*Official* South Africa in New Zealand 2022

[SteveNZ]

Game losing day this.

And with it, serious questions to be asked of the backroom staff when we've got players in their primes regressing.

Anyway Blundell needs a score here imo because I really don't trust his keeping, so he kinda always needs runs.

Who's regressing?

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Marvelous 50. It's been so long since De Grandhomme played an innings like this, wasn't sure he still had it in him.

He did it several times for ND this year. Also got a fast 170 in English county last year

 

[trundler]

CdG makes even NZ home tests fun.

 

[straw man]

He did it several times for ND this year. Also got a fast 170 in English county last year

I saw the ND ones, yes. Great he's transfered it to international level.

De Grandhomme's now faced twelve fifteen dots in a row, SA may earn him doing something silly shortly.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Turn!

In Christchurch!!!

 

[straw man]

Mitchell's really gone into his shell this innings - 20 off 29 and only 9 from his last 47. Seems like he's taking the promotion to bat at 5 instead of 6 very seriously, and obviously NZ were in a poor position when he came to the crease. His strength is in being proactive though - I hope we see more of that tomorrow.

Don't think this is out.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Huge moment in the test

 

[Fuller Pilch]

No reviews left

 

[straw man]

Anyway, NZ live to fight again tomorrow, good partnership.

SA should really have bowled Maharaj to CDG much earlier.

 

[StephenZA]

Anyway, NZ live to fight again tomorrow, good partnership.

SA should really have bowled Maharaj to CDG much earlier.

ftfy

 

[Moss]

Mitchell's really gone into his shell this innings - 20 off 29 and only 9 from his last 47. Seems like he's taking the promotion to bat at 5 instead of 6 very seriously, and obviously NZ were in a poor position when he came to the crease. His strength is in being proactive though - I hope we see more of that tomorrow.

Don't think this is out.

I think it sort of puts the others’ efforts in perspective though. If they’d been a bit more determined to put a price on their wickets, would be a different story. South Africa still looking at a lead of around 120-130 here you’d think, looks very encouraging seeing Maharaj got some turn late in the day.

 

[Bahnz]

Fun little counter, but that turn for Maharaj should have Latham and co veeeery worried. Don’t see NZ chasing much more than 200 in the 4th innings and given NZ are still 210 behind…

 

[Flem274*]

CdG is just so fun. It's like gifting a 9 year old with insane natural talent.

 

[Heboric]

Being a bit greedy, but it would have been nice for a sixth wicket

 

[ashley bach]

it's true that dropping CDG is obvious.
while he's been a really good player for the black caps over many years now, his time is done.
apart from his magnificent 40 odd the other day, he hasn't taken a trick with the bat in the last 3 years over all formats.
he doesn't bowl enough to warrant selection there, so what's his worth if he can't score runs?
prepared to have egg splattered over my face if he gets a ton, but that hasn't looked close to likely for well over 1000 days now.
maybe at very least he could go to England as backup for other players getting injured over the 3 test series.
it's also really obvious Henry should bat at 9, but for political batting reasons, that probably won't happen.

the egg has been cooked on one side, will flip it and if the other side cooks, will be absolutely delighted to splatter it all over my face.
let's go big Colin!

 

[SteveNZ]

The sooner we dispense with the 'Will Young is a decent option as an opener' idea, the better. I like Will Young as a player, but he is not technically up to opening in Test match cricket. That ball yesterday, on 5th (at least) stump with no sideways movement, was a classic example. We know about the penchant for playing across his front pad to the ball coming in, too.

If Kane is out, open with Conway - you know, the guy who scored 200 on debut playing there. Bat Young at 3. Then when Kane returns, he bats 4 and allows Nicholls to bat in his rightful spot at 5 + start to transition the next opening partner for Latham into that spot (Rachin, no doubt). Otherwise we're going to get into a position where we shoehorn Young into a spot he's not up to, and we risk jeopardizing the career of a guy who could average 40+ at 4 but may get into a technical and mental glut having to open.

 

[SteveNZ]

And on rolls the Tom Latham glut of runs against top nations. There's been guys much less gifted than him technically who have struggled against the good sides and you know it's all you can expect to get, but with Latham it's actually 100x more frustrating because there's no theme to his struggles. Always finds a different way to get out. None of his last 10-12 dismissals in Test cricket has been even vaguely like the others.

 

[Howsie]

The sooner we dispense with the 'Will Young is a decent option as an opener' idea, the better. I like Will Young as a player, but he is not technically up to opening in Test match cricket. That ball yesterday, on 5th (at least) stump with no sideways movement, was a classic example. We know about the penchant for playing across his front pad to the ball coming in, too.

If Kane is out, open with Conway - you know, the guy who scored 200 on debut playing there. Bat Young at 3. Then when Kane returns, he bats 4 and allows Nicholls to bat in his rightful spot at 5 + start to transition the next opening partner for Latham into that spot (Rachin, no doubt). Otherwise we're going to get into a position where we shoehorn Young into a spot he's not up to, and we risk jeopardizing the career of a guy who could average 40+ at 4 but may get into a technical and mental glut having to open.

Couldn’t agree more with this

 

[Flem274*]

I don't think Conway is truly an opener either. I think our ideal batting order is a massive risk to our bowling though thanks to the declines of Boult, Jamieson and Wagner.

Latham
Ravindra
Williamson
Conway
Young
Nicholls
Keeper

 

[Flem274*]

What also concerns me is Young's strength earlier in his FC career was leaving the ball.

What happened there?