*Official* 2022 New Zealand Tour of England, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands

[thundaboult]

Ben Sears is now 24. Its time to pull the trigger before he gets shoe-horned into being a t20 specialist. Inject some actual life into this test attack ffs. Big concern for me is that besides mitchell and blundell, no one has stepped up all series with the bat.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Oh dear. This thrashing looks worse than the ones in the 1st 2 tests. Why has Mitchell been so under bowled this series?

 

[Moss]

Ben Sears now 24. Its time to pull the trigger before he's shoe-horned into being a t20 specialist. Inject some actual life into this test attack ffs. Big concern for me is that besides mitchell and blundell, no one has stepped up all series with the bat.

Batting obviously has its issues, but you’d think Kane, Conway, Young, Latham plus Mitchell and Blundell is still a long term core group. In spite of the insipid top order NZ still put up respectable totals.

Bowling a bigger worry for mine - from the moment CdG hobbled off during England’s chase in the 1st test, the unit has struggled to contain England not to mention bowl them out.

 

[grecian]

Bazball, is now my full religion. I even forgive him picking Crawley.

Seriously though, honestly reckon if Stokes wasn't bowling, Silverwood and Root would probably have gone without Leach, and we'd have the Overton twins bowling their 6/10 stuff.

 

[Skyliner]

Looks like Bracewell was playing ‘Bazball’ as well. Total capitulation by the lower order leaving the in-form Blundell stranded. A pretty limp display in the series batting wise, just two players really stepped up.

 

[thundaboult]

Ajaz Patel peers through sliding door to see Michael Bracewell

Bracewell has five wickets from two Tests but has conceded an eye-watering 5.67 runs per over

www.espncricinfo.com

they call him the beast....lol

 

[Fuller Pilch]

From the article

Bracewell
(minimum of 20 overs bowled)
Highest economy rate by a NZ bowler anywhere.
Highest economy rate by any bowler in a series in England.
Third highest economy rate of any bowler anywhere.

 

[thierry henry]

The key to success with big 4th innings chases against NZ is you should try to get the runs, and then you will get the runs.

 

[SteveNZ]

Looks like Bracewell was playing ‘Bazball’ as well. Total capitulation by the lower order leaving the in-form Blundell stranded. A pretty limp display in the series batting wise, just two players really stepped up.

Ha, yep. He's playing Baz ball but he hasn't earned the right. Or something. Woeful innings in the situation.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

From the article

Bracewell
(minimum of 20 overs bowled)
Highest economy rate by a NZ bowler anywhere.
Highest economy rate by any bowler in a series in England.
Third highest economy rate of any bowler anywhere.

Only the 3rd worst economy rate for a NZ bowler in this series, and only the 4th worst average.

 

[CarlsbergXpress]

“Bazball” just used on the BBC highlights ?

 

[Flem274*]

Whilst this is a slippy post therefore a bit fast and loose, there has to be a rethink of the way this side operates. That's three **** series' in a row now.

Will Young is not an opener and his career will be derailed until we realise this. Either we play Conway as an opener and realise that's a better option, or we back Ravindra in - although Ajaz Patel will be in the foetal position permanently if this happens. If it does, bat Conway at 3 and allow Kane to drop a spot. Kane is God but his game could do with less responsibility, and England has it exactly right with Root.
I love him, but Wagner is done and whilst we got SO much wrong in this series, him not playing was not one of them. He's cooked. Boult was excellent in this series, Southee wasn't, but still convinced those are your best two guys. Then Jamieson, and we need to unearth a new 3rd/4th seamer because Matt Henry isn't it in a lot of conditions. It isn't going to be Lachie, incidentally. Sears is probably the difference this side needs, as long as his body is up to it.
I love this guy too but Henry Nicholls is now in grave danger given Mitchell looks every inch Test class and so does Blundell. They can bat 5-6 no trouble, which allows us to play an all-rounder that isn't Michael Bracewell (seriously, can anyone think of a less deserving NZ Test cricketer on performance?), or someone like Phillips to extend the top order.

The personnel have fallen off a cliff in 12 months. 1 or 2 is believable, but the entire established squad except for a few new guys have slowly declined to this.

That's a management issue.

Fire Gary Stead, Shane Jurgensen and Gavin Larsen.

 

[Bahnz]

I’m very disappointed NZ couldn’t get England 4 wickets down before the inevitable happened.

 

[Flem274*]

Sears won't save this team btw. He's too raw and our management too ****. Still a guy for the future.

If only we had a world class 150kph bowler somewhere, a guy with big game success in odis....

 

[GIMH]

Flem you fully deserve this result for all your crowing so suck it

(love you)

 

[nzfan]

What do you expect him to do at no.8 and Larsen/Gary screaming over the top his age gives him the ability to know his game. They are expecting him to do a Bairstow but he's unfortunately not in the same boat. He's not even the top 3 best batter for the domestic side firebirds. Gary and Larsen have screwed him over big time.

 

[Flem274*]

Flem you fully deserve this result for all your crowing so suck it

(love you)

I've been dubious about every game since the Bangers loss tbh. Got all my crowing in before then when the historical revisionists were out in force.

I support cursed sports teams across the board. The cricket team aren't even my worst.

Also Flintoff was mediocre at best and you smell.

 

[Flem274*]

What do you expect him to do at no.8 and Larsen/Gary screaming over the top he age gives him the ability to know his game. They are expecting him to do a Bairstow but he's unfortunately not in the same boat. He's not even the top 3 best batter for the domestic side firebirds. Gary and Larsen have screwed him over big time.

Bro there was a strong case to drop him from the wellington side. Comprehensively outperformed by his teammates.

 

[Bahnz]

Soooo XI for the Pakistan tour? Was trying to think of a steady as she goes XI but I just don’t think there’s anyway you can avoid making big changes, so:

Conway, Rachin, KW, Latham, Nicholls, Mitchell, Blundell, Rippon, Ajaz, Ferguson/Sears, Boult

Not great. Don’t like introducing guys like Rachin and Sears on a tough overseas tour but not sure what the alternatives are.

Seriously, when was the last time NZ made as bad a selection as Bracewell? You’d have to go back to the likes of James “Well his brother went better than expected, why not him too?” Marshall.

 

[nzfan]

Bro there was a strong case to drop him from the wellington side. Comprehensively outperformed by his teammates.

Definitely a good t20 player but I doubt with what's gone on so far and Gary/Larsen pushing his case for some 6 months later test series they created this hype which he could have done with out. To be fair he is not the only one in focus, there are many dead wood right now in the set up. He's getting attention just because Leach has taken 10 wickets and it's not a fair comparison. Leach has bowled spin through out his life and obviously getting better with time. Bracewell bowled himself over many other deserving bowlers in firebirds and not with great returns because Gary and Larsen said he won't make the black caps side as a wicket keeper batsman. The writing was on the wall. They'll probably jeopardize his chances in t20 cricket which is his strongest suite. Imagine bowling to sub continent players? If he's going for 7s consistently in test cricket, in t20s they will be lining him up on flat decks, shorter boundaries. His confidence going into t20s will not be as great either.

He's a lovely bloke, has reasonable skills but not a bowler batting at no.8. It was never going to be easy at test level when skills are in short supply.

If I'm right he's bowled a bit for NZ A and gone for over 5s or 6s there too with probably no wickets or a wicket to show.