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**Official** New Zealand in South Africa

Blain

Blain

U19 Captain
My team for the final test would be..

Flynn
McCullum
Williamson
Brownlie
Guptill (We know he is a good player, but has been poor against the swinging red ball)
Watling
Munro
Wagner
Bracewell
Martin (Bruce)
Boult

There are talks of the pitch being dry and reverse swing around, Wagner is the only one who is known to actually reverse it. It seems like more batting depth, but the bowling is largely untested. I don't think we lose much with Martin coming in for Patel, but gain a bit of batting and something unknown to the Saffers. Plus he spins it away from the right handers, which is more of an asset than a right hand offy with no real variation.

Open the bowling with Boult and Bracewell, Wagner 1st change and Munro to give someone a breather and contain. He has a decent record in domestic cricket, I would have faith that he would do a better job than Franko.
 
S

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Absolutely zero chance Elliott plays at the 2015 World Cup. He's pushing the proverbial uphill to even make Wellington's side - I bet he almost fell off whatever seating arrangement he was on when the call came through.

If Matt Henry wasn't injured over the past year I'm certain it would have been him.
 
straw man

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
AB De Villiers said:
"They lost the first test match so they might be under a bit of pressure to play him [Wagner]," de Villiers said.

"He's a wonderful bowler, we all know that. Personally I wouldn't do it because of the amount of left-handers that would be in the attack.
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De Villiers getting his orders in I see. Don't agree with his logic since Wagner would be in for Martin who swings the ball in the same direction. Also with so many left-handers in most sides' top 6 these days, it shouldn't generally be seen as an issue to play multiple left-arm fast men imo. Though South Africa are an exception with only Smith (and Elgar).

Also if we have two left arm bowlers that's more footmarks for Patel to bowl into. With half an eye on the England series I don't see much point in debuting B Martin now.
 
hendrix

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
if conditions are swinging I would pick Martin over Wagner.

I think I would go for the same team as the last test TBH.
 
jcas0167

jcas0167

International Debutant
straw man said:
De Villiers getting his orders in I see. Don't agree with his logic since Wagner would be in for Martin who swings the ball in the same direction. Also with so many left-handers in most sides' top 6 these days, it shouldn't generally be seen as an issue to play multiple left-arm fast men imo. Though South Africa are an exception with only Smith (and Elgar).

Also if we have two left arm bowlers that's more footmarks for Patel to bowl into. With half an eye on the England series I don't see much point in debuting B Martin now.
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Yes, I don't understand why there should be a limit on left armers as opposed to right armers? I wouldn't mind if they played McClenaghan, Boult & Wagner.

I would play B Martin too, I'd love to see how he goes.
 
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Binkley

Binkley

U19 Captain
jcas0167 said:
I would play B Martin too, I'd love to see how he goes.
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If nothing else, Jeets should be dropped for his dreadful batting in the second innings. I know he is not in the team to score runs, but his scared bunny reaction to Steyn means he will be a walking wicket in PE. And going into a test with Chris Martin and a gunshy Patel means we will essentially only be batting to eight down in either innings.
 
Hurricane

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Same team as last time if I were coach.

Reasons

Wagner did not do enough in the warm up game. He had to outbowl martin there and Martin performed in the first test.
Munro needs a few more limited overs successes to show he is ready for tests. Either that or another FC double century that isn't scored on a road.
Patel has enough credit in the bank to warrant another go before being dropped.
 
wellAlbidarned

wellAlbidarned

International Coach
We know Munro isn't ready but he has to play to be able to see that because he's not going to change much about his game while scoring truckloads in crappy domestic cricket. He needs a taste of what it's like up a few notches.
 
Binkley

Binkley

U19 Captain
Hurricane said:
Patel has enough credit in the bank to warrant another go before being dropped.
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Does he though? I like Jeets and he sometimes looks to be bowling beautifully - but his overall record is poor, and he didn't do much in India or Sri Lanka that I recall (except for a 4 for 100 in a match where we failed to reach 170 in either innings). When he is bowling well in helpful conditions he gets bounce and spin - and that is what makes him (occasionally) dangerous - and I don't think he will see much of either in PE. I think the strongest argument for including him would be if Wagner came in for Chris Martin and we had three left-armers creating a nice messy crater for him.
 
Blain

Blain

U19 Captain
Bahnz

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Howsie said:
He was terrible, embarrassing even. He barely looked first class standard for most of his overs. Don't let a couple of declaration wickets fool you into thinking he was decent.
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Oh don't be ott. I don't think Martin can survive in test cricket as a 125-130k bowler, but his lines and lengths were genuinely pretty good, and the only genuine declaration wicket that he got was Peterson (AB's dismissal was certainly careless, but he was hardly caught at deep mid-wicket). He certainly bowled a damn site better than Bracewell did (not that that's saying much).

Having said all that, I don't think he should play in the second test. A less lively surface than what he got at cape town will likely render him completely inert.
 
Bahnz

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Hurricane said:
What was our verdict on the speed gun in the end. Did we decide it was 5kms light?
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Nah, Morkel was generally low to mid 140's, Steyn mid to high 130's (with the odd burst in the 140's) and Philander at 125-130, so unless ur prepared to engage in J Bracewell style conspiracy theories concerning doctored speed readings, it seemed pretty accurate.
 
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