***Official*** Commonwealth Bank Tri-Series

[Fiery]

He's spent most of his career in ODI's opening.


For some reason, Cricinfo doesn't have any of the New Zealand players ODI matches or the ODI stats filter. Very odd.


But he does average 35 in ODI's (higher in games opening, IIRC) with 16 centuries, putting him up there as one of the best ODI openers.

He batted at 6 or 7 in his first 3 games scoring a total of 45 runs in the 1995 series against West Indies and opened in his 4th game and scored 95 and has opened pretty much ever since (with the odd exception, e.g the 2002/3 World Cup in SA where he batted at 3)....(Statsguru works for me). Then Bracewell put him at 3 in the last game of last year's Chappell Hadlee series. Here are his stats in each position:
..................M....Runs HS.Ave .100.50.Ducks
Opening ... 182 6130 145* 35.43 14 37 14
3rd position 22 . 786. 118* 43.66.. 2.. 4.. 3
4th position 2 ... 0 ... 14 .... 7.00 . 0.. 0.. 0
5th position 1 ... 0 .. 18 ... 18.00 .0 .. 0.. 0
6th position 4 ... 0 .. 67 ... 16.75 .0 .. 0.. 0
7th position 2 ... 1 .. 29 ... 29.00 .0 .. 0.. 0

So he has got a pretty good average at 3, better than I expected but would still prefer him to open

 

[_Ed_]

I'm surprised to see that Stephen Fleming's ODI average when opening is slightly better than his overall average. Maybe that's because he's managed to make some big unbeaten hundreds when he's got himself in. I still think he's a bit shaky against the new ball though - looking at StatsGuru there are an awful lot of single-figure scores - so would much rather see him at 3 or maybe 4 since Taylor's looking a pretty good number 3 to me.

 

[Fiery]

I'm surprised to see that Stephen Fleming's ODI average when opening is slightly better than his overall average. Maybe that's because he's managed to make some big unbeaten hundreds when he's got himself in. I still think he's a bit shaky against the new ball though - looking at StatsGuru there are an awful lot of single-figure scores - so would much rather see him at 3 or maybe 4 since Taylor's looking a pretty good number 3 to me.

I think I'd have Fleming 3, Styris 4 and Taylor 5

 

[NZTailender]

I think I'd have Fleming 3, Styris 4 and Taylor 5

I think we have a long term option in Taylor at 3, so he should stay there, IMO.

 

[SquidAU]

I think fans of Australia and NZ should hang themselves if the Poms manage to win one from either team.

 

[Tim]

Thank god I went away for a couple of weeks so I didn't have to sit through the Eden Park nightmare. That game was a few days ago so I hope the guys have gotten it out of their system. Ideally it would have been better to win the final match in Hamilton, but as it is they're off to Hobart with no easy task to beat Australia.

Personally I'm not too worried about our current situation as it was not that long ago that we toppled South Africa and Pakistan at the CT and Sri Lanka were also fairly ordinary at times against us with a full strength team.

What will be interesting is whether New Zealand continue to rotate or whether they decided on an 11 and try to stick with it through the majority of the series. The other question is whether McCullum will drop back down the order for Astle and Fleming to open. Because of the way he plays, I think McCullum will enjoy the Australian wickets and he'll come off a bit better as an opener IMO.

I think New Zealand will be hoping by the time that Styris, Mills and Oram arrive, that they have managed to pick up a win or two so that when they can play their full strength side they can really get stuck in.

Does anyone think that Franklin could potentially shelve his bowling in ODI cricket and play a specialist #7 roll? he seems to be one of our better batsmen right now at playing both defensively and aggressively when required at the end of the innings.

 

[Tim]

Obviously English National League is a far cry from international cricket but its interesting to see that Franklin led the OD averages for Glamorgan.

He averaged 56 with a strike rate of 110 over 8 matches, he scored the 2nd highest amount of runs in the team with 168 and had 4 not outs. I presume he was batting anywhere between 6, 7 and 8.

It's a role I wouldn't mind seeing him try. I'm not convinced about his bowling, but it's clear that his batting has improved and an answer to the #7 position could be right under Bracewell's nose.

 

[Son Of Coco]

This one? abit different but i quite like it.

Yeah, I don't mind it either. Wouldn't pay $100 for it though.

 

[Fiery]

Obviously English National League is a far cry from international cricket but its interesting to see that Franklin led the OD averages for Glamorgan.

He averaged 56 with a strike rate of 110 over 8 matches, he scored the 2nd highest amount of runs in the team with 168 and had 4 not outs. I presume he was batting anywhere between 6, 7 and 8.

It's a role I wouldn't mind seeing him try. I'm not convinced about his bowling, but it's clear that his batting has improved and an answer to the #7 position could be right under Bracewell's nose.

