*Official* New Zealand Domestic Cricket Season 2012/2013

[Hurricane]

didn't mason dismiss ponting for nz while ponting was good.

anyway mase is a legend.

I remember one game there was a thin line of grass outside off stump. So Mase targeted it and hit it every ball and got great movement as a result. Amazing accuracy.

 

[Flem274*]

Okay, okay - he wasn't the worst bowler in the world. Line and length has its virtues. But, admit it, he never, ever, got your heart racing with a vicious bouncer or searing yorker did he? Unlike Ian Butler in his young pomp...

In the HRV Cup final a few years ago at Pukekura Park he had Auckland's top order clueless. Sconed Anaru Kitchen on the badge.

And he wasn't just line and length. If there was even a tiny bit of movement, he found it. He was no world beater, but he was a bloody good bowler. He got my heart racing because during a time when CD wasn't overflowing with bowling talent, he won us games by himself. Line and length + movement at 135kph will always take wickets in FC and be competent in tests.

Ian Butler as a youngster was bad. Wasn't very fast, didn't move the ball, and didn't know where it would land. Give me the Mug any day.

edit: if you want to attack a not so good bowler who took a truckload, there are much better examples to pick than Michael Mason. We both agree some lesser bowlers were the stars of their attacks back in the day, but Mason would still command a place in CD today if he was in his pomp, much like Brent Arnel would in a full strength ND line up today.

 

[Binkley]

if you want to attack a not so good bowler who took a truckload, there are much better examples to pick than Michael Mason. We both agree some lesser bowlers were the stars of their attacks back in the day, but Mason would still command a place in CD today if he was in his pomp, much like Brent Arnel would in a full strength ND line up today.

Fair enough. Perhaps I don't need to criticise any particular players. But I can't imagine that someone like Alex Tait, despite his many good qualities, would average 20 if he were playing FC cricket today. Wickets have improved, and bowlers have adapted. And these are all good things.

 

[Flem274*]

Agreed. I think we may have overcompensated for the green tops we wheeled out for yonks, judging by all the talk of roady mcroads a few years ago by players, journalists and commentators, but now we may have found the happy medium. There have still been greenish pitches and roads this season, but now there is variety.

 

[Flem274*]

Would also be interested to hear if Stevo has any inside goss on the Auckland top order, because they have really relied on the 6/7/8 this season despite batting at one of the more benign grounds for batting. Losing a few good players to other provinces has probably played a big part I'm guessing?

 

[SteveNZ]

Would also be interested to hear if Stevo has any inside goss on the Auckland top order, because they have really relied on the 6/7/8 this season despite batting at one of the more benign grounds for batting. Losing a few good players to other provinces has probably played a big part I'm guessing?

It's not really inside goss as much as different guys are failing for different reasons. Motivation is one of them. If you look at the guys are scoring hundreds and are putting up big performances, they're excited up and comers or fringe NZ - although you could argue 90 percent of the six associations fall in those categories. Tim Mc, Louey and Reece all know their days are numbered. Lou can't wait for Friday, Tim Mc is in one of his slumps he finds hard to get out of and Reece has probably lost motivation back in AKL, around his family and with a new business venture. I said before the season that Lord Colin de was in a funk and I didn't think he'd score any, and he hasn't. He's a bit cut up about missing out on SA when he knew big runs like last year would have got him there.

Auckland have paid lip service to four-day cricket under Strangy, knowing they'll continue to look good if they win HRVs etc. A big ol' clearout in the Plunket could be the perfect scenario for 2013-14. Base side around the Munros, the Bartletts, the Kitchens, the O'Donnells, de Grandhomme, Bates, Cachopa (might see a push to get the other ones back too) with Hoppy playing the wise old head and maybe Bucko Martin still there as well. Tommy, Millsy, Tim Mc, Louey, Reece etc have been great servants but it's getting a bit stale. Get 11 guys there who want to win a title. And over time, drag the guys back who have gone further afield.

 

[Flem274*]

It's not really inside goss as much as different guys are failing for different reasons. Motivation is one of them. If you look at the guys are scoring hundreds and are putting up big performances, they're excited up and comers or fringe NZ - although you could argue 90 percent of the six associations fall in those categories. Tim Mc, Louey and Reece all know their days are numbered. Lou can't wait for Friday, Tim Mc is in one of his slumps he finds hard to get out of and Reece has probably lost motivation back in AKL, around his family and with a new business venture. I said before the season that Lord Colin de was in a funk and I didn't think he'd score any, and he hasn't. He's a bit cut up about missing out on SA when he knew big runs like last year would have got him there.

