West Indies v New Zealand, Second Test, Sabina Park, Aug 2-6

[mikesiva]

It's hot and humid in Kingston and the forecast is for a chance of thunderstorms over the next few days. The pitch at Sabina Park is expected to have more pace and bounce than the one Antigua. "It's a typical Jamaica wicket," Darren Sammy said. "Plenty of runs in it and hopefully something in it for the bowlers. The wicket here has some early moisture, [but] most pitches in the Caribbean are good for batting. Sides come here, win toss and bat first."

Ross Taylor said: "It's a welcome change. We struggled to maintain pressure on the West Indies batsmen and I'm sure the bowlers are looking forward to having some bounce and putting pressure on the West Indies batsmen."

Team news
West Indies brought Fidel Edwards into the squad because Ravi Rampaul sustained a groin strain. However, with Tino Best, who sat out in the first Test, already in the squad, Edwards might have to watch from the sidelines.
West Indies: (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Kieran Powell, 3 Assad Fudadin, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Narsingh Deonarine, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Tino Best, 11 Kemar Roach.

New Zealand have to fill Vettori's spot and the only other specialist spinner in the squad is the legspinner Tarun Nethula, who could be in line for a Test debut. They must also find a new opening combination after Daniel Flynn was ruled out due to a groin injury. BJ Watling is the only back-up batsman in the squad and could slot straight in to open alongside Martin Guptill, or could slot in down the order to allow Brendon McCullum to open.

"Daniel has been carrying the grade one injury [a right adductor muscle strain] since the last day of the first Test but had responded positively to treatment," Paul Close, the New Zealand physio, said. "We felt there was a reasonable chance he would be fit to play but his progress over the past 24 hours plateaued. He was still experiencing pain during the team training session today with a subsequent fitness test ruling him out. We are confident he will be fully fit in time for the upcoming tour of India."

New Zealand: (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 BJ Watling, 3 Brendon McCullum, 4 Ross Taylor (capt), 5 Kane Williamson, 6 Dean Brownlie, 7 Kruger van Wyk (wk), 8 Doug Bracewell, 9 Neil Wagner, 10 Tarun Nethula, 11 Chris Martin

http://www.espncricinfo.com/west-indies ... 74961.html

[BallOil]

who will come in... Tino or Fidel for Ravi?

[Arnik]

who will come in... Tino or Fidel for Ravi?

Logic dictates that Best comes in for Ravi but then is WICB we are talking about so logic might not apply!!

[mikesiva]

9.35am Toss: West Indies have won the toss and decided to field.

9.40am Tino Best comes in for the injured Rampaul. West Indies: Sammy, Best, Chanderpaul, Deonarine, Fudadin, Gayle, Narine, Powell, Ramdin, Roach and Samuels

West Indies team
CH Gayle, KOA Powell, AB Fudadin, MN Samuels, S Chanderpaul, N Deonarine, D Ramdin†, DJG Sammy*, SP Narine, KAJ Roach, TL Best
New Zealand team
MJ Guptill, BB McCullum, LRPL Taylor*, N Wagner, KS Williamson, DG Brownlie, BJ Watling, CFK van Wyk†, DAJ Bracewell, TA Boult, TG Southee

QUite a few changes to the NZ side...Martin has been dropped, too.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/digicelcricket

[Arnik]

Logic prevails and best comes in for Rampaul!!

[mikesiva]

I'm a bit surprised that NZ haven't picked a specialist spinner, seeing how many lead-foot guys we have....

[howzdat]

Sounds like a good toss to lose - on paper. WI attempt to bolster the lower order batting with the selection of Best ???

[Arnik]

I'm a bit surprised that NZ haven't picked a specialist spinner, seeing how many lead-foot guys we have....

The thing is I do not think any NZ spinner will (unduly) trouble the WI batsmen and Williamson is there. He bowled quite a few overs in the first test.

[Arnik]

Sounds like a good toss to lose - on paper. WI attempt to bolster the lower order batting with the selection of Best ???

Rampaul injured and Best was next in line.

[mikesiva]

Roach gets the wicket of Watling! 10-1....

Tino gets rid of McCallum for a duck...11-2!