***Official*** New Zealand Domestic Season 2017/18

[jcas0167]

Wellington beckons one of those 2. After Welly used to be so inundated with batting allrounders that Boam spent 5 years as a specialist 8. They now have almost none.

One, or both, need to get out of there.

Although let me be clear. None of them were getting red ball opportunities even before Ludick was selected (Clarkson couldn't bowl). Leopard was getting few opportunities even when naling it in his limited white ball outings.

There's too much depth there. One or both will waste too many years playing little cricket higher than club cricket.

Canterbury might be looking for an allrounder too if Ellis retires.

If Wellington do win the shield a few of those older guys might decide it's a good note to end on and open the door for Ravindra and co.

Kippax, it looks like another Weerasundara is coming through at Wellington College. Also opens the batting.

https://scoring.nzc.nz/livescoring/match5008/scorecard.aspx

 

[nzfan]

Wellington beckons one of those 2. After Welly used to be so inundated with batting allrounders that Boam spent 5 years as a specialist 8. They now have almost none.

One, or both, need to get out of there.

Although let me be clear. None of them were getting red ball opportunities even before Ludick was selected (Clarkson couldn't bowl). Leopard was getting few opportunities even when naling it in his limited white ball outings.

There's too much depth there. One or both will waste too many years playing little cricket higher than club cricket.

There are talks Navin Patel is moving to Wellington and likely will play for firebirds. Not sure how concrete that is. I won't be surprised if Firebirds will gun for Neesham and few other Otago/CD players come winter.

 

[SeamUp]

Two more Saffers in the Canterbury A team coming up in Ryan Wallace and Tyler Lorton ! Geez the exports are really growing ! They will know Chad Bowes well.

Wasn't that Danru Ferns who debuted for Auckland from SA ? I don't know why his name seems to ring a bell from our school competitions.

 

[SteveNZ]

Two more Saffers in the Canterbury A team coming up in Ryan Wallace and Tyler Lorton ! Geez the exports are really growing ! They will know Chad Bowes well.

Wasn't that Danru Ferns who debuted for Auckland from SA ? I don't know why his name seems to ring a bell from our school competitions.

Yep, Danru is from SA. Howick Pakuranga brought him over and he's impressed enough to play a couple of times for the Aces.

 

[thierry henry]

I have a thought about the demographics of cricket in NZ generally and the greater Auckland region in particular, but I don't really have a point to make, so I'll just throw it out there and see if anyone has any thoughts.

It's very clear that a large number of South African born players (whether recent immigrants or those who came to New Zealand at a younger age) are coming through the ranks, particularly in Auckland cricket. As someone who has played at least one format of cricket in the Auckland region (albeit low level) for 20+ years, the cricket scene in general is absolutely dominated by Indians (and to a lesser extent people from the other subcontinental countries). Even in the areas where there are plenty of South Africans, it'd still be dominated by Indians. Lower level cricket, Indians. Indoor cricket, Indians. Social, T20, Last Man Stands- Indians.

Obviously we shouldn't be turning down good South African players or promoting people who aren't up to standard, but it sort of feels like a missed opportunity when the dominant cricket-playing demographic seems to be underrepresented at higher levels (with the inverse overrepresentation starkly reflected in how well the South Africans do). Is there anything that can be done here? Is there a missed opportunity happening somewhere along the line? Or am I just talking about nothing?

 

[hendrix]

I have a thought about the demographics of cricket in NZ generally and the greater Auckland region in particular, but I don't really have a point to make, so I'll just throw it out there and see if anyone has any thoughts.

It's very clear that a large number of South African born players (whether recent immigrants or those who came to New Zealand at a younger age) are coming through the ranks, particularly in Auckland cricket. As someone who has played at least one format of cricket in the Auckland region (albeit low level) for 20+ years, the cricket scene in general is absolutely dominated by Indians (and to a lesser extent people from the other subcontinental countries). Even in the areas where there are plenty of South Africans, it'd still be dominated by Indians. Lower level cricket, Indians. Indoor cricket, Indians. Social, T20, Last Man Stands- Indians.

