Crucket

I’d say honours even at the end of the first day. The Windies might be happier if they were still holding onto another wicket or two, but they’ll be looking at 300 and change by the middle of tomorrow, which the Black Caps will have to work hard to match on current form. It’s a good place for the match to be.

The two teams look very even at the moment, with Chanderpaul making up for the weakness of the rest of his team and a general level of competancy in the Black Caps making up for the fact that we have no stars.A draw would be a fair result.

I don’t actually think a draw is at all likely with the Windies 6 down at the end of day one, but I was thinking about a draw before the match began and what the consequences that would have on the contest for 7th place. (You can tell how much being 8th is preying on my mind.)

The ICC test championship ranking system gives a team points in a test series based on the strength of the opposition, with half points given for a draw. If you do better than expected, given the opposition, you score points. If you do worse (i.e. lose to a lower ranked team), you lose points. So, if the test at Napier is a draw, NZ will actually gain points while the Windies will lose points. I was wondering if it is possible to draw a test series and thereby fall below your opponent.

NZ and Windies are currently less than one point apart. We are both listed as being on 81 points. We are in fact 0.55 points apart, which is surely as close as you can get. A quick calculation shows that a drawn series will bring us closer, but won’t change our relative rankings. The gap will close to 0.46 points.

I still think it is conceivable, in the mathematical morass that is the ICC system, to draw a series with a slightly higher ranked team and overtake them. Just not quite in this case.