New Zealand Off Season 2014

[brockley]

Yardy said he signed under some European passport.Came from the Middlesex website.

 

[brockley]

'Portugese passport. Signed a contract with Sussex according to Mike Yardy when commentating on Sky last night although no formal announcement of this has been made.'
Heres' the quote.

 

[straw man]

So we've got one established Test opener (with 4 games under his belt) in our 20. And Guptill too, though surely he's not in the frame again yet.

Does that mean the A tour to England is gonna be a straight trial to find someone to partner Latham? Perhaps Bracewell is closer than we think.

Would have to think so and with Rutherford on tour but a no-go and Brownlie apparently in the middle order (), I'm guessing the NZ spot is almost Bracewell's already unless he has a rubbish A series.

Also I'd say McCullum, Hesson etc are feeling emboldened having had a good success rate so far in boosting young talent straight into the NZ team and getting them to perform, and that does seem as good an approach as any with our opener problem. Whereas I think they will be a little reluctant to go back to Guptill or Brownlie and the stigma of past failure (even though I think either *might* be able to do a job for us as opener in the future).

Dunno why Kippax bothered posting vids of Bracewell's batting though, if Bracewell aspires to be an NZ opener I want to see clips of his slip catching .

 

[Kippax]

.

Cricket: New selection Bracewell was 'impossible to leave out'
By Steve Hepburn on Fri, 7 Jan 2011

Michael Bracewell emphatically answered the call set by the Otago selectors and has won a place in the Otago one-day side to play Wellington on Sunday.

Bracewell was the new player in the 13-man squad named yesterday to play the first two one-day games of the season.

He scored an impressive 156 in a trial match on Wednesday at the University Oval and, though he backed that up with a duck yesterday, in a rain-shortened match, that big innings was enough to convince the selectors to include him in the squad.

Otago coach Mike Hesson said that, in the end, it was a no-brainer to pick Bracewell.

"We asked guys to make our job easy in terms of playing match-winning innings and that is exactly what he did," Hesson said.

"It was a superb innings. Facing a stiff target and he batted superbly.

"He has always been a very promising player and we have picked him and we hope he makes a valuable contribution."

Bracewell (19) would open the innings with Aaron Redmond, and look to give Otago a sound start.

Hesson said Shaun Haig was unlucky to miss out and had not done anything wrong, but it was impossible to leave Bracewell out.

 

[Kippax]

Opened in every List A and FC match he played under Hesson, I notice.

 

[Kippax]

 

[Kippax]

 

[Hurricane]

Those videos were awesome Kippax thanks very much for putting them together.

On Bracewell vs Henry - at the 1:20 mark there is a very good leave where he withdraws the bat inside the line of the ball. Only opening batsman know how to do that. And it is a requirement of an opener.

For my next point I need to talk about golf - if you lay a club down so that it is touching your toes on both of your feet - you will get a prediction of where the ball will go generally. Ideally the club when laid on the ground should point straight down the fairway and at your target.

For the first 3 minutes of that video of you laid a cricket bat next to Bracewell's feet at the point of delivery the bat would not be pointing back to the bowler like it should be - it was pointing towards a straight mid off and Bracewell was playing in an off balanced fashion - then he flashed at a couple and then he got out.
Then at about the 3:30 mark it was obviously a new inning and he had changed the set up of his feet so that the angle of his body was perfectly matched to henry coming over the wicket. He looked way more solid and Henry had to give up coming over the wicket and come around the wicket which is always a victory for the batsman.

I am not sure if I have explained any of that coherently but I have spent long enough on this post already.

 

[hendrix]

that makes perfect sense to me and is probably something that more knowledgeable batsmen than me think about.

 

[brockley]

So why was Cachopa not in the A squad?

 

[Howsie]

Because he isn't good enough

 

[Kippax]

What did Gareth Hopkins' career at Auckland venues end up looking like....2400 runs at 58. Cachopa's made 1000 at 61.

Doubt the Duke and the spin-friendly surfaces will be his friends in county cricket tbh. I rated his pounding straight drives though.

 

[Flametree]

Speaking of county cricket, I see Andre Adams got another four wickets yesterday, including those of Prince and Khawaja.... I know we've had whole threads on this in the past, but in the alternate universe I like to visit from time to time, Adams is the senior pro and first-change seamer in the NZ side, overseeing the progress of Boult and Southee while taking wickets, fielding well and contributing the occasional lively 30-odd with the bat,

 

[Blocky]

Adam's doesn't have it with the bat anymore and probably not so much in the field - but yes, he'd have been ideal through our changeover from Martin, Bond and O'Brien to Boult, Wagner and Southee.

 

[Flametree]

The Guardian noted two good catches to go with his wickets. Natural athleticism goes some way to cope with aging...

 

[Kippax]

Brodie gives away cricket and Black Caps dream | Stuff.co.nz

Checking them into a hotel will be the closest Josh Brodie gets to the Black Caps.

