***Official** Sri Lanka in New Zealand

Darren Tuffey played grade cricket here in Sydney, i think he did alright.

Darrell, yea he played for Sutherland I think and may have opened the bowling with Glenn McGrath. Not sure though.

Perm said:

Unlikely at this stage, it's his first game back in a long time and I think Michael Mason and Mark Gillespie have leapfrogged him at this stage. Maybe after he gets some game time under his belt.

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Hopefully he can get some form Mason,Gillespie & Tuffey all fit and playing well can only be good put pressure on franklin.

With Shane Bond breaking down constantly I think it's fair to say that James Franklin is easily our best seamer when it comes to tests, ODI's are a different story because he tends to be a bit wayward at the start of his spell but usually pulls it back. But if Tuffey, Mason and Gillespie all bowl well then it will cause some competition amongst the ODI side which is great.

TBH they all pretty crap i'll take Vaas and Malinga any day of the week.

Our pace bowling stocks are pretty limited but those three guys could all bowl well in New Zealand conditions because they generally get it in good areas, extract a bit of movement of the seam and make the batsman play. Vaas is slowly declining at test level but Malinga is coming along very nicely. From the Sri Lankan point of view I would have been disappointed that Samaweera hasn't been selected, I mean his career average has never fallen below 40 so he obviously has some class. I'll be hoping Upal Tharanga and Farveez Maharoof have good tours though.

samaraweera failed last few series so dropping him is justified..

I really am disappointed by the selectors continuing to ignore Nuwan Zoysa and not picking him for the NZ Tests or ODI teams.

In NZ conditions he would be ideal in the Test XI , and besides SL will definitely need him for the World Cup. In that context this tour would have done him nicely and he has the ability to exploit NZ conditions at this time of the year with the pitches being very green . Very disappointed.

I'm not sure the pitches will be that green though, it's a little bit confusing because in the domestic season so far there have been two scores of over 600 but a few scores between 200 and 250 aswell. Doesn't give us much of a basis to judge how the pitches will play.

Samaraweera should have been dropped, but not for Chamara Silva...

Bracewell said he would pick on form. So here are the results so far and where they batted. Canterbury and Otago are not playing this weekend so those players will not play until the first test.
Opening for their domestic team

McCullum 67, 60, 30, 25.
Cumming 63, 7, 41
McIntosh 205, 9
J How 12, 9

No3
Fleming 23,26
Fulton 17, 62no, 37, 20
Sinclair 5, 17
Marshall 30,1

No4
Ryder 68, 38
Taylor 41, 12
Vincent 0. 25no
Broom 45, 112

No5, or 6
Astle 6, 61no, 37
McMillan 101, 20no, 42
Nicol 160
Franklin 64,22 2/69, 3/51
Vettori 86,40. 1/31, 3/38

Bowlers
Mason 3/39
Gillespie 3/83, 3/42
Patel 1/73, 1/39
Martin 2/90
Tuffey 3/61, 0/15
S Bond 5/ 37, 2/37.
Kyle Mills didnt play for Auckland . I dont know why

Bracewell won't pick the whole team on form, he'll probably have to make the choice for 3rd seamer and one of the middle order spots on form. After seeing the results of these games and the performances I think the team at the moment should look something like this.

1. Brendan McCullum (wk)
2. Craig Cumming
3. Stephen Fleming (c)
4. Hamish Marshall
5. Nathan Astle
6. Peter Fulton
7. Jacob Oram
8. Daniel Vettori
9. James Franklin
10. Shane Bond
11. Michael Mason

Still not too sure about what order #4,5 and 6 should come in but I think Fulton and Astle will probably be there. Marshall has been bowling a few overs so I assume Bracewell has told the top order players to do this because I notice that Astle and How were also doing it. The next round will be crucial for battles like Marshall, Vincent, Ryder and Taylor aswell as the last bowler spot between Michael Mason and Mark Gillespie.

