New Zealand A Tour of India and Sri Lanka

[Kippax]

"The side we've got here is a very well balanced side". Glad to hear the ****ing Orwellian distortion of what phrases actually mean continues.

Audio: Pre Match Press Conference ? New Zealand A Vs. Sri Lanka A | Sri Lanka Cricket (15.15 in)

Latham put forward as captain before that, about 12:00 in.

 

[Flem274*]

Ronchi won't open and keep wicket in a four day match. They're not that ****ing ********. Cricinfo just listed them in whatever order. Look where Milne and Gillespie are supposedly batting.

Devcich, Astle, Cachopa, Mitchell, Anderson, Ronchi, Munro, The Bowlers or some variation thereof. Still an awful opening combination though. I hope they register ducks so the ****s selecting the teams learn.

 

[straw man]

Ronchi won't open and keep wicket in a four day match. They're not that ****ing ********.

Barely less ******** than any other opening pair they name from that XI tbh

****ty rain has finally given way and Bracewell has a wicket. Rather hard to tell what's going on, who's bowling well etc when it's just a scorecard though. Surprised Sodhi only bowled two overs out of 49 so far.

 

[Mike5181]

Good to see Anderson getting through a decent amount of overs on this tour.

 

[Bahnz]

Poor Toddeh, looks like he's been completely binned as a spin option, and we're barely halfway through the A tour. Must be pretty demoralising for a guy to spend his last four years completely reshaping himself as a player only to discover he's been replaced by a younger ***ier model. Hopefully he rediscovers his passion for opening and comes storming back into the reckoning that way.

 

[Prince EWS]

Hopefully he rediscovers his passion for opening and comes storming back into the reckoning that way.

Yessssssssssss!!!

 

[Flem274*]

Poor Toddeh, looks like he's been completely binned as a spin option, and we're barely halfway through the A tour. Must be pretty demoralising for a guy to spend his last four years completely reshaping himself as a player only to discover he's been replaced by a younger ***ier model. Hopefully he rediscovers his passion for opening and comes storming back into the reckoning that way.

It was only really one disaster in his weakest format by far that saw the end of him as well, and he wasn't the only kiwi spinner to take some serious tap. Killed off by Bradburn. It could be a common theme if the likes of Devcich are now being handed caps in brown paper bags.

I'm not optimistic he would ever have been good enough but kiwi leg spinners do tend to be abandoned at the first sign of trouble when history shows you need to handle them in the completely opposite manner.

edit: Astle has the technique to succeed as an opening batsman. I don't know how you train someone to not find new ways to get out with 30 runs to their name though. He will probably only need a couple of tons to get his name in the mix.

 

[straw man]

Poor Toddeh, looks like he's been completely binned as a spin option, and we're barely halfway through the A tour. Must be pretty demoralising for a guy to spend his last four years completely reshaping himself as a player only to discover he's been replaced by a younger ***ier model.

Yes it's very strange. As much as I don't want to feed Flem and Kippax's conspiracy theories, it's difficult to not see favouritism here.

Anyway, bowling SLA out for 252 is an excellent result if the pitch is anything like I imagine. Carl Cachopa has drawn the short straw and is the other opener.

 

[Mike5181]

Yes it's very strange. As much as I don't want to feed Flem and Kippax's conspiracy theories, it's difficult to not see favouritism here.

Can you elaborate on that?

 

[Immenso]

It's a trap!
Don't fall in to it Todd! Don't get 'nethulad' with "attitude/excuses" reasons after becoming frustrated.

Lol. (I'm only being half serious). An 'A' tour us a good a place as any to negatively test players, like Munro against spin. These are good things to know.

Other, less exciting explanations; seaming wicket - or overs under the belt for the Bang tour squad a priority.

 

[straw man]

Can you elaborate on that?

Devcich now captain and four-day opener. Previous captain Latham 'rested'. Saying Sodhi > Astle when neutral observers said Astle clearly > Sodhi in India 3 and 4 dayers. Devcich not giving Astle a bowl.

These things don't make a lot of sense and iirc Howsie used to complain about Bradburn having his favourites at ND too, so I guess that's part of the reason why people here look to that as an explanation. Yes this is jumping to conclusions from limited information but it's at least worth watching to see if there's more of the same.

 

[Immenso]

Good figures for Sodhi, hoping he bowls well enough in these SL games to actually force his way into the test XI for the Bang series. I'm really concerned at their second spinner only there for experience attitude.

Astle would have easily slotted in at 7, in a 3 seamers 2 spinners balance like Colombo last year. With Sodhi the only way I'd see it working is in a double debut with Anderson at 6/7. So not that likely, especially with 2 left arm seamers already in the first choice XI.

 

[straw man]

I too wouldn't mind seeing Sodhi selected for the Bangla tests if pitches are as I'd expect them to be. What's wrong with:

Boult
Bracewell/Wagner
Martin
Sodhi
(Williamson)

?

