	South Africa 75/1 off 20	South Africa
4-1a	South Africa 38/1 off 13	South Africa
4-1b	South Africa 33/0 off 13.4	South Africa
4-2a	South Africa 52/2 off 14.2	England
4-2b	South Africa 38/1 off 16	England
4-3a	South Africa 39/1 off 15	England
4-3b	South Africa 6/2 off 2.2	South Africa
	England 16/2 off 13
5-1a	England 29/2 off 13	South Africa
5-1b	England 75/0 off 14	England
5-2a	England 54/2 off 15	South Africa
5-2b	England 47/1 off 15	England
5-3a	England 73/3 off 12.5	England

South Africa win the mini-session count 14-13, and they close out the match and the series.

This was the closest of the 3 matches, but South Africa were still clearly better than England. The overall mini-session count for the series was 47-31 to South Africa. They clearly deserved to win the series.

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.

Mini-session Analysis 2nd Test, Eng SA Leeds 2012

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the second test between England and South Africa at Headingley, Leeds, England.

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.

1-1a	South Africa 41/0 off 14	South Africa
1-1b	South Africa 42/0 off 13	South Africa
1-2a	South Africa 47/1 off 13	South Africa
1-2b	South Africa 33/2 off 12	England
1-3a	South Africa 38/0 off 17	South Africa
1-3b	South Africa 61/2 off 18	England
2-1a	South Africa 33/0 off 15	draw
2-1b	South Africa 41/1 off 13	draw
2-2a	South Africa 39/2 off 11.5	England
2-2b	South Africa 44/2 off 12.3	England
2-3	England 48/0 off 18	England
3-1	England 32/1 off 12.2	South Africa
3-2a	England 44/1 off 16.4	South Africa
3-2b	England 59/2 off 16	South Africa
3-3a	England 63/0 off 14	England
3-3b	England 58/0 off 14	England
3-3c	England 47/1 off 14	England
4-1a	England 45/2 off 15	South Africa
4-1b	England 29/3 off 6.4	South Africa
	South Africa 5/0 off 2.3
4-2	South Africa 34/0 off 14.3	South Africa
5-1a	South Africa 51/0 off 13.5	South Africa
5-1b	South Africa 33/1 off 7.1	South Africa
5-2a	South Africa 59/2 off 13.5	South Africa
5-2b	South Africa 57/4 off 13.1	England
5-3a	South Africa 19/2 off 2.4	South Africa
5-3b	England 114/4 off 24	South Africa
5-3c	England 16/0 off 9	draw

Final update here. The match was drawn, with South Africa winning the mini-session count 15-9

Lunch, Day 1: South Africa lead the mini-session count 2-0

And they lead it despite England bowling quite well really. They have swung the ball, seamed the ball, beaten the South Africans on the inside edge, beaten the South Africans outside edge, had edges go to ground, had an edge caught off a dead ball, and not taken a wicket.

And now it looks like normal coverage continues.

South Africa have run very well. Smith and Petersen have taken a lot of quick singles, hitting the ball softly to mid off or cover. This has given them some real momentum, despite them not ever really getting on top of the bowling yet.

Stumps, Day 1: South Africa lead the mini-session count 4-2

It was a day of missed opportunities for both sides. England looked threatening with the ball, and managed to almost take a number of wickets. South Africa survived the early onslaught, but then lost a couple of key wickets. They rebuilt, only to lose a couple more wickets at the end of the day.

Overall it was a good day of test cricket. Alviro Peterson has almost made up for missing out at the Oval. Jacques Rudolph will be happy. He's finally managed to get involved in a game. South Africa are in the lead, but are definitely not in control yet.

Lunch, Day 2: South Africa lead the mini-session count 4-2

South Africa made the most conservative of starts. Their first run didn't come until the 7th over. However they managed to survive the first hour, and finally scored some runs. The breakthrough for England came from an unlikely source, Kevin Pietersen. It allowed us the joy of having Pietersen bowling to Petersen.