Auckland have paid lip service to four-day cricket under Strangy, knowing they'll continue to look good if they win HRVs etc. A big ol' clearout in the Plunket could be the perfect scenario for 2013-14. Base side around the Munros, the Bartletts, the Kitchens, the O'Donnells, de Grandhomme, Bates, Cachopa (might see a push to get the other ones back too) with Hoppy playing the wise old head and maybe Bucko Martin still there as well. Tommy, Millsy, Tim Mc, Louey, Reece etc have been great servants but it's getting a bit stale. Get 11 guys there who want to win a title. And over time, drag the guys back who have gone further afield.

Hopkins is still up for another year then?

Auckland would be nuts not to go chasing Carl Cachopa. It's only a matter of time before he registers a run of low scores but at Colin Munro Park he'll be a beast and he adds even more bowling depth to a side whose main advantage over the others is they have two allrounders who can change the game in a session with the bat and can bowl decently. Add Cachopa in at three with his dibbly dobblies and you can split the 5th bowling duties between three blokes, or maybe even 4th and 5th and bat a little deeper.

Mass clearout might be the way to go. Something has got to give. I'm surprised Auckland are being so petty about de Boorder turning down the contract, because he could add some grit if that's what is missing. Good to see them putting some faith in Craig Cachopa and moving him to four though.

And Strang should be turfed if he's not taking Plunket Shield seriously. Test cricket is the main form of the game and domestic sides shouldn't be allowed to lose sight of that, especially since a lot of Auckland's best limited overs players also don the whites anyway. Why ignore the long form?

edit: could probably do worse than asking Nicol and Raval to return as well. Vincent and McIntosh can't have much longer left.

 

[Chubb]

It's not really inside goss as much as different guys are failing for different reasons. Motivation is one of them. If you look at the guys are scoring hundreds and are putting up big performances, they're excited up and comers or fringe NZ - although you could argue 90 percent of the six associations fall in those categories. Tim Mc, Louey and Reece all know their days are numbered. Lou can't wait for Friday, Tim Mc is in one of his slumps he finds hard to get out of and Reece has probably lost motivation back in AKL, around his family and with a new business venture. I said before the season that Lord Colin de was in a funk and I didn't think he'd score any, and he hasn't. He's a bit cut up about missing out on SA when he knew big runs like last year would have got him there.

Auckland have paid lip service to four-day cricket under Strangy, knowing they'll continue to look good if they win HRVs etc. A big ol' clearout in the Plunket could be the perfect scenario for 2013-14. Base side around the Munros, the Bartletts, the Kitchens, the O'Donnells, de Grandhomme, Bates, Cachopa (might see a push to get the other ones back too) with Hoppy playing the wise old head and maybe Bucko Martin still there as well. Tommy, Millsy, Tim Mc, Louey, Reece etc have been great servants but it's getting a bit stale. Get 11 guys there who want to win a title. And over time, drag the guys back who have gone further afield.

Apologies if you've been asked before, but what is your opinion of de Grandhomme? When you say he was in a funk, what was it about?

I thought he'd play for NZ when he moved over here but as with many others would rather he had played for Zimbabwe. I remember when the rebellion happened he was still there and was talked about but his father persuaded ZC not to pick him - money may have changed hands. I don't know.

 

[Immenso]

It's not really inside goss as much as different guys are failing for different reasons. Motivation is one of them. If you look at the guys are scoring hundreds and are putting up big performances, they're excited up and comers or fringe NZ - although you could argue 90 percent of the six associations fall in those categories. Tim Mc, Louey and Reece all know their days are numbered. Lou can't wait for Friday, Tim Mc is in one of his slumps he finds hard to get out of and Reece has probably lost motivation back in AKL, around his family and with a new business venture. I said before the season that Lord Colin de was in a funk and I didn't think he'd score any, and he hasn't. He's a bit cut up about missing out on SA when he knew big runs like last year would have got him there.

Auckland have paid lip service to four-day cricket under Strangy, knowing they'll continue to look good if they win HRVs etc. A big ol' clearout in the Plunket could be the perfect scenario for 2013-14. Base side around the Munros, the Bartletts, the Kitchens, the O'Donnells, de Grandhomme, Bates, Cachopa (might see a push to get the other ones back too) with Hoppy playing the wise old head and maybe Bucko Martin still there as well. Tommy, Millsy, Tim Mc, Louey, Reece etc have been great servants but it's getting a bit stale. Get 11 guys there who want to win a title. And over time, drag the guys back who have gone further afield.

Interesting. This is partly why I was frustrated at Mustard playing Plunket this round. Auckland need to balance current title hunts along with future continuity planning.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

That bad thing about our first-class bowlers atm is that most of the promising ones are seriously injury-prone. Milne, Small, Wheeler, Henry, Bennett etc all miss more games than they play. When they are all out, the standard of our bowling attacks isn't great.

