**Official** England in New Zealand

[Flem274*]

Might need to transition that whole "thread migration" better. We're supposed to start posting in the other thread....

Instead I became the target of a few Flems and Sinclairs (1) while spouting out nonsense myself when flustered by all the barrage of attacks. 10 years of not winning tests is a dumb comment to make.

Interesting, minnow bashers.

All good mate, none of us really have clean records.

 

[NZTailender]

A fair statement would be that we're rightly ranked above Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and West Indies. We can compete with certain teams at home and away (Sri Lanka, India, England) but get fairly comprehensively owned by Aus, RSA and Pakistan home and away.

 

[Leslie1]

Yeah, spose everyone is though really

IMO we're just above the WI and just below England. I'd say we're on about par with SL.

Hmm we've focussed alot on our woes but who else around the world is about to have a few mass player exits?

SL Come to mind, same with India.

Australia can't be far away too. It's about time to usher in the new generation, Steyn is leading it, Malinga.

I also think West Indies might be making a comeback. Jerome Taylor is quite a good bowler.

 

[Flem274*]

Australia can't be far away too. It's about time to usher in the new generation, Steyn is leading it, Malinga.

I also think West Indies might be making a comeback. Jerome Taylor is quite a good bowler.

Perhaps if we get our newbies in early we can cash in later?...

Interesting actualy, if we get the talented rookies experienced now we could get ourselves a headstart.

Haven't seen Taylor since they played in England, does he have any bowlees in support though like Collymore?

 

[NZTailender]

Wow this thread changed quick.

I'm actually surprised at those test series results, having a quick look only four of those won are not against Zim, WI or Ban. Maybe we are minnow bashers?

I wouldn't class Zimbabwe of 98 or 01 in with the current crop. They were far above Bangladesh's highest ever level. West Indies overseas victory is nothing to be sneezed at either, and frankly an insult to call the WIndies minnows in the same breath as Zim and Bang (as they are now) considering they did manage to beat SA at home recently, something we failed to do recently. Twice.


I think 4 of those can possibly be 'ignored' due to being 'minnows' - Zim 2005 and all the Bangla series...

 

[Flem274*]

Also, I don't want to see anyone getting carried-away with Southee yet. Terrific debut and might well be ready for Test cricket earlier than most - but he's still only 19, that's 3 years younger than me FFS. Hardly anyone will be able to play Test cricket untroubled at that age, unless you're Sachin Tendulkar. I hope it'll be a couple of years or so before he's playing regularly.

Unless you're Tim Southee?

TBH he wouldn't make the full strength line up anyway just yet. I'd have him in there until Franklin is fit though.

 

[Athlai]

The Test world today is an interesting one, full strength Pakistan, Sri Lankan, New Zealand, English teams could probably trouble the top three teams. Yet the strength of these teams is rarely close to being full, the West Indies on the other hand have been probably gathering more momentum with their new attack than any of the fore mentioned teams. Taylor looks the goods, Collymore is reliable, Bravo is looking more complete every day, Powell is hot and cold, yet when hot is blazing and Edwards is a dangerous bowler.

Reckon besides the top three any team could beat another on any given day.

 

[Richard]

I wouldn't class Zimbabwe of 98 or 01 in with the current crop. They were far above Bangladesh's highest ever level. West Indies overseas victory is nothing to be sneezed at either, and frankly an insult to call the WIndies minnows in the same breath as Zim and Bang (as they are now) considering they did manage to beat SA at home recently, something we failed to do recently. Twice.


I think 4 of those can possibly be 'ignored' due to being 'minnows' - Zim 2005 and all the Bangla series...

 

[Flem274*]

The Test world today is an interesting one, full strength Pakistan, Sri Lankan, New Zealand, English teams could probably trouble the top three teams. Yet the strength of these teams is rarely close to being full, the West Indies on the other hand have been probably gathering more momentum with their new attack than any of the fore mentioned teams. Taylor looks the goods, Collymore is reliable, Bravo is looking more complete every day, Powell is hot and cold, yet when hot is blazing and Edwards is a dangerous bowler.

Reckon besides the top three any team could beat another on any given day.

AWTA

Problem is all those bar WI and SL all have a constant injury list.

 

[Leslie1]

Perhaps if we get our newbies in early we can cash in later?...

Interesting actualy, if we get the talented rookies experienced now we could get ourselves a headstart.

Haven't seen Taylor since they played in England, does he have any bowlees in support though like Collymore?