Once regarded as a certainty to open the batting for New Zealand, the 27-year-old won't play for Wellington this summer and might never strap on a pad again.

He'll instead continue the corporate cadetship he began at Rydges Hotel two months ago, with a view to becoming a hotel general manager by the time he's 30.

Brodie's decision to walk away from cricket follows those made by fellow Firebirds, and ex-school mates, Joe Austin-Smellie and Harry Boam, who've also flown the Firebirds' coop in the past two years.

Austin-Smellie and Boam were both 22 when they decided they'd had enough and now Brodie feels the same way.

''My love and passion for the game has just diminished completely,'' Brodie said yesterday.

Wellington's director of cricket, Robbie Kerr, also coached the trio at Wellington College.

He wouldn't be drawn on why the ageing Firebirds can't keep their best young players interested, while Brodie felt his situation was different to Boam's.

''I've met Harry a few times [lately] and talked to him and, while he fell out of love with the game, it was the environment more so with him. I was one of the senior players and got on with all the senior players and this decision has nothing to do with the environment or Cricket Wellington or [coach] Jamie [Siddons],'' said Brodie.

His move had more to do with failing to capitalise on youthful potential and a fear of what his future might be like if he kept chasing the dream of being a Black Cap.

''I don't want to be that guy who finishes [playing] at 36 and has to start a new career. I'd prefer to start something now and be very successful at it by that age.''

An all or nothing type of person, Brodie was renowned as the Firebirds' hardest worker. But he began to take less and less pleasure in it and now seems unlikely top add to the 2266 first-class runs he made for Wellington, at a modest average of 31.91.

''Maybe it was because of the pressure I put on myself. I had some good days, but I didn't really enjoy them because I expected to have those good days. Then I would take failures quite hard and it was difficult to bounce back from those.''

Injuries and asthma also hampered Brodie's progress, but in early 2012 it seemed his luck had turned. Innings' of 50 and 116 against Canterbury were followed by 210 and 25 not out in the following clash with Auckland.

''Then I got a first-baller the next game, which was a reality check. Cricket's a horrible game, but a great game at the same time. It definitely plays with your head.''

Opting not to play has now put his mind at a level of ease he couldn't have imagined and he's adamant he leaves the game without regrets.

''The only thing I'll miss is having a beer with the boys after a win. After a four-day game, when everyone's tired and you do your team song and have a beer - I don't think you can replicate that feeling.

''I won't miss playing or batting or anything like that. I certainly won't miss fielding.'

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Sigh.

 

[BackFootPunch]

Bloody hell. Such a shame to see talent like that losing the desire. Especially after they've dedicated so much time to it.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Do other teams lose talent like this? Wellington also lost Stu Mills early when he looked to be turning into a decent player.

 

[Kippax]

Llamas star Cachopa admits Sussex debut was 'completely unexpected' | Surrey Mirror

CRAIG CACHOPA looks set to be the next Llamas star to sign a professional contract after making his Sussex Sharks debut on Friday night.

Reigate Priory’s overseas batsman admitted his first team bow for Sussex was “completely unexpected” in his first season in England, believing it would take him several years to break into county cricket.

But after a number of eye-catching performances for the second team, Cachopa, 22, was told he would be playing in the NatWest T20 Blast fixture against Kent on Friday night but was unable to prevent the Sharks falling to a three-run defeat.

The Kiwi came to the crease with Sussex struggling at 14-2 and while he survived a few overs and kept the scoreboard ticking over with 11 runs from 14 balls, he was unable to score a boundary and was dismissed when he was bamboozled by a tricky delivery from Kent’s Fabian Cowdrey.

“I knew Chris Nash and Luke Wright from playing for Auckland,” Cachopa explained. “They heard I was coming over to England to play for Reigate and they said Brighton was just down the road and I should keep myself busy by playing for the Sussex seconds.

“To play county cricket over here was a long term dream, in three or four years’ time I hoped I’d be there, so to get that offered now was completely unexpected.”

Sussex are expected to offer Cachopa a contract this week, and with Priory opener Richie Oliver already having earned himself a professional contract at Worcestershire this season, and Surrey’s in-form Jason Roy scoring a half-century for the Llamas on Saturday, it means the Surrey Championship club could soon have three first team county cricketers on the books.

“It shows what a good club Reigate is,” Cachopa said. “We were missing Richie on Saturday, but having someone like Jason Roy replace him isn’t bad is it?

“If it works out at Sussex then I’m hoping to move down to Brighton but I will still come up and play for Reigate when I can. It’s my home club here and it’s where all my friends are.”

And Cachopa, who is a former New Zealand U19s captain, has ambitions of making his 50-over and County Championship debuts before the end of the campaign.

“Certainly my career statistics would show I actually play better in the longer formats,” he said. “I’d love to play the longer formats as well, but it’s up to the coaches so we’ll just wait and see.”