• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

**Official** Pakistan v New Zealand in the UAE 2014

Howsie

Cricketer Of The Year
Dan, is not a good enough batsman any more (at the moment) to bat as an allrounder - based on his batting vs RSA, I just dont think he has had enough time in the middle over the last 2 years
Yeah he's nowhere near good enough to bat six or seven anymore.
 

RxGM

U19 Vice-Captain
i dont know if he is he has been batting quite high (#7) for ND & NZA ahead of Nathan McCullum and Kuggs
 

Blocky

Banned
I dunno, you slap a test cricket badge on Dan and I think he'll find a way to make himself effective with the bat. He's out of match practice but he's been showing recently in T20 that he's getting more touch with the bat, versus earlier in the season where he couldn't hit it off the block.

Personally though, bad move dropping Neesham because it validates the mentality I'd already mentioned "We don't care that Neesham has been more effective to date, we're going to select Anderson because he managed to get a 40 in amongst the run of **** scores they've both had"
 

wellAlbidarned

International Coach
I'm so not convinced of Dan's action. It's been looking really ginger and even less explosive than it used to be. (if that's possible)
 

Blocky

Banned
Not an Anderson fan but it is an 80 and a 40 on tour, the 80 at this ground.
Yeah, but the moment we started regarding tour performances is the moment we continued selecting the Guptills, the Rutherfords and the Flynns even though they were failing in the real stuff.

I just think you've got a guy who has scored a couple hundred more runs in less attempts with their bowling both being marginal at best. It's just that Anderson is part of the clique and Neesham isn't. Short term memories, considering Neesham, as much as Watling and McCullum was behind our miracle recovery against India not too long ago against spin bowlers who were probably as good as the ones he's facing.

I'd have more faith in the selectors if they went real big, dropped both Anderson and Neesham for Vettori and Wagner and said "We're going to take twenty wickets and back our Top 5" - but thats too Australian for NZ to pull off.
 

RxGM

U19 Vice-Captain
I'd have more faith in the selectors if they went real big, dropped both Anderson and Neesham for Vettori and Wagner and said "We're going to take twenty wickets and back our Top 5" - but thats too Australian for NZ to pull off.
Really...... when has australia ever gone into a test with only 5 batsman/6 specialist bowlers.

EDIT: The answer to this question is not in the last 30 years at least - I couldn't be bothered going further back.
 
Last edited:

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Really...... when has australia ever gone into a test with only 5 batsman/6 specialist bowlers.

EDIT: The answer to this question is not in the last 30 years at least - I couldn't be bothered going further back.
Any test in the subcontinent when Cameron White or Glenn Maxwell played.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Also, had our batsmen put 550 rather than 400 on the board we would have had a better chance of winning.
 

Kippax

Cricketer Of The Year
He was meaning more what the archetypal Australian would think, if you said he was 0-1 down and you handed him NZ's resources. He'd be free from all the self-perpetuating angst about serious specialist batting being an unrealistic goal for such a meek nation, therefore our top 5s would eventually stop asking for so much help from the grafters and sloggers lower down.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Lol. We arguably have better specialist bats than Australia anyway.

Their lower order partnerships have been very Nz-esque lately. Johson et al.
 

Blocky

Banned
Really...... when has australia ever gone into a test with only 5 batsman/6 specialist bowlers.

EDIT: The answer to this question is not in the last 30 years at least - I couldn't be bothered going further back.
Thing is, you can't really consider our guys "specialist bowlers" - when you've got Craig, Sodhi and Vettori all averaging twenty plus in first class, all of whom having shown their stuff at international level. I don't think you're "missing" anything by not having Anderson in the line up - I'll give dollars to dimes that he won't outscore the guys enough to justify him as "a batsman who can bowl some overs" - i.e if you had Wagner, Craig, Vettori, Sodhi, Boult, Southee - its not unlikely that they'd contribute 100-150 runs between them as the tail.

But I was talking more about the "Throw caution to the win and chase victory the best way we can" - we won't win a test match because of Anderson, not in his current form. I hope he proves me wrong but the likelihood is small, however if we have a bowling attack that gives us six threatening options that we can alternate, when four of those bowlers can also hold a bat pretty well and the other two are handy sloggers, it's not as hair brained as "Well, we'll jettison the guy with better batting returns and keep the guy who's bits and pieces"
 

cnerd123

likes this
why would you want to think like an Aussie when they just got hammered here? NZ are already doing much better simply by being themselves.
 

Blocky

Banned
Also, had our batsmen put 550 rather than 400 on the board we would have had a better chance of winning.
Right, but if we score 550 - I guarantee you it'll either be Latham, Williamson, McCullum, Watling or Taylor who does the scoring, the way Neesham and Anderson have batted isn't just not producing results, but they look absolutely clueless against both the leggie and the left armer bowling at them.

Personally, given the resources we have over in the UAE at the moment, and taking Vettori into the line up, my team would be

1. McCullum
2. Latham
3. Williamson
4. Taylor
5. Neesham
6. Watling
7. Vettori
8. Sodhi / Craig - either one. I think they'll benefit from some cheap wickets if Vettori ties an end down and both have about the same utility with the bat.
9. Wagner
10. Boult
11. Southee

Yes, I realise this weakens our batting line up, but I'm backing Vettori, Sodhi and Wagner to make some meaningful runs in the tail and I'm also backing us to be more likely to get the win against a side that has been nigh impossible to get 20 wickets against. We had enough runs on the board in the last test without either Neesham or Anderson producing for us, we couldn't get the wickets.

You'd hope with Baz showing signs of being comfortable out there, with Latham continuing to play well, Taylor coming back into some life, Kane hopefully finding some touch and Watling as gritty as ever that we could find ourselves 400-450 if we batted first, then heap the pressure on them. All I'll say if Boult was getting the ball to reverse around, Wagner will be an amazing threat out there.
 
Last edited:

Top