***Official**** Sri Lanka in New Zealand 2014/2015

[Mike5181]

Nice win.

After all the years of suffering (I don't regret it), this is honestly such a great time to be a fan of the NZ cricket team.

 

[Jezroy]

After all the years of suffering (I don't regret it), this is honestly such a great time to be a fan of the NZ cricket team.

And hopefully it's going to get better...

World Cup Final?
Series win in Eng?
Series win in Aus?
Beating Aus in series here?

 

[Moss]

The win today looks like the sort of batting blueprint NZ have in mind going into the World Cup - at least one of the top 4 to bat big, some decent support from Elliott/Latham, Anderson to play the hitting/accumulating game as needed and Ronchi/NMac to provide the (ahem) icing. Nice and simple plan, though it'll need 4-5 of the top 7 to not have an off day, and there's hardly any bench strength should anyone be out with injury.

Kane is in such a rich vein of form you only hope he's not peaked too early. If someone else was capable of playing the number 3 role well it would be tempting to have him open just like Mahela has in the past.

It appears the bowlers were wayward up front, but as someone pointed out on this thread they won't let the hacks get away easy. Milne's figures were impressive, seems like he learned from the hammering in the previous game?

 

[hendrix]

Need an update on the Milne injury.

 

[Hurricane]

The win today looks like the sort of batting blueprint NZ have in mind going into the World Cup - at least one of the top 4 to bat big, some decent support from Elliott/Latham, Anderson to play the hitting/accumulating game as needed and Ronchi/NMac to provide the (ahem) icing. Nice and simple plan, though it'll need 4-5 of the top 7 to not have an off day, and there's hardly any bench strength should anyone be out with injury.

Kane is in such a rich vein of form you only hope he's not peaked too early. If someone else was capable of playing the number 3 role well it would be tempting to have him open just like Mahela has in the past.

It appears the bowlers were wayward up front, but as someone pointed out on this thread they won't let the hacks get away easy. Milne's figures were impressive, seems like he learned from the hammering in the previous game?

Before his final unacceptable misdemeanour(s) I was lobbying for Jesse to go three and Kane to open. I suspect we would have won the cup with that line up.

Guptil
Kane
Jesse
Ross
Brendon
Corey

Too good to be true and it was too good to be true. Kane would be a brilliant opener if Guptil went for broke at the other end.

However with our lack of batting depth it is not an option atm.

 

[hendrix]

not as good as:

McCullum
Ryder
Williamson
Taylor
Watling
Anderson

 

[Jezroy]

Need an update on the Milne injury.

Here's your update

HENRY

 

[hendrix]

Milne>Henry.

Henry being better than Boult or Mills or McCleneghan is up for debate but we have 3 opening bowlers.

 

[Flem274*]

not as good as:

McCullum
Ryder
Williamson
Taylor
Watling
Anderson

I know you love Guptill but no way does Anderson bat at six if Watling is in the team. Watling-McCullum-Anderson is the 5-7 I'd have developed for this World Cup with Ryder and Guptill opening.

The entire point of Watling being in the team is, when used to his maximum potential, he bats in the top five and takes the gloves which allows our best ever finisher to stay in his position and partner our new big hitting allrounder.

 

[Flem274*]

Here's your update

HENRY

Milne>Henry.

Henry being better than Boult or Mills or McCleneghan is up for debate but we have 3 opening bowlers.

Honestly, on performance I'd pick Southee-Henry-Milne for tomorrow. I'm hopeful Mills can stake a big claim later in this series though, and as much as I argued against the inclusion of Boult, I always wish him the best and we're possibly a bowler down so we realllly need him to prove some of us wrong because we're going to need depth and Mills/Mitch don't have great fitness records. Southee has his moments too.

 

[Bahnz]

Milne>Henry.

Henry being better than Boult or Mills or McCleneghan is up for debate but we have 3 opening bowlers.

I'd rather see Milne as the third seamer, but I'd prefer Henry with the new ball. My ideal seam trio would feature both Southee, Henry and Milne.

 

[hendrix]

I know you love Guptill but no way does Anderson bat at six if Watling is in the team. Watling-McCullum-Anderson is the 5-7 I'd have developed for this World Cup with Ryder and Guptill opening.

The entire point of Watling being in the team is, when used to his maximum potential, he bats in the top five and takes the gloves which allows our best ever finisher to stay in his position and partner our new big hitting allrounder.

- Watling is batting 5 in my team
- His potential batting partners when he arrives at the crease: McCullum, Ryder, Williamson or Taylor. I'm not seeing a problem with any of that.
- Anderson's potential partners are the same plus Watling. Again, no problem there.

 

[Immenso]

I was in the car at the start of SL's innings. After one ball (possibly a single off it), apparently WASP was predicting a score of 265. The radio guys were amused.

Only 11 runs off, after making a prediction based on one delivery ...... Take that WASP haters ........

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Was at the game, nice that there's such a beautiful ground in my home city.

Always surprised at the little things you pick up seeing it live. Boult is not as girly-looking from side-on, McClenaghan is built like Richie McCaw and Baz is very short.

A fine game, we were probably losing for most of it so it was nice to pull it out when necessary.I think the number of come-from-behind wins recently have really cemented an usual self-confidence in the team.

 

[Hurricane]

The only reason people are poking fun at WASP is that clearly you need Mark Richardson to explain it to you yet again for the 1700th time. Clear lack of understanding

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Oh, and there's almost no shade to speak of. The Nelson sun burned a lot of people today, including my pasty legs haha.

 

[Hurricane]

Was at the game, nice that there's such a beautiful ground in my home city.

Always surprised at the little things you pick up seeing it live. Boult is not as girly-looking from side-on, McClenaghan is built like Richie McCaw and Baz is very short.

A fine game, we were probably losing for most of it so it was nice to pull it out when necessary.I think the number of come-from-behind wins recently have really cemented an usual self-confidence in the team.

Usual or unusual - which one.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Oh, and there's almost no shade to speak of. The Nelson sun burned a lot of people today, including my pasty legs haha.

Cheers. Very helpful. We'll have to wear a sombrero or something to provide some shade for the littl'un.

 

[Moss]

*Pessimistic post alert* This may have been brought up before, but it's been a long while since NZ were up against a truly formidable pace attack. Apart from the usual suspects (AUS, SAF), the way Anderson and Finn tore apart India today suggests England could be a handful at the Basin too. Pretty sure I'm speaking for most people here when I say that the batting lineup facing up to Steyn/Morkel/Philander and johnson/Starc/Cummins is a bit of an unnerving prospect.

To win the cup we (taking the liberty to use "we' and "our') will almost certainly need to beat AUS and/or SAF in the knockouts. Think we missed a trick by not selecting Brownlie as batting cover and horses-for-courses opener? Like everyone else, never rated his chances as a limited overs player but his efforts at the top against Pakistan were a major factor in setting up those biggish totals.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

England at the Basin? Pffft. Chance would be a fine old thing. I'd be heading along to the game if that were the case.