*Official* England in New Zealand 2019

[kaetor]

I'd prefer Phillips or Blundell as a specialist bat as well if Kane is out. Maybe get Tom Bruce in there but with him not being selected for NZ A that seems unlikely.

 

[Gremlin]

The England side looks like it will contain a number of players with limited international experience but already it looks to be a far more balanced side than any selected over the last 18 months or so. Very exciting to see a new era. As for the 3rd bowling spot, I think Curran does have the best shout but happy with either. Woakes needed a break and the reports are that he is working on other tricks where the ball and surface don't favour him. I'm looking forward to this series.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Grrrr - they've picked Santner and Astle as the spinners in the squad. I thought Somerville's batting in Sri Lanka (and much better bowling) might have got him the nod.

 

[SteveNZ]

Grrrr - they've picked Santner and Astle as the spinners in the squad. I thought Somerville's batting in Sri Lanka (and much better bowling) might have got him the nod.

I reckon that's really weak. They've picked two guys who spin it the same way, and not a lot, get little bounce and avg 20 or so with the bat - which apparently is a key part of their selection.

There's no continuity in how we're picking our spinners. The media release says Astle and Santner are 'horses for courses' selections, which to me says we don't think it's going to spin and we want these alleged few more runs. Somerville should have been there ahead of Astle.

 

[Moss]

I reckon that's really weak. They've picked two guys who spin it the same way, and not a lot, get little bounce and avg 20 or so with the bat - which apparently is a key part of their selection.

There's no continuity in how we're picking our spinners. The media release says Astle and Santner are 'horses for courses' selections, which to me says we don't think it's going to spin and we want these alleged few more runs. Somerville should have been there ahead of Astle.

Santner's verrry lucky to be there, don't mind the Astle selection as much but just weird considering Ajaz and Somerville have done just about everything asked of them till date. Oh well, will be interesting to see if Kane decides to give Astle a bit more than his quota of ten overs per test.

Also, this squad is apparently picked for both Australia and England? I suppose replacements can always be flown over to Australia if needed but would've liked to see Neesham or perhaps Seifert as a 16th member of the touring squad.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I reckon that's really weak. They've picked two guys who spin it the same way, and not a lot, get little bounce and avg 20 or so with the bat - which apparently is a key part of their selection.

There's no continuity in how we're picking our spinners. The media release says Astle and Santner are 'horses for courses' selections, which to me says we don't think it's going to spin and we want these alleged few more runs. Somerville should have been there ahead of Astle.

At the moment Somerville is averaging 32 with the bat and 25 with the ball. He's as good as India's 2 Ravis.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Here's a line from Larsen in the Herald article: "We've gone with the versatility of Mitchell and Todd who have experience in the conditions we will experience in the next few months and will bolster our lower order batting."

I think Somerville's got a lot more experience in Australian conditions.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Wait, no Patel or Somerville? That's crazy

 

[ataraxia]

They seem to be just viewed as subcontinental spinners. Santner has just had a good series but Astle's selection is a bit perplexing.

 

[Athlai]

Regarding Santa:

I told you so.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

What a moronic decision. Typical Larsen.

 

[Flem274*]

larsens an idiot

santa and tastle are also engine roomers more than true bowling allrounders, so i don't expect many runs from either in australia where they're just going to get bombed with short balls.

or wickets for that matter.

 

[nzfan]

Shocked at both Santa and Astle. Neither are good enough in both departments for test Cricket.

Besides even if they wanted to try them out, why announce the squad for both the series in one go? They could have seen how they go vs Eng and then picked the squad for Aussie.

I think we'll get away in home conditions but on flatter tracks in Aussie these two may end up pedestarians. Only time will tell.

Both Ajaz and Sommerville deserved to be there.

I'm not liking much of Stead to be honest. I seriously think Astle's selection must be his pick.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Were Stead/Larsen drunk when making this selection? I can't comprehend in any way how both Patel and Somerville have been left out of BOTH test series

 

[NZTailender]

Not shocked at Santner, seems like a real NZ pitch spinning A/R covering bases selection. Todd Astle is a bit of a fork in the eye for Somers and patel though - which is kinda ironic as Astle went into the wilderness via injury giving way for these guys to stake their claim.

 

[NZTailender]

Were Stead/Larsen drunk when making this selection? I can't comprehend in any way how both Patel and Somerville have been left out of BOTH test series

Hold up, the squad is for both series?

That's monumentally stupid.

 

[NZTailender]

Hold up, the squad is for both series?

That's monumentally stupid.

Rest assured I was on the NZC instagram within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world

 

[jcas0167]

Really like this NZA batting line-up.

Also, some nice praise for Finn Allen & Jakob Bhula from venerable cricket-writer Scyld Berry. I do miss the likes of other great English cricketer journalists Derek Pringle & Mike Selvey coming on these tours.

The young Kiwi batsmen acquitted themselves well - the century by the tall 20 year-old Finn Allen was every bit as accomplished as those by Dominic Sibley and Zak Crawley on day one - and only Jofra Archer gave them a hurry-up...

His wicket came from round the wicket when he bowled the well-organised opener, 19 year-old Jakob Bhula, but it was simply angled in to hit offstump, not pitching then jagging away.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket...her-chris-woakes-sam-curran-final-piece-test/

 

[Immenso]

Wow. Never saw this coming.

Trying to make some sense of this. Approach is;

- in sub-contintent: genuinely try to win (attack & contain)via spin bowling

- in Australasia: use spin bowling only as a holding option (Santner) or hail mary option (Astle) as long as the said player can also hold a bat, as we are only playing 5 specialist batsmen.

On the bright side, with these spinners selections. We have a much higher chance of seeing Fergusson play a test, at expense of (or in rotation with) Southee and/or de Grandhomme.

But, I'm very disappointed not to see Sommerville get a chance outside the sub-continent. Yesterday I actually went to the effort to look up his FC record in the test venues we will be playing Australia.
- He's got 23 wickets at 20.69 at the SCG
- He's got 6 wickets at 36.66 at the MCG
- He's got 3 wicket at 49.66 at Perth (but at WACA, not Optus)
https://archive.nzc.nz/Players/75/75804/f_Bowling_by_Ground.html

Makes no sense to select the squad for both series. Sommerville should be in contention for 2 of the 3 Australian tests.

 

[ataraxia]

He should be at the SCG for sure. And he also bats well to spin.