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*Official* Australia tour of New Zealand Feb-Mar 2024

jcas0167

jcas0167

International Debutant
straw man said:
It's a genuine question why our catching has declined to this level.

Partly it may be that some newer players are just bad. Chapman drops a lot. Rachin hasn't been that reliable. Sodhi has always been terrible. Phillips good except when he's too busy bouncing up and down to catch the ball.

But also you have to think coaching/drilling on this might have gotten a little lax.
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Bracewell on radio comms was talking about how much practice he felt he had to do to field in the slips as he didn't have the same ability as someone like Coney. Had bruised hands all the time. Also, some old school training with Artie Dick in Otago at the start of the season diving to catch the ball just out reach in the mud.
 
S

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
TheJediBrah said:
A lottery greentop?
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Potentially...as Moss said, we don't have a lot of weapons when the ball gets older. Henry is great when the ball is new, O'Rourke will trouble LHers in particular, Southee...well...um...he might get someone caught at point, and our spinners aren't Test class. If it's flat, Australia have us in layers with their bowling options.

We've got to bat first and score 500+ and get them with scoreboard pressure/bowl last on a wearing deck, or if the pitch is spicy/we take plenty of wickets with the new ball.
 
S

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
The other issue I have with Stead as a coach, is we very seldom hear from him. We lost 3-0 to Australia, he should be fronting up and explaining why. Do we train fielding enough? Because it doesn't look like it. Why were batsmen backing away from a clear tactic by Australia to bowl full and inside the offside wide line? How is Conway's injury? Is he worried about depth? Is he worried we're scared of Australia, less than a week out from the Tests?
 
HeathDavisSpeed

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
We seem to have a problem with injury proneness and fitness every time we come up to a series against Australia. The list of first-teamers with injuries seems to have grown dramatically in the last month - Mitchell, Jamieson, Ravindra, Conway, Williamson always seems to have a niggle these days. The Conway injury is unlucky, but the others just seem to be normal wear and tear.
 
Flem274*

Flem274*

123/5
SteveNZ said:
Oh yeah, and the other question I'd like asked of Stead - why was Ferguson 'managed' out of the third match, when - by my best count - he has bowled 38 overs in this home summer. THIRTY EIGHT OVERS. In 3 months. 11 overs a month. 3 overs a week. Yes, I know there's training, too, but can't he be managed out of that? Why in the world would you want to 'manage out' a guy in his form, against an opponent like Australia? Or are we to take you literally that we shouldn't expect to win, or even try to win every time?

Ugh.
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On radio this morning said he's been nursing a niggle for 2 months and was 50/50
 
HeathDavisSpeed

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Flem274* said:
On radio this morning said he's been nursing a niggle for 2 months and was 50/50
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Why do we have all these players with niggles? What's going on with that. It's like the bad days of 15+ years ago when every bowler who could fling 'em down at over 125km/h broke down with alarming regularity. Ugh.
 
Bahnz

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
For anyone keen to go to the Basin who missed out on a ticket, NZC has opened up an allocation of 150 tickets for each day of the test.
 
jcas0167

jcas0167

International Debutant
Friday seems to already be sold out again.

HeathDavisSpeed said:
Why do we have all these players with niggles? What's going on with that. It's like the bad days of 15+ years ago when every bowler who could fling 'em down at over 125km/h broke down with alarming regularity. Ugh.
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High volume of cricket and an aging side. Could be worse. We had a guy on Saturday who pulled a hamstring approaching the crease on his hat-trick delivery.
 
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Chubb

Chubb

International Regular
HeathDavisSpeed said:
We seem to have a problem with injury proneness and fitness every time we come up to a series against Australia. The list of first-teamers with injuries seems to have grown dramatically in the last month - Mitchell, Jamieson, Ravindra, Conway, Williamson always seems to have a niggle these days. The Conway injury is unlucky, but the others just seem to be normal wear and tear.
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It's because Australia create a reality warping field that causes opposing teams to get injured, wilt and give up unless they are very strong mentally.

Maybe I've been reading too much science fiction but look at the pattern over the years and tell me there's nothing to that idea.
 
Bahnz

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Forecast for days 4 and 5 looks pretty yuck, therefore I'm predicting that NZ will dominate this test, achieve a 150+ first innings lead, and have Australia 90/5 in their 2nd dig at the close of day 3 when rain rolls in to force a draw.

Australia then win by an innings and 300 at Hagley.
 
Chubb

Chubb

International Regular
As much as I love Wagner, not sure the most highly anticipated NZ series in several years is the best place to have a swansong.
 
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