Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[bryant.coleman]

Australia may be without David Warner for the first test match as he injured himself in the last ODI match and is now in doubt for the first test match. Even if he is ruled out Australia do have a very good young player waiting for his chance so I don't mind if Warner is ruled out as it gives Will Pucovski a chance to play and he has been in top form in domestic cricket.

Will Pucovski is an exciting batsman who performed well in the domestic cricket. Considering the fact that most of the Australian batsman are above 30 years of age, this will be a good move from the part of the Australian selectors.

Apart from being a promising young batsman, inclusion of Pucovski will also be a step towards the globalization of the game. His father (Jan Pucovski) was born in former Czechoslovakia. Jan Pucovski (who was a pace bowler) could never make it in to the first-class cricket, but Will more than made up for that loss. Pucovski will be the second player with Czechoslovakian roots to represent Australia (first being Jason Krejza). Maybe one day, Pucovski may become as successful as Michael Kasprowicz (whose parents are Polish).   

[Iranus]

Australia may be without David Warner for the first test match as he injured himself in the last ODI match and is now in doubt for the first test match. Even if he is ruled out Australia do have a very good young player waiting for his chance so I don't mind if Warner is ruled out as it gives Will Pucovski a chance to play and he has been in top form in domestic cricket.

I would also be happy if a new player plays as Warner's replacement. Youngsters should always be given a chance to show off their talents and Pucovski should be given a chance at Warner’s injury. Will Pucovski is a very talented player. I hope he will play well in the first Test. And will solidify his place for the future Australia team.

[Vishnu.Reang]

I would also be happy if a new player plays as Warner's replacement. Youngsters should always be given a chance to show off their talents and Pucovski should be given a chance at Warner’s injury. Will Pucovski is a very talented player. I hope he will play well in the first Test. And will solidify his place for the future Australia team.

Australia needs younger players in the squad. During the last 3-4 years hardly any new player have found a permanent spot in the playing XI. Apart from Marnus Labuschagne, all the other batsmen are above 30 years of age. And among the bowlers, only Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa can be considered as "youngsters" and even they are in their late 20s.

[JSRAW]

New Zealand vs Windies

Windies won the good toss and they are bowling first. Bit delay due to rain and one session is washed out already but now everything looking great for test cricket. Important series in context of WTC.

New Zealand (Playing XI): Tom Latham, Will Young, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell(w), Daryl Mitchell, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult

West Indies (Playing XI): Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell, Shamarh Brooks, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Jermaine Blackwood, Shane Dowrich(w), Jason Holder(c), Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel, Alzarri Joseph

[Sithara007]

Don't know whether we will get a result from the New Zealand vs West Indies match, as the weather predictions are not looking great. Also, I was surprised that Lockie Ferguson was not included in the playing XI. Right now he is like the best performing bowler for New Zealand.

BTW, there is some excellent news for teams such as New Zealand and England. The South African government has announced that from 2022, the transformation quota will be increased to 7 players in the playing XI. That means that 4 players will be selected based on merit and the rest will be selected based on their skin color. Obviously a number of players are going to migrate to other countries. This may even help New Zealand to remain competitive against the big 3 nations, as recently that country has emerged as the no.1 destination for migrating South African players.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/30429526/south-africa-set-bring-tougher-transformation-targets

[JSRAW]

Don't know whether we will get a result from the New Zealand vs West Indies match, as the weather predictions are not looking great. Also, I was surprised that Lockie Ferguson was not included in the playing XI. Right now he is like the best performing bowler for New Zealand.

BTW, there is some excellent news for teams such as New Zealand and England. The South African government has announced that from 2022, the transformation quota will be increased to 7 players in the playing XI. That means that 4 players will be selected based on merit and the rest will be selected based on their skin color. Obviously a number of players are going to migrate to other countries. This may even help New Zealand to remain competitive against the big 3 nations, as recently that country has emerged as the no.1 destination for migrating South African players.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/30429526/south-africa-set-bring-tougher-transformation-targets

There is one famous Sanskrit proverb "Vinaasha Kaale Vipareetha Buddhi" (when one’s destruction time is soon to arrive, one thinks unintelligently) Good for Kiwis and brits or in some extent Aussie, glad that no other board follow such shitty policy.

[bryant.coleman]

There is one famous Sanskrit proverb "Vinaasha Kaale Vipareetha Buddhi" (when one’s destruction time is soon to arrive, one thinks unintelligently) Good for Kiwis and brits or in some extent Aussie, glad that no other board follow such shitty policy.

