***Official*** Australia in New Zealand 2016

[Athlai]

Heh NZ already looking back on the glory years of 2014-15

People joke but I think they forget that this may actually have been the high point of NZ cricket.

 

[Skyliner]

Haha, Mark Reason's at it again! Now he's suggesting - based on absolutely nothing of course - that one of the reasons why Bond left the NZ bowling coach position was because he didn't like Brendon McCullum. Also threw in his "McCullum caused Boult's stress fracture" line again for good measure. I mean, wtf not right?

Reason: Unable to be Brendon McCullum, Kane is able to be Richie McCaw | Stuff.co.nz

I don't even think you read the article. You just know that bagging Reason will play well with your mates. It's the reverse-troll post, just telling people what they want to hear regardless of the facts.

Fair and accurate comments on what transpired in Sri Lanka with the coup, as per Bonds testimony:
Bond is a decent bloke and will never be Brendon McCullum's staunchest character witness, a difference that inevitably created a slight tension.

But he goes on to say:
the main reasons Bond stepped away from his job as the Black Caps bowling coach were the two fs – family and finance.

And he graciously says:
McCullum's international retirement is a great shame for New Zealand cricket
McCullum took the chance to blaze a thrilling farewell.
he is a wondrous entertainer
McCullum is a loss.
McCullum's test tactics have become increasingly wacky

- all fair and accurate.

And the below is true too - there was no need to flog Boult in a meaningless ODI series, none at all. They said that they were a bowler short in the tests vs England, and what do they do? Flog the test spearheads into the ground in the following ODI's. Ludicrous.
Mascarenhas not only presided over a collapse in bowling standards, he stood back and let the captain vastly overbowl Southee and Boult in England, leading to a run of injury problems.

So nothing controversial at all, just fair and accurate commentary on Captain Slog.

 

[TNT]

I would have thought 83-86 were NZ best years.

 

[Skyliner]

"Probably second ball when I had an almighty, filthy slog and sort of managed to go over the slips cordon for four," he laughed.

"So the World Cup final, those first three balls, I wasn't watching the ball. [Wednesday], the same thing, those first five to six balls."

"...you lose sight of the most basic aspect of the game, which is just watching the ball and reacting."

- quotes from Captain Slog.

 

[cnerd123]

Banned. Yeeees suck it you worthless halfwit

What's disappointing about this new generation of posters (Jord, Attitude, CG, Dhoni_183, Bleed Blue) is that they seem to show no intention to stick around. They burst on to the scene swinging, take a few blows, and instead of realizing that they should knuckle down and grind it out, they instead try to go bigger and harder and inevitably cop a ban. I mean making your debut by getting into a spat with Spark of all people? Really?

They should really learn from the likes of WW, Blocky and TNT. Silent, ruthless post accumulation, making the odd attack here and there, and generally annoying everyone without actually doing enough to cop a ban. That's masterful **** posting. The Captain Grumpy model makes for exciting viewing, but going full anti-establishment with balls to the wall, take no prisoners aggression just leads to a swift end.

 

[Athlai]

I would have thought 83-86 were NZ best years.

Yes that's the only comparable team and I'd argue 2014-15 had a better Xi. The Hadlee factor will never be surpassed for us.

 

[NZTailender]

Heh NZ already looking back on the glory years of 2014-15

People joke but I think they forget that this may actually have been the high point of NZ cricket.

I would have thought 83-86 were NZ best years.

Well yeah the 80s when we actually beat Australia in more than one series (though it wasn't a great Australian side, still). Mind you, even then the team basically had 2 ATGs and a bunch of good not great players that took turns at standing up to help Crowe and Hadlee. You'd say the current team (full strength) is overall stronger as a whole but no Hadlee equivalent, but 1 close Crowe equivalent (Kane).

I mean, the 99 team won an away series over England, drew 0-0 (3) in Australia and beat pretty much everyone that came to these shores, but man for man were they better than the current lot? Probably not.

I think the major thing that was exposed in the past 3 major (sorry Sri Lanka) Test series for NZ is they expected their potentially-ATG players to just turn up and be themselves instead of there being some major team plan to win. You can credit McCullum with giving some kind of winning desire and spirit to the team since the UAE but I think in execution we've lost out more than we've gained.

 

[Athlai]

It's not often as a kiwi fan you really feel the Blackcaps punch below their weight.

 

[cnerd123]

I think the major thing that was exposed in the past 3 major (sorry Sri Lanka) Test series for NZ is they expected their potentially-ATG players to just turn up and be themselves instead of there being some major team plan to win. You can credit McCullum with giving some kind of winning desire and spirit to the team since the UAE but I think in execution we've lost out more than we've gained.

