*Official* West Indies in New Zealand - Nov/Dec 2020

[Bahnz]

Thoughts on the quality of the side selected? Good test for our guys? Any chance of someone forcing their way into the reckoning?

Yep, good team. In particular:

Cleaver - battling with Blundell for the WK spot once Watling retires. Had some great performances for CD and NZA last year. If Blundell is actually able to make it as a test opener, then the keeper's spot will be his by default.
Young - long time bridesmaid of NZ batting. had a solid start in FC cricket, but never really made himself a must pick. Tried his hand at captaincy in his early 20's, but that only caused a plateau in his output. Gave up the role in 2018/19 and became a run-scoring machine. But just when an international callup seemed inevitable, he badly injured his shoulder and had to sit on the sideline for the next 12 months. Hasn't quite gotten back to that level. Still likely to get a place once Taylor retires.
Conway - Saffer import. Has scored a mountain range of runs over the past few seasons. Will play for NZ this season (but probably not in tests unless Kane has to miss a game or two).
Jacob Duffy - has been a fixture of NZ cricket for so long that it's kinda hard to believe he's still only 26. 6'6" and reasonably sharp. Has had
a circuitous career not helped by his domestic coach quitting halfway through remodelling his action. Kinda muddled through for a while, but has started to achieve better consistency in recent seasons.
Rachin - the crown Prince of NZ batting (well we hope so). U19 star, made his FC debut for NZA, and has produced reasonable numbers opening the batting on some tough decks in the past couple of seasons. Has had a tough start this year, but is still generally rated as a class above.
Sears - rated by a professionals as ludicrous speed. Struggles with his lengths a bit, and there's the lingering concern that he might be viewing professional cricket as a bit of a side gig to his legal studies, but definitely has enormous potential.

 

[Beamer]

Yep, good team. In particular:

Cleaver - battling with Blundell for the WK spot once Watling retires. Had some great performances for CD and NZA last year. If Blundell is actually able to make it as a test opener, then the keeper's spot will be his by default.
Young - long time bridesmaid of NZ batting. had a solid start in FC cricket, but never really made himself a must pick. Tried his hand at captaincy in his early 20's, but that only caused a plateau in his output. Gave up the role in 2018/19 and became a run-scoring machine. But just when an international callup seemed inevitable, he badly injured his shoulder and had to sit on the sideline for the next 12 months. Hasn't quite gotten back to that level. Still likely to get a place once Taylor retires.
Conway - Saffer import. Has scored a mountain range of runs over the past few seasons. Will play for NZ this season (but probably not in tests unless Kane has to miss a game or two).
Jacob Duffy - has been a fixture of NZ cricket for so long that it's kinda hard to believe he's still only 26. 6'6" and reasonably sharp. Has had
a circuitous career not helped by his domestic coach quitting halfway through remodelling his action. Kinda muddled through for a while, but has started to achieve better consistency in recent seasons.
Rachin - the crown Prince of NZ batting (well we hope so). U19 star, made his FC debut for NZA, and has produced reasonable numbers opening the batting on some tough decks in the past couple of seasons. Has had a tough start this year, but is still generally rated as a class above.
Sears - rated by a professionals as ludicrous speed. Struggles with his lengths a bit, and there's the lingering concern that he might be viewing professional cricket as a bit of a side gig to his legal studies, but definitely has enormous potential.

Really looking forward to seeing Conway and Sears in action, hopefully they live stream the warm ups like they did on the last tour.

 

[vandem]

Really looking forward to seeing Conway and Sears in action, hopefully they live stream the warm ups like they did on the last tour.

Fyi, there are boundary and wicket highlights of NZ domestic games, link below, click on "Results" tab.

Live scores, live streams, video highlights and schedules from NZC

 

[NZTailender]

NZA squad for the two November matches:

NEW ZEALAND A

Dane Cleaver (w) — Central Stags

Blair Tickner — Central Stags

Will Young — Central Stags

Joe Carter — Northern Districts

Devon Conway — Wellington Firebirds

Henry Cooper — Northern Districts

Jacob Duffy — Otago Volts

Ken McClure — Canterbury

Cole McConchie (captain) — Canterbury

Henry Nicholls — Canterbury

Michael Rae — Otago Volts

Rachin Ravindra — Wellington Firebirds

Michael Rippon (Otago Volts)

Ben Sears — Wellington Firebirds

Sean Solia — Auckland Aces

Nathan Smith — Otago Volts

I'd like to see

1. H Cooper
2. D Conway
3. R Ravindra
4. W Young
5. H Nicholls
6. J Carter
7. D Cleaver+
8. N Smith
9. J Duffy
10. B Sears
11. B Tickner

Ain't gonna happen though.

