**Official** New Zealand in England

[Richard]

Also, any chance we could have the thread topped for the series that's about to start, not the one that's just finished?

 

[Leslie1]

Lol. Thanks mod!!! (Whoever it is)

Okay, officially the New Zealand squad named today at 10am. (Saturday NZ)

http://stuff.co.nz/4464984a1823.html

 

[Silver Arrow]

Bell and Sinclair dropped, Aaron Redmond the bolter in test side, Flynn included in test side. Hopkins named as back-up wicketkeeper, Ryder included in one day side

 

[Leslie1]

Hey Silver can you list the whole squad? Aaron Redmond, wow, so Vettori is right.

Good god, Greg Hay is snubbed for Aaron Redmond... That's harsh-ish.

 

[Silver Arrow]

Test Squad

Daniel Vettori (captain)
Daniel Flynn
Peter Fulton
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
Brendon McCullum (VC)
James Marshall
Chris Martin
Kyle Mills
Iain O’Brien
Jacob Oram
Jeetan Patel
Aaron Redmond
Tim Southee
Ross Taylor
(Either Mark Gillespie or
Michael Mason to be added)

One Day Squad

Daniel Vettori (captain)
Daniel Flynn
Mark Gillespie
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
Jacob Oram
Michael Mason
James Marshall
Kyle Mills
Brendon McCullum (VC)
Jeetan Patel
Jesse Ryder
Scott Styris
Tim Southee
Ross Taylor

Replacements for IPL Players
(until May 1st)
Michael Mason
Mark Gillespie
Grant Elliott

http://www.blackcaps.co.nz/content/blackcaps/latestblackcapsnews/11645/blackcaps-squads.aspx

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Test Squad

Daniel Vettori (captain)
Daniel Flynn
Peter Fulton
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
Brendon McCullum (VC)
James Marshall
Chris Martin
Kyle Mills
Iain O’Brien
Jacob Oram
Jeetan Patel
Aaron Redmond
Tim Southee
Ross Taylor
(Either Mark Gillespie or
Michael Mason to be added)

That's 14 opening partnerships in 27 Tests. Must be some kind of record.

Who will they go with? How and James Marshall? How and McCullum? How and Chris Martin?

 

[Richard]

Aaron Redmond... WoW.

 

[Leslie1]

Aaron Redmond is there purely as the opener.

So I think Jamie How and Aaron Redmond will open while Daniel Flynn + James Marshall are the contenders for the number 3 position.

 

[Richard]

Oh no, not James Marshall.

Come on Daniel Flynn, I know you have it in you.

Seeing James Marshall in my side's opposition would just be too painful.

Until now Redmond was just a name, and a son-of name at that, but he's been fairly impressive in recent times, so there's hope there I guess. Completely and totally forgot he was on that A-tour in 2000.

 

[Richard]

Test Squad

Daniel Vettori (captain)
Daniel Flynn
Peter Fulton
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
Brendon McCullum (VC)
James Marshall
Chris Martin
Kyle Mills
Iain O’Brien
Jacob Oram
Jeetan Patel
Aaron Redmond
Tim Southee
Ross Taylor
(Either Mark Gillespie or
Michael Mason to be added)

Oh, you are kidding me - O'Brien, but only one of Mason and Gillespie?

 

[completeNZer]

 

[Leslie1]

Oh no, not James Marshall.

Come on Daniel Flynn, I know you have it in you.

Seeing James Marshall in my side's opposition would just be too painful.

C'mon, James Marshall is not bad. His brother wasn't that bad either.

I'm of course speaking with a ND bias.....

Well you have to feel for Greg Hay... he stuffs up the game that all selectors are watching (CD vs ND) and James Marshall scores a few runs, and he's in.

I think it's a close call between Greg Hay and James Marshall and that particular game probably clinched it for Marshall.

Here's the lineup for the starting test (what I think will happen)

1. Jamie How
2. Aaron Redmond (Obviously if Ryder had been fit in time, this is his position)
3. Peter Fulton
4. Daniel Flynn / James Marshall
5. Ross Taylor
6. Jacob Oram
7. Brendon McCullum
8. Daniel Vettori
9. Kyle Mills
10. Tim Southee / Iain O Brien
11. Chris Martin

 

[Smudge]

Not desperately unhappy with those sides. Good on Aaron Redmond, who has toiled away with Otago for several years after switching from Canterbury where he was primarily a leggie. If he finishes with an average like his dad's, we won't be complaining.

