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*Official* 2022 New Zealand Tour of England, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands

Flem274*

Flem274*

123/5
Ferguson has said numerous times he wants to play test cricket, especially when he got loads of interviews in the 2019 world cup.

If we promise him more than bench sitting I bet he will play.
 
Bahnz

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Rippon too. I don't think he's the right bowler for the roll NZ are so obviously desperate for (economical spin-bowling + 30ish average bat), but he's gotta be a better option than Bracewell.
 
nzfan

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
I trust Kane but with him around captaining no spinner will ever make the team consistently and even if they do they will barely have a part to play unless playing on dust bowls.
 
Flem274*

Flem274*

123/5
nzfan said:
Make Young or Devon captain, neither have much affiliation to any of the current players and will be able to think clear.
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Nah Young stepped away from cd captaincy because it was affecting his batting.

The answer is reduce KWs formats and/or give it to Latham with a caveat of put up or that kid in county cricket who bowls a little spin gets a chance to open.

Latham is being outperformed against real teams by a converted middle order batsman.
 
Bahnz

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Latham's dismissals in this test are deeply concerning. It's not even like he was fiddling outside offstump. Just smacked a long-hop to the one fielder in front of square on the on-side and then left one that pegged back his middle-stump. His lack of runs against top-opposition is really starting to mess with his mental process.

Not saying he should be dropped. Rachin hasn't suddenly become a great batsman by dint of Latham stinking up the joint, and Latham still probably has more credit than his opening partner Young. But if we're back to the days of being perenially 1 or 2 down for sfa then the team can't expect to succeed regularly.
 
nzfan

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
Makes you wonder what happens to CDG going forward in red ball cricket? Seeing next test series is vs Pakistan in Pakistan, are they going to pick him still? That series is like 6 months away.

I'm slightly of different opinion. Latham is still very good vs spin and probably only behind Kane in experience. Obviously keep him but maybe he has a better chance at no.5? It's unfortunate but not a bad thing to try in this very series. He can give good five years if batting in the middle order and likely runs are guaranteed. Hate to say this but get Conway back up to opening with Young, KW at 3, Latham at 4, Mitchell at 5, Nicholls at 6, Blundell at 7 then the 3 fast bowlers and Ajaz. Although would be tempted to play Bracewell seeing how England went after him don't think he is going to bowl much. Unfortunately he's not a better batsman than the rest named.

Play with 3 fast bowlers and a spinner, use Darryl to do CDG's job.
 
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Bahnz

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
I hate the idea of constantly reshuffling the batting order in the search for the magic formula that will make them all come right. Conway piled up runs in his first stint as an opener because no one had ever seen him before. Now he's coming back to earth a bit as bowlers figure him out. His best place in the side is at 3 or 4 and I think NZ should keep him there. If the runs have dried up at 3 or 4 I see no reason why things would be different with him opening. I don't know the solution for the opening problem, but Young made some runs this test and deserves another crack

CdG's future is hard to read. He's 36, and his bowling ain't what it used to be, but he's also in the form of his life with the bat, and he has a bit of that unflappable big dick energy that the team is in dire need of at the moment.
 
nzfan

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
Bahnz said:
Latham's dismissals in this test are deeply concerning. It's not even like he was fiddling outside offstump. Just smacked a long-hop to the one fielder in front of square on the on-side and then left one that pegged back his middle-stump. His lack of runs against top-opposition is really starting to mess with his mental process.

Not saying he should be dropped. Rachin hasn't suddenly become a great batsman by dint of Latham stinking up the joint, and Latham still probably has more credit than his opening partner Young. But if we're back to the days of being perenially 1 or 2 down for sfa then the team can't expect to succeed regularly.
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I'd say leave Rachin where he is. He will be well sought after in county cricket. One of the blokes at Durham said there is a fan following already for him and generally the county members/crowd love a player that is so correct and good watch. If he's in the black caps squad he will barely play. Playing for firebirds he's barely going to bowl either so couple of seasons of county cricket will do his bowling good. He'll bowl plenty in county. Best not touch him right now and spots will invariably open up by the time Pakistan comes around.

Hope Sears can get a county gig too. That'll do wonders for him too, he doesn't bowl a lot of overs for firebirds generally although he has very good record.
 
Flem274*

Flem274*

123/5
CdG would have been huge fun on this deck, and his bowling is HIV to Root.

Ultimately though, that was an insane chase from Bairstow and also fantastic from the poms to resist scoreboard pressure in the first dig. That was vital.

Bring in the Ben Compton guy for the 3rd imo
 
Bahnz

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
On the brightside, Bairstow and Stoakes' barrage means Anderson never got the chance to run down Boult's world record.
 
Bahnz

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Immenso said:
Remember a few weeks ago when we were good enough to draw against Sussex 2nd 11? Those were good days. The high point of the tour.

NZ have lost 5 of their last 7 tests (and only 1 of those 7 tests were v a good team). But add in the tour matches nz have lost 6 of their last 9 red ball matches of any format.

Sort of remind me of the end of the Andy Flower England team, in the suddenness and speed of their plummet. Although that team had the excuse of a Mitchell Johnson catalyst finally prying open the cracks. NZ had theirs pried open at home by Ebadot and Sarel Erwee.
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It's a hell of a turn-around. They won 8 out 9 tests in the run-up to the WTC final. Admittedly 6 of those were at home, but I can think of at least 3 of those that this team would've probably lost.
 
T

tooextracool

International Coach
New Zealand have not played poorly but the overall leadership and strategy has been abysmal. Ajaz Patel and Michael Bracewell have been clearly misused this series, the selection has been poor (eg: Matt Henry being selected in this game and made to bowl to a Wagner-plan), and I honestly couldn't tell at any point in the game if they were trying to win or trying not to lose. In my opinion, good captains also tend to show good judgement around the use of DRS and Latham made some extremely poor decisions from that perspective. On paper, this New Zealand side is a much better team than England but they've blown key moments in this series and that is not something we are accustomed to from NZ in recent years.

From an England POV, I know this is still early days but the transformation over the past two tests in many ways reminds me of our 2015 ODI side which knocked itself out of the world cup unable to chase down 275 against Bangladesh but then 3 months later chased down 350 odd against NZ with 6 overs to spare. I've been very critical of the Root/Silverwood think tank over the past few years but it's still staggering to see how much of a difference a change in mindset, self belief and trust in others can have on the game in terms of results. Even if we remain a middling test side, it's hard not to respect the courage of this team to play with this kind of freedom on a regular basis and a huge positive to generate buzz for test cricket in England regardless of how the results pan out.
 
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