 

[nzfan]

Forgot to point out Ken McClure is picked as well. The bloke has scored some serious runs but suspect against short ball. Also was out of the game for a bit getting into a punch up. When he plays he does hammer them.

 

[Immenso]

I'd like to see

1. H Cooper
2. D Conway
3. R Ravindra
4. W Young
5. H Nicholls
6. J Carter
7. D Cleaver+
8. N Smith
9. J Duffy
10. B Sears
11. B Tickner

Ain't gonna happen though.

What do you mean it ain't gonna happen? Just the ordering of Ravindra and Conway?

Other than that, I think that should be the team except will probably pick McConchie or Rippon ahead of Carter. With Cleaver to bat at 6.

 

[nzfan]

I'd like to see

1. H Cooper
2. D Conway
3. R Ravindra
4. W Young
5. H Nicholls
6. J Carter
7. D Cleaver+
8. N Smith
9. J Duffy
10. B Sears
11. B Tickner

Ain't gonna happen though.

Looks most likely but with Cole McConchie as captain, he's obviously going to be playing at the cost of one of Cooper, Carter or Ravindra you'd think.

 

[NZTailender]

What do you mean it ain't gonna happen? Just the ordering of Ravindra and Conway?

Other than that, I think that should be the team except will probably pick McConchie or Rippon ahead of Carter. With Cleaver to bat at 6.

Basically what NZfan said. I suspect in the 3day match we'll see everyone get a whirl. For the 4 day FC match McConchie plays you assume, and they'll probably play Rippon as well I suspect. I can't imagine they'll play more than 4 specialist bats + Cleaver. Sears will probably bowl in the 3day and not bat for instance. Suspect they'd hide Ravindra down the order too

1. Conway
2. Cooper
3. Young
4. Nicholls
5. McConchie
6. Cleaver+
7. Ravindra
8. Rippon
9. Smith
10. Duffy
11. Tickner

Probs

 

[nzfan]

Some of them are only traveling for the second game. Some for both. Sears is out of Plunkett Shield and probably out for a longer duration. Likely to only appear in the second game?

 

[nzfan]

All aside, just want to see how Conway goes. First ever attempt at playing anything beyond first class, in South Africa and here. Hoping he goes real well, bangs a massive hundy. Hope West Indies play their best side too. Also hoping the pitches are reasonable to bat on and offer some assistance to bowlers as well otherwise it will be a dampener. Had enough of those shitty green seamers where every ball is a wicket ball and you don't need to be a good bowler to knock of a quality batter.

 

[vandem]

.... Suspect they'd hide Ravindra down the order too...

Last season in the 2 NZ A vs Ind A games Rutherford and Young opened, Ravindra batted #3. I can't recall why - perhaps they wanted Young to have some opener experience as they had planned to use him as test backup for batters #1 to #5?

If they pick Conway (or Young) in the test squad, similar logic might apply, so Conway opening in at least one of the games is possible.

 

[nzfan]

Slightly different topic but Pakistan has named 35 players to tour New Zealand... That's like three teams worth of players.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Also was out of the game for a bit getting into a punch up.

Ironically enough at about the same time that Stokes went over to play for Canterbury

 

[Flem274*]

rachin and cooper should open with conway 3 young 4. ross could retire from tests any day, theres genuine opportunity there

 

[trundler]

Is Williamson out

 

[Kippax]

No, there's been no talk of that here. They've assumed he'll just play through that ongoing problem.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

rachin and cooper should open with conway 3 young 4. ross could retire from tests any day, theres genuine opportunity there

He’s talked about wanting to reach 8000 runs, so might be around a while yet.

 

[Beamer]

Fyi, there are boundary and wicket highlights of NZ domestic games, link below, click on "Results" tab.

Live scores, live streams, video highlights and schedules from NZC

That is a really good service! Thanks, CWI take note!

 

[Kippax]

https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/cricket

 

[Kippax]

Both Conway and Hamish Bennett have talked up Ben Sears' sheer speed readings in our off-season, but he shouldn't really be bouncing too many guys out at John Davies Oval unless there's a very soft surrender. He could even start travelling at close to a run-a-ball if he keeps testing out the middle of the pitch down there.

Just looked at some 2018 U19 World Cup videos to see if the $640,000 spent in Queenstown in 2017 made it a slightly faster and more North Island-style venue. It's still listed as a Kakanui clay surface (that's the slowest used in NZ first-class play) over a browns clay base (probably something to seek a bit more speed and carry).

Really good sun and barely any rain the last 15 days, so maybe if the West Indies are super rusty as you'd expect them to be, Sears could actually crank it up and succeed with a short-pitched barrage.