I can understand why Marshall is returning, and to be fair to him, his form has been pretty good. still looks like Hadlee is playing favourites with Flynn (who admittedly has been in good recent form) over Hay, but I guess we've got to give one of the two a go.

No unhappy about O'Brien over Gillespie either - the latter looked short of fitness in Wellington and lucked a few tail-end wickets. His accuracy really is sub-standard for test level and he doesn't really seem like he has much up top when it comes to thinking about test match bowling.

 

[Richard]

C'mon, James Marshall is not bad. His brother wasn't that bad either.

I'm of course speaking with a ND bias.....

Well you have to feel for Greg Hay... he stuffs up the game that all selectors are watching (CD vs ND) and James Marshall scores a few runs, and he's in.

I think it's a close call between Greg Hay and James Marshall and that particular game probably clinched it for Marshall.

TBH, from the Hay POV I'm not at all sorry he's not in the squad, 'tis the last thing he needs right now IMO. He's played, what, 2 seasons? Not sure whether he's done an A tour.

Reckon he wants 1 more bit-of-season before he makes his Test and ODI bows. And provided he keeps going well, hopefully we've another prospective 10-year career ahead of us.

 

[Leslie1]

TBH, from the Hay POV I'm not at all sorry he's not in the squad, 'tis the last thing he needs right now IMO. He's played, what, 2 seasons? Not sure whether he's done an A tour.

Reckon he wants 1 more bit-of-season before he makes his Test and ODI bows. And provided he keeps going well, hopefully we've another prospective 10-year career ahead of us.

Yeah but (reluctantly making this point) - Daniel Flynn is younger than Hay, and Hay started late. Also, while Hay had only had two season, they were both really good seasons. Flynn only started to come on this season (last three seasons he's averaging 18) and this season he shot up the charts with 60+ average for the season.

Edit: boy if i can get a dollar for every 'season'

 

[Somerset]

Never contemplated Redmond TBH. Am still a bit worried that we'll have to be blooding two new players for the opening test of the series, given that Redmond seems the most likely candidate to open and Flynn a definite middle order option. Could be worse I suppose.

Shame to see no Franklin or Ryder but that was to be expected with neither recovered yet. I'm disappointed Matthew Bell wasn't selected, he'll probably go back to domestic cricket and prod around for a season and then have another good one; by which time we still won't have found a decent opening combination.

 

[Somerset]

Just an interesting point I picked up in the Cricinfo report on the naming of the side:
"Jamie How will lead the team while Daniel Vettori is in India with Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Ross Taylor and Jacob Oram."

Thoughts on How captaining the side? I guess to be fair there aren't a huge amount of other options.

 

[Leslie1]

I'd always rated him as a leader. The only quirk is that he hasn't really established himself at in the side. Probably the quiet type, like Fleming, and has captained his CD side for a while now.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that... (you can see this coming) I prefer How captain than Daniel Vettori. Vettori should be there on merits as a spinner who can bat, not because of his leadership qualities of which he probably pales in comparison to Fleming. + Spinners should never be captain, EVER.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Just an interesting point I picked up in the Cricinfo report on the naming of the side:
"Jamie How will lead the team while Daniel Vettori is in India with Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Ross Taylor and Jacob Oram."

Thoughts on How captaining the side? I guess to be fair there aren't a huge amount of other options.

Who else could have done it?

Out of the rest of the squad: Redmond, Fulton, Flynn and Marshall aren't sure of their places, Southee has played one Test, O'Brien, Gillespie and Mason have no certainty over their places, and Hopkins won't play when McCullum comes back. That leaves Martin (!), How and Patel, the latter of which will be unlikely to play regularly when the IPL boys return. I would think that Martin probably wasn't seriously considered. So by elimination...

 

[Smudge]

Martin was asked about the stand-in captaincy in a newspaper interview and you could almost feel his horror through the pages - he stated there were better people than him to captain. How is the obvious choice - has done the job for a while with CD.