• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

Immenso

International Vice-Captain
Squash is also a terrible spectator sport. I love playing it but it's mind numbing to watch at the professional level. In person is better than TV, but not by much.
Agree.

Same with hockey. Although that is a bit better after removing that 'turn you back rule' . Fun to play though.
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Squash is also a terrible spectator sport. I love playing it but it's mind numbing to watch at the professional level. In person is better than TV, but not by much.
See I feel the opposite - I love watching squash. I played a lot as a young fella and I appreciate how insanely skilled and hard to play it is, I guess.

And yeah squash isn't a popular sport but I'd feel disappointed that Paul Coll didn't win because the public wouldn't appreciate it, or that it's a minority sport so it doesn't hold as much weight. His performances over a long period of time have been incredible. He won the British Open which is basically the pinnacle of that sport. You can't do much better. Yeah Kane did a lot of amazing things but I feel like that was a golden opportunity to give it to Coll, and Kane certainly wouldn't have begrudged it. No chance you could give it to Bond because how do you quantify 8 guys in the same boat, and Dixon I guess would've been a decent shout too.

I would've had the rowing 8 coach as coach of the year too, given how unexpected and outstanding that was. Carrington is such a freak, I have no doubt Gordon Walker is good but you get the feeling she'd do it all herself
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
See I feel the opposite - I love watching squash. I played a lot as a young fella and I appreciate how insanely skilled and hard to play it is, I guess.

And yeah squash isn't a popular sport but I'd feel disappointed that Paul Coll didn't win because the public wouldn't appreciate it, or that it's a minority sport so it doesn't hold as much weight. His performances over a long period of time have been incredible. He won the British Open which is basically the pinnacle of that sport. You can't do much better. Yeah Kane did a lot of amazing things but I feel like that was a golden opportunity to give it to Coll, and Kane certainly wouldn't have begrudged it. No chance you could give it to Bond because how do you quantify 8 guys in the same boat, and Dixon I guess would've been a decent shout too.

I would've had the rowing 8 coach as coach of the year too, given how unexpected and outstanding that was. Carrington is such a freak, I have no doubt Gordon Walker is good but you get the feeling she'd do it all herself
I think that Kane was given the men's award as a consolation. Normally on results the Black Caps would've won the Halberg (99% of the time) and this was perhaps a back up.

I would've given it to Coll too and feel sorry for him. I might have even nominated Jamieson instead of Williamson for test cricket.
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
I think that Kane was given the men's award as a consolation. Normally on results the Black Caps would've won the Halberg (99% of the time) and this was perhaps a back up.

I would've given it to Coll too and feel sorry for him. I might have even nominated Jamieson instead of Williamson for test cricket.
Yeah I guess you're a bit flat to miss out on the Halberg when you win a world championship. If we'd won the T20 World Cup, I reckon the Super Dame would've been pipped. I feel sorry for Coll too, there's not much more he could have done. I really feel like they missed a trick there - it won't mean a lot to Kane, but it would to Coll.
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Agree.

Same with hockey. Although that is a bit better after removing that 'turn you back rule' . Fun to play though.
Hockey probably has one of the biggest gaps between how enjoyable it is to play and how unenjoyable it is to watch. On TV, it is nigh on unwatchable. In person, it's better but not by a lot. To play, it's outstanding. What else would come close? Golf would have to be No.1
 

TheBrand

First Class Debutant
Would have been good if Coll had won it. Am good friends with another very high ranked squash player in NZ and he has had nothing but superlatives to describe Coll.

Why isn't squash in the Olympics? Or at least the Commonwealth Games?
 

thierry henry

International Coach
Really reckon Coll should've won the men's award and the Black Caps the supreme award

Feels to me like Coll got ripped off so that they could pander to cricket fans by giving KW the award, to soften the blow of another rowing/kayaking circlejerk
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Really reckon Coll should've won the men's award and the Black Caps the supreme award

Feels to me like Coll got ripped off so that they could pander to cricket fans by giving KW the award, to soften the blow of another rowing/kayaking circlejerk
Yeah, me too. There's so much politics in it. You don't give it to the Super Dame, potentially it's ***ist. You give it to Coll, the public might not give a rat's. Etc
 

_Ed_

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Really reckon Coll should've won the men's award and the Black Caps the supreme award

Feels to me like Coll got ripped off so that they could pander to cricket fans by giving KW the award, to soften the blow of another rowing/kayaking circlejerk
Should have been James McDonald, in my completely unbiased opinion.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Marks for the home test summer? I'm giving them a 4/10, and that feels generous given who we lost to (Bangers) and the manner of those losses.
 