Stumps, Day 2: England lead the mini-session count 5-4.

I counted the whole session as one mini-session, as there were only a couple of overs after drinks before the rain and bad light conspired together to end the day's play.

While England are leading the mini-session count, South Africa are probably slightly ahead in the match. Runs on the board mean more at Leeds than most places. When teams scores 300 in Headingley they win 80%. There are always exceptions, like this one, but England are not likely to have Don Bradman come out and slay 173* in the final innings.

The first session tomorrow will be a fascinating session. How will the English batsmen handle Philander? The little bit of rain that got onto the pitch might cause it to misbehave slightly, and he is a genius when the pitch is helpful. We've potentially got an interesting match on our hands here.

Lunch, Day 3: The mini-session count is tied up at 5-5.

The South African bowlers did enough to keep the English batsmen in check, and Philander managed to get a straight one to get rid of Cook.

There is still a lot of room for extra twists and turns in this match.

Stumps, Day 3: England lead the mini-session count 8-7

What an innings from Pietersen. England are in the lead now, but the draw is probably winning the race.

The thought is still there though, one cloudy morning in Headingley and everything can change.

South Africa maintained their discipline, kept bowling to the plan, and it was working until Taylor and Pietersen came together. Their partnership was 147, of which 99 were contributed by Pietersen. During this series Pietersen has moved past Denis Compton's total number of runs scored in England, and it was an innings that Compton would have been proud of. Rather than allowing the bowlers to dominate, he set about the process of making them uncomfortable by scoring runs as quickly as was sensible.

He was dropped on 52, and just like Amla in the first match, he has made South Africa pay. How much it costs them will be interesting to see overnight.

Stumps, Day 5: South Africa win the mini-session count 15-9

This match was ruined by rain. There was a chance of a stunning finale in store, but almost 90 overs were lost to the weather. Despite South Africa being so far ahead in the mini-session count, England probably had their noses slightly ahead in the match, and may well have won it if there had been an extra day. Again it makes me wonder if it would be a good idea to have reserve days in test matches.

Scoring 100's

One of the criticisms that is sometimes leveled at some batsmen in test cricket is that they can't convert a start. They do the hard part of the innings, get to 25 and then get out, without going on to score a hundred.

On the suggestion of Jamie Lloyd, from The Heavy Roller, I decided to have a look at the conversion rates for current batsmen.

I defined a start as 25 runs, and so I looked at how many times a batsman got out between 25 and 99 and how many times they got past 100. I did not count not outs between 25 and 99. I only looked at innings in the top 7 and at batsmen who had passed 25 more than 10 times. I also only looked at innings in the last 10 years, as the conditions have changed quite a lot between the 90's and now, so it was better to restrict it to this time frame. I also ignored any batsmen who hadn't played an innings in the past 4 years.

Here's the top of the list:

Name	Dismissals 25 - 99	100s	Conversion rate
JH Kallis	58	34	37.0%
AG Prince	22	11	33.3%
RR Sarwan	32	15	31.9%
Mohammad Yousuf	33	15	31.3%
KC Sangakkara	59	26	30.6%
MJ Clarke	44	19	30.2%
RT Ponting	72	31	30.1%
AN Cook	51	20	28.2%
R Dravid	67	26	28.0%
DPMD Jayawardene	58	22	27.5%
HM Amla	40	15	27.3%
S Chanderpaul	54	20	27.0%
IR Bell	44	16	26.7%
SR Tendulkar	61	22	26.5%
Younis Khan	43	15	25.9%
GC Smith	72	25	25.8%
KP Pietersen	60	20	25.0%
IJL Trott	21	7	25.0%
JDP Oram	15	5	25.0%
Shahid Afridi	9	3	25.0%

We see a list of some of the best modern batsmen there, headed by the incomparable Jacques Kallis. There is also a distinct lack of current New Zealand batsmen there, with only Jacob Oram (who retired from tests 3 years ago) in the list.

