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

[Zinzan]

Fair enough call IMO.

Southee, Mills, McCLcnenenenen are the First XIers.

The pecking order of the rest is up in the air.

Milne has to be in the 15 for mine, regardless, meaning Mills, Henry & Boult are fighting it out for the remaining 2 slots assuming we select 5 paces bowlers in the squad.

As of now my 5 would be.

Southee
McClenaghan
Milne
Henry
Mills

 

[Hurricane]

Tempted to go Milne over Mitch, the latter gets a lot of lucky wickets. Plus Milne gave it his all in the field today which scored points with me

 

[Athlai]

Milne has to be in the 15 for mine, regardless, meaning Mills, Henry & Boult are fighting it out for the remaining 2 slots assuming we select 5 paces bowlers in the squad.

As of now my 5 would be.

Southee
McClenaghan
Milne
Henry
Mills

Yeah I'd take that 5. Boult to come in as injury cover.

 

[Zinzan]

Tempted to go Milne over Mitch, the latter gets a lot of lucky wickets. Plus Milne gave it his all in the field today which scored points with me

Yeah, I was impressed with Milne, but Bond needs to work with the lad on his yorker. I don't see he and Mitch in competition though, since both would make my starting XI if I was picking it today.

 

[SteveNZ]

Tempted to go Milne over Mitch, the latter gets a lot of lucky wickets. Plus Milne gave it his all in the field today which scored points with me

Wouldn't you take the guy who gets wickets, albeit 'lucky', over the guy who doesn't, albeit 'unlucky'?

Mitch may not have nicked out all of his 50 ODI scalps but he's thought and planned a hell of a lot of them out. Very shrewd cricket brain who'll be a bowling coach post cricket if it's what he desires to do

 

[Zinzan]

Wouldn't you take the guy who gets wickets, albeit 'lucky', over the guy who doesn't, albeit 'unlucky'?

Mitch may not have nicked out all of his 50 ODI scalps but he's thought and planned a hell of a lot of them out. Very shrewd cricket brain who'll be a bowling coach post cricket if it's what he desires to do

Yup agree with this. Mitch isn't quite the fluke-artist his critics would like to suggest. There's plenty of genuine skill along with superb execution with picking up scalps his absolute priority. Is also well complimented by McCullum's attacking captaincy.

 

[Athlai]

Yup agree with this. Mitch isn't quite the fluke-artist his critics would like to suggest. There's plenty of genuine skill along with superb execution with picking up scalps his absolute priority. Is also well complimented by McCullum's attacking captaincy.

I subscribe to McClenenen is lucky but only in response to people citing his fastest 50 ODI wickets or how low his average is against his peers.

But he's in our top 3 ODI bowlers regardless, as you've said, he may be lucky but he's also quite good.

 

[Hurricane]

I want to see Mitch again under the speed gun as he burst on to the scene touching early 140s and fell away to late 120s when returning from an injury

 

[Zinzan]

Let's all hope sanity prevails & Latham gets at least 2-3 digs as an opener in the last few games. I'm sure they will.

 

[Zinzan]

I want to see Mitch again under the speed gun as he burst on to the scene touching early 140s and fell away to late 120s when returning from an injury

I thought that drop off in pace was just temporary. Didn't he get that speed back up in the last 6 months?

 

[Hurricane]

If guptil gets his mojo we will make the final. We might lose that match but he is the key

 

[Hurricane]

I thought that drop off in pace was just temporary. Didn't he get that speed back up in the last 6 months?

Possibly...someone else to confirm

 

[hendrix]

After watching the replay:

Ronchi should have been up to the stumps for Mills towards the end. Shocking captaincy and keeping - really as a senior pro he should have done it automatically, especially with Afridi on strike.

Milne did bowl very well.
Neesh is a bit hard done by. He took 2 wickets and you'd be expecting the rest of the bowling attack's experience to carry us home from where we were.

 

[Hurricane]

I have made my analysis known on Neesham's bowling before - but in keeping with Oscar Wilde's theory that good conversation pieces should be used more than once I will repeat it.

Neesham bowls with a loose action and compared to other bowlers he to a small degree flings his bowling arm towards the target. His bowling arm is not taut or controlled, And it does not have a consistent arc from one delivery to the next. He needs to be more rigid in his bowling action.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

I think "rigid" is the wrong way to desribe it. Bowling with a stiff arm is a sure way to lose pace and accuracy in one go. He just needs time to settle into his action.

 

[Flem274*]

Recently (post captaincy) I don’t think Ross Taylor has been a match winner as a batsman

Boult is ahead of Henry at the moment.

Huh?

Take out Ross' knock today and there is no game, there's a pasting. No one wins every game by themselves when they score a ton. If someone else in the top 6 actually did something like get to 30 we win.

Henry ****s all over Boult with the white ball.

 

[Hurricane]

I think "rigid" is the wrong way to desribe it. Bowling with a stiff arm is a sure way to lose pace and accuracy in one go. He just needs time to settle into his action.

Well more rigid than it is right now anyway. He needs to bowl with a normal degree of tightness in his arm, that will give him control - but probably less speed.

He probably gets up to late 130s so he can afford to lose some Kms given his role in the team.

Albi I am extremely interested in you watching him next time he bowls and taking the time to see if you can spot what I am talking about.

 

[YorksLanka]

congrats to Pakistan on another win, they are getting into good form prior to the World Cup..unusual to see Afiridi scoring some runs too...Taylor showing his class again for the Kiwis i see. I didnt see the game but nice to see Vettori still playing, i thought he had retired..

 

[Howsie]

KP backs Black Caps to win World Cup | cricket.com.au

Oh, and I see Williamson has been cleared to bowl again. Excellent.

 

[Days of Grace]

KP backs Black Caps to win World Cup | cricket.com.au

Oh, and I see Williamson has been cleared to bowl again. Excellent.

Nice! Can he bowl in game 2 then?