***Official*** England in New Zealand series 2013

[Athlai]

Hope we don't see anything of Rutherford till after the Champions Trophy at the earliest. Any other batsman doing anything of note domestically?

 

[Mike5181]

Hope we don't see anything of Rutherford till after the Champions Trophy at the earliest. Any other batsman doing anything of note domestically?

Neil Broom's averaging 45+.

 

[Athlai]

Neil Broom will definitely get a Test match one day IMO.

 

[Mike5181]

He better tbh. The fact that he's got nearly 5000 first-class runs @ 41 without making his debut is quite amazing. That's not to say he's better than guys like Flynn. Most of the regular test batsmen we've tried average mid-40s in the Plunket Shield. His wrongful selection as an ODI finisher a few years back hasn't helped either.

 

[Kippax]

Ellis' international record:

ODIs: 132 runs @ 14.66
       8 wickets @ 33
T20: 19 runs @ 9.5
     0 wickets @ infinity. RPO 10.00

Yep, proved his worth alright. What a player.

Really has to play with the big boys when he's putting the shoulder into it tbh. Refuses to leave kids like Chops alone domestically.

Ellis roughs up du Plessis - YouTube

 

[Kippax]

He better tbh. The fact that he's got nearly 5000 first-class runs @ 41 without making his debut is quite amazing. That's not to say he's better than guys like Flynn. Most of the regular test batsmen we've tried average mid-40s in the Plunket Shield. His wrongful selection as an ODI finisher a few years back hasn't helped either.

Tip for Broom: don't say "I'm just stoked to get a few out of the fat". Loose talk like this will encourage Crowe to say what he said about Redmond and why he was a waster.

 

[Prince EWS]

We've all had our say on what we think the team should be, but does anyone want to have a punt on what the first Test side actually will look like? Here's my rather pessimistic guess:

1. Peter Fulton
2. Daniel Flynn or Martin Guptill depending on whether Guptill hits any runs in the one dayers
3. Kane Williamson
4. Ross Taylor
5. Brendon McCullum
6. Dean Brownlie
7. BJ Watling
8. Doug Bracewell
9. Tim Southee
10. Jeetan Patel
11. Trent Boult

I actually think it would be weird if Fulton didn't play. I know it's not exactly what many if any of us want, but they already picked him to do the opening job in South Africa, and all that happened was that he got injured before he had a chance and the blokes who opened in his place were gash. He's since returned to fitness and continued on his merry way hitting domestic runs opening. Seems pretty obvious to me.

I'm sadly pretty convinced McCullum will in fact drop down the order now that Ryder has ruled himself out. Whether he bats three or goes all the way down to five is anyone's guess and will probably depend on how the one dayers play out.

 

[straw man]

Let's not bring reality into this - it's too depressing

 

[Athlai]

I'm going to punch you in the nuts Cribb. How dare you predict such a likely and sad team?

 

[Mike5181]

Not entirely convinced that McCullum's moving down the order. They said Watling was staying at six, which wouldn't leave any room for such a move.

 

[Kippax]

Okay, they'll decide some real stocking stuffing of the batting is a must, so here's the XI for Dunedin.

Suckstill
Flynn
Williamson
Taylor
McCullum
Brownlie
Watling
Ellis
Southee
Mills
Boult

 

[straw man]

I'm going to punch you in the nuts Cribb. How dare you predict such a likely and sad team?

You said it much better than me

 

[straw man]

Not entirely convinced that McCullum's moving down the order. They said Watling was staying at six, which wouldn't leave any room for such a move.

Make Taylor bat at 3 and send Williamson down to 7 as a bowling allrounder

 

[Mike5181]

''Need to look at it," he said of continuing to open.

''I'm not 100 percent on it yet. it's a matter of looking at what's best for the team we put out and getting the right combinations.

''Everything is up for review and once the dust settles on this we will be able to look at it with some clarity."

That doesn't overrule the seemingly definitive answer they gave about Watling remaining at number 6. I agree that Fulton will at least be in the squad. I could see Ian Butler getting a call up to the squad as well. Really they would be stupid to ignore Ronchi, considering he's been just as good with the bat this season as anyone. Are we convinced Patel's safe?

 

[Binkley]

I'm going to punch you in the nuts Cribb. How dare you predict such a likely and sad team?

At least that team hasn't got Andrew Ellis in it.

I wish we had the luxury of easing players into the international game, 'cos I would have liked to have seen Rutherford build on the good start to his career before being selected - but good luck to the lad. He doesn't quite seem the finished product yet, but there seems a fair amount of talent in the small amount of him I have seen.

 

[Prince EWS]

Not entirely convinced that McCullum's moving down the order. They said Watling was staying at six, which wouldn't leave any room for such a move.

I think the Watling at 6 thing was more just to end speculation that he may open. I don't think they were meaning to rule out him batting seven.

 

[Bahnz]

Likely xi for the first test

Papps
Taylor
Williamson
McCullum
Brownlie
Guptill
Watling
Wagner
Bracewell
Patel
Boult

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Likely XI for the first test

How
Papps
Sinclair
Franklin
McCullum
Taylor
Hopkins (+)
Mills
Tuffeh
Andy Ellis
Martin, C

 

[Mike5181]

I think the Watling at 6 thing was more just to end speculation that he may open. I don't think they were meaning to rule out him batting seven.

Could be the case, I guess. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[straw man]

Wagner
Bracewell
Patel
Boult

I'm really looking forward to this series but Southee not being fit on top of Vettori and Ryder's continuing absence is about where I'd be saying **** this.


Does anyone think we should just play four seamers and not bother with a spinner? Patel and B Martin both just seem so meh.