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

[Prince EWS]

It's not 2005 anymore; Bruce Martin hasn't actually been a better spinner than Jeets for ages.

 

[Kippax]

Wonder why there's no 12th player for the warm-up there, with any luck they're actually making some Wheeler enquiries. Sweep gets to captain!

Tom Latham vs. England XI - YouTube

There is some bad news for him in that it's not a straight shoot-out. He needs England to really twist the knife with their shrewd fields to Rutherford it seems.

Hesson said Rutherford was "most likely" to partner Peter Fulton in the test 11, but Latham has his chance to impress.

 

[Flem274*]

It's not 2005 anymore; Bruce Martin hasn't actually been a better spinner than Jeets for ages.

^^Hacked by Athlai

He's been a better spinner than Jeets for the last two seasons. Idgaf what Jeets does in County matches, because those are the same matches where Franklin can still take 7fer before averaging 40 for Wellington. It's pretty evident who is better when you watch both bowl in the PS too imo.

edit: Brooce also has to bowl on a ground Colin Munro can score double hundreds on.

 

[jcas0167]

Wonder why there's no 12th player for the warm-up there, with any luck they're actually making some Wheeler enquiries. Sweep gets to captain!

Tom Latham vs. England XI - YouTube

There is some bad news for him in that it's not a straight shoot-out. He needs England to really twist the knife with their shrewd fields to Rutherford it seems.

I would go with Latham ahead of Rutherford. As noted above, I thought he looked the most organised and composed in the NZ XI games against England. Is a shame though that Canterbury haven't been opening with him given that from the NZA games last year it looks like the NZ selectors see him as an opener.

 

[Flem274*]

Gotta admit I don't really get the Tom Latham love. Looks to have a very traditional kiwi domestic opener technique whenever I see him bat. That's not a good thing.

 

[Immenso]

From the very little I have seen of him, he seems to strongly favour the leg side. So I wouldn't be surprised if he's someone who slashes at width in FC cricket, meaning he scores quickly, but when things tighten up in List A cricket, he struggles. A bit like how Phil Hughes was one of the most aggressive test openers around when he debuted, but didn't play ODI cricket for four years.

Edit: Or what Immenso said

Well, that does actually sound quite an accurate description of Rutherford's FC play. Slashes at width, scores a heck of a lot of his runs through cover and point.

 

[Prince EWS]

Gotta admit I don't really get the Tom Latham love. Looks to have a very traditional kiwi domestic opener technique whenever I see him bat. That's not a good thing.

I think he comes more from the Guptill/Vincent school of flawed talent than the McIntosh/Bell school of refined mediocrity, which means he the ability to improve at least.

 

[Cabinet96]

Of course, I should have said favours the off side in that post. Deary me.

 

[straw man]

p'raps we've just picked Latham so we can have three keepers in the side

rotate every three overs

 

[Furball]

That's it for me I think, It's not even a contest this.

I'm still flabbergasted by the lack of intent from NZ up-front today. For me they were never going to beat this English side just playing conventional cricket. We needed a different approach to put their bowlers, Anderson and Finn in particular off their stride. Really really disappointing the brains-trust that is NZ cricket couldn't work that one out.

Which you do by attacking Anderson. He doesn't react at all well to being hit.

 

[Athlai]

My love of Latham grew when I found out Phlegm "didn't get it".

 

[hendrix]

It goes without saying that I would be extremely happy if our opening batsmen can average 30 each across the series, and manage a single 50+ run opening partnership.

 

[Bahnz]

Bruce Martin >>>>> Jeets so if we're going to have a spinner then fair enough.

Phlegm failing so hard with this.

Really, when you come down to it, Bartin's stats this season aren't much better than Jeets, or anyone's for that matter. The only spinner this season to take a decent number of wickets and finish with an average below the 40 mark was Nethula.

 

[morgieb]

What has made the Plunkett Shield so batting friendly this season btw? Particularly given that most FC comps are really bowler friendly.

 

[Kippax]

A very good summer of weather, also the more centralised warrant of fitness process for domestic pitches. The key readings and practices gathered from previous bouncy roads with ***y reverse cup action has been narrowed right down.

 

[Mike5181]

Averages would have come down a bit had Small, Wheeler, Milne, Henry etc played more often as well.

 

[Flem274*]

Phlegm failing so hard with this.

Really, when you come down to it, Bartin's stats this season aren't much better than Jeets, or anyone's for that matter. The only spinner this season to take a decent number of wickets and finish with an average below the 40 mark was Nethula.

This isn't taking into context Jeets plays at the Basin, the best and fairest pitch in the country, and Martin plays all his home games on the same ground Colin Munro smashes double hundreds for fun.

After watching both bowl, I think Martin is the better bowler and he's probably the better batsman too. Jeets is gun in the field obvz.

I'm not saying Martin will set the world on fire, but he's the best of our spinners atm, and I realise I may well be damning with faint praise.

 

[Hurricane]

I've never seen Bartin in action except for some T20 game in my distant memory. But judging by his stats he will not set the world on fire. I would have preferred 4 seamers.

I am not surprised that Rutherford and Latham have been selected ahead of Flynn
a) Flynn had a couple of mediocre scores in the run up to the announcement
b) The Selectors for NZ traditionally make risky selections rather than safe selections - they are always willing to bet on uncovering the next martin crowe rather than giving an average player a second or third chance. Sometimes it has paid off like with our selection of Doug. And sometimes it has failed for example the inclusion of Hamish Bennett because of his perceived "extreme pace for a New Zealander" only for him to be crap and breakdown after not looking the part. When filling a gap in the team if there is not an obvious class contender we always go for the pick with the highest upside even if it is a risky pay off.

I don't mind who they pick out of Latham and Rutherford. I think that Rutherford's SR is too high for tests for my liking. I predict he will get out driving outside off early in his inning.
Latham will be a black cap at some stage. Just not sure he is ready. But that is the NZ way to play potential youngsters before they are ripe. Most famous case being Ken Rutherford.

 

[Mike5181]

Hamish Bennett? The guy who took 20 wickets @ 21 in ODIs?

 

[straw man]

b) The Selectors for NZ traditionally make risky selections rather than safe selections - they are always willing to bet on uncovering the next martin crowe rather than giving an average player a second or third chance. Sometimes it has paid off like with our selection of Doug. And sometimes it has failed for example the inclusion of Hamish Bennett because of his perceived "extreme pace for a New Zealander" only for him to be crap and breakdown after not looking the part. When filling a gap in the team if there is not an obvious class contender we always go for the pick with the highest upside even if it is a risky pay off.

I see it just as the current flavour of the month vs flavour of the month from a couple of years ago.

Basically just the hype cycle... perhaps cut short because we've already moved on to the next Next Big Thing. No plateau of productivity for Flynn at this rate.