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

[SteveNZ]

Nathan Lyon: *leading edge over the top of mid off*

Scotty: Hits the pad, is there a bit of bat?

What the actual ****?

Did this actually happen??

Yeah he needs to stop talking before he comprehends what happened

If he did that, he'd never be able to talk...which may have been your point

 

[SteveNZ]

Southee and his waning effectiveness must now be a real conundrum for the NZ brains trust.

It should be. It raises a few issues - who takes the new ball, who is the captain, who will burn our reviews, and so on

He should look across the changing room at Wagner, and realise the ride doesn't roll on forever. He's not half the bloody-minded competitor Wagner is, so might be able to see more clearly that the time is nigh.

But yeah, he's cooked. 120km/ph or there abouts, just no zip off the deck anymore. There was a significant amount of disdainful batting aimed at him yesterday, which you can't accept from your opening bowler.

Interesting as to who they'd consider to replace him as captain. Latham probably the safe and really only bet, although his performances recently have been pretty rubbish, too.

 

[Big_Gun]

TVNZ website has really good highlights, they go for like 25min

 

[Gob]

Its important that big josh get to the other end some how tomorrow. green could give timmothy the jaiswal treatment to jimothy

 

[Prince EWS]

Did this actually happen??

Abso-****ing-lutely.

 

[Molehill]

This is going to be a weird complaint but it's really getting on my nerves just how much official broadcaster/board-release highlights absolutely reek these days, they're just incompetently put together. Constantly focussing too much on the wrong things, missing important events and/or boundaries, skipping through wickets, not even attempting to give context to large milestones etc. For example Green went from 50 to 100 on the highlights Fox released at better than a run a ball and they might have shown two? three? of his boundaries, one of which was the hundred.

Even the ECB highlights, which used to be excellent, have gotten noticeably worse lately.

Think we're pretty lucky with Sky in the UK. You normally get a bitesize option (available soon after stumps) that lasts about 10 mins, then later in the evening there will be an hour long package that covers everything in detail. It's a shame Big Bob is no longer with us, his Verdict on the day's play after highlights was great viewing, especially if England had had a stinker.

 

[SteveNZ]

Its important that big josh get to the other end some how tomorrow. green could give timmothy the jaiswal treatment to jimothy

The sad thing is, Timothy will probably bowl - which shouldn't happen. It should be O'Rourke (bowls well to LHers) and Henry

 

[straw man]

Then when we bat I think the openers especially Young should be aggressive and they can take the shine off of the new ball so Wlliamson can get his 33rd 100.

As others have said it's a pitch that Cummins and Hazlewood will love to bowl on. I don't know if it matters whether Young plays aggressively or not, I can't really see him or Latham scoring runs, even 30. Not going to suit Rachin or Blundell's stroke-making particularly either imo.

Williamson, Mitchell and maybe Phillips would need to score the bulk of the runs.

 

[Stefan9]

Shame on NZ for picking kuggelejin again...

 

[wellAlbidarned]

This has been an issue for a while, now. I completely agree, it's awful. One of the Kiwi posters (sorry mate, whoever you are) said it was based on an algorhythm of crowd noise, which I always found hard to believe...but given how ****ty the highlights are, I guess it's plausible.

Clearly it's a cost-cutting exercise. Either the junior office boy does it, or it's some sort of automated process that spits out rubbish. To be fair, TVNZ (free to air broadcaster in NZ for cricket) actually do it OK. Or maybe I compare that to Spark Sport (online subscription model, had the cricket but shut down) who were absolutely abysmal.

The ones that **** me (as a former bowler) are that as you say, they skip through wickets, don't show enough of DRS decisions, don't show dropped catches, and for some reason show inconsequential singles and stuff around breaks, but not other key moments.

I dunno if anyone else can back me up, but I am a big golf fan. The PGA Tour (who pays billions in prize money across a season) has THE WORST highlights package of any sport I can think of. It used to be good...and now it absolutely sucks. It's all out of wack on time, doesn't build suspense with the right players, shows inconsequential shots/golfers etc, then sort of shoehorns the winner/challengers in at the end. So if an organisation with that sort of money and resources can't be bothered, I think we're all doomed.

I think broadcasters genuinely don’t understand how important good highlights are to viewership - they basically see it as nullifying their own product.

 

[TheJediBrah]

No your 100% right, there rushed.

Your grammar is killing me cuh

 

[Immenso]

I think broadcasters genuinely don’t understand how important good highlights are to viewership - they basically see it as nullifying their own product.

Which is crazy for a sport that clashes with the 9-5 working day for 3/5ths of it's duration.

 

[Starfighter]

This is going to be a weird complaint but it's really getting on my nerves just how much official broadcaster/board-release highlights absolutely reek these days, they're just incompetently put together. Constantly focussing too much on the wrong things, missing important events and/or boundaries, skipping through wickets, not even attempting to give context to large milestones etc. For example Green went from 50 to 100 on the highlights Fox released at better than a run a ball and they might have shown two? three? of his boundaries, one of which was the hundred.

Even the ECB highlights, which used to be excellent, have gotten noticeably worse lately.

I find it massively irritanting. Firstly some countries it's often impossible to get any full stop - I'm looking at you South Africa. Then there's things like Pakistan used to have long ones available, but no longer do in many locations.

Then we get to the editing. Far too much time taken up on junk and crucial moments not shown. For example, an ordinary off drive getting replays from three different angles. Only wickets and remarkable occurrences should be getting slow motion replays (for edges, bowleds, from front on, not mid-off), and the whole sequence can usually be edited to take up much less time than is common. Dropped catches or other missed chances are rarely shown even though they are often one of the most important and interesting occurrences. There's absolutely no reason not to include all of the wickets, sixes, misses, milestones and a good selection of fours.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Slower paced morning today. Won't be heading in quite so early.

 

[Aidan11]

Could have got 2 there.

 

[Athlai]

Henry bowling two overs on the trot on cricinfo

 

[BazBall21]

Good pace and still some sideways movement in this. Cummins will be a pest. Australia have the bowling depth too. Gonna be hard work for the NZ batsmen.

 

[Howsie]

Hmmmm Australia really should be having a go here. Last thing you want is to score 15-20 from about 45 mins of play and have more sun dry out the pitch

 

[Immenso]

Henry bowling two overs on the trot on cricinfo

I wish we could put a blond wig on him every second over in real life and let him bowl from both ends. And put the specialist captain at 3rd slip, until after the new ball is in a non-wastable condition

 

[BazBall21]

I think this series is the toughest assignment for Kane this year.