3rd Match - New Zealand v Sri Lanka

[vcs]

Yeah the 2003 Super Sixes stage got all messed up because of the walkovers. Though Kenya did play some good cricket in that tournament, I don't know if they played well enough to deserve to make the semis. And then Zimbabwe making it to the Super Sixes was also bizarre, I can't even remember if they beat a non-minnow team.

 

[veganbob]

this nz team, despite having 4 world class players (gup, kane, ross, boult), is pretty meh. ferguson, latham and santa are trustworthy, but they don't yet have the oomph to carry a knock out game. the rest are extremely untrustworthy or unproven.

i feel the 2007 team was a bit of a missed opportunity to reach the final tbh. shane bond with vettori at the end is enough to reduce a team to match sticks and the conditions were perfect for our batsmen who preffered the odi spinners (fleming, taylor, styris, mcmillan, oram etc)

we ran into mahela on a rare odi gem day and murali has always had the number of nz batsmen not called stephen fleming.

with the conditions in 2007 i think we could have made our team a bit better by swapping out the franklin/mason/gillespie spot for chris harris. oram and even styris/mcmillan were such trolls on those pitches. harris would have been perfect but nz wanted to shift towards #intent bowling.

styris was the only batsman that was quality odi bat though. Taylor wasnt the batsman he is now yet. Not even close. Flem, mcmillan jus middle of the table kind of batsmen and oram was a superb test batsman but he sucked as s odi batsman in general.
Also add to the fact that once cairns was gone the whole Flem era were more a choker /sh*t the bed vs good teams kind of team anyway.
The current team gives me way more confidence.

Our batting now is head and shoulders above anything we have had bar 2015. Im not conviced our bowling was ever more than "slightly " better than now. If fergusen fires we will be better than all nz attacks pre 2015 too.

 

[veganbob]

Anyway looking forward to this.
Win toss and bat or bowl?

 

[Athlai]

Reckon you're mad to think this isn't our second best world cup squad.

 

[Moss]

Yeah the 2003 Super Sixes stage got all messed up because of the walkovers. Though Kenya did play some good cricket in that tournament, I don't know if they played well enough to deserve to make the semis. And then Zimbabwe making it to the Super Sixes was also bizarre, I can't even remember if they beat a non-minnow team.

Zimbabwe got through because of England forfeiting their match and their final group stage game against Pakistan bring rained off. The interesting thing was, had they lost the Pakistan game they would not have travelled to South Africa for the super sixes, and Henry Olonga could have been at the mercy of Mugabe's thugs back in Zimbabwe (following his black armband protest). Think he went into hiding immediately after the final super six game.

 

[morgieb]

Yeah the 2003 Super Sixes stage got all messed up because of the walkovers. Though Kenya did play some good cricket in that tournament, I don't know if they played well enough to deserve to make the semis. And then Zimbabwe making it to the Super Sixes was also bizarre, I can't even remember if they beat a non-minnow team.

They didn't, at least not in practice. Got a walkover against England and then it rained against Pakistan.

That was a bigger issue rather than the format, forcing people to play games in Kenya and Zimbabwe (where the political climate was poisonous) and not having reserve days.

 

[stephen]

Zimbabwe got through because of England forfeiting their match and their final group stage game against Pakistan bring rained off. The interesting thing was, had they lost the Pakistan game they would not have travelled to South Africa for the super sixes, and Henry Olonga could have been at the mercy of Mugabe's thugs back in Zimbabwe (following his black armband protest). Think he went into hiding immediately after the final super six game.

And now he sings on the Voice.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Reckon you're mad to think this isn't our second best world cup squad.

Relative to past NZ sides? yeah. Relative to the other current sides? No.

 

[Moss]

Interesting NZ choosing to bowl, most of their wins over the summer were of the bat first, bat big kind. Though as per the pitch report, a well grassed surface.

Henry getting a reprieve but needs a good start today, his confidence must've taken a real beating in the warmups. And Munro is back. Hmm.

 

[Flem274*]

it's an awkward squad that has 4 world class players but then munro, the death hitters and the southee/henry problem

2007 for example had solid batting all the way down and bond/vettori. 2015 had 2 quality bowling attacks. 2015 mills, henry and mcclenaghan would walk into any other nz squad in history.

 

[Flem274*]

And Munro is back. Hmm.

nz hate winning

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Munro playing ... Stead going on in the pre-game about how being the underdogs suits us ... I should have bought some beer. This could be a long World Cup (but we should win today).

 

[Moss]

it's an awkward squad that has 4 world class players but then munro, the death hitters and the southee/henry problem

2007 for example had solid batting all the way down and bond/vettori. 2015 had 2 quality bowling attacks. 2015 mills, henry and mcclenaghan would walk into any other nz squad in history.

Anderson not kicking on (make that barely getting on the park) is another big difference post 2015 for mine.

 

[MW1304]

Get in. Switched on just in time for Sri Lanka's nursery rhyme of a national anthem, with all its false endings. Got to love it.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Get in. Switched on just in time for Sri Lanka's nursery rhyme of a national anthem, with all its false endings. Got to love it.

It's a great endless jaunty jig.

 

[veganbob]

Relative to past NZ sides? yeah. Relative to the other current sides? No.

Apart from 2015 I dont know if we came into any other world cup as 3rd or 4th favourite. We may have had a high ranking in 2007 , but we still weren't as fancied as now.
Lets just say we have a far better chance vs the best teams now than we ever did (again 2015 apart)

 

[Flem274*]

do a shot every time the scrappy nz underdog meme comes up in this world cup, i dare you

 

[veganbob]

it's an awkward squad that has 4 world class players but then munro, the death hitters and the southee/henry problem

2007 for example had solid batting all the way down and bond/vettori. 2015 had 2 quality bowling attacks. 2015 mills, henry and mcclenaghan would walk into any other nz squad in history.

Yeah a "solid" batting lineup with 0 world class odi batsmen. We had a **** top order and a average middle order.
The current batting line up is much much better.

 

[Moss]

Ooh looked a good shout.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Was pretty shocked when the finger didn't go up for that. Great review.