_Ed_

Request Your Custom Title Now!
It's hard to come up with an overall rating, because those two wins were bloody good performances, and the two losses... were not.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Goes to show for me how much our batting is reliant on KW. He's been ruthless on home soil in the past few seasons and his presence at the wicket appears genuinely calming for guys like Henry. The big concerns are obviously the bowlers. Wagners on his last legs and Jamo's regressed to the 129kmh plodder we all suspected he was from those early Plunket videos that Kippax posted.

Not time for panic stations just yet, but any hopes of making the WTC final is basically down the tubes.
 

Nintendo

Cricketer Of The Year
Think people are being a bit hard on will young TBH. 2 Dumb shots this match but averaging 32 opening the batting with important contributions in England and India this early in a test career is something most teams would take without a thought.
 

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
Young is one of our brightest talent but like any opener he does get out but when he gets in hope he makes it count. He could have had couple of hundreds if he converted. Even a well settled top class opener like Elgar scored 1, 0, 41 and 13 in this series. In our conditions against good bowling attacks it's not that easy. I'd like to see Young batting middle order but definitely not at the expense of Rutherford. Has Rutherford improved, maybe but is he a long term solution for the top order? Doubt that. I'd rather keep Young at the top of the order or open with Conway.
 

Nintendo

Cricketer Of The Year
Young is one of our brightest talent but like any opener he does get out but when he gets in hope he makes it count. He could have had couple of hundreds if he converted. Even a well settled top class opener like Elgar scored 1, 0, 41 and 13 in this series. In our conditions against good bowling attacks it's not that easy. I'd like to see Young batting middle order but definitely not at the expense of Rutherford. Has Rutherford improved, maybe but is he a long term solution for the top order? Doubt that. I'd rather keep Young at the top of the order or open with Conway.
Yeah young in the middle order and conway opening is definitely a very viable solution, conway looked golden opening the batting vs england.
 

Moss

International Captain
Marks for the home test summer? I'm giving them a 4/10, and that feels generous given who we lost to (Bangers) and the manner of those losses.
Agreed. Even accounting for the absences and the slowing down/retirements of key players, shouldn't be dropping home tests in that manner (considering how ruthless NZ were against India, Pakistan and the Windies before this). Should be a wake-up call.

If Stead and the rest of the management have taken note and realized that there are issues which need to be addressed, then this may not be such a bad thing - I'd personally be happy with a side that's stable and fairly successful and adaptable in the longer term, even if it doesn't make the WTC final or go all the way in the next couple of white ball world cups. Need to guard against a repeat of the post-Fleming era when a lot of retirements and defections happened at the same time.

Some things I'd like to see:
1. Ravindra told clearly he is seen as the future red-ball opener and to work hard at that position for Wellington, his bowling should be seen as a bonus. Don't mind him trialled as an ODI opener either. For the time being, better Conway than Young opening even though in an ideal world neither of them should have to.
2. Some serious thinking from Jurgensen and co. on what the old-ball bowling plans are when Wagner retires - whether that involves making spin a more integral part of NZ's plans, or out-and-out pace (Lockie, Sears?). Was hoping Jamieson would be able to learn some new tricks and fill this void, but it's clear he needs to work on more basic aspects of his game
3. The batting coach to spend more time with the tailenders so that wickets are not surrendered in a crisis like they were today - Southee and Jamieson dismissals were infuriating
4. Efforts to keep the fringe players and mostly-red-ball specialists (Mitchell, Phillips, Ajaz, Blundell to name a few) warm - A tours and the like. Very difficult to accomplish in the pandemic world I know, and I don't have any suggestions as of now. Equally, would be cool if white ball bilaterals are now utilized to introduce newer players instead of trotting out the same old teams.
 

Top