*Official* New Zealand in Sri Lanka

[Migara]

Umpiring has been atrocious. If there was anything worse than that, it was SL close catching. If ump gave the decisions correctly and SL caught well this would have been over by lunch.

Lot of positives to be taken for SL. Herath's form is impressive, but I am worried whether he has enough tricks in his bag to de rail Indian batsman. Thushara had been very good once again. Prasad showed that why he's different from other SL pacers, with his ultra aggression.

The biggest negative is SL's close catching. This is the team that boasted of one of the best close catching cordon in international cricket. Anything went near Tillekaratne, Mahanama and Chandana were grabbed with great hunger. But current lot is dropping them one after another. Need some close catching practice. Hashan Tillekaratne should call a day for the politics to comeback and coach close catching.

 

[Bahnz]

Bravo

How about Number four then..... or any of the 11 innings (out of a career total of 20) that Ryder was not batting at number five ?

If Vettori is particularly vulnerable against anything, it's new ball bowling. The ideal would be to have him at number 6, followed by Oram and McCullum.

 

[SJS]

If Vettori is particularly vulnerable against anything, it's new ball bowling. The ideal would be to have him at number 6, followed by Oram and McCullum.

Well even six is better than where he is now. Although he is almost likely to play the second new ball at 5 as at 6; it just depends upon how many runs the batsmen before him score or rather how many overs they consume.

 

[SJS]

I'd like to see Vettori bat at seven, maybe six but not any higher then that. But to say he's afraid of batting higher up the order is pretty laughable tbh. Check out the second test against Bangladesh last year..

I am a great admirer of Vettori. I said he is afraid because that is how it would appear to the world but more out of frustration. By the way, Bangladesh is not a great example.

It was the same with Inzy. He refused to bat higher even when the team was having problems at the top. The captain has to step in particularly when there is a problem and he has the game to do it.

Being afraid does not always mean afraid for one self.

Many bowler captains under bowl themselves. They too are afraid but not that they will get hammered.

 

[Bahnz]

Vettori's record in 2009: 492 runs at 61.5. Wow.

Compare to

Ross Taylor: 481 runs at 53.44
Jesse Ryder: 454 runs at 50.44
Brendon McCullum 293 runs at 32.55

 

[TT Boy]

Vettori's got a fine batting record against his next test opponents as well, Pakistan.

Just a shame his bowling average is over 100 against them. So much for Pakistan having an affliction with SLA...

 

[Uppercut]

Vettori's got a fine batting record against his next test opponents as well, Pakistan.

Just a shame his bowling average is over 100 against them. So much for Pakistan having an affliction with SLA...

Indeed. The flipside to Vettori's incredible batting form is that he's seriously ineffective with the ball at the moment. He's a batting all-rounder in tests.

I'm with SJS here, he has to move up the order. I suspect that his obvious mental reservations could cost him some success there though.

 

[Migara]

So much for Pakistan having an affliction with SLA...

SLA that turn the ball only.

 

[Uppercut]

SLA that turn the ball only.

Yeah, Pakistan struggle with left-arm spin, not left-arm bowl-slowly-and-vary-your-flight-lots.

 

[Polo23]

Indeed. The flipside to Vettori's incredible batting form is that he's seriously ineffective with the ball at the moment. He's a batting all-rounder in tests

Wait...what?!

He's averaged 32.50 with 10 wickets in these 2 tests vs Sri Lanka, pretty good considering the Lankans are fantastic players of spin and these pitches were hardly raging turners. His record with both bat and ball in the last 3 years has been very good.

I agree he should move up to either 6 or 7 however.

 

[marc71178]

Vettori is one of the best exponents of making hay against the weakest nations.

In the last 3 years he averages 38.52 with the bat but 37.31 with the ball when you take out the Bangladesh games.

With them in it's 42.82 with the bat and 31.14 with the ball.

 

[TT Boy]

Yeah, Pakistan struggle with left-arm spin, not left-arm bowl-slowly-and-vary-your-flight-lots.

So Paul Harris turns the ball!

 

[Uppercut]

So Paul Harris turns the ball!

He did a bit that series, and he's done it a bit recently. The tours where he really struggled to get the ball off straight were in India and England.

I haven't seen Vettori turn a ball since Old Trafford over a year ago.

 

[Uppercut]

Vettori is one of the best exponents of making hay against the weakest nations.

In the last 3 years he averages 38.52 with the bat but 37.31 with the ball when you take out the Bangladesh games.

With them in it's 42.82 with the bat and 31.14 with the ball.

Tbf, one of those games was a serious bail-out for his side with both bat and ball.

But yeah, his bowling's not much use against good sides.

 

[SJS]

Vettori is one of the best exponents of making hay against the weakest nations.

In the last 3 years he averages 38.52 with the bat but 37.31 with the ball when you take out the Bangladesh games.

With them in it's 42.82 with the bat and 31.14 with the ball.

I have never been a great admirer of his bowling skills and have copped it here for suggesting that a couple of years ago.

 

[marc71178]

As have I for daring to say that him and Giles were equals as bowlers.

 

[Uppercut]

As have I for daring to say that him and Giles were equals as bowlers.

You're pushing it.

 

[Shri]

You're pushing it.

Thats what Robert de Niro said in Meet the Parents.

 

[trapol]

To suggest that Giles is the equal of Vettori is nothing short of fantasy.

For starters Giles had to bowl over the wicket into the footmarks because he wasnt good enough to bowl more positively around. This wasnt a big deal for England though as Giles had a support cast at least with Harmison/Hoggard/Jones/Flintoff so eating up overs and going for no runs, boring people out worked while their quicks operated at the other end.

Vettori on the other hand is a lone soldier, as we've seen over the last few days, especially without Bond there to help out. Where the comparisons between him and Giles are possible is that neither have bowled their tams to victories. Ive been saying on here for a while, especialy when talking about other players, that its all about match winning performances. Winning games by making centuries/MoM/big wicket hauls and so on and Vettori in this regard has been poor for a while. (As witnessed by his failure to bowl England out at OT in England last year) His batting on the other hand has been exceptional for the exact same reasons.

Ive been critical in the past of Oram/B Mac for exactly the same thing. They are great at scoring runs when the game is gone and stats can hide this.

If Vettori can get his bowling back to winning games for NZ he truly does belong in the upper echelon of great all rounders

 

[Flem274*]

SLA finger spinner+covered wickets+new action as a result of an injury that should have been prevented=a spinner that can now only be dangerous on a raging turner.

If this NZ side had genuine strike bowlers instead of two third seamers openign the bowling and another allrounder whose bowlign has been ruined by injury, Vettori would be the workhorse of the team in the bowling (but deadly in the right conditions) and still the highly effective last defence of the middle order.

Luckily, we have some strike bowlers. Problem is one is horribly injury prone, one thinks he's a freaking batsman and the third sat on the sideline watching Patel get whacked around.

And a few domestic strke bowlers either cant bowl in a straight line, are ineffective on anything other than a greentop *cough* Southee *cough*, still finding their feet domestically (Boult), or unqualified (Wagner).

I spose we could add Butler into this category but the selecors seem to think he's a 20/20 specialist. Hasn't lost much pace at all and is far more accurate than last time around, and even then he got some wickets.

So in other words, if we picked the right kind of seamers, Vettori's job would be far easier. The selectors just need to make a tough call: Martin or O'Brien? I suspect they'd go Martin, despite the fact our supposed number one strike bowler hasnt taken a five wicket haul in how long? I know he bowled well in the first test, very well, but he's still a third seamer in my view.