2020/21 New Zealand Domestic Season

[straw man]

Nicholls does need a good set of scores - was a real disappointment last international season. With his success and unruffled game up to that point I had thought he would have the stickability to bat further up the order, if needed, like he has here for Canterbury. But looked thoroughly outgunned by the Australian quicks unfortunately (yes I realise they are good) - even beaten for pace on his pads and thighs.

So it's back to number 5 for him, will need runs against WI or someone else will have that spot.

 

[CharlesLara]

Letting Fraser Sheat and Will Williams have one month out of the five where they're dictating terms isn't the worst thing in the world. It's just quite a wet spring with groundsmen who've been a bit intransigent in their style, probably. Or else they figure the weather has been so bad for achieving pace and carry that starting games with a closer shave on day 1 would create pitches even more sluggish and undesirable than they already are.

Maybe when a prolonged South African first-tier failure like Conway isn't getting out there at 3 and keeping his three-year rolling average above about 75, NZ's domestic batsmen can have another bitch about how unfair everything is. Then they can lift Finn Allen back out of the dumpster, telling him the great news that all those obscene Hamish Rutherford/Colin Munro/Corey Anderson/cbf Jesse years are back on. The big grift is back on. All those big clumsy, dopey, worthless bulls are going to be rampaging around in the Plunket Shield antique shop again.

Damn Kippax, who you had to do em like that? HAHAHAHA.

and I'm in your camp, I tend to disagree with nzfan take on the openers dismissals IE Beghin etc, you know what all those players listed have in common with the exception of Jeet (I don't know much about Hawkins), is that you are talking about guys who have played most of the cricketing careers NOT opening, you expect Graeme Beghin to score runs against any seam bowler at the top of the order? These guys are not technically prepared to open, let alone have the temperament or technique against good bowlers on a deck with assistance. Thats how I'm looking at it, as opposed to blaming the decks with too much assistance etc. Also, there are flat track small boundary grounds galore in our FC setup so it evens out over the season and guys like Latham, and now Conway seem to be a cut above and prepared to specialise where as everyone else would rather be a stop gap fit in the side at all costs type player.

Think of Anaru, I came into his club side the season he burst into the Aces with those hundreds at the back end of the season. He;s been hit or miss since, and mainly miss and is now an all rounder in LO and opener in FC? These are where genuine options and young players (particularly in specialist positions IE Opening, spin, Keeper) are being held up in development and moved around to accomodate some sort of journeyman.

 

[Flem274*]

otago's batting order is a bit weird. anaru kitchen has always been more eye than technique and he's 36. that's not a player i'd elevate to face the new ball on early season decks. i'd put him at #4 at the highest and open with rutherford.

Nicholls does need a good set of scores - was a real disappointment last international season. With his success and unruffled game up to that point I had thought he would have the stickability to bat further up the order, if needed, like he has here for Canterbury. But looked thoroughly outgunned by the Australian quicks unfortunately (yes I realise they are good) - even beaten for pace on his pads and thighs.

So it's back to number 5 for him, will need runs against WI or someone else will have that spot.

every established player looked outgunned in australia, that was the problem. nicholls shouldn't pay as an individual for the crapness of his more senior mates.

 

[Bahnz]

every established player looked outgunned in australia, that was the problem. nicholls shouldn't pay as an individual for the crapness of his more senior mates.

It wasn’t just in Aus though. Nicholls output in tests was poor all season. He hasn't hit a test 50 since prior to the 2019 World Cup. He's still got plenty of credit in the bank, but yeah he definitely needs a good season to turn things around.

 

[thundaboult]

Will Young isn't having the best of starts....hopefully something clicks for him in the WI warm-ups.

 

[thundaboult]

Also, what sort of pace do Fraser Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat and Will Williams bowl? Will Williams looks an obvious medium pacer as I saw a keeper standing up to the stumps while he bowls. Doesn't look too quick on video either. Sheat looks like he's low 130's? Can't really tell. He's got a pretty solid action with those quick ninja arms in delivery stride.

