Black Caps Squad

[Fuller Pilch]

Interesting to think how far Allen's rating has fallen. Not long ago he was in our starting XI, but fell behind Young. Now also behind Ravindra, plus the injured Nicholls, and Blundell as batting cover.

 

[BeeGee]

Yeah it's not just Wiiliamson's batting we will miss, it's also his captaincy, Latham isn't a bad captain but it isn't ideal having your keeper as the captain.

Williamson's captaincy is suspect at times. An example was having Mitchell bowl the last over after not having bowled in the whole innings. That was a rough call caused by going to Boult and Henry one over too early.

 

[Moss]

Interesting to think how far Allen's rating has fallen. Not long ago he was in our starting XI, but fell behind Young. Now also behind Ravindra, plus the injured Nicholls, and Blundell as batting cover.

Yeah bit of mea culpa there from the selectors, but rightly so. Played a couple of bright innings just when Guptill’s runs were drying up and deserved the shot then, but been a walking wicket ever since. Hopefully he sorts out his game and comes back a better player.

Interesting too how Guptill chose to burn his bridges at that point. He’d have probably got a call up you feel. Guptill, Taylor and (likely) Williamson is a lot of class and experience for a batting unit to lose one year before a world cup.

 

[King Kane]

Williamson's captaincy is suspect at times. An example was having Mitchell bowl the last over after not having bowled in the whole innings. That was a rough call caused by going to Boult and Henry one over too early.

I think he was backing Boult and Henry to bowl Bangladesh out before they had to bowl the 50th over which was a fair enough gamble I thought.

Not ideal having Mitchell bowl the last over but it could have been worse, it could have been Neesham who has been tonked bowling at the death.

 

[SteveNZ]

Yeah bit of mea culpa there from the selectors, but rightly so. Played a couple of bright innings just when Guptill’s runs were drying up and deserved the shot then, but been a walking wicket ever since. Hopefully he sorts out his game and comes back a better player.

Interesting too how Guptill chose to burn his bridges at that point. He’d have probably got a call up you feel. Guptill, Taylor and (likely) Williamson is a lot of class and experience for a batting unit to lose one year before a world cup.

Good point. I'm a huge Gup fan but I thought that was an indictment on him. He'd never had to fight for his spot (Tests aside) and decided to give up rather than fight for his spot, against a guy that was always likely to have ebbs and flows as a player (Allen). Maybe that was a sign that he didn't trust his game at the highest level anymore. But to can his contract, which he happily took months earlier, I thought was weak at the time. Still do.

On Allen, all the things I hear is he's going to need to want it a lot more - rather than want the shiny things that come with being a professional cricketer - if he's going to make it at the international level. Hopefully maturity lends a hand to that, although it wouldn't at all be surprising if he becomes a T20 specialist, especially if 50-over cricket is being phased out.

 

[Flem274*]

Eh, Guptill had been treading water for a long time. I think he bowed out at the right time.

 

[straw man]

Yeah I would prefer Will Young make this squad rather than the Guptill from two years ago. And probably even the much-maligned Nicholls or Blundell.

Someone mentioned Nicholls injured? Didn't know that.

Believe in Kaneh that he'll be back towards the end of the group stage.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Someone mentioned Nicholls injured? Didn't know that.

Picked up a mild side strain in Canterbury’s Plunket Shield warm up game this week.

 

[thundaboult]

As long as daz mitchell is in the squad i got full faith in our chances

 

[SteveNZ]

Eh, Guptill had been treading water for a long time. I think he bowed out at the right time.

Yeah, it might've been nice to see a bit of fight, however. I also abhor the idea that players take contracts in 'good faith' then hand them back at the first sign of adversity or a better offer.

 

[Athlai]

So Rachins bowling has been pretty decent imo

 

[thierry henry]

I was looking at Guptill's recent numbers the other day and when you stack up his last couple of years of ODI and T20 performances, his decline isn't quite as obvious on paper as it might have seemed watching it. Funnily enough, while a lot of us (rightly) decry performances on the T20 circuit as meaningless, I think in Guptill's case we were aware that his performances had been mediocre in all forms of cricket he was playing and so overall "form vibes" came into it as much as pure ODI or even ODI + T20I performance. He also wasn't helped by the sheer lack of ODIs we played 2019-2022 which meant his form was being assessed in a different format.

I'd totally forgotten that he had thumbed his nose at a contract. The latest news I can find about him was him saying he still hoped for a WC call-up a month ago. Obviously not going to happen now but I legit don't think it would've been the craziest thing.

Of course, he would've been odds on to nick off cheaply in a knock out against good seamers so whatevs.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

IIRC he also never fared well in Indian conditions, which I’m sure played into the decision.

