**Official** New Zealand in South Africa

[Meridio]

Bruce Martin is also there ftr if you really do want to drop Jeets.

Ah, good point, had a feeling I'd forgotten someone. Don't know if it would make much difference, Martin's a better bat but that should be irrelevant when picking a spinner. Patel bowled decently in India and SL without ever really looking threatening, and he's gone wicketless here. Meh, I don't know. Spin not really our major problem at the moment.

 

[nexxus]

If I were the NZ board I'd be sending rendition teams to Jesse Ryder & Ross Taylor's houses to get them into the team for the 2nd test whether they want to or not. Probably also Vettori. "Injured, hell, you're probably still the better pick."

 

[NUFAN]

Assuming no one flies over from NZ to join the party I would make three changes to the team.

1 - Swap Flynn and Guptill around. Martin is a dangerous bat, give him a chance in a different spot and Flynn is very limited so is suited to opening. I basically think he can last longer than anyone else and buy making him open it means there are better bats in the middle order now to take advantage of the situation.

2 - Munro in for Franklin. I've only seen him play in the T20's and he looked nothing special, but looking at that Munro Watch in Hurricanes (?) signature and his stats mean you surely can't keep picking deadwood, so give the kid a go.

3. Wagner in for Patel. You've got a quick in your squad with so much experience in these conditions, so pick him. Williamson can bowl a couple handy overs of spin if required.

My NZ team for second Test
1. McCullum
2. Flynn
3. Williamson
4. Brownlie
5. Guptill
6. Watling
7. Munro
8. Wagner
9. Bracewell
10. Boult
11. Martin

 

[Prensel]

Might as well open with Williamson, seeing as he pretty much just did it for the last 2 innings and have Flynn at 3

 

[SeamUp]

Mitchell McClenaghan impressed me in the T20's. Good strong action and angles it across with the old ball to shape in. Surely a better option than Wagner ?

I think you will need a spinner at PE. Especially as NZL should show more fight and the game could go 5 days. So it has to be Patel v B.Martin scenario imo.

 

[Rasimione]

just saw the dismisal of Patel. That is disgraceful. for a paid proffesional to do that was shocking.As for Franklin, why is he still in the team? Get Munro in there. and while your at it, might aswell have a look at Wagner.

 

[BeeGee]

Luke Ronchi Will Be Given Chance To Push NZ Claims... | Stuff.co.nz

Bowling coach Shane Bond said a recent diet of T20 had hampered Southee and Doug Bracewell and the format was ideal to try new blood such as the impressive Mitchell McClenaghan.

"T20 is a great game to introduce people into the environment but it's also a game where you can get into bad habits. We saw with Tim Southee when he plays a bit of T20 he's bowling yorkers all the time and it has an adverse affect on his performances at test level," Bond said.

"We have bowlers who I think have better skill sets for test match cricket so it's important to keep those guys fresh and bring in depth and pick and choose your series."

Thank god Bond is our bowling coach. I hope Hesson and the selectors listen to him and keep our Test bowlers away from the T20 squad.

 

[SeamUp]

Luke Ronchi Will Be Given Chance To Push NZ Claims... | Stuff.co.nz



Thank god Bond is our bowling coach. I hope Hesson and the selectors listen to him and keep our Test bowlers away from the T20 squad.

I like Bond. Such a good level headed bloke. Thought his chat before day 2 was pretty good. Wouldn't be the worst if he stole the main job from Hesson and brought in a specialised batting coach. Sure you Kiwi's wouldn't mind.

 

[Flem274*]

Well that was an unsurprising score to wake up to.

Congrats SA. The most dominant performance on day 1 before lunch I've ever seen and it killed New Zealand from the get go. NZ fought back but far too much ground was lost on day 1 to ever recover.

 

[Kippax]

What's that, No 7 becomes a mentally shipwrecked Wellingtonian spot for the rest of the season! (Y)

"42 off 151, BJ can deffo stay at six. I don't need that much time."

Jesse Ryder, "Look at All the ****s I Give" - YouTube

 

[Neil Young]

Rubbish result while McCullum sounds more like a politician with every passing day.

 

[Hurricane]

can't bruce m just bowl to dean brownlie for 2/3 days in the nets to fix up his problems with spin.

Anyway - a pity that Brownlie had to get out. If he could've made SA bat again that would have been a moral achievement for NZ.

Still we got blown out - but not decimated at least.

