The bowling, in particular Carse, has been class (pun firmly intended!), the batting has been largely what we have come to expect (inconsistent top order, supreme middle order), although Bethell has emerged as a possible option for the top 3 and Brook has shown he can make difficult runs in tricky conditions, I’d say they’ve all emerged with credit apart from Crawley and Woakes (if his batting is even important these days)
Wags was cooked but he still took a pair of 4-fors in that England series last summer, including a match-winning one at the Basin. And as you say, he added value with his presence. Yet again yesterday, Southee looked pedestrian then played a typical Tim Southee shot (yes, I realise the game was over) to hook out with 4 men back.
He played 6 in a row in the summer, there was never any chance of resting him for the final Test of that run as it was at the Oval, even though he could have done with it as his speeds were well down on what they had been (even now, despite the New Zealand wind being a factor, they are not up to what they were at the beginning of the summer). Carse is obviously a lot fresher having had the majority of the summer off and only playing once in Pakistan, I’d like to give both Potts and Stone a whirl in the third Test, which probably involves Atkinson and Woakes dropping out
Best thing would've been Boult gets that Bay Oval call up, the two old mates get a final farewell at the right time (well they both had gone down a bit in tests by then).
England have not always simply picked based on county form, I think there has long been an understanding that pitches and conditions in the County Championship are not the same as you'll find elsewhere (Boyd Rankin anyone?), but we've taken that into turbocharge these days. Steve Finn wrote an interesting piece on it the other day, one of the factors that makes domestic first-class games so different to Test games is the sheer amount of games they play (and when they play them), but I guess that's not as much of a factor in New Zealand with fewer FC teams
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I'd much prefer they call up Rhys Marius instead of Mark Chapman and just play him in the XI. Young should be a middle-order bat now.
far to bold for stead but yes an opener would have been a better call
There seems to be a feeling that it's too early to go to Mariu. This is what his Canterbury coach Peter Fulton had to say on 7 December about where he is at:
I read that as simply managing his expectations, which is a perfectly correct thing to do as his coach.
"Lol, born in 2001?! This is a cricket game not a ****n' space odyssey. Gimme a bell in 10 years time (when I'll definitely still be coach) and I might give him a second look - if he's prepared to work on his spin bowling." - Gary Stead
Setting Young up to fail. He goes in as Opener where he's not suited, nicks off early doors, goes back to sitting on the bench again.