Obviously we shouldn't be turning down good South African players or promoting people who aren't up to standard, but it sort of feels like a missed opportunity when the dominant cricket-playing demographic seems to be underrepresented at higher levels (with the inverse overrepresentation starkly reflected in how well the South Africans do). Is there anything that can be done here? Is there a missed opportunity happening somewhere along the line? Or am I just talking about nothing?

Probably a case of Indian NZers having more sensible priorities than Saffers and NZ europeans

 

[nzfan]

I have a thought about the demographics of cricket in NZ generally and the greater Auckland region in particular, but I don't really have a point to make, so I'll just throw it out there and see if anyone has any thoughts.

It's very clear that a large number of South African born players (whether recent immigrants or those who came to New Zealand at a younger age) are coming through the ranks, particularly in Auckland cricket. As someone who has played at least one format of cricket in the Auckland region (albeit low level) for 20+ years, the cricket scene in general is absolutely dominated by Indians (and to a lesser extent people from the other subcontinental countries). Even in the areas where there are plenty of South Africans, it'd still be dominated by Indians. Lower level cricket, Indians. Indoor cricket, Indians. Social, T20, Last Man Stands- Indians.

Obviously we shouldn't be turning down good South African players or promoting people who aren't up to standard, but it sort of feels like a missed opportunity when the dominant cricket-playing demographic seems to be underrepresented at higher levels (with the inverse overrepresentation starkly reflected in how well the South Africans do). Is there anything that can be done here? Is there a missed opportunity happening somewhere along the line? Or am I just talking about nothing?

Good point, I have thought about this in the past. Indians just love cricket, doesn't matter what format, where they are playing etc. They play with a passion. Saffie cricketers are about making it to a good level and earning through it and migrating for the sole purpose of playing cricket. I agree with hendrix. From my experience I see the NZ Indians are equally good at studies. Take for instance Rachin Ravindra, he's a topper I've heard from one of his school teacher. Jeet Raval is an ACA? Anurag Verma is a chemical engineer. To be able to commit to studies and also play cricket at a good level is hard work. There are not many Indian born players aged 25 or over migrating to New Zealand to make a career in cricket. The Indian cricket offers them enough opportunities and opportunities in NZ doesn't stack up. For a Saffer it's a different situation, they aren't getting enough opportunities to ply their trade in South Africa so they are hopping on a plane to get to NZ now that the UK rules have changed as well restricting them from going to UK. The worrying factor though is that these guys are all over mid 20s and no way good number of them can make the black caps till they are early 30s due to qualification. Black caps won't be queuing up to pick up players over 30. In some years we may have good number of Saffers over 30 representing all our domestic sides and doing well but not able to make the black caps.

There are rules in NZ cricket to protect the interests of the local talents by restricting one overseas player to be signed by each domestic team but there is also a loop hole which allows an overseas player to sign a sworn affidavit as soon as they arrive to say he is committed to playing cricket in New Zealand which then makes them a local straight away. This is being used by most domestic teams to get overseas players playing as locals. This though doesn't allow the player to become available for national honors for 4-5 years.

Most of the Saffers you are seeing in first class cricket are the ones that have sworn in an affidavit. There are no Indian professional cricketers I know of playing locally to make it to Black Caps. Most Indians playing at under 19, first class and international are those that migrated when they were very young or born and brought up here.

 

[thierry henry]

Good point, I have thought about this in the past. Indians just love cricket, doesn't matter what format, where they are playing etc. They play with a passion. Saffie cricketers are about making it to a good level and earning through it and migrating for the sole purpose of playing cricket. I agree with hendrix. From my experience I see the NZ Indians are equally good at studies. Take for instance Rachin Ravindra, he's a topper I've heard from one of his school teacher. To be able to commit to studies and also play cricket at a good level is hard work. There are not many Indian born players aged 25 or over migrating to New Zealand to make a career in cricket. The Indian cricket offers them enough opportunities and opportunities in NZ doesn't stack up. For a Saffer it's a different situation, they aren't getting enough opportunities to ply their trade in South Africa so they are hopping on a plane to get to NZ now that the UK rules have changed as well restricting them from going to UK. The worrying factor though is that these guys are all over mid 20s and no way good number of them can make the black caps till they are early 30s due to qualification. Black caps won't be queuing up to pick up players over 30. In some years we may have good number of Saffers over 30 representing all our domestic sides and doing well but not able to make the black caps.