At the other end of the table are a lot of wicket-keepers and bowling all-rounders.

Here it is sorted from worst rate.

Name	Dismissals 25 - 99	100s	Conversion rate
MV Boucher	50	2	3.8%
Mushfiqur Rahim	22	1	4.3%
DS Smith	21	1	4.5%
T Taibu	20	1	4.8%
AD Mathews	18	1	5.3%
SCJ Broad	18	1	5.3%
Shahriar Nafees	18	1	5.3%
SR Watson	34	2	5.6%
DJG Sammy	15	1	6.3%
Junaid Siddique	14	1	6.7%
MG Johnson	13	1	7.1%
Umar Akmal	13	1	7.1%
KD Karthik	12	1	7.7%
NT Paranavitana	23	2	8.0%
Harbhajan Singh	22	2	8.3%
Faisal Iqbal	11	1	8.3%
DJ Bravo	32	3	8.6%
Shoaib Malik	21	2	8.7%
D Ramdin	21	2	8.7%
Shakib Al Hasan	21	2	8.7%
BJ Haddin	27	3	10.0%
Imran Farhat	27	3	10.0%
AB Barath	9	1	10.0%
Salman Butt	25	3	10.7%
Yasir Hameed	16	2	11.1%
Misbah-ul-Haq	23	3	11.5%
MS Dhoni	36	5	12.2%
BB McCullum	42	6	12.5%
MJ Guptill	14	2	12.5%
Mahmudullah	7	1	12.5%

It makes me wonder why there are so many keepers there. Perhaps the temperament that makes someone a good keeper is not suited to getting big scores, alternatively it could be that keepers are more likely to get off to a start, as they tend to have a good eye, and are also more likely to be batting with the tail, hence are more likely to hit out. Alternatively it could be that keepers are more likely to get tired, as they have a lot of work to do in the field. For more, see Does keeping influence batting.

If we ignore the wicket-keepers and bowlers, there are a few players who are in there form Pakistan and also one each from New Zealand, Sri Lanka Bangladesh. The Pakistani batsmen have not played many home matches in this time, and I wondered if there was any significant difference for players at home and away.

Once I isolated out home and away performances there was a clear difference. I home matches players converted 21.1% of starts to hundreds, while away players only converted 17.6%

The next step was to look at who was the best at converting starts to hundreds away from home, as it is obviously a more difficult skill.

Name	Dismissals 25 - 99	100s	Conversion rate
JA Rudolph	9	5	35.7%
JH Kallis	24	13	35.1%
AJ Strauss	23	11	32.4%
AN Cook	21	10	32.3%
TT Samaraweera	14	6	30.0%
SR Tendulkar	36	14	28.0%
R Dravid	39	15	27.8%
MJ Clarke	21	8	27.6%
GC Smith	37	14	27.5%
AG Prince	11	4	26.7%
TM Dilshan	17	6	26.1%
RT Ponting	33	11	25.0%

The name at the top is surprising. Jacques Rudolph has scored 5 of his 6 hundreds away from South Africa. He's only converted 1 of his 14 starts at home. Once we remove the penalty for playing a lot of matches in England on difficult pitches, Strauss and Cook move up the list. Likewise once we take Sangakkara out of Sri Lanka his numbers don't look nearly as good.

At the bottom of the list, there are still a number of 'keepers and bowlers, but a couple of different batsmen appear.

Name	Dismissals 25 - 99	100s	Conversion rate
MV Boucher	27	0	0.0%
MS Dhoni	20	1	4.8%
SR Watson	18	1	5.3%
D Ramdin	15	1	6.3%
Imran Farhat	15	1	6.3%
LRPL Taylor	12	1	7.7%
Mohammad Ashraful	11	1	8.3%
Kamran Akmal	19	2	9.5%

Farhat, Taylor and Ashraful are all terrible at converting starts when they are away from home. Ashraful might not get to play much more test cricket, but the other two need to address this urgently.

