**Official** 2004 Natwest Series (Eng, NZL, WI)

[Revelation]

Lara passes Desmond Haynes as the Highest Scorer for WI in ODI's

Lara now holds the aggregate records for WI in both Tests and ODI's.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Im beginning to like NZ's chances in this series. They'll be confident after the West Indies game & it appears as though some of the bowlers are finding form.

I just hope we don't have anymore rain affected matches.

The forecast for the coming weeks is highly unsettled.

 

[MoxPearl]

lol well at this rate if every single game is rained out then nz and wi will go throu..

Not that it will happen thou!!

Nz vs Eng should b a cracker

 

[Mingster]

McGrath, Clarke and Blackwell is probably one of the worst ODI middle-orders in world cricket today. Seriously, why doesn't England just play another specialist batsman (eg. Key) instead of the one of the above trio.

 

[Arjun]

Does the England ODI side need more specialist batsmen? What about Michael Powell, a last minute replacement?

 

[Arjun]

McGrath, Clarke and Blackwell is probably one of the worst ODI middle-orders in world cricket today. Seriously, why doesn't England just play another specialist batsman (eg. Key) instead of the one of the above trio.

At least Blackwell has striking power. The others don't.

Anyway, Key is another slow scorer and he's not useful on the field.

Even the bowling looks thin- there were just 3 bowlers in that side. They can pick Hoggard and even Simon Jones- they can surely do better than Anthony and Clarke, can't they?

 

[tooextracool]

What would you have done with a short long hop? You would have blocked it back to the bowler? It sat up to be pulled, he just unfortunately hit it in the direction of the only close fielder on the legside. That was bad luck more than anything.

i'll tell you what i wouldnt have done.....i wouldnt tried to pull the ball over the fielder when i had only faced 6 balls and my team was on 114/5. roll your wrists over and make sure its on the ground or at least away from the fielder. the fact that,as you say, he managed to hit a short long hop like that straight to the only close in fielder is in itself unacceptable......

 

[tooextracool]

2) Key cannot possibly be any worse than Clarke/McGrath/Blackwell - he has apparently made some changes to his technique and they're paying off, he's also in white hot form and is scoring for fun.

and it all comes down to that brilliant squad selection that i criticised so very much a few weeks ago. its just amazing how we have only 1 replacement batter, who btw happens to bat at the top of the order, when we actually need 3 middle order players.....

 

[tooextracool]

McGrath, Clarke and Blackwell is probably one of the worst ODI middle-orders in world cricket today. Seriously, why doesn't England just play another specialist batsman (eg. Key) instead of the one of the above trio.

we've taken a time trip back to the 90s when those fabulous bits and pieces players were running wild.....

 

[Tim]

NZ were at this stage a few years ago...the selectors were obsessed with picking a team of all-rounders..but really they were bowlers who could bat or batsmen who could bowl at international level.

Fortunately since the start of this year we've started selecting 5 or 6 specialist batsmen, then a couple of all-rounders, the keeper & the bowlers.

 

[Tim]

The more I see of Clarke, the more I believe England are wasting their time with him. I think he needs to go back to County cricket for a year or two and regain some confidence.

I think Blackwell would be a handy player..providing he is set up with a decent platform at the 40 over mark..other than that he's average.

McGrath to me, looks like he's one of those players who's got to international level through share determination & graft rather than special talent. I think they're better off playing Ian Bell, who I believe is quite a handy medium pace bowler too? Bell has been playing County Cricket for awhile now and probably deserves more of a chance than Ricky Clarke does.

 

[tooextracool]

NZ were at this stage a few years ago...the selectors were obsessed with picking a team of all-rounders..but really they were bowlers who could bat or batsmen who could bowl at international level.

Fortunately since the start of this year we've started selecting 5 or 6 specialist batsmen, then a couple of all-rounders, the keeper & the bowlers.

the problem is that we've already been there and done that....if someone had told me a few months ago that england would go back to picking ronnie iranis,ian austins and mark ealhams in the same squad i would have laughed in their face, yet thats precisely whats happened here. looking at the quality of the current threesome i might even add that the iranis and ealhams were far better players and were at least capable of doing something.....

 

[tooextracool]

if i said clarke had 0 potential, it would be an overstatement, just looking at all his innings so far , i havent seen a single shot that has impressed me....no splendid cover drives for 4 or even a classy pull shot. i dont know how hes managed to even be successful at the domestic level because from what ive seen at the intl level hes been total and complete rubbish.
IMO blackwell needs to improve his bowling, theres no way hes going to be batting above 7 so he needs to be a decent bowler or at least someone who can bowl a tight line and contain the batsman. because the quality of spin bowling is so bad in england i would think he will be given plenty more chances but i dont see him developing into anything threatening.
anthony mcgrath IMO might be the best of the 3, at least hes done something in the past for england. but i dont understand really what they see in him in the ODI version of the game. he is a defensive player and yet bats in the middle-lower order, his bowling is nothing more than ordinary so i cant understand how hes been retained this long.
the squad itself just lacks balance.....the only real changes that can be made for the next ODI would be key for mcgrath(and key isnt exactly a capable no 6 so he'll have to be pushed up the order) and hopefully sajid mahmood for clarke.

 

[MoxPearl]

well at the moment nz have like 3-4 all rounders in the team....

 

[Tim]

Cairns & Oram really....the only reason Styris bowls these days is because the strike bowlers don't do their job.

Cairns & Oram though are quality international all-rounders, although dare I say it..if Cairns was as bad with the bat as he has been with the ball in recent times..I don't think he'd make the team.

 

[tooextracool]

well at the moment nz have like 3-4 all rounders in the team....

its "bits and pieces" players in the english side as opposed to "all rounders" or at least batsmen who can bowl in the NZ side....

 

[Tim]

I remember a few years back commentators like David Lloyd & Bob Willis on the 2001 NZ tour were rubbishing the NZ team because they had bits & pieces players like Harris, Astle, Styris etc...now look what has happened!

 

[Arjun]

Cairns & Oram really....the only reason Styris bowls these days is because the strike bowlers don't do their job.

Styris' ODI bowling average drops when he gets more overs. Should he get more than 6?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I remember a few years back commentators like David Lloyd & Bob Willis on the 2001 NZ tour were rubbishing the NZ team because they had bits & pieces players like Harris, Astle, Styris etc...now look what has happened!

And to be fair they are now rubbishing the England team about it

 

[SpaceMonkey]

if i said clarke had 0 potential, it would be an overstatement, just looking at all his innings so far , i havent seen a single shot that has impressed me....no splendid cover drives for 4 or even a classy pull shot. i dont know how hes managed to even be successful at the domestic level because from what ive seen at the intl level hes been total and complete rubbish.
IMO blackwell needs to improve his bowling, theres no way hes going to be batting above 7 so he needs to be a decent bowler or at least someone who can bowl a tight line and contain the batsman. because the quality of spin bowling is so bad in england i would think he will be given plenty more chances but i dont see him developing into anything threatening.
anthony mcgrath IMO might be the best of the 3, at least hes done something in the past for england. but i dont understand really what they see in him in the ODI version of the game. he is a defensive player and yet bats in the middle-lower order, his bowling is nothing more than ordinary so i cant understand how hes been retained this long.
the squad itself just lacks balance.....the only real changes that can be made for the next ODI would be key for mcgrath(and key isnt exactly a capable no 6 so he'll have to be pushed up the order) and hopefully sajid mahmood for clarke.

I'd give him till Pieterson becomes avaliable Then he's gone.