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

[meatspx]

india meatspx ?

they are the most over rated side on the planet.....

And if memory serves me correct last time we played them we destroyed them

And no i wouldnt rate south africa to beat us... i think we are a bit better than them...

imho nz are 2nd... with south africa a "TINY" bit behind..

But sure most people will disagree with me on that :P

Well - If my memory serves me correct we last played them in the World Cup and the TVS series - and we were hammered :P

On pitches that provided a fairer assessment too.

 

[Revelation]

England or West Indies for the match today?

 

[southern man]

Ahhhhh....get all the good up coming batsmen down to the South Island.

Vincent, Nicol, Marshall, Marshall, Taylor, How, Ryder all go down to Canterbury and Otago to get some good tracks to play on! Seriously, that wouldn't be a bad idea. And move all the good promising bowlers in NZ to Auckland, ND and CD for all the green-seamers....

We will take
Nicol, Taylor and a Marshall none of the others i really like except for Ryder but he likes his Beer to much.

 

[Tim]

Im going with England today..I think they've improved sufficiently to sneak past the Windies.

 

[Tim]

I felt sorry for Nicol last season...it wasn't a great one for him, but he is an extremely good middle order batsman & I think he'll come back strongly this season.

There could be a few surprises yet when the provinces name their 2004/2005 squads I believe....

 

[garage flower]

Im not saying England or The West Indies are plain poor..but just look at their recent records & you can see why they're ranked so low in ODI's.
Garage Flower you've pretty much said NZ is a talent-less side..how the hell can that be when if we win the Natwest Series this week we'll overtake South Africa for #2.

A slight misinterpretation of my comments, I think.

I AM saying that West Indies and England (minus a fully fit Flintoff) are poor/ordinary sides and that New Zealand are a decent side (and that's without your premier strike bowler).

I think it would be stretching it to suggest that there any exceptionally talented players in the current NZ one-day side.

It would be no surprise to see NZ reach No. 2 in the rankings because there are a number of ordinary sides around at the moment. I'd rate India as 2nd best though.

 

[garage flower]

England or West Indies for the match today?

England, I'm afraid.

I've lost all faith in the West Indies bowling attack and Trescothick and Vaughan are due a score.

 

[meatspx]

I think it would be stretching it to suggest that there any exceptionally talented players in the current NZ one-day side.

I'd rate Fleming and Oram as exceptionally talented.

Fleming is in awesome form and has turned it up. He's averaged 43.35 and 46.75 in his last 2 seasons and has lead the side well. His conversion rate has improved with 4 fifties (includes a 99) and 3 hundreds.

And Oram will battle it out as the best all-rounder with Flintoff in the next decade, even though he hasn't had much opportunities with the bat in ODIs.

I think Oram would make the Australian side as they need an all-rounder (even though their specialists do the job).

 

[garage flower]

I'd rate Fleming and Oram as exceptionally talented.

Fleming is in awesome form and has turned it up. He's averaged 43.35 and 46.75 in his last 2 seasons and has lead the side well. His conversion rate has improved with 4 fifties (includes a 99) and 3 hundreds.

And Oram will battle it out as the best all-rounder with Flintoff in the next decade, even though he hasn't had much opportunities with the bat in ODIs.

I think Oram would make the Australian side as they need an all-rounder (even though their specialists do the job).

A bit OTT in my view, though Fleming has been excellent when I've seen him in the last year or so and looked dominant, at times, in the World Cup.

Without checking the stats, which is obviously a bit stupid of me, I'd suggest that Oram hasn't done much with the bat in 1-dayers and is largely a containing bowler. That said, I'd agree that he'd make most international sides at the moment (the West Indies, for one, would love to have him), but Flintoff is better in all 3 departments.

 

[Tim]

Oram I think was first picked in 2001 and for about 2 or 3 years did nothing really special. And I think thats where the selectors should take some credit for sticking with him because there's no doubt now that he's turning into a sensational player.

He's still only 25 & I think like Flintoff his ODI batting average will increase in the next few years.

The other extremely talented player in the NZ team is Brendon McCullum, but like Oram he has been a slow starter..he's still only 22 anyway but he's starting to put some good results up & I think he'll be a dynamic player in a few years.

 

[Tim]

I would think Flintoff edges Oram in both batting & bowling at this stage..but they'll be very even in the future. I think though that Oram is the better fielder..for his size he saves a huge amount of runs in the gully & has made some absolutely stunning catches.

 

[Tim]

Well the Windies have immediately got the upper hand because they've won the toss & sent England in to bat.

Looking at the Windies bowling attack though..it looks seriously depleted.

 

[garage flower]

Looking at the Windies bowling attack though..it looks seriously depleted.

Just 2 specialist bowlers (Bradshaw and Best)!

If Tino gets his radar wrong again and the likes of Trecothick and Flintoff fire, this could get ugly.

Gayle and Bravo could get through 20 overs relatively unscathed, but if England don't lose early wickets Windies will need to be exceptionally sharp in the field to keep things under control.

 

[Tim]

I think the Windies were seriously banking on winning the toss & bowling first so that they could chase rather than defend. They bat down to 9 so they'll be hoping to limit England to a reasonable score.

 

[garage flower]

Ominous start with 10 runs coming off Bradshaw's first 5 balls (and he's the reliable bowler), but sounds like Tino has started pretty well.

 

[Tim]

Best gets Trescothick!

14/1.

Trescothick is back to his pre NZ test form. Misses out on the best batting pitch so far in the series.

 

[meatspx]

Vaughn out!

Muhahahahaha.

 

[Tim]

27/2, the ideal start for the Windies considering their bowling attack.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Beware of the might of Robert Key

 

[wpdavid]

Yet again our much vaunted openers have contributed nothing. Given the balance of the WI attack, you wouldn't have thought it was beyond Vaughan to try and see off Best before trying some expansive drives against the white ball. Apparently not.