*Official* New Zealand v India T20s & ODIs

[jcas0167]

has clarkson ever even been on the national selectors radar? i have literally never heard of any personell or player in the national camp even mention him....not even a jammy stuff article

Not since his debut really - Stuff, 14 October 2015

"He's shown a lot of promise and bowled reasonably well against Wellington, and also batted with a lot of confidence. He's a player of the future and will be a pretty exciting time for him if he gets the nod," Stags general manager Lance Hamilton said.

Is he still bowling?

 

[Zinzan]

So unsurprisingly Chapman looked better & more convincing than KW even in that brief stay, while apart from getting SKY's wicket we've got to drop Sodhi for Macewell, not only for the greatest batting depth that provides, but also with Sodhi being such a liability in the field.

Allen/Guptill
Conway
Chapman
Phillips
Mitchell
Neesham
Bracewell
Santner
Milne
Southee
Ferguson

I've bracketed Guptill and Allen, and would still start Allen in a next game, but if he keeps failing against the fuller ball, he may need a spell to work on his game for a bit before returning... still a young chap.

I'm also starting to have reservations about Neesham, as not only has he had a bad run of it recently, but the fact he's sucking up a specialist batting spot means he hasn't got as much rope as if he was performing with the ball. But I can't think of too many better middle order options at the moment.

 

[SteveNZ]

He’s been involved in winter camps down in Lincoln but yeah that’s about it. Should’ve been playing white ball cricket for New Zealand 2-3 seasons ago. Closest thing we have to a Joe Buttler in terms of hitting and he can’t sniff the team. Bit of a joke really

Howsie pushing all his chips into the middle on Clarkson. I love it. I remember him doing that with a young guy called Mitchell Santner long before we all saw what was going on. Then I seem to recall Kippax saying he saw him (Clarkson) as someone who read spin in braille. Two learned gentlemen with diametrically opposed opinions, which is why I absolutely love this site.

I dunno if Clarkson can get in this side without being a bonafide bowling option, but certainly the fact he strikes at basically 100 in List A and 150 in T20 means there needs to be some serious consideration.

 

[Prince EWS]

Howsie pushing all his chips into the middle on Clarkson. I love it. I remember him doing that with a young guy called Mitchell Santner long before we all saw what was going on. Then I seem to recall Kippax saying he saw him (Clarkson) as someone who read spin in braille. Two learned gentlemen with diametrically opposed opinions, which is why I absolutely love this site.

Howsie also pumped up Seifert for ages.

We've gotta give him Boult though.

 

[Athlai]

Boult was a U19 star though. Let's give Howsie nothing

 

[SteveNZ]

Howsie also pumped up Seifert for ages.

We've gotta give him Boult though.

So did I... Not ages, but I know there's pro-Seifert posts in my history.

He also said there would be an avalanche of guys turning down contracts and walking away, and whilst he made himself look bat **** crazy by suggesting that was because of outrage from women getting equity in match fees...he'd happily walk in now and tell you he told you so.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Howsie also pumped up Seifert for ages.

We've gotta give him Boult though.

He completely wrote off Wagner though.

 

[Apex Predator]

NZ back to no 1 ODI ranking after Poms got whitewashed by Aussies.

 

[ataraxia]

lol, should probably be ranked #4 or lower

Anyway, the ODIs coming up in the next few days will what, be NZ's third series at home since COVID? And the previous two were not exactly stellar opposition: Bangladesh, the Netherlands. Should be a true test of the side's ability imo

 

[SteveNZ]

He completely wrote off Wagner though.

A lot of learned gentlemen have done that... To be fair, a lot of the sentiment out of FC cricket was that his style wouldn't translate to Test cricket, he was potentially dynamite with an old ball reversing (we never saw a lot of that, did we?) but he could wreck the lacquer for Boult, Southee and co.

 

[Athlai]

Turns out Boult and Southee just adapted to make the most of having sustained pressure from Wagner at the other end. And Wagner never bowls in the first 20 overs

 

[straw man]

Had a quick look at high batting strike rates in last season's Super Smash stats, with relevance to NZ's T20 finishing and the 6/7 batting spots. All usual disclaimers about T20 stats apply. Min 150 runs and all had an average 25 or higher.

Allen 280 @200
Santner 158 @188
Clarkson 201 @188
Latham 161 @179
Cleaver 369 @166
Bruce 267 @164
Fletcher 305 @161
Van Beek 160 @157
Katene Clarke 228 @153
M Bracewell 478 @149

Of these, all except for Santner, Clarkson, Fletcher and Van Beek were batting in the top 4, which is not what we're looking at. Clarkson and Fletcher would be worth a look for NZ I think. I don't love Van Beek's bowling and would be semi-poaching him from Netherlands, but ehhh maybe.

I suspect the problem with Clarkson is a bit similar to Neesham in that he's got one main shot, one arc that he'll biff but outside that he's much less effective. Still, SR188 means is worth a shot. Fletcher more dynamic I think and would also take the gloves from Conway, though if we're dropping Neesham to make space that means we're fully committed to 5 bowlers bowling all the overs.

Both Clarkson and Fletcher worth a try in the numerous JAM T20Is coming up imo. There's nothing to lose. Cleaver should also get a run though perhaps in ODIs.

 

[Athlai]

Santa is the icing we all need

 

[Prince EWS]

Of these, all except for Santner, Clarkson, Fletcher and Van Beek were batting in the top 4, which is not what we're looking at. Clarkson and Fletcher would be worth a look for NZ I think. I don't love Van Beek's bowling and would be semi-poaching him from Netherlands, but ehhh maybe.

If you wanted a specialist lower order slogger who could bowl gas if required I'd suggest Dougeh instead. Van Beek doesn't even bat ahead of Pringle for the Dutch in T20 cricket.

 

[Prince EWS]

Averaging 27 and striking at 145 in all T20 cricket is ... actually pretty serious numbers for Dougeh tbh. He's held up to it in the few chances he got to bat in T20Is too.

Clarkson definitely worth a crack first but I don't think it'd be crazy if Dougeh was picked as a batting allrounder for a few games.

 

[Prince EWS]

In terms of Clarkson sucking against spin - this is still true IMO, but it's true of a few decent T20 finishers I can think of (Wiese, Karthik and Russell spring to mind immediately). They basically get picked to smack death bowlers, who are even more reliably quicks than the opening bowlers.

 

[Athlai]

Bugger bringing in Dougeh when we have the likes of Santa Macewell Neesham.

Southee/Milne/Ferg/Sodhi/Boult should be making up 12 overs in every game with 3 of them picked.

 

[Prince EWS]

Bugger bringing in Dougeh when we have the likes of Santa Macewell Neesham.

Dougeh.

 

[Prince EWS]

I think bringing in Macewell for Sodhi should help the balance of the lower middle order a bit more but if Neesham continues to fail it's worth trialling Clarkson and Dougeh as basically specialist icing IMO.

 

[Athlai]

Neesh deserves a bit of rope I reckon