Provided you're happy with us losing the first few tests to blood these guys. I think we'll be forced to blood youngsters anyways which doesn't give us much hope of winning the 1st test. Very rare you get debutants playing well in their 1st test.

Having said that, I'm content to concede the first test to England if it meant all the guys like Hay, Todd, Flynn, whichever batting combination they start with, find their own feet in a losing cause.

I also want our new batsman to have the same attitude as How. Remembering how disappointed he was in the interview with his century knock at that ODI draw in Napier. Man I can't remember seeing someone feeling so down in the dumps while his team drew and himself scoring a big century. Shows he's there to compete to win, not just interested in personal milestones or just being content with being in the Black Caps' side. Batsman with an attitude like that goes a long way to losing that typical NZ batting stereotype.

 

[NZTailender]

Thought I was channeling you a bit there when typing it out, tbh.

 

[Flem274*]

Provided you're happy with us losing the first few tests to blood these guys. I think we'll be forced to blood youngsters anyways which doesn't give us much hope of winning the 1st test. Very rare you get debutants playing well in their 1st test.

Having said that, I'm content to concede the first test to England if it meant all the guys like Hay, Todd, Flynn, whichever batting combination they start with, find their own feet in a losing cause.

I also want our new batsman to have the same attitude as How. Remembering how disappointed he was in the interview with his century knock at that ODI draw in Napier. Man I can't remember seeing someone feeling so down in the dumps while his team drew and himself scoring a big century. Shows he's there to compete to win, not just interested in personal milestones or just being content with being in the Black Caps' side. Batsman with an attitude like that goes a long way to losing that typical NZ batting stereotype.

Jamie How is an excellent example to the young guys. He's got himself a solid technique and is very tough mentally, not to mention passionate about the team. In the after match interview he looked like he was about to burst into tears.

 

[Leslie1]

Jamie How is an excellent example to the young guys. He's got himself a solid technique and is very tough mentally, not to mention passionate about the team. In the after match interview he looked like he was about to burst into tears.

Being a CD man yourself, what'd you think of him as a captain? Aggressive or more "follow me when I perform" type.

I would love to see him captain the early tour matches in England, and bring in young guns under him. Greg Hay would thrive in his first international outing under him, and really, while we on that, it's going to be a CD lineup in one form or the other eventually in the batting department. Mark Greatbatch's legacy (talking about when he is coaching the CD side a few years back while these guys are coming through the age groups)

 

[Prince EWS]

Very rare you get debutants playing well in their 1st test.

Indeed. We can't expect everyone to be as good as Sinclair.

 

[Leslie1]

Yes, lets bring Sinclair on the tour, clearly the humiliation isn't enough.

Has he got a younger brother? Sibling? Who might have his physical attributes... AND have the mental capacity of staying at the crease like Richardson.

Yeah that's it. Selectors need to find another Sinclair with Richardson mentality.

Have all the shots, with high degree of smarts when selecting which one to execute. Richardson had one shot, but he knows how to stay there.

 

[Richard]

Thought I was channeling you a bit there when typing it out, tbh.

That entire post would be pretty much exactly, word-for-word, how I'd put it really.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

That entire post would be pretty much exactly, word-for-word, how I'd put it really.

Nah. You wouldn't have deigned Bangladesh with inverted commas around ignored and minnows.

 

[Richard]

TBF I'd have used a word that more accurately describes them - "substandard". Anyway, I said word for word - never mentioned punctuation.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yes, lets bring Sinclair on the tour, clearly the humiliation isn't enough.

Has he got a younger brother? Sibling? Who might have his physical attributes... AND have the mental capacity of staying at the crease like Richardson.

Yeah that's it. Selectors need to find another Sinclair with Richardson mentality.

Have all the shots, with high degree of smarts when selecting which one to execute. Richardson had one shot, but he knows how to stay there.

Yeah, a man with two Test double hundreds clearly has no capacity to play a long innings at all.

He's a nervous starter. That doesn't mean he has poor concentration.. otherwise he'd be Fleming.

EDIT: I just realised the irony of that given that Fleming has three double tons. Really though, Sinclair has a few faults at Test level but you can't just bag him for everything - he's always been known as a batsman who has really good powers of concentration. He doesn't start well but if he gets in, he can really stay around for the long haul, so I think the suggest he doesn't have the mental capacity to stay at the crease is a bit off the mark.

 

[NZTailender]

Sinclair is New Zealand's Ricky Ponting. Vulnerable early on, but generally all class imo.