Opening the batting with McCullum will be mistake, mark my words. How old is that McIntosh fella, give the guys a go i say.

McIntosh is about 26 or 27 off the top of my head, he had a pretty poor season last year and that one knock could be the start of a very good domsetic season for Auckland. I also noticed Andre Adams scoring a century and taking a few wickets against Otago, he could be another option for the ODI side instead of James Franklin.

Black Caps Watch

Openers

Jamiw How scored 12 and 9 which was disappointing for him but also managed to bowl 30 overs for no wicket.
Brendon McCullum scored 25 and 30 to go with his half centuries last week against Otago and has looked pretty solid at the top of the order.
Craig Cumming scored 7 and 41 against Auckland, along with his half century last week shows he has some form.

Middle Order
Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming got his domestic season underway with tidy scores of 23 and 26.
Fellow Firebird Jesse Ryder opened his account with 68 and an equally comfortable 38.
Veteran Matthew Sinclair is a slim chance to get a call up with scores of 5 and 17.
Young gun Ross Taylor scored 41 and 12.
After a great season in County Cricket Hamish Marshall batted at #3 and scored 30 and 1. He also bowled 12 overs with the figures 1/37.
Twin brother James Marshall got scores of 39 and 20.
Peter Fulton backed up an unbeaten half century against Otago by registering 37 and 20 whilst batting at #3.
Nathan Astle led Canterbury to victory with 37 and 61*. He turned his arm over as a partnership breaker but came away with no wickets.
Craig McMillan shows he has more than one string to his bow, scoring 42 and taking 1/19 and 2/16.
Lou Vincent didn't get his season off to a good start scoring a duck and 25*. Interestingly he also managed to bowl 3 overs.

All Rounders

James Franklin continues his push to be the Black Caps premier all rounder with scores of 68 and 22 and returning bowling figures of 2/69 and 3/51.
Daniel Vettori showed his batting at the Champions Trophy was no fluke by scoring 40 and 89*. He also took 1/31 and 0/38.
Andre Adams had an impressive game for Auckland with two unbeaten scores of 117* and 18*. He also opened the bowling with figures of 2/79 and 1/47.

Bowlers

Chris Martin opened the bowling for Auckland with 2/90 and 0/23.
Darryl Tuffey showed his stint in Sydney grade cricket helped and took 3/61 and 0/15.
Shane Bond looked impressive with 2/37 and 5/37.
Michael Mason bowled well to keep himself in contention and had figures of 3/39 and 4/44.
Mark Gillespie shows why he was in the Black Caps squad for the Champions Trophy with 3/83 and 3/42.
Jeetan Patel struggled with 1/73 and 1/39 but saves his best for the Black Caps.

It's strange, but from what you posted it looks like the bowlers are in better form. A continuation from the CT, then.

Matt52 said:

Bracewell said he would pick on form. So here are the results so far and where they batted. Canterbury and Otago are not playing this weekend so those players will not play until the first test.

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Aren't Otago playing SL in a 4 day game tomorrow? will they play second choice side or will the likes of Cumming play?

They are indeed playing Sri Lanka starting tomorrow, I overlooked that. I assume they will play a full strength side but I can't confirm or deny that, interesting to note that Mal Loye is not playing for Auckland today and neither is Andre Adams who scored a century and took 5 or 6 wickets aswell.

Perm said:

They are indeed playing Sri Lanka starting tomorrow, I overlooked that. I assume they will play a full strength side but I can't confirm or deny that, interesting to note that Mal Loye is not playing for Auckland today and neither is Andre Adams who scored a century and took 5 or 6 wickets aswell.

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I heard Adams has family commitments, Loye is presumably still injured.

Supposedly James McMillan might be rested for Otago

I hadn't heard anything about Adams but it must be something like that because it would be foolish not to pick him, I agree with Mal Loye probably being injured and it sounds about right that Otago would rest their best bowler.