3rd Test - New Zealand v South Africa - Day 5


Sat Mar 25 - Wed Mar 29 11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d) Early start 10:30 AM
Seddon Park, Hamilton LIVE

Livescorecard
http://www.espncricinfo.com/new-zealand ... 20045.html



South Africa lead the 3-game series 1 - 0 (1 draw, 1 game remains)

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

It's raining in Auckland

There was heavy rain overnight, so the ground is very wet.... damp patches akimbo!!

I assume that Hamilton is similar.

My guess is play will be late starting.. if there is any play today at all. It may be an on again, off again day. I do hope the disruptions don't result in SA batsmen going out. If there is any play I will be more relaxed once SA wipe off the deficit.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

It's "official".... Smithy and Doullie say its pissing down

Doullie was out in the rain... paddling in a small lake.

No play now... I doubt any play today.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I read at espn that "NZ deserved a shot at a win"... BULLSHIT!!

The never got off their asses and played for a win.. they deserve NOTHING.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

End of the tour.

I read through the thread and laughed again at some of your comments.

Gonna go look at the upcoming matches, if any. I really like the red ball photo above.

Thanks for teaching me. I think I finally learned the patience of a Test match.

Yeah... patience can be a big part of Test cricket.... I don't have much of that

As I have stated.. NZ's innings viewed in isolation was a "good" test innings.... but everybody KNEW from the outset that Time was lost.. I predicted about 2 days lost.. and I wont be far off. Kane Williamson (and NZ team staff) knew that and so IF they were serious about WINNING they needed to play accordingly... assume there would only be 3 - 3 and a half days play. It was SILLY to bat most of 2 days for their one innings... they would have batted even LONGER if SA had not bowled them out.

You have to take 20 wickets to win a test match:
Even IF NZ assumed that they would only bat once... by squandering 2 days batting for a "slow but sure" 1st innings, they left only a day and a half (max) to bowl SA out TWICE!! That was VERY unlikely to happen. Even if today had been a full day's play. They may well NOT have bowled SA out, or bowled them out and still had to bat again.. with not enough time to make a target.

"Playing for a draw" is often a best result for "lesser sides".
NZ have aspirations to be better than a "lesser side" and in this case a draw assures a SERIES LOSS... so it was worth some risk to go all-out for a win.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

OFFICIALLY - GAME OVER - DRAW

1.20pm And that will be it, ladies and gentlemen. The players shake hands and play has been called off for day five.


South Africa 314 & 80/5 (39.0 ov)
New Zealand 489

Match drawn


South Africa WIN the 3-game series 1 - 0 (2 games drawn)

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

The after match commentary.... DELUSIONAL

"I think NZ would have gone on to win it"

Is just plain nonsense. Anybody with even small knowledge of Cricket, and these two teams would predict a DRAW as most likely result even with a full day's play today.

NZ had a chance to win but it was far from certain (or likely)

IF NZ seriously wanted to WIN a (likely) 3 day match they should NOT have batted themselves for 2 of those days.

Even if they had been a bit rash... and were all out (in less than a day) with scores about even.. they would have given themselves best chance of a win.

This was NOT an "unexpected" rain storm washing out the last day of a test.. catching both sides unaware.

It was rain ALREADY APPARENT when they started the game.. and already costing time on day 1. EVERYBODY knew about it. They actually were lucky and got less rain than forecast. Maybe a draw was inevitable? But NZ can not BLAME the weather. They knew about it and had a chance to at least TRY for a win. (more so than they now claim)

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light