*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

[Dick Rockett]

I have no idea why they aren't giving Ryder a crack. There must be something holding him back...perhaps his fitness?

That, and apparently he has had a poor attitude in the past.

 

[Halfpast_Yellow]

James Marshalls selection came out of the blue. He has not even performed at first class level and shouldn't have got anywhere near selection no matter what fromat the game is being played. I don't know what is wrong with the New Zealand selectors not to give some of the new PROMISING players a go. What will James Marshall do? He would be a burden on the team. At least it is only the Twenty20s which I dont really care that much about.

Maybe he's in for his fielding?

 

[NZTailender]

After we've said all this, J Marshall will probably hit the top score...

 

[Perm]

Bracewell must think James is better with his hands than Hamish.

 

[NZTailender]

With the retirement of Nath Astle, I think we should discuss his possible long term replacements.

ODI's (opening batsman)
Vincent
Ryder
Cumming
How

Tests (middle order batsman)
Vincent
Taylor
Broom
Nicol
N Parlane



Vincent seems the logical chocie for both forms. An ideal 4/5 in tests and can hit over the top in ODI's but his ODI form is usually patchy. So maybe someone like Ryder for ODI's?

 

[NZTailender]

Bracewell must think James is better with his hands than Hamish.

Only just noticed this

 

[Perm]

With the retirement of Nath Astle, I think we should discuss his possible long term replacements.

ODI's (opening batsman)
Vincent
Ryder
Cumming
How

Tests (middle order batsman)
Vincent
Taylor
Broom
Nicol
N Parlane

Vincent seems the logical chocie for both forms. An ideal 4/5 in tests and can hit over the top in ODI's but his ODI form is usually patchy. So maybe someone like Ryder for ODI's?

Doubt they will give Rob Nicol or Neil Broom a game at this stage, same applies with Neil Parlane but if they start scoring heaps of runs then they are definite candidates. Ross Taylor doesn't have the greatest FC record and should probably only be an ODI player at this stage, with Vincent being the #5 in Tests. Seeing as how Braces is unwilling to give Jesse Ryder a crack, How has already been tested but too inexperienced and Cumming in excellent touch but only a short term option then Lou Vincent will probably open in ODI's, which I personally am not to happy about.

 

[NZTailender]

Broom, Nicol and Parlane have been pretty good this season in FC. Mind you, our next test is a fair way off (?) so it won't count for much, and any of the batsmen playing English County cricket will get the nod over them (Hamish Marshall is the first that comes to mind).

 

[NZTailender]

Most runs in State Championship this season:

Top batsmen (min 200 runs)

Name                Mat    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave     SR 100 50   Ct St Team

MD Bell               4    6   1   383  161*  76.60  46.76   2  1    7  - WELL
[B]NT Broom              4    5   1   366  112   91.50  62.24   1  3    2  - OTAGO[/B]
HJH Marshall          4    8   1   353  153   50.42  59.72   1  1    1  - ND
GEF Barnett           4    8   1   351  118   50.14  57.44   1  2    2  - CD
[B]RL Taylor             4    7   0   348  217   49.71  82.85   1  -    4  - CD[/B]
BBJ Griggs            4    7   1   344   83   57.33  48.31   -  4   10  - CD
ME Parlane            4    7   1   337  140   56.16  49.77   1  3    6  - WELL
PJ Ingram             2    4   1   331  166* 110.33  54.08   2  -    -  - CD
GR Todd               4    6   1   328  160   65.60  57.74   1  1    -  - OTAGO
[B]TG McIntosh           4    8   1   314  205   44.85  49.21   1  1    1  - AUCK[/B]
GJ Hopkins            4    4   3   307  139* 307.00  57.49   2  -    7  1 OTAGO
CD McMillan           4    6   1   301  117   60.20  51.62   2  -    2  - CANT
GR Hay                4    6   1   284   98*  56.80  56.34   -  3    1  - CD
[B]JD Ryder              4    7   1   272   77   45.33  75.55   -  2    4  - WELL
RJ Nicol              4    6   1   271  160   54.20  41.37   1  1    3  - AUCK[/B]
RA Jones              4    8   1   271   62   38.71  51.22   -  3    2  - AUCK
CZ Harris             4    6   2   270  122   67.50  47.78   1  1   12  - CANT
PG Fulton             4    7   1   270   68   45.00  50.09   -  2    1  - CANT
JAH Marshall          4    8   0   267  128   33.37  56.92   1  1    2  - ND
AR Adams              3    6   2   253  117*  63.25 101.20   1  1    1  - AUCK
DL Vettori            2    3   1   246  120* 123.00  76.39   1  1    3  - ND
NR Parlane            4    6   1   205   89   41.00  47.45   -  2    2  - WELL

