We played http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LRPL-Taylor-c1849 – Cricket News Update
Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915, the Kiwi skipper, believes that his side played Sunil Narine quite nicely in the first Test at Antigua, although the mystery spinner picked up eight wickets in the encounter and was named as the Player of the Match.
The 24-year-old cricketer from Trinidad & Tobago has turned out to be a massive headache for the visitors, picking up 20 wickets in the T20s and the One Day Internationals (ODIs), played earlier in the tour.
As a result, Narine was drafted in the Test team ahead of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/S-Shillingford-c2397, who was preferred previously. The youngster did not disappoint, picking up five wickets in the first innings and three in the second, helping his side go 1-0 in the series.
However, the going was not that easy for the wily spinner, who had to work enormously hard for 85 overs in the match for his eight scalps. At times, Narine was dominated by the Kiwi batsmen, but they failed to convert their starts into big knocks.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 captain praised his team’s efforts against the off-spinner, who possesses many variations under his belt.
"I thought we played him pretty well in Antigua," Taylor said. "There were a couple of unplayable balls that players got out on but on the whole I thought we picked him really well."
Some of the experts are of the opinion that the Antigua pitch was a batting paradise, making Narine’s job extremely tough. However, the track at Jamaica, for the second Test, which begins today, is expected to be different and will probably offer more
spin and bounce to the Trinidadian.
The middle-order batsman admitted that the Narine will relish bowling in the second match but hopes that his batsmen will cope with the threat (posed by the spinner) efficiently.
"He will have seen some of our batsmen so I'm sure he's looking forward to playing on this wicket. There might be a little bit more bounce for him. But if we can keep improving in the way we play him like we have throughout the series, hopefully we
can negate his wicket-taking," the Kiwi skipper added.
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