It would be wrong to attribute the recent rise of the New Zealand cricket team only to the import of South African players. That would nullify all the hard work put in by native-born players such as Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Lockie Ferguson and Trent Boult. But at the same time, the influx of South African players is very visible. In each of the domestic sides, they now have 3-4 such players featuring in the playing XI. New additions such as Devon Conway are making their way to the national team. And right now a New Zealand team without players such as Neil Wagner, BJ Watling, Glenn Phillips, Colin Munro, Colin de Grandhomme.etc would be difficult to imagine. 

[vella85]

I would also be happy if a new player plays as Warner's replacement. Youngsters should always be given a chance to show off their talents and Pucovski should be given a chance at Warner’s injury. Will Pucovski is a very talented player. I hope he will play well in the first Test. And will solidify his place for the future Australia team.

Australia needs younger players in the squad. During the last 3-4 years hardly any new player have found a permanent spot in the playing XI. Apart from Marnus Labuschagne, all the other batsmen are above 30 years of age. And among the bowlers, only Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa can be considered as "youngsters" and even they are in their late 20s.

I agree with you guys. The Australian selectors should give a young talent a shot and I think that guy is Will Pucovski as he has been in top form in domestic cricket. If he performs well in the team then we could see him cement his spot in the team for many years to come so I think with Warner getting injured now is the time to inject some young talent into the team. Burns is a great player but I think its best to go with a younger player and see how well he goes up against a good Indian pace attack.

[JSRAW]

Double ton for Kane Williamson, he's dealing with 6s and 4s now. Kiwis wicket falling from other side every now and then but no windies bowlers seems to troubling Williamson. NZ looking strong at 431/6 right now, may be they are targeting 500 runs before declaring.

[bryant.coleman]

Double ton for Kane Williamson, he's dealing with 6s and 4s now. Kiwis wicket falling from other side every now and then but no windies bowlers seems to troubling Williamson. NZ looking strong at 431/6 right now, may be they are targeting 500 runs before declaring.

They have crossed 500 without any further loss of wickets. All the time, we were talking about the widening gap between the big 3 and the other nations. But here we have New Zealand (which by no means is a big 3 nation) hammering the West Indies. The current test setup is unviable. What we need is two or rather three divisions, comprised of teams having equal strength. Lopsided matches will not do any favors to anyone.

[JSRAW]

~snip~

New Zealand treated Windies, like what India does to their opponent at the home grounds for ex South Africa/Windies/Bangladesh in the last tour. Bat full 5 session, score pile of runs and put the pressure. Windies already collapsed and trailing 381 runs, now follow-on coming up. Its raining atm but its just 3rd day and we have plenty of time for result.

[Sithara007]

WTF is going on with the New Zealand vs West Indies match? West Indies got bowled out for just 138 in their first innings, and in the second they are struggling at 30/4. This is the same surface where New Zealand made a score of 500 plus just a day before. I don't know what is wrong with the West Indies team. They have such talented players, and despite that every time they underperform like this.

[pakhitheboss]

WTF is going on with the New Zealand vs West Indies match? West Indies got bowled out for just 138 in their first innings, and in the second they are struggling at 30/4. This is the same surface where New Zealand made a score of 500 plus just a day before. I don't know what is wrong with the West Indies team. They have such talented players, and despite that every time they underperform like this.

The West Indies have a lot of talented players, But most of the players are like T20 specialists. They can not perform well as expected in Tests or ODIs. I think West Indies team management should select separate players for the Test squad. Then maybe we don't have to see such bad performances.

In fact, most teams have a lot of T20 players than Test players as most of the time they are either playing T20 or one-day series. Due to the less frequency of test series or matches, most teams are struggling whenever they are playing test series. Test match requires a lot of patience and concentration, players now days lack both. They have a habit of being more aggressive and in a test match you do not need to be always aggressive and attacking.

[Sithara007]

The West Indies have a lot of talented players, But most of the players are like T20 specialists. They can not perform well as expected in Tests or ODIs. I think West Indies team management should select separate players for the Test squad. Then maybe we don't have to see such bad performances.

In that case they should refrain from playing test matches and concentrate on the shorter format. I could have still digested this, if West Indies is losing by such a huge margin against one of the big three teams. But New Zealand? Seriously? And what do we gain by watching such one-sided test matches? And why can't the West Indies play a few test matches against emerging teams such as Ireland and Nepal?

[bryant.coleman]

I am also disappointed to see such a poor performance of West Indies against New Zealand. The West Indies should play Test matches against Nepal or Ireland. And after a good performance against them, Test matches should be arranged against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Pakistan. We are not interested in watching such a one-sided match.