There are rules in NZ cricket to protect the interests of the local talents by restricting one overseas player to be signed by each domestic team but there is also a loop hole which allows an overseas player to sign a sworn affidavit as soon as they arrive to say he is committed to playing cricket in New Zealand which then makes them a local straight away. This is being used by most domestic teams to get overseas players playing as locals. This though doesn't allow the player to become available for national honors for 4-5 years.

Most of the Saffers you are seeing in first class cricket are the ones that have sworn in an affidavit. There are no Indian professional cricketers I know of playing locally to make it to Black Caps. Most Indians playing at under 19, first class and international are those that migrated when they were very young or born and brought up here.

I think we are sort of talking about two different things here and maybe it's something very specific to Auckland.

I know every situation is different and it's hard to draw a bright line between "genuine immigrant" and "cricket immigrant" but to the best of my knowledge Auckland cricket has become full of South African-Kiwis who didn't come here for cricket but actually came here as children to live. I'm not really talking about fringe South African domestic cricketers trying their luck in NZ. In Auckland it's more that the South African community which has established itself here over the last 20-30 years is churning out a lot of top cricketers, from within the NZ system. I'm talking kids who moved to NZ when they were anywhere from 2 to 20 years old.

Perhaps by contrast, and also by contrast with what I think you are referring to, the Indians playing cricket in Auckland tend to be more recent migrants. Like the stereotypical team I come up against will entirely consist of Indians and maybe 7 or 8 of them have migrated to NZ in the last 5-6 years and won't speak much English. 1 or 2 will be superstars who should be playing prems and a few others will turn up without any gear and look like they've never played before. Without these teams I doubt most of the competitions I play in would even exist.

The other factor of course is the broader immigration situation and whether a lot of these people will even be entitled to stay in NZ long term. It could be that Auckland cricket at a number of levels is being propped up by the enthusiasm of people who will never actually be able to rise through the ranks because they keep coming and going from the country.

 

[SeamUp]

Pretty proud of these two. Made big decisions in their lives. Both close friends for a while so would have been satisfying achieving impressive feats early in their Wellington careers.

 

[Kippax]

Uh oh, Wagner now a Mt Maunganui resident. Be alert to a sudden brightening in Howsie's feelings for Wagner in 2018/19.

 

[Chewie]

Sodhi has 6 wickets already today

 

[The Hutt Rec]

7/30 against the competition leaders at home.

Astle's batting likely to make all the difference in the test against England ... not.

 

[nzfan]

Sodhi 7 fer and what started as a good day for Wellington with Papps and Woodcock putting on a good opening partnership ends up a shocker. From 2 for 90 to 137 bowled out Englandeseque. The pitch is green and damp. I would have thought faster bowlers were hard to play but we've given 7 to a single spinner. I guess Firebirds can do a decent job with the ball on this pitch. Bracewell treads on the stumps and gets out. Not a lucky chap Bracewell he was looking quite comfortable today.

 

[Athlai]

Jeets at 7? FMD

 

[nzfan]

Jeets at 7? FMD

Not playing Nofal that played a phenomenal knock last game? I would have played Nofal ahead of Murdoch or Bracewell himself.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Not playing Nofal that played a phenomenal knock last game? I would have played Nofal ahead of Murdoch or Bracewell himself.

Now that's bizarre ...

 

[straw man]

Three nice wickets for Ferguson today too.

 

[vandem]

Jeets at 7? FMD

Pinch hitter? If he'd connected with that looping Sodhi delivery he would have hit it out of the ground.

Looks like Wgtn bowlers had a sweep on Conway not reaching 50. Wickets of #7, #8, #9 = stumped 3rd ball, ct cow corner 9th ball, ct long leg 3rd ball. IIRC Conway was around 18* at the time that Patel arrived at the crease.

 

[Immenso]

Interesting looking pitch in Dunedin.

Shaved at the 2 ends, bit of length and green in the middle.

 

[Bahnz]

7/30 against the competition leaders at home.

Astle's batting likely to make all the difference in the test against England ... not.

In the selector's defence, the batting line-up is undeniably short without a proper bowling allrounder at 8. Carrying de Grandhomme in the team rather than filling his role with a specialist batsman has sorta thrown the balance of the side out.