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Lightweights scrap for rare success: First Test, WI vs NZ, Antigua

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West Indies v New Zealand, 1st Test, Antigua

Test lightweights scrap for rare success
The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran
July 24, 2012
Comments: 29 | Login via  | Text size: A | A
Match facts
July 25-29
Start time 1000 (1400 GMT)

After dominating the domestic scene in New Zealand in recent years, Neil Wagner is set to turn out at the highest level © Getty Images
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Matches: West Indies v New Zealand at North Sound
Series/Tournaments: New Zealand tour of United States of America and West Indies
Teams: New Zealand | West Indies
Big Picture

Midway through the limited-overs leg of the tour, you felt sorry for New Zealand as, bereft of several seniors, they slid from defeat to defeat. Their stand-in captain Kane Williamson, all of 21 years old and looking even younger, earnestly defended his inexperienced team after Chris Gayle effortlessly dished out half-century after half-century.

Two senior batsmen, Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum, were available in the final two ODIs, and New Zealand will be further boosted by the arrival of two old hands, their man-for-all occasions Daniel Vettori and their pace spearhead Chris Martin. Their presence lifts a bowling line-up that looked pretty fragile during large parts of the one-day series, as does the inclusion of Neil Wagner, a man in whom New Zealand fans have placed an almost inordinate amount of faith.

New Zealand pulled off one of their greatest Test victories last year against Australia, and competed against South Africa in a home defeat. It's been more than a decade since they won a Test series away from home (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe), and while they enter these contests as underdogs, it still presents them with their best opportunity for an overseas victory.

For that they need to find answers to the same players who gave them plenty of headaches in the limited-overs matches: Gayle and Sunil Narine. Gayle returns for his first Test in more than 19 months, and West Indies will hope that solves their top-order troubles; in recent series, West Indies have typically been three for almost nothing, leaving the middle-order facing a salvage job. Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been their rescuer-in-chief for years now, and his presence solidifies a batting line-up that was explosive but inconsistent in the one-dayers.

The focus will also be on Narine, who continued to be a match-winner in limited-overs matches, but is yet to show whether he can be similarly effective in the five-day game. His Test debut in England was a disaster, but on more familiar surfaces and in more comfortable temperatures, Narine should prove more dangerous. If he clicks, West Indies' chances of only their second series win in more than nine years (excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) will be considerably bright.

vb:
97/1. Narine gets his first wkt in Test cricket.

VB

vb:
133/2 .. Mcallum caught deonarine bwld Roach.

VB

vb:
233/5..Narine takes his fourth wkt.

Michael-j:

--- Quote from: vb on July 26, 2012, 08:10:58 AM ---233/5..Narine takes his fourth wkt.

--- End quote ---

And all but one got out playing defensively. Many  suggested that he would be less successful in the test format because batmen are under less pressure to score off him (and can take their time to read him instead of trying to attack), but if he gets batmen out when they are on the defensive then he will be successful in any form of the game ( more so in tests).

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