The main problem is that the ICC don't want to link test status to performance. Once a team is awarded the test status, it remains forever. There are teams out there, which are better than test nations such as Zimbabwe. But they never get an opportunity to play test cricket. Right now, only four countries (Big three plus New Zealand) have the ability to be consistent in test cricket. The other eight teams can't compete in a meaningful way against these four.

[LittleBitFunny]

The West Indies have a lot of talented players, But most of the players are like T20 specialists. They can not perform well as expected in Tests or ODIs. I think West Indies team management should select separate players for the Test squad. Then maybe we don't have to see such bad performances.

In that case they should refrain from playing test matches and concentrate on the shorter format. I could have still digested this, if West Indies is losing by such a huge margin against one of the big three teams. But New Zealand? Seriously? And what do we gain by watching such one-sided test matches? And why can't the West Indies play a few test matches against emerging teams such as Ireland and Nepal?

I have a question. Doesn't ICC organize cricket matches to entertain the spectators? Or do they organize matches to make money? If they have organized matches to entertain spectators like us, then why organize such one-sided Test series? Seeing all this, I feel very upset. And our time is wasted.

[JohnBitCo]

The West Indies have a lot of talented players, But most of the players are like T20 specialists. They can not perform well as expected in Tests or ODIs. I think West Indies team management should select separate players for the Test squad. Then maybe we don't have to see such bad performances.

In that case they should refrain from playing test matches and concentrate on the shorter format. I could have still digested this, if West Indies is losing by such a huge margin against one of the big three teams. But New Zealand? Seriously? And what do we gain by watching such one-sided test matches? And why can't the West Indies play a few test matches against emerging teams such as Ireland and Nepal?

I have a question. Doesn't ICC organize cricket matches to entertain the spectators? Or do they organize matches to make money? If they have organized matches to entertain spectators like us, then why organize such one-sided Test series? Seeing all this, I feel very upset. And our time is wasted.

Tell me which organization work for the entertainment of the spectators ? Even big organizations like FIFA looks to make money so why not ICC should focus on money too. These are not social welfare organizations and therefore the main focus for them is to earn money.

But they have to give equal opportunity for the test playing nations and if one nation doesn't have a good test team, its the fault of that country and not ICC should be blamed for it.

[lifeOK]

The West Indies have a lot of talented players, But most of the players are like T20 specialists. They can not perform well as expected in Tests or ODIs. I think West Indies team management should select separate players for the Test squad. Then maybe we don't have to see such bad performances.

In that case they should refrain from playing test matches and concentrate on the shorter format. I could have still digested this, if West Indies is losing by such a huge margin against one of the big three teams. But New Zealand? Seriously? And what do we gain by watching such one-sided test matches? And why can't the West Indies play a few test matches against emerging teams such as Ireland and Nepal?

I am also disappointed to see such a poor performance of West Indies against New Zealand. The West Indies should play Test matches against Nepal or Ireland. And after a good performance against them, Test matches should be arranged against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Pakistan. We are not interested in watching such a one-sided match.

It was pre-planned? nope then stop act like that since New Zealand is just a Home Bullies. However, too many one sided tournaments. There are two parts, New Zealand plays a exceptional extraordinary innings other hand West Indies plays such a very disappointing innings. Test match for West Indies is as like time pass.

[onrise]

WTF is going on with the New Zealand vs West Indies match? West Indies got bowled out for just 138 in their first innings, and in the second they are struggling at 30/4. This is the same surface where New Zealand made a score of 500 plus just a day before. I don't know what is wrong with the West Indies team. They have such talented players, and despite that every time they underperform like this.

The West Indies have a lot of talented players, But most of the players are like T20 specialists. They can not perform well as expected in Tests or ODIs. I think West Indies team management should select separate players for the Test squad. Then maybe we don't have to see such bad performances.

It’s sad to see when West Indies have such talented and experienced players and board just could not solve the conflict between players and them and this has resulted in a huge loss to cricket for West Indies. They do have the best T20 team but if top players are also bought in the Test matches then such situation would not arise where against NZ they probably now will lose by an innings and some runs as still trail by 185 and 4 wickets left. Its not only a loss for country but also for worldwide audiences who love cricket and cannot see the best players playing for West indies in Test matches.

[eaLiTy]

Tell me which organization work for the entertainment of the spectators ? Even big organizations like FIFA looks to make money so why not ICC should focus on money too. These are not social welfare organizations and therefore the main focus for them is to earn money.

If the focus is to make money then you should provide entertaining content, if not you will not get the revenue you are looking for and it is a fact. The team that every cricket playing nation wants to face is India as they can attract advertisement and the policy of the ICC is to have a rotation based system so that everyone will have a fair share of the revenue.