Dylan Cleaver and Andrew Alderson dissect the 3rd day’s play of the 2nd test between the West Indies and New Zealand with the hosts 4 wickets from victory and the visitors 85 runs from making their opponents bat again.
Dylan Cleaver provides five takeaways from the third day of the second test between the Black Caps and West Indies at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.
Torn on Taylor
Having had a bit of time to reflect on Ross Taylor's unceremonious dumping from the T20 squad, and having chatted tovarious members of the cricket cognoscenti, I'm torn.
I suspect that Glenn Phillips and Devon Conway are better T20 batsmen than Taylor now, but that's all it is, a suspicion. Taylor has a body of T20I work to reference, and it's pretty bloody impressive, while Phillips and Conway are in good form right now.
This is where Taylor's backers, and he has plenty, have a problem. Just a season ago he was judged New Zealand's best T20 player. He has faced four T20I deliveries this season and that has been enough for the selectors to deem him surplus.
Ross Taylor was left out of the squad for the Black Caps' upcoming T20 series. Photo / Photosport
One former international said one of the reasons New Zealand was such a force in world cricket now was because they didn't make moves like this. He referenced the immediate success of Kyle Jamieson and credited that in part because he was surrounded every day by Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner.
He argued that a better strategy would have been to bring in one of Conway and Phillips and surround him with players like Taylor and Kane Williamson.
Field trip
A final thought on the Taylor situation: the fielding aspect probably swayed what selector Gavin Larsen coined as a "tough" call. While it's important to put context around quotes, Larsen's description of the 36-year-old as "ageing" when asked about Taylor's fielding was fairly blunt. Taylor is a superb slip catcher but no better than adequate anywhere else. It's too early to make a call on Conway's value in the field but Phillips offers a dynamic presence and can keep wicket too.
And now for something different…
BJ Watling climbed into the top 10 wicketkeepers of all-time by dismissals when he snaffled Joshua da Silva's attempted leave early on day three.
Watling, who started his career as an opening batsman and short leg fielder, started the day on 240, one behind England's Alec Stewart, and ended one past him.
While he is miles ahead of the next best New Zealander – Adam Parore on 201 – on the overall dismissals list, he is some way behind Brendon McCullum's record of 11 stumpings. It is unlikely he'll add to his eight any time soon, either.
The ghost of RA Vance
Kyle Jamieson took a five wicket bag in the West Indies' first innings. Photo / Photosport
Not only did Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson combine for a rare five-wicket-bag each in the West Indies first innings, they also did their damage almost exclusively from one end.
When Southee had Jermaine Blackwood (69) caught by Latham in the slips, it was the only wicket not to fall at the RA Vance stand end of the ground during the visitors' first innings.
The Umpire Strikes Back
Former Auckland and Cook Islands seamer Chris Brown, in his first test as on-field umpire, has had a very good match.
Seven times he has had his on-field decisions challenged and seven times he has been vindicated.
He also showed impressive resolve late on day two when Kyle Jamieson had a full head of steam on and the packed crowd was demanding wickets.
