Bring on the Calypso Kings - Windies Downunder (And Basin Stats.)

Seems to be a recurring theme these days, Windies on our shores before Christmas. Well seems that way, in reality it's not the case.  With the first test on 1st Dec and 2nd on 9th Dec, plenty for both teams to chase.

So what of this series?  2 tests, 3 ODI's and 3 T20's (which is also the format for the England series in March) is enough for the cricketing purist yes??

Well this is the first time the Windies have played a test in Basin Reserve since 2013, and before that in 2006.  Both times Blackcaps won by a goodly margin. Fair to say back then the Windies were a fractured team and we won't know how they will fare this time there.

If one were to go back in history of Windies teams at The Basin we'd find the test results are even. 7 Windies tests,-  3 won, 4 lost and 2 draws.

In the last 20 tests at The Basin overall, we (Blackcaps) have won 6, lost 8, drawn 6.

There have been 60 tests in all at The Basin - 17 won by us, 26 drawn, and 17 lost.

So what of this West Indies team? As stated earlier, they have been fractured and were sliding down the rankings in all forms.  But over the past 18 months there appears to be a resurgence in the Calypso Kings with some talent starting to shine.  And they played test cricket in August. something the Blackcaps can't attest to doing. I'm thinking this tour will be a watershed for them.  And for us!!

Yes what about us?  Last test cricket was in March so we will go into this series very much underdone.  And if we lose any of the two tests our ranking is likely to slide (Currently at 4, WI 8) and  even more so if series loss (be nice to stay ahead on Australia in test rankings)  I'm picking a drawn series, one test each.

The pajama stuff I don't usually follow too much, but if the Windies come to play, I'll certainly come to watch.

After the Blackcaps finish their T20 duties on the sub-continent I'll add my teams for he three forms of the game to play the Windies (After perusing the Plunket Shield games. There is very much an open palette for all three forms.

Latest Rankings, some slots to play for.'

ICC Test Rankings.
10 October 2017 Team	Matches	Points	Rating
India	36	4493	125
South Africa	34	3767	111
England	43	4497	105
New Zealand	32	3114	97
Australia	34	3294	97
Sri Lanka	39	3658	94
Pakistan	34	2988	88
West Indies	30	2260	75
Bangladesh	23	1651	72
Zimbabwe	10	0	0
ICC ODI Championship
29 October 2017 Team	Matches	Points	Rating
South Africa	53	6386	120
India	53	6379	120
Australia	52	5948	114
England	54	6156	114
New Zealand	49	5432	111
Pakistan	46	4560	99
Bangladesh	34	3114	92
Sri Lanka	64	5322	83
West Indies	40	3077	77
Afghanistan	30	1618	54
Zimbabwe	41	2129	52
Ireland	25	1028	41
ICC Twenty20 Championship
29 October 2017 Team	Matches	Points	Rating
New Zealand	13	1625	125
Pakistan	23	2843	124
West Indies	20	2395	120
England	17	2029	119
India	22	2545	116
South Africa	20	2238	112
Australia	15	1665	111
Sri Lanka	24	2177	91
Afghanistan	25	2157	86
Bangladesh	17	1289	76
Scotland	11	737	67
Zimbabwe	13	842	65
UAE	16	827	52
Netherlands	9	441	49
Hong Kong	13	599	46
PNG	6	235	39
Oman	9	345	38
Ireland	15	534	36