New Zealand A Tour of India and Sri Lanka

[Kippax]

 

[Immenso]

What does everyone think of Daryl Mitchell anyway? I've only seen him bat a couple of times, and don't know much about him.

Found a bunch of his old stats:

Record for Scarborough:
Weet-Bix MyCricket: Sydney Grade Cricket

Record for WA:
Weet-Bix MyCricket: Sydney Grade Cricket

He has a ****ing fantastic pullshot, pontingesque.
I like what I saw last year in the vault, and am very interested in how he will go this tour in SC conditions.

 

[hendrix]

Dilruwan Perera, the 31y/o offspinner playing on SL's A tour, has played 136 first class matches and taken 432 wickets at an average of 25.

 

[Prince EWS]

Dilruwan Perera, the 31y/o offspinner playing on SL's A tour, has played 136 first class matches and taken 432 wickets at an average of 25.

25 isn't a particularly impressive bowling average for a Sri Lankan domestic cricket, particularly for an off spinner.

Thilan Samaraweera took 350+ FC wickets @ 23 for example. They play on some real shockers, not quite so much anymore actually but Perera certainly would've.

 

[Bahnz]

Tastle batting at 6. They really do seem to have reassesed as a batting all-rounder.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah, really didn't expect him to bat ahead of Anderson unless he opened. Lets hope it doesn't mean Anderson is injured.

 

[Mike5181]

Tastle batting at 6. They really do seem to have reassesed as a batting all-rounder.

They've pushed Anderson down the order for some reason.

Edit: Mike is slow.

 

[Maximas]

The next Steve Smith

 

[Flem274*]

Cachopa with the goods.

On the two spinners thing: never. Never ever ever ever. Not with our current stocks and KW in the side. I'd actually go the other way and suggest if Vettori is a crock and Bucko doesn't come through, go with four quicks for 18 months unless we're in the west playing against a western side on a turning pitch. None of the subcontinental sides are scared of our spinners, they're far more concerned about the array of swing, seam and bounce bowlers we can throw at them.

Southee, Boult, Bracewell, Wagner (or Gillespie/Milne if you like in there somewhere) is better than Southee, Boult, Hope, Prayer in any conditions you care to name. If we even had a Monty or a Lyon I would back them, but we don't. We don't even have a Robin Peterson. Our non-Vettori spinners are closer to Xavier Doherty than Saeed Ajmal or Graeme Swann.

Oh, and my weigh in on the ND mafia debate is ND are lame and Bradburn was known at ND to have his favourites, so him having favourites at NZ A level wouldn't surprise me one bit. Mike's argument against conspiracy theories falls down when every damn conspiracy floated in the last couple of years (well ok, the only one has been McHesson/Taylor) has been true. You only need to look at both that saga and the selection of every joke Cantabrian up until 2000 because they were Cantabrian to see a precedent.

 

[Flem274*]

And Mitchell is quality imo.

edit: We're seven down now and still no Anderson with the bowlers in. There must definitely be something wrong. Hopefully he just had a dodgy meal.

 

[Hurricane]

Cachopa with the goods.

On the two spinners thing: never. Never ever ever ever. Not with our current stocks and KW in the side. I'd actually go the other way and suggest if Vettori is a crock and Bucko doesn't come through, go with four quicks for 18 months unless we're in the west playing against a western side on a turning pitch. None of the subcontinental sides are scared of our spinners, they're far more concerned about the array of swing, seam and bounce bowlers we can throw at them.

Southee, Boult, Bracewell, Wagner (or Gillespie/Milne if you like in there somewhere) is better than Southee, Boult, Hope, Prayer in any conditions you care to name. If we even had a Monty or a Lyon I would back them, but we don't. We don't even have a Robin Peterson. Our non-Vettori spinners are closer to Xavier Doherty than Saeed Ajmal or Graeme Swann.

Oh, and my weigh in on the ND mafia debate is ND are lame and Bradburn was known at ND to have his favourites, so him having favourites at NZ A level wouldn't surprise me one bit. Mike's argument against conspiracy theories falls down when every damn conspiracy floated in the last couple of years (well ok, the only one has been McHesson/Taylor) has been true. You only need to look at both that saga and the selection of every joke Cantabrian up until 2000 because they were Cantabrian to see a precedent.

I am down with having 4 quicks but would prefer another batting allrounder to share some overs with Kane to keep him out of the spotlight due to his action. If we go with 4 quicks then the 5th bowler will need to get through 12-15 overs a day due to over rates and the need to rest the quicks.

