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**Official** England in New Zealand 28 Nov-18 Dec 2024 - 3 Tests

FBU

International Debutant
Because Josh Hull has been scandalously overlooked for this series after his left-field selection against SL, hence that entirely serious part of my post.
Hull was injured and now with the Lions to South Africa.
Good bowling attack - Hull, Lawes, Pennington, Turner and maybe Tongue
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
If Root gets a triple in the next match, or a pair of 150s, he will break Yousuf’s record. Easy
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Hull was injured and now with the Lions to South Africa.
Good bowling attack - Hull, Lawes, Pennington, Turner and maybe Tongue
It's good to know Hull's fit again. And I'd love to see Tongue playing again as I thought he did pretty well at Lord's last summer.
As you say, that's not the worst attack at all.
 
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SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Some great content in this article about the PM meeting the two Test squads:


Most notably for @SteveNZ , I record the following bullet points:

[During a one-to-one photo shoot with the PM] Glenn Phillips is very enthusiastic and grabs the prime minister like an old mate.
[Once Chris Bishop gets some backyard cricket going] The international players don’t seem too keen, except for Glenn Philips, who drags around a purple plastic bat but can’t convince his friends to play with him.
Hahaha I have so many thoughts I'll share another time. But I love it.

Stead logic: Batting a guy at 8 who loves cricket so much he wants to play at a luncheon at Parliament.

One thing I will say, also, is that if anyone says GP should be captain, I'll point out he wanted to review O'Rourke's Lbw which was dead plumb and to a guy who is a jack on 0 off 25 balls. That infectiousness for the game can have its pitfalls
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
I think we just have a bunch of old plans and a way of playing that we haven't really moved on from and are reluctant to do so.

It's not like we have to adopt Bazball, but teams have to evolve eventually, based on the players they have. And we're still playing as though we have the 2018-22 team.
We sure are. Even in India, there wasn't any particular intelligent approach to what we did - we just played good cricket at the right times.

I'd love to hear Stead, or Latham, explain what our approach is. What's our game plan? What's our identity?
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
How much are Pakistan paying Jason Gillespie? He could have far more job security with us and be a short flight from Aus.

Or get Andre Adams away from Bangladesh to work with our crop of quicks.
Dre is a great call, although he's not a head coach.

The next coach has got a hell of an assignment. By the time we play Australia in 2026-27, or earlier for some, today's XI that will be gone are Latham Conway Kane Mitchell Blundell Henry and Southee. Santner and Ajaz also gone, and Young not far off.

So they've got to ease out the current guys, find the right ones to bring in at the right time, and cast off the malaise that has come with this current setup.

We need a strong man manager but we also need a good selector, a developer of talent, a risk taker to a point, we really need a rare coaching talent. I don't think someone like Gillespie will do.
 

Skyliner

State Captain
Dre is a great call, although he's not a head coach.

The next coach has got a hell of an assignment. By the time we play Australia in 2026-27, or earlier for some, today's XI that will be gone are Latham Conway Kane Mitchell Blundell Henry and Southee. Santner and Ajaz also gone, and Young not far off.

So they've got to ease out the current guys, find the right ones to bring in at the right time, and cast off the malaise that has come with this current setup.

We need a strong man manager but we also need a good selector, a developer of talent, a risk taker to a point, we really need a rare coaching talent. I don't think someone like Gillespie will do.
Well the test series against Australia will kick off in 2026 and we are on the cusp of 2025. I don’t think we’ll be “easing out the current guys” before we play Australia in 2026. It’s too close. On the contrary, everyone except Southee will be eyeing that historic 4 test series which includes a Boxing Day test at the MCG - and so they should be. Kane will be 36 when that series begins. Tom Blundell will be 36. Conway will be 35. Mitchell will be 35. Tom Latham will be 34. Will Young will be 34. Santner will be 34.
To suggest that all these guys - you named 9 + Young “not far off” - will be eased out before the Australia series does not hold water. We’d be going to Australia with virtually a brand new side and where would we find 9 test cricketers in such a tight time-frame?
Ajaz won’t be there but he only seems to be picked for sub continent tours anyway. Of the current regular playing group I’d see Conway and Blundell as the most likely to not be there: almost everyone else will be unless there are surprise retirements.
Now for the important context: Khawaja turns 38 on 18 December, Lyon is 37 *now*, Steve Smith is 35 *now*, Starc turns 35 next month, Marsh / Carey / Hazlewood are all 33 *now*.
So if we go on respective ages & according to your logic then it would be a host of the current Aussies that won’t be involved in the series, not a host of the current BC’s.
In 2025 we have 4 tests. The assignments are not overly onerous. Provided the current players perform will a modicum of success against Zimbabwe and the Windies then they will be retained into 2026.
In 2026 we tour England for 3 tests including a test at Lords, and also play our first ever test vs Ireland in Ireland. India are out here for 2 tests in October / November and then we go to Australia. So any NZ international cricketer will see 2026 as a watershed year in NZ cricket history and one they want to be a part of.
 
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Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Well the test series against Australia will kick off in 2026 and we are on the cusp of 2025. I don’t think we’ll be “easing out the current guys” before we play Australia in 2026. It’s too close. On the contrary, everyone except Southee will be eyeing that historic 4 test series which includes a Boxing Day test at the MCG - and so they should be. Kane will be 36 when that series begins. Tom Blundell will be 36. Conway will be 35. Mitchell will be 35. Tom Latham will be 34. Will Young will be 34. Santner will be 34.
To suggest that all these guys - you named 9 + Young “not far off” - will be eased out before the Australia series does not hold water. We’d be going to Australia with virtually a brand new side and where would we find 9 test cricketers in such a tight time-frame?
Ajaz won’t be there but he only seems to be picked for sub continent tours anyway. Of the current regular playing group I’d see Conway and Blundell as the most likely to not be there: almost everyone else will be unless there are surprise retirements.
Latham is terrible against good pace and bounce. I know he is captain, but really shouldn't go to Australia.

We will need 2 new openers and a new wicketkeeper. We have heaps of good quicks and allrounders.
 

Skyliner

State Captain
Latham is terrible against good pace and bounce. I know he is captain, but really shouldn't go to Australia.

We will need 2 new openers and a new wicketkeeper. We have heaps of good quicks and allrounders.
I don’t disagree re the openers and wicketkeeper, but Latham will no doubt pile on the runs against the likes of Zimbabwe, Windies, and Ireland and he’ll be on the plane to Australia. They won’t drop the captain.
 

Skyliner

State Captain
All bets are off once you bowl 2024 Tim Southee as much as him
Before he gets to the point of defecting to England out of desperation, O’Rourke might opt for delivering a series of home truths to various players in a brutal truth & honesty session after this test, including a ‘the Emperor has no clothes’ moment where he confronts Southee in front of the assembled players and tells him he is totally cooked and must not play in the final test in Hamilton.
 

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