The Encouraging thing for me with Canterbury is Ed Nuttall this season. He's got some wickets now and hopefully some confidence. If he can get back to his 2015-2016 best with pace and late swing....a call up to the national side could become a possibility again. Still fondly remember Shane Bond earmarking him as the next big thing + troubling mahela or sanga when they were here.

 

[CharlesLara]

otago's batting order is a bit weird. anaru kitchen has always been more eye than technique and he's 36. that's not a player i'd elevate to face the new ball on early season decks. i'd put him at #4 at the highest and open with rutherford.

every established player looked outgunned in australia, that was the problem. nicholls shouldn't pay as an individual for the crapness of his more senior mates.

funny thing is this is what he has eventually turned into after being a top 4 bat known for being stylish and technically good, which is moreso a s sign of system (along with Anaru's poor injury record). As per, it needs to noted most of my Aces top order hopes were dashed the moment Andrew De Boorder decided to hang it up, so my cynicism towards that Aces middle order is the down pure shenanigans and mismanagement of players and who they decide to persist with. I'm a jaded red ball Aces fan at this point LOL.

For some reason I haven't understood the constant critcism of Nicholls, and I was early to boot the boot in when he frist got picked for the side which seems so long ago now. To me its all relative to that order and he's also shown to have some sort of mental fortitude and match situation awareness. Yeah he flopped in oz, so did everyone in that team and we've seen him play key innings when he needs to before, maybe I'm being too kind but I dunno, I don't see Nicholls as a HUGE issue. Windies Test Series should be a nice primer to see where peoples heads are at.

 

[nzfan]

Also, what sort of pace do Fraser Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat and Will Williams bowl? Will Williams looks an obvious medium pacer as I saw a keeper standing up to the stumps while he bowls. Doesn't look too quick on video either. Sheat looks like he's low 130's? Can't really tell. He's got a pretty solid action with those quick ninja arms in delivery stride.

The Encouraging thing for me with Canterbury is Ed Nuttall this season. He's got some wickets now and hopefully some confidence. If he can get back to his 2015-2016 best with pace and late swing....a call up to the national side could become a possibility again. Still fondly remember Shane Bond earmarking him as the next big thing + troubling mahela or sanga when they were here.

125 at best, likley like 120 on the NZ radar gun. They're quite slow but WW is slower. Still you have to put the ball in the right area and release of the seam needs to be proper for it to nibble. Both are reasonably good but unless they have say some batting to go with it, hard to crack the next level.

 

[nzfan]

funny thing is this is what he has eventually turned into after being a top 4 bat known for being stylish and technically good, which is moreso a s sign of system (along with Anaru's poor injury record). As per, it needs to noted most of my Aces top order hopes were dashed the moment Andrew De Boorder decided to hang it up, so my cynicism towards that Aces middle order is the down pure shenanigans and mismanagement of players and who they decide to persist with. I'm a jaded red ball Aces fan at this point LOL.

For some reason I haven't understood the constant critcism of Nicholls, and I was early to boot the boot in when he frist got picked for the side which seems so long ago now. To me its all relative to that order and he's also shown to have some sort of mental fortitude and match situation awareness. Yeah he flopped in oz, so did everyone in that team and we've seen him play key innings when he needs to before, maybe I'm being too kind but I dunno, I don't see Nicholls as a HUGE issue. Windies Test Series should be a nice primer to see where peoples heads are at.

Nicholls doesn't look pleasing to the eyes in comparison to our other batters so when he fails he attracts a bit more attention. I think he's quite good and in particular against spin. It's a good thing we have such competition. It's definitely going to be 4 men race in the next one year, Nicholls, Blundell (unless he takes over gloves and bats at 6), Conway and Young. I see there's going to be two out of these 4 missing out consistently. International cricket is a different beast, you get better decks but the quality of the opponents improve so it balances. Besides the pressure to score there to keep the place and win games is going to be way more. All of these are quality batters and can definitely play but the two that can handle the pressure and use the competition to their advantage will go well. I see Nicholls being more of a test player. Blundell still can play T20 cricket as well. Conway likely good enough for all formats meanwhile Young will feature more in one day cricket and eventually test cricket.