The final question is which teams are best at converting starts.

These numbers are quite interesting.

Team	Overall	Home	Away	Difference
South Africa	23.7%	24.0%	23.4%	0.7%
Australia	23.5%	25.5%	21.5%	4.0%
England	21.8%	24.7%	18.4%	6.4%
Sri Lanka	21.2%	21.6%	20.7%	0.9%
India	19.7%	20.9%	18.9%	2.0%
West Indies	18.6%	22.9%	14.9%	8.0%
Pakistan	17.0%	24.6%	13.9%	10.7%
New Zealand	14.5%	14.2%	14.7%	-0.5%
Zimbabwe	6.8%	7.7%	5.0%	2.7%
Bangladesh	6.0%	5.8%	6.2%	-0.3%

Only New Zealand and Bangladesh do better away from home. It is not a massive surprise in the case of New Zealand as the New Zealand pitches tend to be bowler friendly, and a good ball that misbehaves off the pitch can unseat even the most set batsman. It's part of the reason why batsmen from round the world tend to have significantly lower averages playing against the Blackcaps in NZ than playing them at home. Bangladesh is a little more difficult to understand, but the number at home and away are both particularly poor for Bangladesh, so it might not really tell us anything.

The difference between the better sides over this period (South Africa, Australia, England) and the worst ones (Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) is fairly clear in this statistic, and so perhaps the ability to convert really is an important factor when assessing the quality or otherwise of a batsman.

Mini-session Analysis 1st Test WI NZ Antigua 2012

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the first test between West Indies and New Zealand at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua.

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.

1-1a	New Zealand 21/0 off 12.1	draw
1-1b	New Zealand 50/0 off 16.5	New Zealand
1-2a	New Zealand 49/1 off 16	draw
1-2b	New Zealand 39/1 off 14	draw
1-3a	New Zealand 42/0 off 15	New Zealand
1-3b	New Zealand 31/2 off 16	West Indies
2-1a	New Zealand 28/1 off 16	West Indies
2-1b	New Zealand 27/2 off 12	West Indies
2-2a	New Zealand 64/3 off 11.1	New Zealand
2-2b	West Indies 72/0 off 14	West Indies
2-3a	West Indies 46/0 off 17	West Indies
2-3b	West Indies 27/0 off 17	New Zealand
3-1a	West Indies 30/0 off 10.1	West Indies
3-1b	West Indies 70/0 off 13.5	West Indies
3-2a	West Indies 47/1 off 15	draw
3-2b	West Indies 60/1 off 13	West Indies
3-3a	West Indies 24/2 off 12	New Zealand
3-3b	West Indies 66/2 off 26	New Zealand
4-1a	West Indies 49/0 off 12.3	West Indies
4-1b	West Indies 31/4 off 13	New Zealand
4-2a	New Zealand 58/1 off 15	New Zealand
4-2b	New Zealand 34/0 off 15	New Zealand
4-3a	New Zealand 63/0 off 15	New Zealand
4-3b	New Zealand 44/2 off 19	West Indies
5-1a	New Zealand 18/0 off 10.1	draw
5-1b	New Zealand 8/2 off 15.5	West Indies
5-2a	New Zealand 47/5 off 15.2	West Indies
5-2b	West Indies 32/0 off 8	West Indies
5-3a	West Indies 70/1 off 11.3	West Indies

Latest update here

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

An interesting start to the match. After a very slow start the openers started to assert themselves, before Flynn hit a short ball from Narine straight to point. It seems that the way to get Flynn out is to bowl a bad delivery. In the ODI's he managed to hit almost every good delivery that was bowled to him, but got out to some of the worst ones.

The Narine factor hasn't been significant yet, but there is still a lot of cricket to go in this match.

