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

[nzfan]

Soooo XI for the Pakistan tour? Was trying to think of a steady as she goes XI but I just don’t think there’s anyway you can avoid making big changes, so:

Conway, Rachin, KW, Latham, Nicholls, Mitchell, Blundell, Rippon, Ajaz, Ferguson/Sears, Boult

Not great. Don’t like introducing guys like Rachin and Sears on a tough overseas tour but not sure what the alternatives are.

Seriously, when was the last time NZ made as bad a selection as Bracewell? You’d have to go back to the likes of James “Well his brother went better than expected, why not him too?” Marshall.

Line up as many XIs as you can but expecting Rutherford and Doug Bracewell to come in for Pakistan series haha...

They are both all rounders probably in Larsen and Gary's mind. Rutherford can bowl some occasional left arm spin.

I guess you rate Rippon but I don't. Just purely having looked at his skill set. A lot of his wickets are like Sodhi's. I don't think he's going to solve the spin problems like they hope to. Of course I'd liked to be proved wrong, the lad has put in a lot of work but there are better players in the circuit both with the bat and ball than Rippon. Still I like what he brings, a left arm chinaman even though it is not international quality.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Ajaz Patel peers through sliding door to see Michael Bracewell

Bracewell has five wickets from two Tests but has conceded an eye-watering 5.67 runs per over

www.espncricinfo.com

Had to share this, probably the best quality opinion piece I’ve seen on Cricinfo for a long old time.

 

[Flem274*]

Definitely a good t20 player but I doubt with what's gone on so far and Gary/Larsen pushing his case for some 6 months later test series they created this hype which he could have done with out. To be fair he is not the only one in focus, there are many dead wood right now in the set up. He's getting attention just because Leach has taken 10 wickets and it's not a fair comparison. Leach has bowled spin through out his life and obviously getting better with time. Bracewell bowled himself over many other deserving bowlers in firebirds and not with great returns because Gary and Larsen said he won't make the black caps side as a wicket keeper batsman. The writing was on the wall. They'll probably jeopardize his chances in t20 cricket which is his strongest suite. Imagine bowling to sub continent players? If he's going for 7s consistently in test cricket, in t20s they will be lining him up on flat decks, shorter boundaries. His confidence going into t20s will not be as great either.

He's a lovely bloke, has reasonable skills but not a bowler batting at no.8. It was never going to be easy at test level when skills are in short supply.

If I'm right he's bowled a bit for NZ A and gone for over 5s or 6s there too with probably no wickets or a wicket to show.

Oh no doubt he's been royally screwed. This was a completely unfair job to give him.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Oh no doubt he's been royally screwed. This was a completely unfair job to give him.

Umm because being given the honour of a Test cap or two is a terrible life experience no matter what? . .

And there have been worse Test players picked than him. I am trying to think of one right now.

 

[Nintendo]

I still can't get over why they just didn't ask Phillips to do this? He's the first name that comes to mind when you think aggressive spin bowling all-rounder, and he's been In England the whole time.

 

[Bahnz]

Oh no doubt he's been royally screwed. This was a completely unfair job to give him.

Yeah, I feel bad about digging into Bracewell. Guy’s been a stalwart in FC cricket for a decade, and he wasn’t the one who decided to pick him for a role that he doesn’t have the skillset to perform. This one’s all on Stead/Larsen/KW. It’d be like picking Ben Shipley to bat at 5 and then getting mad when he failed to get out of double figures. Baffling.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I still can't get over why they just didn't ask Phillips to do this? He's the first name that comes to mind when you think aggressive spin bowling all-rounder, and he's been In England the whole time.

Phillips wasn't in the original 20 man squad (should've been) while Bracewell was.

 

[Bahnz]

Very telling that England are only playing $1.03 to win. Normally when a side still needs 110+ on a day 5 pitch offering turn you'd still think the bowling side has a slim but real chance.

 

[Days of Grace]

Great selection. Great tour.

 

[Bahnz]

Only watched the highlights of Wagner's bowling, but yeah. Give the guy a farewell test in the SL series (the first test will probably be in Tauranga), he deserves it. But then NZ needs to move on.

Line up as many XIs as you can but expecting Rutherford and Doug Bracewell to come in for Pakistan series haha...

They are both all rounders probably in Larsen and Gary's mind. Rutherford can bowl some occasional left arm spin.

I guess you rate Rippon but I don't. Just purely having looked at his skill set. A lot of his wickets are like Sodhi's. I don't think he's going to solve the spin problems like they hope to. Of course I'd liked to be proved wrong, the lad has put in a lot of work but there are better players in the circuit both with the bat and ball than Rippon. Still I like what he brings, a left arm chinaman even though it is not international quality.

Fair, just thinking that if NZ were to opt for a genuine 2nd spinner a la Walker or Sommerville, that leaves a pretty long tail coming in behind NZ's shiny new engine room.

 

[Flem274*]

Umm because being given the honour of a Test cap or two is a terrible life experience no matter what? . .

And there have been worse Test players picked than him. I am trying to think of one right now.

I mean true playing test cricket is pretty cool but you'd feel pretty salty if you were set up to fail like this.

And, without wanting to be mean, worse selections will be hard to find. He's firmly in the lower half of regular fc batsmen.

Him taking up bowling is admirable but he's been picked way too early in that development. It's like picking KJ for NZ at 17-18 when he first took up bowling.

 

[Bahnz]

Also, a few people have already commented on this, but how would you rate Mitchell out of 10 this series? Yes his batting is obviously the tenniest of tens (I see he just nosed past McCullum's record for most runs by an NZer in a series of 3 or fewer matches). But his slip catching (either 4 or 5 drops depending on how harsh you want to be) and running between the wickets have been a huge liability. Both were pretty central to NZ's defeat at Trent Bridge, and today he missed a tough but gettable slip catch off Root when the game was still very much alive. Needs some work on his slip catching technique to spinners as he never looked like catching it. Probably takes him down to a 9 imo. Maybe harsh, as without him NZ probably lose the first test inside 2 days, definitely lose the 2nd test by an innings and maybe would've been the same here.

 

[NZTailender]

I thought the absolute drubbing on the tour of Australia was the lowest point as a fan of the "new" (i.e. post Vettori) Black Caps side but somehow this feels worse.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

But he’s a Bracewell he has the divine right right

 

[Prince EWS]

But he’s a Bracewell he has the divine right right

His ancestors earned the right for him to be aggressive.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

His ancestors earned the right for him to be aggressive.

To quote the other team’s coach

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Also what’s with the Beast nickname? And who is the Beauty/Belle who fell for him?

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Also what’s with the Beast nickname?

Nickname is Beastie because he SABOTAGEs Ravindra.

 

[Days of Grace]

I think this has to be the worst tour in living memory, in terms of expectations and talent pool set against results and performances.

 

[SteveNZ]

Umm because being given the honour of a Test cap or two is a terrible life experience no matter what? . .

And there have been worse Test players picked than him. I am trying to think of one right now.

I went through the list of NZ Test cricketers and I couldn't find one that had less results or rhyme/reason to be picked. I mean, plenty of opening bats - but only because they were the best of a poor bunch. And yeah, it's not Bracewell's fault at all. It's **** selection policy. Absolute hail mary that failed miserably. And not only failed, but also holds back the progression of Ajaz Patel, so it's a double failure.