Yeah guys youre right im lying. He had two guys Rob Nicol/Fraser Diver bowling in front of him.
Oh and Flem our bowlers are average, Richardson is correct. Dont get me wrong our batsman arent performing either but before this series/or Bangladesh how many times have our bowlers bowled NZ to victory. I can think of England in the first test and WI in 2006 and not much else.
Look even at Old Trafford on the last tour. Yes NZ colapsed in our usual 2nd innings but England STILL had to make a record score to win. Vettori hasnt bowled NZ to victory for gods knows how many years and is almost exclusively now a batsman. Bond is a huge key and obviously our ability to get those 20 wickets increases greatly when he plays.
Even the last test in Welly, NZ had the best of the bowling conditions and Pakistan still made the highest score of the test batting first on a pitch taht had been under covers for a week and was seaming everywhere.
So in summary yes our batting is not performing but if you think our bowling is anything other than average at best then you are dreaming.
Hows your mate Dave the guru?
That Wellington pitch wasn't seaming everywhere, give me a break.
Time and again it has been our batsmen that have failed us and the bowlers get the blame from the likes of Richardson. Like India, they bowl very well as a unit and you may have noticed Iain O'Brien has been on fire this series.
Read my blog in my signature and you'll find that since Vettori took over the captaincy in 20 tests we've bowled test class opposition out for under 300 eleven times. New Zealand have a collective bowling average of 37. I compared collective bowling average with the top three sides: India, Australia and South Africa. South Africa are way ahead with an average of 31, Australia average 34 and India, the current number one....38. So much for Richardson's theory. India have a bunch of quality spinners that get to bowl in favourable home conditions too I might add.
I haven't compared this with anyone else but it will be interesting when I do.
Our bowlers haven't bowled us to victory because to do that those players that are supposed to be batsmen need to score runs, which they hardly ever do. Old Trafford was a horrible choke I agree, but its not a common trend. For a start since when are NZ ever provided with 500 to defend?
Mark Richardson, being a successful opening batsman that knows a lot about batting, would be better served giving McIntosh and co. some help rather than giggling in the commentary box winding Simon Doull up and writing drivel about needing to pick players based on a speed radar.
But yep lets drop all the bowlers and pick some eighteen year old 140kph quick before he's even finished deciphering NCEA marking systems. Good idea.