Your New Zealand World Cup Squad if selected today...

[Zinzan]

I think Neesham is rapidly playing himself out of the squad.

Yup & without sounding too cliche, Neesham seems more of a 'confidence player' than most & for whatever reason he's looked shattered confidence-wise since his good test performances vs. India & the Windies.

Anderson's bowling hasn't been as bad as his figures have suggested and he also hasn't batted too badly.

See I think his bowling has been 'as bad' hence why his results have been the way they have.

 

[Flem274*]

Yup & without sounding too cliche, Neesham seems more of a 'confidence player' than most & for whatever reason he's looked shattered confidence-wise since his good test performances vs. India & the Windies.

Nah.

He performed well in pressure situations in his first 4 test matches, then the sudden drop off happened once he went to the UAE.

He's never shown what he can do in ODIs to date.

He's not a confidence player, he's a good player who didn't adapt well to UAE conditions and despite being arguable MVP in his last full season of Ford Trophy he hasn't kicked on in ODIs yet like he has in test cricket.

 

[Zinzan]

Nah.

He performed well in pressure situations in his first 4 test matches, then the sudden drop off happened once he went to the UAE.

He's never shown what he can do in ODIs to date.

He's not a confidence player, he's a good player who didn't adapt well to UAE conditions and despite being arguable MVP in his last full season of Ford Trophy he hasn't kicked on in ODIs yet like he has in test cricket.

Disagree. Performed well in the Windies which is not all that different to the conditions in the UAE & what's more even the pitches on this tour have varied game to game. i.e The way the Sharjah pitch played in the 3rd Test & 2nd ODI for example was actually quite New Zealand-like with good bounce and coming on to the bat beautifully which is very different to the first & 2nd test pitches. Definitely a case of confidence for mine & you can see it in his body language.

No argument about his handling of pressure during his epic partnership with Bmac against India. Remember, being a 'confidence player' & a player who can perform under pressure are not the same thing.

 

[Flem274*]

You're over analysing.

Young batsman in having a poor tour shocker.

 

[GGG]

McCullum, Guptil, Williamson, Taylor, Anderson, Ronchi, Vetorri, N McCullum, Southee, McClenaghan, Henry/Mills haven't decided yet. At this point in time I would have more faith in N McCullum scoring more runs than Neesham, and it gives us 5 solid bowling options and Anderson if one is having a shocker + N McCullums fielding.

 

[Zinzan]

McCullum, Guptil, Williamson, Taylor, Anderson, Ronchi, Vetorri, N McCullum, Southee, McClenaghan, Henry/Mills haven't decided yet. At this point in time I would have more faith in N McCullum scoring more runs than Neesham, and it gives us 5 solid bowling options and Anderson if one is having a shocker + N McCullums fielding.

I think most would agree to playing both Vettori & NcCullum if the pitch required, but on a typical NZ/Aus wicket, you'd only play the one specialist spinner, no?

 

[GGG]

I think most would agree to playing both Vettori & NcCullum if the pitch required, but on a typical NZ/Aus wicket, you'd only play the one specialist spinner, no?

What are the options though? Play a extra quick and our tail starts to look too long, a extra batsman and we are relying on Anderson. At the moment I would take a 1-45/50, a handy 20 and his fielding in that vacant spot, not to mention his experience. The problem is we can't rely on Andersons bowling and Neesham is out of form. The only other options I can see is if Munro comes in and can give us a few overs or Williamson starts to bowl again.

 

[Zinzan]

What are the options though? Play a extra quick and our tail starts to look too long, a extra batsman and we are relying on Anderson. At the moment I would take a 1-45/50, a handy 20 and his fielding in that vacant spot, not to mention his experience. The problem is we can't rely on Andersons bowling and Neesham is out of form. The only other options I can see is if Munro comes in and can give us a few overs or Williamson starts to bowl again.

That's what I'm thinking at this stage with;

1. McCullum
2. Guptill
3. Williamson
4. Taylor
5. Anderson
6. Munro
7. Ronchi
8. Vettori
9. Southee
10. Milne
11. Henry/Mills/McClenaghan

Munro, Williamson & Anderson share the 10.

Edit: Decided to be really non-committal so adding McClenaghan to the Henry and Mills bracket (whoever is in form).

 

[straw man]

I had a brainwave the other day on why BJ Watling continues to be ignored for the World Cup side and why fringe players like Munro and Elliott never get a chance to push for a place. Suddenly it all made sense.

It's not their fault really, they were made that way, they can't help their heritage, but it's an understandable call by the NZ camp to want to keep them quarantined lest they infect anyone.

REMOVE EVERY LAST TRACE

 

[Flem274*]

So with Baz quite likely to open I'm sticking to my Watling/Latham guns for #5, though I wouldn't be disappointed to see Elliott there either. He was pretty decent in SA iirc and got starts against England. I can't even remember why he got dropped. Probably stopped scoring runs but hey, if he's in nick I'd consider him. I think he's underachieved in ODIs. Very handy accumulator and has scores against very good teams like Australia and South Africa.

