Ross Taylor named captain

[Nate]

Haha, reminds me of Under 10s, our coach said he'd buy me 'a large McChicken meal with coke' if I fielded well, which was a big deal to me as I'd never had one before. Four catches and a run-out later, it was mineeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

But yeah Ross is a cool guy.

 

[straw man]

Confident that Taylor is the best choice. He's more of a closed book than McCullum so it's less easy to guess at what his leadership style might be and what he will bring to the captaincy, but I think he's fairly clued up and will grow into the role well.

Maybe he can arrange KFC to sponsor us as well... and fill that $3M hole in NZC's budget.

Really hope McCullum takes this well, doesn't do anything to undermine Taylor and scores some runs this summer.

 

[Hurricane]

I liked the interview Baz gave where he said he needed 24 hours to let it sink in - and then said he supported Taylor can't ask for a more honest answer.

I think not making him vice captain would be a mistake and could alienate him. Give him some authority please.

 

[BlazeDragon]

All the best of luck to Ross Taylor. NZ needs to improve avoid becoming like another WI.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Don't think there's any danger of that. NZ has always will be pretty mediocre, not like there's been many notable (longish-term) peaks or serious slumps in the last 20 years tbh.

 

[BlazeDragon]

Don't think there's any danger of that. NZ has always will be pretty mediocre, not like there's been many notable (longish-term) peaks or serious slumps in the last 20 years tbh.

At one point during the Shane Bond days NZ were better than India, England, and Pakistan. They rivaled Sri Lanka and South Africa and were one of the Top 3 teams. They have never been on top but they have never been mediocre like they are now.

 

[_Ed_]

We've had plenty of bad patches, to be fair - Lee Germon was our captain for a while in the late '90s. Lee Germon. Seriously.

And even worse, Germon was captain in his Test debut!

And of course there was the small matter of 26 all out.

 

[Athlai]

In the 80s we were 2nd at one stage IIRC.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Well, yeah, of course we've had plenty of patches of being pretty decent and pretty meh, but BlazeDragon's comparison to the WI implies some sort of massive, extended trough after an extended period of notable success, which is obviously isn't the case at all.

 

[Hurricane]

In the 80s we were 2nd at one stage IIRC.

Can't be bothered looking up cricinfo but my memory is that England were at least as good as us. I don't think we could win a series in England during the 80s.

 

[BlazeDragon]

Well, yeah, of course we've had plenty of patches of being pretty decent and pretty meh, but BlazeDragon's comparison to the WI implies some sort of massive, extended trough after an extended period of notable success, which is obviously isn't the case at all.

Well to be quite honest WI's massive success period ended in the 80's. They were good in the 90's during the Lara era but not that good. They went from a Top 3 or 4 team maybe to what they are now. Kind of similar to what NZ were during the Bond era to what they are now.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

It's too early to judge, the "Bond era" has only just ended, and didn't actually play together much anyway. The WI success was consistent over eras of several years, which has never really been the case with any NZ team. I wouldn't say this team has been doing particularly badly anyway, making the semis in the SC is no mean feat.

 

[BlazeDragon]

It's too early to judge, the "Bond era" has only just ended, and didn't actually play together much anyway. The WI success was consistent over eras of several years, which has never really been the case with any NZ team. I wouldn't say this team has been doing particularly badly anyway, making the semis in the SC is no mean feat.

SA living up to their reputation of "chokers" had a lot to do with that. But still in ODI they got semi-whitewashed by team like Bangladesh 0-4, Got whitewashed by India in 0-5, and lost to Pakistan 2-4 on their home turf.

Although yes they do deserve a lot of credit for beating Pakistan and specially SA during the WC so they haven't completely gone down the drain yet. But they certainly are in the worst shape they have been in in the last 20 years especially in ODIs.

 

[Noble One]

SA living up to their reputation of "chokers" had a lot to do with that. But still in ODI they got semi-whitewashed by team like Bangladesh 0-4, Got whitewashed by India in 0-5, and lost to Pakistan 2-4 on their home turf.

Although yes they do deserve a lot of credit for beating Pakistan and specially SA during the WC so they haven't completely gone down the drain yet. But they certainly are in the worst shape they have been in in the last 20 years especially in ODIs.

Hard to go past the New Zealand team of the mid 90's in ODI's as the worst of the last 20 years. Around the period of 1994/1995, things looked very bleak for New Zealand cricket with so many legends retiring and no real talent emerging other than Stephen Fleming.

 

[Spark]

NZ were a very good ODI side not two or three years ago tbh. It's not like Bond had a huge impact given he played one game a year or something like.

 

[Smudge]

Can't be bothered looking up cricinfo but my memory is that England were at least as good as us. I don't think we could win a series in England during the 80s.

Except for the 1986 1-0 series win, of course.

 

[Howe_zat]

Can't be bothered looking up cricinfo but my memory is that England were at least as good as us. I don't think we could win a series in England during the 80s.

You did win a series here in '86, and England lost at home to Pakistan and India around the same time. NZ definitely got to 2nd or 3rd in the mid-late 1980s, iirc you also beat Australia home and away.