I have been trying to make a study of bowling actions over the last couple of years and have come to a couple of conclusions to this issue.

1.Bowlers of today tend to use their backs to generate extra pace (and sometimes bounce) and many by doing so, twist their backs slightly. This leads to increased risk of stress fractures and similar injuries. So instead of retaining the ability to twist the back in order to generate slightly more pace to surprise the batsman, some bowlers get greedy(coaches tell them to do so) and go for the extra pace every ball.

2. There is no need to go the gym as part of training, after a certain point. Every muscle that you need to bowl with gains strength as you bowl. By going to the gym, bowlers are strengthening their muscles in different ways. I believe this is another reason for players being injured more in the modern era. More net time > gym.

 

[SteveNZ]

Apologies if you've been asked before, but what is your opinion of de Grandhomme? When you say he was in a funk, what was it about?

I thought he'd play for NZ when he moved over here but as with many others would rather he had played for Zimbabwe. I remember when the rebellion happened he was still there and was talked about but his father persuaded ZC not to pick him - money may have changed hands. I don't know.

First of all, I can't speak highly enough of the bloke. He's a great character who regularly loses money on the golf course. As a cricketer, I think he's as talented as most going around in international cricket. But application and maybe cricket smarts let him down. The ability to work on his game, put it into practice and bat for long periods hasn't come to him yet. It's something I've always seen in Colin Munro and has been proven lately. His bowling could have also been something v decent but he's had tendonitis issues and lost pace. Unfortunately I think he'll be overrun by the likes of Neesham/Munro/Anderson/the next clean striking all rounder.

Incidentally that stuff about his dad is untrue. Fairly certain it came from cricinfo but it never happened.

And Flem, it'd be wrong to say Strang gives a discredit to Plunket Shield - it's just kinda panned out that way. I think Hoppy has a couple more years in him if he keeps scoring runs and there's no obvious keeper back-up. He won't go into coaching, which is a big loss to NZ. He's a hell of a bloke. And luring the likes of Raval, Nicol may well happen if they commit to clearing out. Carl Cachopa and Munro are best mates, as are their wives, so that could pan out along with the original Auckland link of course. Whether they can offer him a contract to befit his output this season is a different story. That would go for the likes of de Boorder, Neesham too - unless they are on NZC contracts. Might be easier to get Jeet, Ish, Mark Craig, Brad Cachopa etc.

 

[Chubb]

First of all, I can't speak highly enough of the bloke. He's a great character who regularly loses money on the golf course. As a cricketer, I think he's as talented as most going around in international cricket. But application and maybe cricket smarts let him down. The ability to work on his game, put it into practice and bat for long periods hasn't come to him yet. It's something I've always seen in Colin Munro and has been proven lately. His bowling could have also been something v decent but he's had tendonitis issues and lost pace. Unfortunately I think he'll be overrun by the likes of Neesham/Munro/Anderson/the next clean striking all rounder.

Incidentally that stuff about his dad is untrue. Fairly certain it came from cricinfo but it never happened.

Interesting. Thanks.

 

[Bahnz]

Irritatingly, Southee is running into the the camera, so it's difficult to judge how much he was swinging it. Have to say, Papps and Ryder in particular did not play particularly clever shots.

 

[SteveNZ]

Irritatingly, Southee is running into the the camera, so it's difficult to judge how much he was swinging it. Have to say, Papps and Ryder in particular did not play particularly clever shots.

You're being very generous with your assessment of Jesse's shot. That was ghastly, and really would have been better suited to a No.11 who was scared of a second new ball.

 

[Immenso]

Wow. Jesse. I think that may be the worst shot I have ever seen.

And Tugaga's wicket was a ripper.
Also, Hutchison looks the goods IMO, when I have seen him, but not picking up the rewards

 

[Flem274*]

Just seen it. That should be a good message for him. Needs DingDong in his ear at every training.

 

[Flem274*]

Kane got out in his favourite way, except to a spinner this time.

Brownlie likes charging Bhuphinder too.

 

[Immenso]

Lou Vincent's dismissal a cause for concern, not good for a FC opener. Even if it was his first ball.

 

[SteveNZ]

Lou Vincent's dismissal a cause for concern, not good for a FC opener. Even if it was his first ball.

He's been out that way 3-4-5 times already this season, stuck over his front leg. Old habits die hard. HRV=no blocking=happy Lou.

 

[Bahnz]

You're being very generous with your assessment of Jesse's shot. That was ghastly, and really would have been better suited to a No.11 who was scared of a second new ball.

Yep, look at the first ball he faced as well. Was definitely backing away towards leg, awful stuff. Will be interesting to see if Jesse actually tries to bat properly in the 2nd innings.