 

[nzfan]

Weather's looking a bit dodgy at the moment in the captial. Was hoping for another 250+ score for Conway today.

 

[Flem274*]

funny thing is this is what he has eventually turned into after being a top 4 bat known for being stylish and technically good, which is moreso a s sign of system (along with Anaru's poor injury record). As per, it needs to noted most of my Aces top order hopes were dashed the moment Andrew De Boorder decided to hang it up, so my cynicism towards that Aces middle order is the down pure shenanigans and mismanagement of players and who they decide to persist with. I'm a jaded red ball Aces fan at this point LOL.

For some reason I haven't understood the constant critcism of Nicholls, and I was early to boot the boot in when he frist got picked for the side which seems so long ago now. To me its all relative to that order and he's also shown to have some sort of mental fortitude and match situation awareness. Yeah he flopped in oz, so did everyone in that team and we've seen him play key innings when he needs to before, maybe I'm being too kind but I dunno, I don't see Nicholls as a HUGE issue. Windies Test Series should be a nice primer to see where peoples heads are at.

i see what you mean, but i remember watching kitchen is his 20s. he was balance and timing more than technique even then.

 

[Immenso]

125 at best, likley like 120 on the NZ radar gun. They're quite slow but WW is slower. Still you have to put the ball in the right area and release of the seam needs to be proper for it to nibble. Both are reasonably good but unless they have say some batting to go with it, hard to crack the next level.

Sheat looks hard to judge speeds. He has no leap in his delivery stride. All kind-of bustle. But seems to have good carry despite seeming to fit an along-the-wicket description based on his bowling action.

He interests me, I like watching him bowl in the wickets highlights.

Green spring so far, but, I can't recall what he was like last season at the dry end of the season (which was curtailed anyway due to covid). Seems a good addition to the domestic depth.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Nicholls hasn’t passed 50 in his last eight tests (high score 42) and has averaged 21.5 in that time, so I don’t think the criticism is unwarranted or simply down to unco looking dismissals.

 

[Mike5181]

"Is Nicholls good enough to play test cricket?" vs. 'Is Nicholls a better batsman than Devon Conway?"

The relevant question has always been the latter. I don't think anyone's suggesting he's not good enough for test level, despite the form drop he's still averaging 40 after 33 tests. That's very good, especially for a New Zealand team.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Even though CDG has done nothing wrong we could play both Nicholls and Conway in the top 6, with Watling at 7, Jamieson at 8 then Southee, Wagner, Boult.

 

[Bahnz]

Conway has been in awesome touch, but subbing him in for Nicholls at this juncture strikes me as similar to bringing Matt Henry in to the team in place of Neil Wagner in 2015. It just strikes me as jumping the gun a bit too quickly, and sacrificing team cohesion for uncertain gains. If Conway runs up a big score in the NZA game and Nicholls gets a duck then maybe the selectors will need to reassess. But for now I'd stick with Nicholls especially given his high output on home soil prior to 2019/20.

 

[Immenso]

Just looked up Sheat's career stats. He has 51 FC wickets at 19.86. (That is probably before current match, so has improved them again)
Wow, good start.

 

[Flem274*]

from what i've seen sheat benefits from always giving himself a chance. he puts it up there in the corridor, so will be serviceable at home imo but jury is out on away from home.

 

[Immenso]

Re-familiarising myself with last season. I see that Mark Chapman had an excellent season (including v India A). As well as a fairly good season the year before.
Any evolution in his short ball play looking Kippax?

 

[Flem274*]

played some pull shots yesterday.

speaking of short balls, jamie gibson didn't enjoy kyle jamieson.