Most Runs in State Shield (min 200 runs)

Name                Mat    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave     SR 100 50   Ct St Team

[B]CD Cumming            9    9   1   394  112   49.25  81.40   2  -    3  - OTAGO
PD McGlashan          8    8   2   380   87   63.33  80.16   -  4    9  2 ND[/B]
CZ Harris             8    8   3   324   71   64.80  79.02   -  3    9  - CANT
AJ Redmond            9    9   0   308   67   34.22  71.46   -  3    1  - OTAGO
AW Evans              9    9   0   297   79   33.00  60.36   -  2    2  - ND
RA Jones              7    7   0   294   81   42.00  80.76   -  3    4  - AUCK
ME Parlane            8    8   2   288  132   48.00  95.36   1  1    2  - WELL
PJ Ingram             7    7   1   283  104   47.16  76.69   1  1    1  - CD
[B]JM How                7    7   1   278   93   46.33  72.02   -  2    6  - CD[/B]
L Vincent             7    7   0   273  129   39.00  86.39   1  1    2  - AUCK
[B]NT Broom              9    9   1   267   87   33.37  69.17   -  2    3  - OTAGO[/B]
CFK van Wyk           8    8   6   260   85* 130.00  85.24   -  2    3  3 CANT
GR Todd               9    8   0   259   53   32.37  65.90   -  1    4  - OTAGO
JAH Marshall          5    5   2   257  152*  85.66  94.83   1  1    3  - ND
GD Elliott            8    5   1   256  107*  64.00  91.10   1  2    3  - WELL
MS Sinclair           7    6   1   250   79*  50.00  75.75   -  3    2  - CD
[B]MHW Papps             8    8   0   221   62   27.62  68.00   -  2    1  - CANT[/B]
SL Stewart            8    8   0   212   73   26.50  57.14   -  1    -  - CANT

I doubt Bell will be in serious consideration unless he consistently replicate those kind of stats season after season. But I think his times passed, quite possibly.

Highlighted the players I would like to see represent us internationally in the next 2 years...(not including the ones that currently do or certainly will e.g. Marshall, Vincent)

 

[Fiery]

Check out Gareth Hopkins stats! McCullum might be having a nervous look at that.

 

[NZTailender]

Isn't Hopkins past 30? I thought he was about 32/33...


Edit: He's just 30. Decent choice for backup keeper to the WC, for mine.

Edit 2: Got stats mixed up, thought that was OD. I don't think Hopkins will play a test unless he has to replace an injured McCullum.

 

[_Ed_]

Hopkins got a duck and looked a bit out of his depth in his only ODI innings. He may have improved since then though.

 

[NZTailender]

His List A record is hardly fantastic. An average of 23 or there abouts.

Personally, I'd have McGlashan as backup keeper for ODI's and Hopkins for Tests.

Mind you, the only reason McGlashan played in the ODI's is because Hopkins was injured IIRC, so they went to McGlashan.
But he seems the better OD batsman.

 

[Dick Rockett]

I can almost forgive the ignorant public their bandwagon-jumping ways, but it annoys me when a respected columnist who should know better does it:

Cricket: All right, we were wrong about the formerly Unwatchables

In common with other newspapers, we may have been guilty of suggesting that John Bracewell was not quite the next Albert Einstein, and that his selection policies appeared to have been designed by a bunch of Alzheimer's victims.

To be honest, this assessment was based mostly on the proceedings during the earlier series against Sri Lanka and at no stage took into account the unlikely scenario that Bracewell might have been correct, or that the New Zealand team might improve.

It wasn't until the under-fire squad arrived in Perth, strung together back-to-back 300-plus totals and all but wrapped up their place in the tri-series finals, that "we" were fully able to appreciate the error of our ways and determine a better course of action.

So, with caps in hand we now unreservedly withdraw the Operation Screwloose allegation and publicly concede that Bracewell probably had a point when he argued for greater squad development, even if it did mean getting bowled out for 73 along the way.

