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***Official*** New Zealand in Zimbabwe and South Africa 2015

Kippax

Kippax

Cricketer Of The Year
Debuting a guy in a position wholly unfamiliar to him against an excellent attack is still a bit beyond the pale for me.

Hesson (as a big preparation and details man) wouldn't like having two weeks to prepare say a CPL team, and then being told "it's a frothy meaningless tournament, don't feel too bad about where you finished".
 
Immenso

Immenso

International Vice-Captain
Munro did actually bat at 4 in Plunket Shiekd last season for Auckland. Gulp.

I think both countries boards and their fans accept this is an out-of--season development tour with the bonus of allegedly being cash flow positive for someone. It's winter FFS. It's a JAMODI series.
 
Kippax

Kippax

Cricketer Of The Year
I just checked what Watling's been up to via Twitter. Just relaxing and walking the dog for quite a while.

Maybe that's another reason for not attempting to replace Taylor though tbh. The only realistic ones who've been playing any cricket (even just club cricket) could be Rutherford and Will Young, by the looks.
 
S

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Kippax said:
I just checked what Watling's been up to via Twitter. Just relaxing and walking the dog for quite a while.

Maybe that's another reason for not attempting to replace Taylor though tbh. The only realistic ones who've been playing any cricket (even just club cricket) could be Rutherford and Will Young, by the looks.
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Yeah, so the issue is selecting a squad without a #4 in it. Which pre-tour, I wouldn't have said because I'd believe Grunt could bat there. But they went with Manu instead. It's not a major, but as I said like the Neesham experiment it does the player no favours at all. Especially when in both of those instances, the players were in very shaky form to start with. Neesham they genuinely wanted to see him open and thought at a stretch it could work, I doubt they said that about Manu at 4
 
Hurricane

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
SteveNZ said:
Yeah, so the issue is selecting a squad without a #4 in it. Which pre-tour, I wouldn't have said because I'd believe Grunt could bat there. But they went with Manu instead. It's not a major, but as I said like the Neesham experiment it does the player no favours at all. Especially when in both of those instances, the players were in very shaky form to start with. Neesham they genuinely wanted to see him open and thought at a stretch it could work, I doubt they said that about Manu at 4
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Good grief you are Colin's biggest fan and you are really giving him the gears here.
They gave him a shot at four because of that Bangladesh inning, he won't get another chance. Our blackcaps brains trust is not very swift but we do eventually get it right e.g. at one stage we thought we could open with Ronchi in ODIs.
 
Kippax

Kippax

Cricketer Of The Year
As much as Hesson likes the idea of not disturbing an order too much when injuries occur, he shouldn't be using Munro as a placeholder is all Steve is saying.

281 against Bracewell and Wheeler at No. 4, but if it was rugby, you wouldn't exactly call Munro a utility back, would you. He's more of a prop; highly one-dimensional in what he can add to your team, and the complete opposite of versatile.
 
Hurricane

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Kippax said:
As much as Hesson likes the idea of not disturbing an order too much when injuries occur, he shouldn't be using Munro as a placeholder is all Steve is saying.

281 against Bracewell and Wheeler at No. 4, but if it was rugby, you wouldn't exactly call Munro a utility back, would you. He's more of a prop; highly one-dimensional in what he can add to your team, and the complete opposite of versatile.
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Too much vehemence - even if it was slight. It isn't the worst selection decision I have seen nor will it be the worst one ever made.

Candidates for some of the worst decisions I have seen:

Playing Manu on the wing against us when he is a slow but powerful runner (wrong sport but this wrankles me to this day). What were England thinking.
Dan Vettori opening in the match where bond took 6fer and we couldn't chase it in a world cup. What were we thinking.
Kyle Mills at 3? No really? Seriously? Come Again? No show me the scorecard. What were we thinking,
Daylight
Luke Ronchi opening.
James Neesham opening
Rob Nicol batting anywhere in a test match for us. What exactly were his qualifications for a selection.
Peter - don't look at my technique just look at the scorecard - Ingram in tests.
Colin Munro in tests. He gave Village cricketer a new meaning in the solitary test he played. Was a national disgrace.
Jeetan Patel batting at the heady heights of number 8 in a test and having no ****ing clue how to bat. Why did we think we could play 5 bowlers in that match. Why did we ever think we could play 5 bowlers in any match. I know I know...because Dan was a selector at the time and thought it would be a good idea, as part of his meglomaniacal ambitions to captain the side and be the selector.
Daylight
Selecting Brent Arnel (this is excusable so I have listed it in the 3rd tier of this pantheon of bad selection and batting order decisions)
Re-selecting James Franklin on the basis that some bloke called Athlai on a message board called CW incessantly lobbied for it.
 
S

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Hurricane said:
Good grief you are Colin's biggest fan and you are really giving him the gears here.
They gave him a shot at four because of that Bangladesh inning, he won't get another chance. Our blackcaps brains trust is not very swift but we do eventually get it right e.g. at one stage we thought we could open with Ronchi in ODIs.
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I am mate. What's wrong with that? I've never professed to being a neutral. My issue is, as Kip said, his use as a placesaver. It's a disservice to him if you believe he still has something to offer to international cricket, which I figure they believe seeing they picked him. He shouldn't get another chance, he's not an international #4. He's a 6. I wasn't vehement about it, I just thought it was silly.

Seeing you brought up Colin in Tests, I agree and it was a point I made earlier. He was in the squad (partially, that Plunket Shield year was also strong) because he was in the ODI squad that accompanied, and from memory someone was injured. He played a Test when there were perhaps guys with better cases to bat at #6 at home. And that grates me about why he batted 4 and they haven't replaced Ross, plus the Mathieson debut in England. It just seems amateur. But I get it with finances etc. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

On a lighter note, I think the Kyle at #3 tops all, and I love the bloke.
 
jcas0167

jcas0167

International Regular
Hurricane said:
Good grief you are Colin's biggest fan and you are really giving him the gears here.
They gave him a shot at four because of that Bangladesh inning, he won't get another chance. Our blackcaps brains trust is not very swift but we do eventually get it right e.g. at one stage we thought we could open with Ronchi in ODIs.
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Munro batted at number 4 in his first T20 games on the 2012/2013 tour to South Africa too. His record batting at 4 in FC cricket for Auckland is outstanding. I wouldn't be surprised if he does very well batting 4 in this series and even scores a ton. Ideally he should perhaps be 6, but this is a great opportunity for him to show he can handle a slight step up. Hopefully the openers & Kane can lay a reasonable foundation so he's not coming to the crease in the first 10 overs.
 
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Kippax

Kippax

Cricketer Of The Year
Faf reporting that the bounce has been very encouraging for cuts and pulls in the Kingsmead nets. ABdV will keep and open with Amla; Morne van Wyk won't play.



Badonkadonk is your best bet there, seeing Hesson rarely leaves him holstered and tries to give him seven overs or so, even if the innings is going well. Dougeh came within two runs of top scoring in NZ's last T20 at Kingsmead, if you're looking for a value joke bet.
 
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