I guess you could argue that playing to our strengths is confidence, but in this case I think it’s more a ‘what do we fear less’ thing. I think we have a lot more historical anxiety around being helpless against an onslaught when defending a total, than we do about chasing a total. Still feels like more of a fear-based thing than a confident thing.
He really wasn’t. It’s 2023 and we’re playing a World Cup in India, it was always going to be a run fest. What other top class teams out there are picking a number 5 who at best will score at around 100 if he gets going and has next to no ability to clear the fence?
Who would you have as keeper?
This is mostly pretty reasonable but you seem to be assessing/comparing Latham with other specialist batsmen as opposed to NZ’s alternative wicket keepers
"other" top class? You think NZ are top class?
Yeah tbf the other options aren’t great, I realise that. But we are seriously wasting Phillips down at 6. He should be playing at 5, Chapman at 6 and our keeper at 7 (if Conway isn’t up to taking the gloves).
Ha ha. Well given the core of this side has been around since the 2015 WC, that’s 3 finals and 2 semifinals across white ball tournaments, yes. This is probably a tournament too far though.
i.stuff.co.nz
No, they want to guarantee finishing 4th to play #1 India and beat them in the semi final again
No not at all I'm not ripping into his selection, I'm sure I said I thought he'd be very good for a subcontinent World Cup and I even said he would've been worth considering for the World T20 in India. And I still don't think he should be dropped or shouldn't have been picked.
I do appreciate Howsie's ability to find the other angles and to be fair, this isn't a bad analysis at all. He did have the match-winning 145 against India (yes, Eden Park so small) and a 98 off 85 in Pakistan, but also in that series he had a couple of knocks that didn't fit the required run rate, and quite a few failures around those scores. Even if he is the best guy for now, his spot in ODIs should be up for review after this tournament.
Nah, it was daft when Buttler did it and downright idiotic for Latham to follow suit. Teams who bat first are generally winning their games more comfortably than those who bat 2nd (apart from India who are just comfortably beating everyone). And we all know what SA prefer.
conway should be keeping and williamson should replace latham when fit
Important game, whoever wins will probably top the table. Coming 2nd almost certainly means you play the Aussies, topping the table means NZ/Pak/Afghan.
Mentioned this in an earlier post, but I think quite a few observers (and more importantly NZ themselves) overestimate the effectiveness of their attack in these conditions, against the top batting sides at least. Especially considering they play 4 specialists plus part timers, and there are fitness issues to boot. The tactic worked against England, but they're not going to restrict India/Australia/South Africa to 280 or below that easily. No shame in that, 350+ scores are the norm, but I don't think you should be repeatedly putting yourself in a position to chase that much if you get to decide. In Dharamsala it was because they thought the early morning conditions would aid movement, in Pune because of the dew, both were miscalculations.