Furthermore, rather than doubt New Zealand's chances in the tri-series and World Cup, we now acknowledge that Bracewell's squad is shaping up as a serious contender in both competitions, and could yet be on the cusp of celebrating a historic season.

Certainly, the way Jacob Oram has exploded back into action on the ODI scene, and the manner in which Lou Vincent has taken his chances augurs well for a team that's already qualified for four World Cup semifinals, and is desperate to go a step further in the Caribbean.

While we were scoffing and dissolving in laughter over Bracewell's much-maligned rotation policy, the New Zealand team were witnessing the emergence of blossoming paceman Mark Gillespie, managing the fitness of Shane Bond, and finding out vital information about the form of Nathan Astle.

Players such as Michael Mason and Jeetan Patel were afforded valuable game time, Daniel Vettori was primed as a replacement skipper and cover for Stephen Fleming, and injured front-liners such as Oram, Scott Styris and Kyle Mills were given time to make full recoveries.

Bracewell insisted he was on the right track, but for a while there - all we could see was a sightly irritated man wandering around in the thick undergrowth with no clue where he was, and no idea how to find his way out.

How wrong could we have been.

It all came to a head over the past few days when New Zealand - courtesy of Oram and Vincent - set alight an initially turgid tri-series, woke up Australia with a thrilling run-chase at the Waca, steamrollered England and moved within one win of cementing a finals' berth.

With Styris now in Melbourne after recovering from his calf injury and Mills likely to make swift progress with every outing, New Zealand have transformed from being the "unwatchables" to being compulsory viewing every time they take the field.

And another concession: Bracewell was probably right to send Brendon McCullum back to No 7 before the halfway point of the series, even though we kept banging on about the need to give the little gloveman longer in the opening position.

Since then, McCullum's featured in a match-winning stand at Adelaide while ensuring his team took the points against England, and was even more impressive against Australia on Sunday, when he played a magnificent foil for Oram.

So it's time to say that we were wrong; that it's become evident that Bracewell is neither crackers nor bonkers.

You never know, if he keeps on like this, we may even start believing him about Astle's retirement decision.

So essentially Boock is saying that simply fielding a stable lineup of New Zealand's 11 or so best players for more than one game is vindication for John Bracewell? That returning players like Oram, Vincent, Mills and Styris wasn't an entirely obvious way to improve the team's performance and that indeed, the subsequent improvement wasn't entirely predictable?

Give me a break, Bracewell's still an idiot. That he's finally resorted to sane selection policies shows that he doesn't want to go down in history as being at the controls of NZ's worst ever World Cup campaign.

 

[Tim]

Selecting Michael Parlane would be a backwards step now I believe. He was only mentioned before as a band-aid solution to NZ's top order for the 2 test against Sri Lanka.

Neil Broom is a player who could well make the step up for NZ in the next 2 or 3 years as he has been very consistent for Otago in the middle order.

 

[NZTailender]

Selecting Michael Parlane would be a backwards step now I believe. He was only mentioned before as a band-aid solution to NZ's top order for the 2 test against Sri Lanka.

Neil Broom is a player who could well make the step up for NZ in the next 2 or 3 years as he has been very consistent for Otago in the middle order.

I suggested Neal Parlane in my post up the page

 

[Perm]

Neil Broom is a player who could well make the step up for NZ in the next 2 or 3 years as he has been very consistent for Otago in the middle order.

He has been a key cog for Otago who are enjoying a fair bit of limited-overs sucess this season. Needs to build on it for next season aswell.

 

[NZTailender]

We've established that he's 23? Hopefully he can string together 2 more solid seasons and get into the side around the age 25. If all goes to plan, he could be in the team for 10 years and average 40+ in tests and 30+ in ODI's.


Sigh. A fan can dream.

 

[NZTailender]

Has our next test series even been confirmed? According to Cricinfo the only confirmed fixtures for us in the next 2 years are the CH series and the World Cup.

 

[Perm]

Has our next test series even been confirmed? According to Cricinfo the only confirmed fixtures for us in the next 2 years are the CH series and the World Cup.

According to the Future Tours Program we are going to South Africa in November 2007 for 2 Test's and 5 ODI's, then the CH in Australia. England are coming here for 3 Test's and 5 ODI's during February and March 2008. From after the conclusion of the World Cup through to April 2008 we are scheduled to play 5 Test's and 13 ODI's, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh are both scheduled for 6 Test's while India and Pakistan have 15. We then play a return series in England in May 2008.

Bloody ridiculous.