Sri Lanka’sTour Of New Zealand

A draw certainly looks the most likely result here, but New Zealand will have to make a decent second-innings score to make the match safe, something they haven't always been able to do of late.

Sri Lanka 453-5 at lunch on Day 4. I agree with you that New Zealand can't win, but if Sri Lanka bat for the rest of the day they could get a lead of 100 or so and then New Zealand will have to bat sensibly for two sessions to make the match safe. That shouldn't be a problem unless the pitch really starts giving the bowlers some help, and it doen't look likely at the moment.

Franklin eventually managing to get rid of the tail with the openers for NZ putting up their 50 stand and taking NZ's overall lead to over 100.

Hamish Marshall falls and NZ are 64-2 with only 5 overs remaining today. The increasingly cautious Fleming has sent in Wiseman to try and see out the day. That kind of sums up Fleming's own form and the negativity of New Zealand's play.

   A tame draw and an empty stadium tomorrow I expect.

So this match will now end ina draw. Not sure about your mob idea and explosives and all that Inducker, maybe a little too fanatical you don't think?

I don't usually do this (outside bad weather anyway) but for the second Test i am actually predicting a draw. It seems the only likely outcome and even with no weather interfferance to me it really doesn't seem possible that either side can manage to gain out a victory and i think this will continue until the One Dayers start.

No this match is probably over as the two out there in the middle seem to be doing all they can to play out the game. Astle will have enough experience not to do anything silly and assuming he gets a bit of luck NZ should see out the Test.

New Zealand bowled out for 238 , setting Sri Lanka 302 to win. That was never going to happen and when bad light stopped play they were only 7-0 after just 1.3 overs.

A general comment , the wickets in New Zealand must be the worst kind of pitches for result cricket. We've seen India prepare ultradry surfaces that turn in the 1st hour - that is wrong too. These drop-in pitches that the New Zealanders have to use because their stadiums are used for both rugby and cricket at the same time , are just not good enough. Something needs to be done about raising the standards of test match surfaces. Australia provide the best pitches by a good margin. Quick , bouncy and true , there is something for both batsmen and bowlers. South Africa are pretty close too - but maybe just a little batsmen friendly nowadays. England always produces cricket wickets of interest , but the weather can make preparation a real ordeal. The other countries favour batting , even though Murali has won a large number of tests for Sri Lanka.

    NZ cricket is probably a little cash strapped , which is why they are sharing venues with their rugby counterparts , but cricket is the loser. Replacing the wicket today will not affect the rugby match scheduled for tomorrow one iota. I say stop using drop inpitches and get back to properly prepared surfaces. It'll be costlier to NZ cricket , but the outcome will surely be brighter and more successful outcomes to the matches.

Yeah you're right Tailender that is mainly the reason as you don't want 2 day matches like South Africa had with Zimbabwe earlier this year do you? Its all about the money.

NZ are certainly not cash starpped Inducker and they certainly don't need to the money to help restore their pitches! Personally i preffered the old style of hard fast pitches they used to have around 2002 like when India toured there and were left counting their bruises. Taught the Indians a lesson or two anyway. The best pitches in the world are still in England without a shadow of a doubt and Australia and the WI do come close (that exception being the match at St Johns last year) but the pitches on the subcontinent mainly India and Banngladesh are beyond help! Sri Lanka and Pakistan's pitches are not exactly great but at least they try! South Africa favor batsmen highly on their pitches but even still more often than not their matches produce results.

You think that NZ's pitches were bad in 02? You should try playing in Canada! Their pitches are like Minefields! The average delivery is at nose height!!! 

I had the memo on my desk an hour ago and thought it was a joke! I threw it into the waste paper basket! Whoops!

So it is serious then? I thought it was just a practical joke?

Edited by JALRC

Oh dear...it does look as if my secratary will be doing some rumaging in the waste disposal unit when she gets back in...how was i to know it was real? I like you thought it was an april fools joke a little late. Oh well!

Oh no yeah right i got you yeah i see. So i was the only one who didn't act proffessionally then?

Well i think it was actually my interpretation that was wrong and your English was correct. But good on you for teaching English, especially to the French who more than anyone could do with it!

Yeah she found the memo but wasn't best pleased having to go down the shoot! Wearing a miniskirt meant her legs were full of garbage when she got back up and she feels even more angred as it was her who put the memo on my desk first thing in the morning. She says she would have read it out to me had she known that i was going to "behave in such a manner". Oh dear, it does look as if i have been severely reprimanded by my secratary!

Wanna hear what the memo says - this is worth all the problems in itself just to hear what it actually says?

I did just point that out to her (she's mad enough having to work Saturday) and she said that she could not trust me to do anything and that i could never be left alone. Typical woman! She has no quarrels with you - she says you're one of the intellgant ones who knows what to keep and what to throw away...the temptation is throw her down the shoot but she's already been down there once in the last couple of days. I'll PM you the memo.

Sri Lanka really struggling and Martin now already has a 5 wicket haul.

Sri Lanka absolutely destroyed in their first innings all out for 211. Martin taking career best figures NZ inreply not doing too badly getting to 52 without loss, with it has to be the help of some of the Sri Lankan bowlers who conceded 14 runs in extras out of just 52. A third of the innings in extras so if NZ manage to put another 250 on the board they'll be laughing.