 

[Bahnz]

On the two spinners thing: never. Never ever ever ever. Not with our current stocks and KW in the side. I'd actually go the other way and suggest if Vettori is a crock and Bucko doesn't come through, go with four quicks for 18 months unless we're in the west playing against a western side on a turning pitch. None of the subcontinental sides are scared of our spinners, they're far more concerned about the array of swing, seam and bounce bowlers we can throw at them.

Southee, Boult, Bracewell, Wagner (or Gillespie/Milne if you like in there somewhere) is better than Southee, Boult, Hope, Prayer in any conditions you care to name. If we even had a Monty or a Lyon I would back them, but we don't. We don't even have a Robin Peterson. Our non-Vettori spinners are closer to Xavier Doherty than Saeed Ajmal or Graeme Swann.

I'm opposed to 4 seamers because if we're being honest, all our seamers beside Southee and Boult are either ridiculously untested, or a bit poos. I remain convinced that Wagner, despite his passable figures v England, is rubbish. Dougeh has averaged nearly 50 since his Hobart Heroics. Wishing for a 2012 form Gillespie is probably no less optimistic than a pre-2012 Vettori at this point. And we just don't know enough about Milne and Henry yet to be sure how they're going to hold up at the international level (and that's setting aside the injury risk they collectively pose). And the common thread amongst all these guys is that they're all a bit leaky (except maybe Henry). At least Bartin can be relied upon to tie up an end and maintain pressure while Southee and Boult rotate around him. Also, Williamson should be focusing on getting his average up into the mid-30's, and not bother himself with the distraction of having to be our only spin option. I'm fine with him bowling 5 or 10 overs every now and then (or possibly more when the pitch is ripping) but we shouldn't be looking to transform him into a genuine all-rounder while he's still only just holding his own as a top order bat.

 

[Mike5181]

I am down with having 4 quicks but would prefer another batting allrounder to share some overs with Kane to keep him out of the spotlight due to his action. If we go with 4 quicks then the 5th bowler will need to get through 12-15 overs a day due to over rates and the need to rest the quicks.

Williamson's bowled close to 450 overs in internationals now. Surely if he was going to get called out for his action, they would've done it by now?

 

[Flem274*]

I'm opposed to 4 seamers because if we're being honest, all our seamers beside Southee and Boult are either ridiculously untested, or a bit poos. I remain convinced that Wagner, despite his passable figures v England, is rubbish. Dougeh has averaged nearly 50 since his Hobart Heroics. Wishing for a 2012 form Gillespie is probably no less optimistic than a pre-2012 Vettori at this point. And we just don't know enough about Milne and Henry yet to be sure how they're going to hold up at the international level (and that's setting aside the injury risk they collectively pose). And the common thread amongst all these guys is that they're all a bit leaky (except maybe Henry). At least Bartin can be relied upon to tie up an end and maintain pressure while Southee and Boult rotate around him. Also, Williamson should be focusing on getting his average up into the mid-30's, and not bother himself with the distraction of having to be our only spin option. I'm fine with him bowling 5 or 10 overs every now and then (or possibly more when the pitch is ripping) but we shouldn't be looking to transform him into a genuine all-rounder while he's still only just holding his own as a top order bat.

our spinners are tested and poos

 

[Bahnz]

No more so than Dougeh and Wacner. And at least with a spinner in the side BMac won't get match bans for constantly failing to fit the overs in.

Also I think it's a bit unfair that everyone's writing off Bartin so quickly. It's only 2 tests since his effort at the Basin when everyone was smarming about how much better than Vettori he was.

 

[Flem274*]

I said if Bucko doesn't cut it tbh

and Dougeh and Wagner, as much as I doubt they will keep Milne and co. from their heels, have done more in their careers at every level than our non-Vettori spinners. There is a clear and very wide gap in quality.

 

[Bahnz]

I dunno. Dougeh's had one stupendous afternoon followed by 18 months of swinging in between kinda OK and genuinely horrible (and spending more time in the general vicinity of the later). Wagner probably deserves to retain his place thanks to the development of his curious ability to sucker good batsmen into getting out to nothing deliveries. I just don't think the 4th seamer options are up to much atm. I agree that things might be different in 6 months time if Milne has a fantastic season.

 

[Maximas]

Not sure what kind 'a' team this is from SL, guys like Lakmal and Eranga should be opening the bowling while Thirrimanne should be batting 3. I'm assuming Seneneyake is off with some franchise in the CLT20 but otherwise him or Randiv ought to be the spinner as well.

 

[Mike5181]

135 from 19 overs? This has turned into a T20.

 

[Gowza]

the new generation of SL batsmen seem to generally score very quickly, go look at their FC strike rates, a lot in this A team are over 70, shehan jayasuriya and angelo perera do it to so they've got a lot of quick scoring young players.