Tea, Day 1: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 1-0

Another even session. Before I added in draws to the formula these mini-sessions would have come out 2-2. I think New Zealand are slightly ahead, but only slightly. There has only been one test at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium that has lasted more than 10 deliveries, so it is difficult to know how the pitch will react as the match wears on.

Again it was a bad ball that dismissed a batsman. A full, wide ball from Roach, that should have been driven for four was instead driven low and hard to mid off by McCullum. It's an unlucky way to get out in some regards, as if he had hit it 2 hundredths of a second later it would have probably blazed along the ground. The ball wasn't slower than the previous ball, so it was really just poor execution from the batsman, rather than good bowling from Roach.

If New Zealand had been offered 159/2 at the resumption of play I would imagine that they would have taken it.

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

More sensible play from New Zealand here. Sammy has a short mid-wicket in place to Guptill, which has cut off his main source of turning over the strike, but Guptill has been prepared to wait it out. He is closing in on what would be probably his best test century, being a completely different type of innings to his attacking 189 in Hamilton.

New Zealand have got into a reasonably strong position now in this match.

Stumps, Day 1: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 2-1

And just like that the match evens up. One good ball from Narine, and one bad shot from Guptill. I had praised Guptill for his patience earlier, and he had been incredibly patient, given that his most productive shot had been cut off. However it came to an end in the 87th over.

New Zealand will be looking for at least 400 as with Brownlie, Vettori and van Wyk still to come there is still a lot of batting left.

Vettori might be a real handful on this pitch. Narine has been getting some awkward bounce. While Vettori is not a great spin bowler he is possibly the worlds best bounce bowler, and inconsistent bounce is what he thrives on as a bowler.

It should be an interesting test match from here.

Innings break, Day 2: The mini-session count is tied up at 3-3

The New Zealand tail decided to take the attack to the bowlers and the approach was very effective. This is not a good sign for New Zealand, as it might indicate that the defensive approach that the top order took was not necessarily the correct one. There is not much chance of Chris Gayle taking a defensive approach.

Narine picked up 5 wickets, but they took 43 overs and cost 132 runs. He is, however, the sort of bowler who is likely to be better in the second innings, unlike Vettori, the first innings spinner.

Chris Martin got another not out to add to his collection. That's his 50th, he's now only 11 away from the world record. It shows the high regard that his team mates hold his batting in.

350 is probably slightly below the par score, but it is sufficient to make for good match. It will be very interesting to see the response of the West Indies, which will really give us an indication of how good the score is.

Stumps, Day 2: West Indies lead the mini-session count 5-4.

Chris Gayle did attack. And he did it effectively. West Indies scored at over 5 an over at the start of the innings. It was not without some risks, with both Gayle and Powell having a life off consecutive balls, firstly with Guptill missing Powell off Wagner and then Flynn putting down Gayle off Bracewell.

By the end of the day, however, New Zealand had taken back some of the initiative, with Gayle and Powell both surviving some close calls from Vettori and Wagner for lbw. Wagner was able to get some sharp reverse swing, perhaps assisted by Doug Bracewell. Bracewell is likely to be having a long, expensive, chat with match referee Ranjan Madugalle following the game after being caught on camera scratching the ball.

West Indies are in control of this match now, but with the ball reversing and runs on the board, New Zealand are not out of it by any means. However with Chanderpaul and Samuels still to come, West Indies should be looking for a significant first innings lead.

Tea, Day 3: West Indies lead the mini-session count 8-4.

Another case of what could have been for New Zealand. The second dropped catch of Gayle was not as expensive as the first one, only costing 8 runs. However there were a number of chances against Powell that never quite went to hand and a run out opportunity that turned into 4 overthrows.

The most concerning thing for New Zealand is that the most dangerous looking bowler has been Kane Williamson. It's concerning because there is the fear that if Williamson is dangerous, Narine will be almost unplayable.