 

[Zinzan]

I was looking at Guptill's recent numbers the other day and when you stack up his last couple of years of ODI and T20 performances, his decline isn't quite as obvious on paper as it might have seemed watching it. Funnily enough, while a lot of us (rightly) decry performances on the T20 circuit as meaningless, I think in Guptill's case we were aware that his performances had been mediocre in all forms of cricket he was playing and so overall "form vibes" came into it as much as pure ODI or even ODI + T20I performance. He also wasn't helped by the sheer lack of ODIs we played 2019-2022 which meant his form was being assessed in a different format.

I'd totally forgotten that he had thumbed his nose at a contract. The latest news I can find about him was him saying he still hoped for a WC call-up a month ago. Obviously not going to happen now but I legit don't think it would've been the craziest thing.

Of course, he would've been odds on to nick off cheaply in a knock out against good seamers so whatevs.

Yeah, different format or not the fact he bombed in the Big Bash says it all really given those wickets are generally tailor made for a Guptill at the top of his game circa 2015-18. While he's had the odd good score in the Pakistan & Caribbean leagues doesn't change the fact he's a shadow of his former self. Guptill 2016 version (see video), would have nailed it in the BBL.

One of our all-time great white-ball bats, but the selectors were right to move on from him this year.

 

[SteveNZ]

The latest news I can find about him was him saying he still hoped for a WC call-up a month ago.

Then he should've fought harder for it.

He didn't 'thumb his nose' at his contract, he handed it back because he got dropped for the Indian ODIs last year off the back of failures v Australia. I found it lame at the time, that he was happy to take the contract in June/July, then wondered how it could ever be a thing that you can hand it back when you get dropped. The World Cup was always there a year later to fight for...but he didn't. He had a wonderful ODI career at times but to me that's a significant asterix if you ever want to talk about NZ's ODI greats, you have to factor in that Gup - having been on strike for the final ball of that fateful final - chose to walk away from a contract and choose the easy franchise cash.

 

[SteveNZ]

Yeah, different format or not the fact he bombed in the Big Bash says it all really given those wickets are generally tailor made for a Guptill at the top of his game circa 2015-18. While he's had the odd good score in the Pakistan & Caribbean leagues doesn't change the fact he's a shadow of his former self. Guptill 2016 version (see video), would have nailed it in the BBL.

One of our all-time great white-ball bats, but the selectors were right to move on from him this year.

Forgotten that innings, classic Gup - 0 off 10 balls, gets a couple away then off he goes. Epic innings.

How about Neesham at 4, Watling at 5, Munro at 6 then Santner at 7 ahead of CdG

 

[loterry1994]

When are they saying Kane will be back? One thing his injury has done it’s made the other batters step up a lot of them are in good form now

 

[Moss]

When are they saying Kane will be back? One thing his injury has done it’s made the other batters step up a lot of them are in good form now

Guessing he won’t be back for the Australia game next Saturday (also at Dharamsala). But would really want him there against those opponents, not just for the batting but for his calm leadership. Latham is a good stand-in skipper but as the India game showed, I thought, not tactically great when it comes to attacking and bowling sides out. Not who I’d want going toe-to-toe against Australia, but would be cool if he proves otherwise.

 

[NZTailender]

Now that the teams met the Dalai Lama

 

[Moss]

Seems like a good time for quick stock-taking, given we're at the halfway stage and a tough series of games coming up (including vs SL, who no longer look like the sort of team you'd necessarily want to face in an elimination situation!):

Excellent/No concerns so far:
Ravindra - nowhere near the finished article but has fully justified being in the starting XI. Acquitted himself well as fifth bowling option too?
Mitchell - Quite a few posters picked him to be NZ’s key man, gotta love his appetite for the battle. Wish they’d try him out more with the ball.
Phillips - done his bit alright though the India game showed how bowlers can shut him down, won’t get easier from here
Santner - bowled quite beautifully so far, taking wickets too and very important to NZ’s chances
Henry - Also in top form and key to NZ’s fortunes, much better now at staying calm under pressure when batsmen are targeting him

Decent/Slight Concerns:
Conway - good sign that the others have picked up the slack when he’s got out early, but need big runs from him regularly going into the business end
Young - His intl. career in miniature you feel, some good scores without imposing himself, interesting to see if he can step up against more challenging attacks
Latham - Didn’t look in great form even during the Afghanistan knock, keeping too has been erratic. Captaincy good but thought he let things get away in the India game, the next week is huge in terms of how he may be regarded as long-term leadership materila
Chapman - Hard to judge as he he has an unenviable task at no.7 like Neesham previously. Why the hell haven’t NZ explored him as a bowling option?
Ferguson - Gone better than expected given his form leading into the tournament, but needs to mix things up against the better sides who won’t be troubled by raw pace
Boult - Credit to him for coming back well in later overs, but been a bit off the pace with the new ball. This could be his international swansong, so expect him to be fully switched on

Not Rated:
Williamson - Safe to assume he won’t be back till the Sri Lanka game. Batting aside, missing his calm leadership at a crucial stage
Neesham - useful to have around in case it’s a spinning track and they want to play two frontline spinners, but bowled quite badly in that England game