 

[BeeGee]

I know that we'd all love it to be otherwise, but there's no way that that trio won't be selected for the 2nd test.

AWTA. Baring injury it'll be the same team in the second Test.

Just for the LOLs.....
In the last 5 years...

JEC Franklin, 10 tests played, batting average 18.93, bowling average 107.16
JS Patel, 17 tests played, batting average 11.31, bowling average 47.27

 

[Flem274*]

To clutch at straws, even with the drop if Brownlie can bat with that application against everyone else, especially teams with weaker attacks than SA, England and Australia, he will have a reasonable test career. Likewise Watling's 40 would be 80 against some other teams.

The fly in the ointment with my prediction though is the teams with the crappiest pacers for Brownlie to exploit have some of the leading left arm spinners. Pakistan are the only team to mix an acceptable pace attack with a world class slow left armer.

I didn't see Jeets bowl so I can't comment on how he looked, but if he looked like old innocuous Jeets bring in Bruce Martin because he actually turns the ball appreciably on surfaces like Colin Munro Motorway and because I'm a grump. Yeah yeah I know I said Jeets bowled well in SL, and he did. GAGF.

I really don't think Wagner should be in the top five pace options and I hope McClenaghan hasn't jumped the queue based on 20/20 but Marto needs to go so bring in Mitch M. His record for Auckland, considering his home ground is also Colin Munro Motorway, is passable and he's the best option left in the squad because the last thing we need right now is 130kph long hop version of Wagner turning up to land the ball on the shiny side and ruin it for the others.

Colin Munro to come in for Franko and either entertain us by trolling SA or get shown he can't bat on his motorway every game. A quick stats check says he averages 78 at Eden Park. (tbf he's only played 5 matches away from home). It will be good for him to be shown what he needs to work on if he fails now rather than on some future date.

**** knows what to do with the opener. Hamish Rutherford is the only name who springs to mind but he's no batting savior and isn't scoring FC runs this season anyway. Might as well elevate Franklin and tell him to just slog.

Guptill's a weird one. When he first came into the test team he played them like ODIs - consistent 30s and 40s before playing a poor stroke. Now he tries to bat properly and can't get to 20.

/rant

 

[Burgey]

Nz supporters should feel a bit better about the effort second time around. Hopefully something to build on when you're playing a side as good as this SA one.

 

[straw man]

Second test I'd bring Wagner in for Martin. Admittedly I didn't see much of the Windies test that Wagner played, but I don't see how people can write Wagner off after just that and then suggest McClenaghan plays on the back of looking good in T20s. Not that it's a big reason but Wagner would also improve that hopeless lower order batting of ours.

Undecided on Franklin vs Munro - it's dropping someone useless vs handing out a cap to someone who doesn't quite deserve it yet. Gotta remember probably neither of them will play vs England at home. I wouldn't complain if Munro is selected.

Don't think there's any point dropping Patel for B.Martin. If we must play a spinner next match then leave Patel in and then consider him vs Vettori/quick#4 for the home England series.

 

[straw man]

1 - Swap Flynn and Guptill around. Martin is a dangerous bat, give him a chance in a different spot and Flynn is very limited so is suited to opening. I basically think he can last longer than anyone else and buy making him open it means there are better bats in the middle order now to take advantage of the situation.

It's not a terrible idea to promote Flynn if we have no other openers (true) and someone else is taking Flynn's middle order spot (currently false). I wouldn't do it next test, but the availability of Ryder and Vettori for the home England series may dictate that, especially now Brownlie has secured his place.

If Flynn was promoted to open then Guptill would just be dropped as there wouldn't be a middle order place for him.

I still don't think Flynn is either quite as limited or quite as good on defense/leaving as some do, so I think he'd be passable at best as an opener. Hope he scores runs next test from number 5.

 

[hendrix]

Bring Bruce Martin in for Franklin.

Bruce can bat can't he? May as well take a punt on 2 spinners and his bowling will be more effective than Franklin's anyway.

Flynn and Guptill to switch positions.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Why the **** are we suddenly so intent on playing a full-time spinner in SA ffs? It's beyond me. Drop Jeets, Franklin, and Martin. Bring in Mitch, Munro, and WAGner. done.

 

[Kippax]

Wagner may well come in, PE would seem to fit this 'slow and abrasive pitch = h4x Wagner reverse' theory they're enamoured with. (Hesson the Otago coach for the most notable day it actually happened with that five-wicket FC over, ftr).