Martin has looked a lot less menacing against the left-handers than normal, and New Zealand really need him to find his rhythm soon.

I think that this pitch is trickier than the scorecard would indicate. Any lead that West Indies can get will be very valuable.

Final drinks, Day 3: West Indies lead the mini-session count 8-5

Chris Martin did find his rhythm, and removed Samuels and Chanderpaul with consecutive deliveries. Williamson still looked threatening. West Indies are still in the lead, but they have gone from leading by 1 run and 8 wickets to leading by 25 runs and 6 wickets. Definitely New Zealand's hour.

Stumps, Day 3: West Indies lead the mini-series count 8-6

New Zealand managed to make it difficult for the West Indian batsmen to score, and as a result managed to pick up a couple of quick wickets from the pressure.

West Indies are in a very strong position now. They are likely to get to 500, and that will create a very difficult prospect for New Zealand to even make them bat again.

However if New Zealand manage to set West Indies a chase of 100, it could be a fantastic finish.

Final drinks, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 10-9

New Zealand had to wait an hour for their first break through this morning, but then the rest of the day has really been theirs. Firstly Martin, Vettori and Bracewell cleaned up the tail, then Guptill, Flynn and McCullum batted sensibly. The game is now probably heading for a draw, but there is still hope for the other results. If New Zealand manage to set a target of 150 with 3 hours to go we could be in for a really good conclusion.

Stumps, Day 4: The mini-session count is tied 10-10

Despite the even mini-session count West Indies are ahead in the match. Guptill and McCullum both failed to convert a start. Guptill got out to a good ball and a great catch, and that's something that happen on an old pitch. However Brendan McCullum played a poor shot to a ball that he really should not have gotten out to.

Surprisingly Narine has not looked as dangerous as I would have expected. In a lot of ways Williamson has looked the most threatening of the 5 spinners used. He certainly bowled quite frequently for Gloucestershire and perhaps he is starting to get the benefit of having those overs under his belt.

This day has followed the pattern of the rest of the days, one team doing well, but then the other team leveling up things in the final hour.

End of match: West Indies win the match and the mini-session count 14-10.

In some ways New Zealand lost this test match near the end of the second day when they missed Chris Gayle and Kieran Powell.

Just to show how dominant those two players were, look at the averages for the teams:

Gayle & Powell	126
Rest of West Indies	30.75
New Zealand	31.15

The other big difference was the scoring rate. The West Indians attacked the bowling. They tried to score runs. The New Zealanders generally were content to wait for the bad balls. If you let bowlers bowl to you, then you are giving up the advantage.

New Zealand's bowlers also looked toothless. Wagner and Williamson were the most threatening. Chris Martin looked out of form, and Bracewell looked more like the bowler with a first class average in the 30's than the bowler with a test average in the low 20s. Boult was a real stand out in St Kitts, and while it's not ideal to have two left-armers in the team, it is hard to see any reason for leaving him out of the team if he is sufficiently recovered from his injury.

There are no such worries for the West Indies. The only players who didn't make a significant contribution were Samuels and Chanderpaul, who are realistically two of their three best batsmen. The only other question mark is about Rampaul, but he did enough in this test to hold his place.

I fail to understand also how Sunil Narine was man of the match. There was one player who I thought was head and shoulders above everyone else, and that was Chris Gayle. If anything I thought Roach was the most impressive of the West Indian bowlers. I think match figures of 7/105 are better than 8/223. Gayle scored 214 runs, was only dismissed once and scored his runs quickly enough that his team managed to win the match. If Gayle had scored at a strike rate of 50, it would have taken an extra 28.5 overs for West Indies to have scored their totals. They won with 28.3 overs left in the days play. He allowed them to win the match. Without doubt he should have been the man of the match.

New Zealand now need to win in Jamaica, which is hardly a ground where they have good memories from the ODI matches. They are not as far behind the West Indies as the score would indicate, but they are still behind, and need to do something quickly to catch up.