One bizarre consequence of this turn of events is that the Windies slip down in the official rankings, enough to push New Zealand up one place into 7th. That’s not the sort of promotion to feel proud of.

As I understand the ranking system, Bangladesh gained 3 points from their 2-0 series win. With their current rating of 0 points, this gives them 270 points, which when converted into points gives them 10. I imagine that is as many points has they have ever had. The West Indies gained 0 points, which actually gives them -15 points, or in terms of points: 78. A drop of 7 points.

Australia obviously played fantastically, getting 4 centuries in their one innings and ending up 1 wicket and a few runs away from a big win. England might have played poorly (particularly both of Pietersen’s dismissals), but playing out the draw showed character, and they should be more competitive in the rest of the series.

Half a world away in Kingstown, Bangladesh are fighting hard for their second ever test win, playing against a West Indian team so severely weakened by a strike due to a contract dispute that they have 7 uncapped players in the team.

The gulf that seperates the quality of these two pieces of cricket is as wide and as deep as the ocean that physically seperates the games.

128 is a pretty poor score, but is not the lowest score the Windies has against us. The record low score is 123, scored at Margao, Goa. That’s one record I am not keen to see broken actually, as that was a game I was present at.

Led by a 5-22 by Matty Hart, we rolled Courtney Walsh’s men for 123. We then very shakily held off a few overs before the heavens opened for about 10 minutes or so, followed by bright sunshine, but with no chance of drying out the field, despite the dozen or so people sopping up with cloths. The game was called off.

So that game in Margao was overall a disappointment, but it was part of a great adventure of mine. At the time I was living in Baroda, in north-western India. When the Black Caps came to India I was very excited and was really keen to see a match or two. They were scheduled to play at Baroda itself on the 28th, but the only other game I could reasonably make it to was the game at Goa on the 26th. (I was there on a scolarship so couldn’t afford to fly around the country.) So I concocted a plan. I got myself a train ticket down to Mumbai, but was relying on luck and my ability to unpick India’s complex transport services to get any further. I then took a nightmarish overnight bus trip down to Margao. So I was there for the first match. One day at Goa to get sunburnt at the beach and to watch Ken Rutherford get some throwdowns from the local boys at the stadium and refuse to comment on Willie Watson’s revelations that the Black Caps had once experimented with ball tampering. Then the match, with the early finish ensuring that I made it back to town in time for my bus, for another horrific overnight journey. From Mumbai, only 3rd class train tickets were available, so I had to sit on my bag, packed in just by the open carriage door, for about eight hours. But I made it back in time and got to the stadium for the next match (at the Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited Sports Complex Ground) and got myself a ticket, to see Rutherford and Tendulkar score centuries. An awesome little adventure.

The only one I have found is West Indies Cricket Blog, which has a promising title, but unfortunately hasn’t been updated since November, and then just to talk about boots.

If there are any West Indians reading, please tell me where I can read a real West Indian perspective.

Actually, I rather enjoyed the two 2 20-20s. I’ve been suspicious that there is too little time during 20 overs to change the direction of an innings. And while this was demonstrated in the second 20-20, the first was much more interesting, as it seemed over right from the start as Ryder struggled with his timing, but showed a definite shift in the last few overs when NZ managed to claw back a game that the Windies seemed to have under firm control.

One thing I am really liking about 20-20 is that it is so different from test cricket. 50-over cricket, as much as a I like the format, feels largely like test cricket shifted up a single gear. League compared to union perhaps. 20-20 however feels like a paradigm shift. A whole different code – 7s maybe. A player’s 20-20 statistics make no sense in test cricket terms. Bowling and batting averages become irreleveant, with all the importance being in Econ and SR. (I’ve been thinking actually that it might be cool to measure economy and strike rates not from 0 but from 1 run/ball, so an SR of 100 and an Econ of 6 become 0, giving Vettori the stats of SR: 16.66, Econ: -0.2.)

So the test series was drawn. But as that is the best result the Windies have had against us for over 10 years, it feels like a loss.

However, in the last test we were always in front – and it is not inconveivable that with a little luck we might have pulled off one of the most audacious chases in test  history. The Windies’ huge 375 in the third innings, with Gayle’s 197, was the biggest effort of the test, but it was their effort to force a draw, not a victory. And that feels like a win.

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.

So advantage West Indies it would seem.

I don’t quite know how this happened. We have been beating them quite easily for the last 10 years. How did they suddenly become the stronger team? They really haven’t been doing much. Perhaps most of it is down to Chanderpaul. He’s the world’s best batsman just at the moment, you must have heard.

The Windies have played at Napier once before, but the game was rained off early. The other two matches played at Napier this century show its wicket’s capacity for runs. In 2005 NZ scored an innings of over 500 against Sri Lanka, who almost managed 500 in reply. Earlier this year, you’ll remember, England and NZ scored over 400 in their second innings (after pretty disappointing 1st innings admittedly).

The game might have had an exciting conclusion if it hadn’t been rained off, as the teams were looking very even, but the 2 1/2 days we did get to see was underwhelming. Which is a real shame as the rugby heads had just started to pay attention.

So what did we get? A fine century by Jerome Taylor – excellent in fact – but no others amongst the 700-odd runs. Six wickets by Vettori, but most of those tail enders. A rare hit wicket to chuckle at and some ‘historic’ 3rd umpire decisions to treasure being part of.

So on to Napier and the series decider (didn’t that come around quickly). The Metservice forecasts are promising. And despite the fact that few of the players really fired at Dunedin, they do look promising too. There are plenty of runs to be had at Napier. And wickets too (recall Sidebottom 7/47 and Southee’s 5/55 last year).