Yeah it lacks firepower but that's mainly cos Southee is missing.

 

[hendrix]

If they do go with two spinners it's likely Anderson will get in ahead of Brownlie so that there is a 3rd seamer.

I don't mind it tbh. It's just that neither Sodhi nor Martin are particularly good.

 

[Dan]

If Tastle comes back as an opener (again) and performs, he could be useful in that him and Williamson can provide some pretty decent quality part-time spin, either letting NZ play 4 seamers in seam-friendly conditions or a 3/3 split in India/SL.

Can't see him opening for NZ though - with Rutherford, Raval, Latham and Guptill all in existence, it would be a tough road to break into the side and hold onto the spot.

 

[Maximas]

If they do go with two spinners it's likely Anderson will get in ahead of Brownlie so that there is a 3rd seamer.

I don't mind it tbh. It's just that neither Sodhi nor Martin are particularly good.

Don't see why Brownlie would ever make the NZ side on SC pitches - he doesn't appear to be able to handle slow pitches/bowlers very well at all.

 

[Kippax]

New Zealand Cricket - Match Report

Sodhi, Bracewell, Anderson among the wickets on day two for NZA

Day two: Sri Lanka A 252 (Ish Sodhi 3/34, Corey Anderson 2/27, Kaushal Silva 103), New Zealand A 31/0 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy

After heavy rain overnight, and wet underfoot conditions delayed a start, new Test BLACKCAP Ish Sodhi worked hard to make the most of a pitch offering a some turn and bounce, to bag three wickets as New Zealand A restricted Sri Lanka A to 252 all out on day two of the first unofficial Test in Kandy.

Paceman Doug Bracewell got the vital wickets of Kaushal Silva, who scored a patient 103, and Ashan Priyanjan for 40, while Corey Anderson and Mark Gillespie both got two for the innings to go with Mark Gillespie’s two scalps from day one.

New Zealand A coach Grant Bradburn said: “The bowlers stuck at it all day, the seamers particularly bowled very tight lines and showed good discipline. To dismiss Sri Lanka A for 252 was a very good day’s work,” said Brandburn.

New Zealand A openers Carl Cachopa (14*) and Anton Devcich (11*) safely negotiated some lively Sri Lanka A fast bowling on a tricky pitch in the 11 overs possible before bad light stopped play.

“Tomorrow we’ll look to get ourselves in and weather the new ball, the Sri Lankan attack showed plenty of pace this evening. It’ll be a challenge for our guys in the morning but we’ll look to advance the game as much as we can, to set up a result on day four. We’re here to play cricket and learn in a variety of different conditions, so it would be great to see our guys tested in a fourth innings chase, or a situation where we have to bowl Sri Lanka A out a second time,” said Bradburn.

Day three of the four day match is scheduled start at 4.30pm today NZ time.

 

[Mike5181]

Devcich now captain and four-day opener. Previous captain Latham 'rested'.

Saying Sodhi > Astle when neutral observers said Astle clearly > Sodhi in India 3 and 4 dayers.

Devcich not giving Astle a bowl.

These things don't make a lot of sense and iirc Howsie used to complain about Bradburn having his favourites at ND too, so I guess that's part of the reason why people here look to that as an explanation. Yes this is jumping to conclusions from limited information but it's at least worth watching to see if there's more of the same.

Other than Devcich in the four-day team, and obviously him being captain too there's logical explanations for all of those.

Latham's in both the ODI and test squads which kind of nullifies any argument that there's bias against him. It's not as if he's got a spectacular record in either of the FC/OD formats.

Devcich not bowling Astle much in this game? You have five other bowling options in the team, including two recent test bowlers and three guys close to selection. It makes sense to give them a bigger workload, especially after the decision to take Sodhi to Bangladesh. Development and preparation-wise, he's simply the sixth most important bowler in that team now. Your sixth bowler generally won't get through many overs when the opposition team has been bowled out for just 250 either.

I doubt Astle's performances were "clearly" better or that those two games were the only factor involved in the decision anyway. People say Astle's been hard done by here, but at the end of the day he was outperformed by Sodhi in the Plunket Shield last season, has less potential as a bowler, and happens to be six years older. He was always going to have to do a bit more on this tour to be selected. Cricket Records | Records | New Zealand A tour of India and Sri Lanka, Aug-Oct 2013 | First-class matches | Batting and bowling averages | ESPN Cricinfo The difference there is just not enough to ignore those other factors.

If there was such favouristism towards ND to the extent that some of you guys have been claiming, we'd be seeing the name "BJ Watling" in the ODI squad.

 

[Maximas]

tbf Sodhi apparently bowled well without luck in India

 

[hendrix]

Don't see why Brownlie would ever make the NZ side on SC pitches - he doesn't appear to be able to handle slow pitches/bowlers very well at all.

Yeah, this is why it would've been nice to have him on the A tour. They took Bracewell, so Brownlie should be there too.