I think Franklin has great potential but NZ cricket would be in a bit of strive if we had to resort to playing him as a specialist batsmen to be honest. Maybe in a few years he might be a good all rounder if his batting keeps improving like it has and his bowling becomes more consistent.
I think he might be a bit too laid-back and might need to toughen up a bit mentally. He has a tendency to get slapped around at times and drops his head. Having said that he's capable of producing wicket balls so it's good to have him round the fringes of the top side for now but not a specialist batting option yet Tim. Of course, that's just my opinion, and you know what they are like

 

[Tim]

I think Franklin either has to dramatically improve his ODI bowling or else he drops it completely and concentrates on batting if he wants to make the side. Right now, I don't think he's good enough to make the full strength side. But I can see glimpses of batting potential in him..to be honest if he keeps carrying on, I can see him doing a bit of a Scott Styris and becoming more of a bat who can sometimes bowl.

 

[Fiery]

I think Franklin either has to dramatically improve his ODI bowling or else he drops it completely and concentrates on batting if he wants to make the side. Right now, I don't think he's good enough to make the full strength side. But I can see glimpses of batting potential in him..to be honest if he keeps carrying on, I can see him doing a bit of a Scott Styris and becoming more of a bat who can sometimes bowl.

Maybe...but it would be a shame to see him do that. I don't think Styris was ever as good a bowler as Franklin and it would be to the detriment of his test bowling. He has a pretty healthy test average for an NZ bowler of 28

 

[Tim]

Franklin has been hanging around the NZ team for awhile now and you'd think he would have made some strides with his bowling but as I see it, he's stayed idle with his bowling and improved his batting.

At the moment he's being primarily picked as a bowler so that's where he should be making the strides..It's not good enough for New Zealand to justify picking him on the basis that he can score a few runs as well, particularly when he usually bowls 7 or 8 overs for 40-50 runs with a poor return of wickets.

The other problem is the fact that we need 1 final batsman in the middle order to strengthen it. Fulton and H.Marshall are just so inconsistent right now and then there is the enigma that is Craig McMillan. A full strength side right now for mine would include: McCullum, Astle, Fleming, Taylor, Styris, Oram, Mills, Bond, Vettori. So that leaves 2 positions to be filled. I'd pick Gillespie as one of them and that leaves the last spot to be filled by someone who can score a decent amount of runs...nobody is really jumping up and down demanding to be picked, they're all at neck and neck with each other.

 

[Josh]

Yeah, I don't mind it either. Wouldn't pay $100 for it though.

Yeh, true. I might settle for the Bushrangers top this year, after all; that still gives me the luxury of the Mark Waugh collar.

 

[Prince EWS]

I think Franklin either has to dramatically improve his ODI bowling or else he drops it completely and concentrates on batting if he wants to make the side. Right now, I don't think he's good enough to make the full strength side. But I can see glimpses of batting potential in him..to be honest if he keeps carrying on, I can see him doing a bit of a Scott Styris and becoming more of a bat who can sometimes bowl.

Having one of your key test bowlers give up bowling to focus on batting for the sake of the one day team really just sums up New Zealand cricket at the moment.

 

[Tim]

I wouldn't say he's a key test bowler as if another couple of bowlers really started to make their mark in domestic cricket, Franklin could well miss out on the test side. But right now, he's probably one of the best we have.

All i'm saying is that right now I think he's showing the credentials to be a #7 batsman for NZ but he's definately not showing it with the ball to be a key figure in the bowling attack. He's gonna have to do something or he'll be caught in no man's land.

 

[Prince EWS]

I wouldn't say he's a key test bowler as if another couple of bowlers really started to make their mark in domestic cricket, Franklin could well miss out on the test side.

I've heard this before and I wouldn't have a clue why. Franklin can cop some tap at times but he bowls genuine wicket taking bowls and can be unplayable in the right conditions when he is on song. His record since he has been in the same is far superior to that of Chris Martin. I'm pretty sure he'd be much more effective at test level than Gillespie and (lol) Mason as well.

Dropping him from the test side would be a big mistake and a huge injustice IMO.

 

[howardj]

Hope Hilfenhaus gets a run if Lee, Clark or McGrath get rested in the back half of the Series.

 

[Will Scarlet]

I'd have Franklin in the OD side ahead of Oram: he's a better bowler and is in better form with the bat at the moment.

I'd like to see both Fulton and Taylor given a decent go in AUS. Both have the potential to score a lot of runs on the wickets here.

I wouldn't have Styris in the team as anything other than an all-rounder. His batting is not good enough for a top five spot. That said, most of our top order fits into that category at present.

 

[Fiery]

I wouldn't have Styris in the team as anything other than an all-rounder. His batting is not good enough for a top five spot. That said, most of our top order fits into that category at present

Can't agree with that. A fit Styris is one of the first players I would pick. Hard as nails and a good top-order bat who you can get 10 decent overs out. We missed him heaps against SL

 

[howardj]

Mitch johnson and brett lee i doubt for the game on friday,ben hilfenhaus may get another game.

Yep, Ben's in the Haus!

Called up to replace Lee.