**Official** New Zealand in Australia 2015

[Hurricane]

If you're worried about a player getting injured then don't field anyone there. But if you are going to play a short leg, which is purely a wicket taking fielding position, there's no point putting someone there who's crap at it.

This is another one of those things (like night watchmen) that teams do without any kind of in depth risk/reward analysis.

Maybe short leg should wear a 17th century suit of armour. Might add to the atmosphere of the test.

 

[NUFAN]

One of the reasons why I wanted Maxwell for the Adelaide Test was the fact that he is a superb fielder. Our fielding has been really ordinary this series and now we've got Shaun Marsh who is just reasonable, but that extra spark could have been useful. Of course I'm not picking him just for his fielding - Our top 4 have been batting really well, so an attacking bat at 5 who I honestly think is just as likely to contribute than Darsh and its never a bad thing having a second spinner as the Test goes on.

 

[Gob]

One of the reasons why I wanted Maxwell for the Adelaide Test was the fact that he is a superb fielder. Our fielding has been really ordinary this series and now we've got Shaun Marsh who is just reasonable, but that extra spark could have been useful. Of course I'm not picking him just for his fielding - Our top 4 have been batting really well, so an attacking bat at 5 who I honestly think is just as likely to contribute than Darsh and its never a bad thing having a second spinner as the Test goes on.

Think Stan will bat @ 4 tbh

 

[Compton]

Now that I think about it, Smith needs to accept some criticism. Taylor and Williamson weren't going to pop one up to short leg once they were set. Yet he persisted in having one in there, and at one point Taylor smashed a pull shot into his chest. On another day that could have been a serious accident or even fatal. You wouldn't see me agree to field short leg against a Ross Taylor with his eye in nor would I endanger any of my team mates by putting anyone in there against him. When we do use the position in club cricket it is against players who are afraid of the ball and less competent off the back foot. Once a guy is on 40 we tend to spread the field. A short leg against our openers is a good idea, not so much against our two good batsman.

I dunno, can you imagine Smith taking the short leg out and then a ball drops there? He'd be hounded as naive or stupid for not having one.

You can't not put a short leg in because you're worried they'll get hurt. They get shin pads and a helmet, they'll be fine.

 

[Compton]

And surely getting Maxwell in the side and settled with some easy runs under his belt would make much more sense than Marsh? Especially given that there's a tour of India in the not too distant future and another spin option would be handy in the middle order.

 

[Spark]

The captain can't field there, it's a terrible position to captain from. IMO, short leg is a more important fielding position than slip. Warner would be my choice, but just choose the best.

Warner would be good, but you'd lose his most valuable asset which is his speed and anticipation across the turf.

 

[Dan]

Get Shaun Marsh in there next game. He's a rubbish outfielder anyway, whereas Burns is a pretty decent one.

 

[straw man]

Just get Burns to crouch down with his back turned and try to ramp the catch to square leg.

 

[dermo]

remember when punter used to get in at silly point without a helmet? what a man

 

[African Monkey]

remember when punter used to get in at silly point without a helmet? what a man

Yes like how BMac does.

 

[Flem274*]

All for putting Spud Marsh at short leg ahead of Burns.

I'd give Guptill the summer or most of it but Brownlie is a quality player against pace and bounce so he shouldn't be too far away.

Gnske, Raval has a tidy enough technique. He just tends to go big once or twice a season and get nice starts for the rest of it. When he and Guptill opened for Auckland together it was like an unofficial race for the opener to be spot and Guptill kept going and going but Raval faded away after a strong start to the season.

Raval is not as bad as Athlai would have you believe, but there are some issues. I'd take all of Guptill, Brownlie and Raval in the squad over Rutherford but I can understand why they're interested in an aggressive left hand opener with a very good eye. Until Rutherford can develop some back foot andd/or leg side strokes though I'm not optimistic for him ever cracking test cricket. Short balls at leg stump followed with a pitched up sucker ball is too easy for test bowlers.

 

[Gnske]

Fair enough, would have preferred Brownlie myself really.

But at least Guptill has shown some improvement, I'm honestly surprised he has even managed to average borderline 30 in Tests, he's pressed so far forward I'm surprised he has any balance at all for a tall bloke.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Yeah I'm kinda bummed we didn't get to see Brownlie against Starc thinking about it now. He plays with his feet in cement but his weight transfer is beautiful, ideal technique for facing high pace. Against slower bowlers on seaming surfaces I'm not so sure.

 

[NZTailender]

I think in regards to Guptill we have to remember our opening partnership woes. I think as a pair they're doing okay. Partnership records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Hurricane]

I dunno, can you imagine Smith taking the short leg out and then a ball drops there? He'd be hounded as naive or stupid for not having one.

You can't not put a short leg in because you're worried they'll get hurt. They get shin pads and a helmet, they'll be fine.

DWTA. No one would say anything to him because the batsman would have been set in the scenario I posed.

As for your last line - I DWTA with that as well. Would you volunteer to field at short leg against Viv Richards with a helmet and pads? Maybe you would until he got to about 20. But any captain who leaves a short leg in there longer than that against someone of that calibre is not the sort of captain who takes his players welfare into any sort of consideration.
Leg pads, a box, and a helmet do not cover enough of your body.

I don't think you read my post carefully tbh. I was not suggesting doing away with the position of short leg, just questioning why it was used against two of the top ten batsman in the world (according to the rankings) once they were set and had their eye in. Looking back on it it comes as no surprise to me that he got pummelled so much.

I am prepared to give you a full apology and retract my quip about not reading my post carefully if you post that you would be personally prepared to field short leg against Viv Richards with 40 runs next to his name. If you are prepared to make that statement and truly field there yourself then I will just respect that you have different perspective to the fielding position than I do.

 

[OverratedSanity]

One of my biggest weaknesses as a batsman was sweeping vs spin. I was never comfortable sweeping with a short leg in because I was terrified I'd hit the poor bloke. I actually could play the shot well but that close in fielder put me off so much that I was never decisive enough. Hate the position.

 

[Flem274*]

Are CA streaming the warm up game tonight?

 

[mr_mister]

One of my biggest weaknesses as a batsman was sweeping vs spin. I was never comfortable sweeping with a short leg in because I was terrified I'd hit the poor bloke. I actually could play the shot well but that close in fielder put me off so much that I was never decisive enough. Hate the position.

yeah it's a ****ty position. i was never going to "pop one up" because i never ever blocked against spinners but **** i hated short leg for the same reason as you. just thought he was gonna block my full blooded sweep with his back/ass at worse and injure himself, dive out of the way best case scneario. it was annoying because they love to talk a lot of **** when they're standing there

 

[wellAlbidarned]

yeah it's a ****ty position. i was never going to "pop one up" because i never ever blocked against spinners but **** i hated short leg for the same reason as you. just thought he was gonna block my full blooded sweep with his back/ass at worse and injure himself, dive out of the way best case scneario. it was annoying because they love to talk a lot of **** when they're standing there

I still remember the time I was playing against a team who had two short legs and a short cover, all without any kind of protection. I told them "err, you guys wanna grab some helmets or something?" which they took as trash talk, when I was just genuinely concerned. Needless to say I got bowled for a golden duck and laughed off the field.

 

[mr_mister]

i was expecting that story to end with you hitting one in the head or something lol