New Zealand v India, 2nd Test, Christchurch, 29 February - 4 March, 2020

With the Sheep having their tails up, I imagine another greentop will be in order.

Good to see a match on South Island, they seem in short supply these days.

The Snooze can’t lose... the series, given it’s only two matches. If they avoid defeat here, they take the linear world title!

Where Sheep may safely graze.

Bring it.

skully wrote:Bring it.

on.

Christchurch could do with a morale raising win.

I hope something can be done to remodel Bumrah's action. It was peculiar seeing him struggle.

Any word on Wagner?

Wagner wasn't injured, he was on paternity leave.

He is playing and apparently* has plans for E-Coli.

skully wrote:Wagner wasn't injured, he was on paternity leave.

He is playing and apparently* has plans for E-Coli.

That will be great fun.

Ishant likely out. We're so ******

tricycle wrote:Ishant likely out. We're so ******

Yep - this bad news for your mob.

As you pointed out elsewhere, Instant has become a more than useful bowler in recent years. Kudos to him. Maybe his improvement is due to a lot of hard work, maturity and a change of skipper.

Sheep win the toss and have sent the Bannies in.

Koh-Lee goes cheaply again (plus he blows their last review on a plumb lbw).

Bannies 3/85 - Shaw's returns form with a quick fire 54 the only highlight so far.

Wagner has only bowled 1 over out of 25 so far - not sure if he's injured again.

horace wrote:

tricycle wrote:Ishant likely out. We're so ******

Yep - this bad news for your mob.

As you pointed out elsewhere, Instant has become a more than useful bowler in recent years. Kudos to him. Maybe his improvement is due to a lot of hard work, maturity and a change of skipper.

Yep, and Dhoni was quite a poor test captain. That may be particularly pertinent.

Again, looks like a green top on a flat pitch. Makes Wagner a bit less useful, could've gone full 90s NZ and picked some dobber to take 5 wickets.

See that the druggie got 50 and Che Pujara on his way to it as well.

Vihari lbw de Grandhomme written all over this

He got through that phase well. But very poor game management to get out at that stage.

Brain dead basting. Pujara following on from Vihari after tea. Both falling to reckless pull shots. Could easily get bowled out under 250.

Shame because both were batting beautifully before.

If that's how Pant is going to bat, just call up Saha. 2 chances in the previous over and still drags it on from outside off

tricycle wrote:If that's how Pant is going to bat, just call up Saha. 2 chances in the previous over and still drags it on from outside off

Aye. Frustrating player. Fantastic talent tho and worth persisting with. Reckon he needs truer pitches, as he plays with no margin for error.

tricycle wrote:Brain dead basting. Pujara following on from Vihari after tea. Both falling to reckless pull shots. Could easily get bowled out under 250.

Shame because both were batting beautifully before.

They'd take 250 now!

So meek.

Well, another green top, another below par Indian effort.

Jamieson certainly has made a great start to his Test career.

Sheep appear well on top at this point.

At least the Snoozies have given up on playing club level spinners for the sake of variety. The pitches probably help too!

tricycle wrote:So meek.

Jasprit continues to concern - this should be his sort of pitch from what I saw.

The theory seems to be that he is bowling shorter since his return from injury - to the detriment of his form.

Sheep riding on top of their own back. They can push home their advantage today. Stunned the minnow basher survived until stumps.

Finally some Tests to watch.

NZ towelling up the fading Indian stars.

Given the rise of Jadeja, is Ashwin finished? Has Bumrah lost his mojo? The Pant experiment in Tests seems to work when the wickets are flat, but ..