 

[Athlai]

Guptill
McCullum
Williamson
Taylor
Anderson
Ronchi (+)
NcCullum
Vettori
Mills
Southee
McClenenenen/Henry

is that too crazy? I kinda like it.

 

[NZTailender]

Guptill
McCullum
Williamson
Taylor
Anderson
Ronchi (+)
NcCullum
Vettori
Mills
Southee
McClenenenen/Henry

is that too crazy? I kinda like it.

Neesham for NcCullum and I'm onboard.

 

[Athlai]

Neesham for NcCullum and I'm onboard.

Neesham is my first choice but with his current form I'm thinking of the other options. That greatly increases our bowling and hurts our batting. The other options would be Latham/Munro/Watling in the middle order. All of which make our bowling dependent on Anderson/Williamson bowling 10 and McClenen not having a bad day.

 

[hendrix]

The people we've tried opening the batting the batting with in LO cricket:

Hacks/pinch-hitters:
Anton Devcich
Luke Ronchi

Players unsuited/unproven in limited overs cricket, who coincidentally also faint at the first sight of spin bowling and are unable to rotate the strike:
Hamish Rutherford
Dean Brownlie

Players out of form or out of position:
Jimmy Neesham
Martin Guptill

Unavailable Players:
Jesse Ryder

Players who will move up and down the order at the drop of a hat, which while admirable in terms of putting the team first also compromises continuity and other players' roles within the lineup:
Brendon McCullum

I understand that Latham doesn't open domestically in LO cricket either but it's hard to believe with all this make shifting about we haven't tried out the guy with a proven technique, #shotsoffbothfeet, and an ability to rotate the strike against both pace and spin.

 

[Athlai]

Guptill is definitely going to open. He top scored in the A series and was top scoring in the T20 domestics before he left for the A series.

He may be "out of form" when looking at his career on a whole, but it isn't an issue of form, it's the way he plays his game. He is currently "in form" but plays a different game to his earlier career.

 

[hendrix]

Guptill is definitely going to open. He top scored in the A series and was top scoring in the T20 domestics before he left for the A series.

He may be "out of form" when looking at his career on a whole, but it isn't an issue of form, it's the way he plays his game. He is currently "in form" but plays a different game to his earlier career.

Yeah I agree, i'm just making the point that it's ridiculous that Latham hasn't had a go.

I mean he's ostensibly the reserve batsman for the squad anyway - what if Guptill is injured in the world cup?

 

[Athlai]

Yeah I agree, i'm just making the point that it's ridiculous that Latham hasn't had a go.

I mean he's ostensibly the reserve batsman for the squad anyway - what if Guptill is injured in the world cup?

Yeah Guptill was even injured at the start of this current ODI series. Hesson just really wants Brownlie or Dev**** to come good I guess. I expect that they'll be even further off come the WC though.

 

[straw man]

The people we've tried opening the batting the batting with in LO cricket:

Hacks/pinch-hitters:
Anton Devcich
Luke Ronchi

Players unsuited/unproven in limited overs cricket, who coincidentally also faint at the first sight of spin bowling and are unable to rotate the strike:
Hamish Rutherford
Dean Brownlie

Players out of form or out of position:
Jimmy Neesham
Martin Guptill

Unavailable Players:
Jesse Ryder

Players who will move up and down the order at the drop of a hat, which while admirable in terms of putting the team first also compromises continuity and other players' roles within the lineup:
Brendon McCullum

I understand that Latham doesn't open domestically in LO cricket either but it's hard to believe with all this make shifting about we haven't tried out the guy with a proven technique, #shotsoffbothfeet, and an ability to rotate the strike against both pace and spin.

So wait, who are you advocating should open again? I didn't catch that

Also Watling can be added to your list as he opened a while ago against England with poor results.

 

[straw man]

Guptill
McCullum
Williamson
Taylor
Anderson
Ronchi (+)
NcCullum
Vettori
Mills
Southee
McClenenenen/Henry

is that too crazy? I kinda like it.

I really haven't like the idea of five pure bowlers and relying on Vettori and NcCullum for runs. However if we really don't think we're going to get much from our sixth batsman then it may just be worthwhile. Also means Anderson's bowling is less relevant and any other batsman could be selected in that spot if he's not scoring runs.

I was going to call this the 'only quality specialists XI' but NcCullum is still in there .

We should start the tournament with four bowlers + 10 overs from allrounders, but if that's not working and our bowlers are in fine form, this could be a Plan B.

 

[Hurricane]

Here is another XI

Guptil
McCullum
Williamson
Taylor
Anderson
Ronchi
Vettori
Mills
Southee
Henry
Milne


Mills is actually good enough to be an International number 8 in my opinion. He wouldn't be the best going around but he would be ok.

Southee is really a number 10 batsman but he bats 9 in tests so he will good to go for scores like 12 off 8 balls. Which is probably what he will be required to do most of the time from position number 9.

I prefer this line up to one with NMac even though NMac is the far better batsman - as I think our strength and depth is in our seamers.

How good would it be to get 40 overs out of front line seamers with Corey as an insurance policy.

Just gamble on bowling everyone out for 270 or less and chasing it.

If that batting isn't good enough that put in NMac for Dan.