Yea it's like what PEWs said earlier. This NZ team is almost the polar opposite of past NZ team's in that instead of the sum being greater than their parts, their parts seem to be greater than the sum. Very un-kiwi like.

 

[NZTailender]

It's not often as a kiwi fan you really feel the Blackcaps punch below their weight.

This is exactly what happened. The irony.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Well yeah the 80s when we actually beat Australia in more than one series (though it wasn't a great Australian side, still). Mind you, even then the team basically had 2 ATGs and a bunch of good not great players that took turns at standing up to help Crowe and Hadlee. You'd say the current team (full strength) is overall stronger as a whole but no Hadlee equivalent, but 1 close Crowe equivalent (Kane).

I mean, the 99 team won an away series over England, drew 0-0 (3) in Australia and beat pretty much everyone that came to these shores, but man for man were they better than the current lot? Probably not.

I think the major thing that was exposed in the past 3 major (sorry Sri Lanka) Test series for NZ is they expected their potentially-ATG players to just turn up and be themselves instead of there being some major team plan to win. You can credit McCullum with giving some kind of winning desire and spirit to the team since the UAE but I think in execution we've lost out more than we've gained.

That 2001 team "felt" stronger to me IMO. Though 0-0 was flattering (1st 2 tests aus dominated and drawn due to rain) that was an ATG Aus side and NZ had some really in form players. Guys like McMillan & Parore looked genuine Test-class.

 

[TNT]

Well yeah the 80s when we actually beat Australia in more than one series (though it wasn't a great Australian side, still). Mind you, even then the team basically had 2 ATGs and a bunch of good not great players that took turns at standing up to help Crowe and Hadlee. You'd say the current team (full strength) is overall stronger as a whole but no Hadlee equivalent, but 1 close Crowe equivalent (Kane).

I mean, the 99 team won an away series over England, drew 0-0 (3) in Australia and beat pretty much everyone that came to these shores, but man for man were they better than the current lot? Probably not.

I think the major thing that was exposed in the past 3 major (sorry Sri Lanka) Test series for NZ is they expected their potentially-ATG players to just turn up and be themselves instead of there being some major team plan to win. You can credit McCullum with giving some kind of winning desire and spirit to the team since the UAE but I think in execution we've lost out more than we've gained.

KW could possibly make ATG status but who else did you have in mind?.

 

[jcas0167]

KW could possibly make ATG status but who else did you have in mind?.

I suspect he's thinking of Taylor and Boult.

 

[NZTailender]

KW could possibly make ATG status but who else did you have in mind?.

No one as yet. When i meant overall stronger I was talking mathematically/average kind of thing (inb4 all NZ players are average).

I mean, say an ATG is 10 and James Marshall is 0, the 80s team might read something like 10, 10, 7, 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 2 (=62) at any given time. The current team might read like 9, 8, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3 = 69 (heh).

 

[NZTailender]

That 2001 team "felt" stronger to me IMO. Though 0-0 was flattering (1st 2 tests aus dominated and drawn due to rain) that was an ATG Aus side and NZ had some really in form players. Guys like McMillan & Parore looked genuine Test-class.

probably a highly underrated team though looks better on paper as Bond IIRC took like 1-100 each mach he played. Cairns was a threat, Fleming finally scored a tonne, Astle and Parore did too and this unknown Vincent bloke came in with a decent contribution. That Perth Test was one of my all time favs. It seemed like the Australian-train got a bit derailed for the first time in ages. Though yeah we were lucky it wasn't 2-0.

 

[TNT]

No one as yet. When i meant overall stronger I was talking mathematically/average kind of thing (inb4 all NZ players are average).

I mean, say an ATG is 10 and James Marshall is 0, the 80s team might read something like 10, 10, 7, 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 2 (=62) at any given time. The current team might read like 9, 8, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3 = 69 (heh).

I can see your thinking but Hadlee was a 15.

 

[Bahnz]

I don't even think you read the article. You just know that bagging Reason will play well with your mates. It's the reverse-troll post, just telling people what they want to hear regardless of the facts.

Fair and accurate comments on what transpired in Sri Lanka with the coup, as per Bonds testimony:
Bond is a decent bloke and will never be Brendon McCullum's staunchest character witness, a difference that inevitably created a slight tension.

But he goes on to say:
the main reasons Bond stepped away from his job as the Black Caps bowling coach were the two fs – family and finance.

And he graciously says:
McCullum's international retirement is a great shame for New Zealand cricket
McCullum took the chance to blaze a thrilling farewell.
he is a wondrous entertainer
McCullum is a loss.
McCullum's test tactics have become increasingly wacky

- all fair and accurate.

And the below is true too - there was no need to flog Boult in a meaningless ODI series, none at all. They said that they were a bowler short in the tests vs England, and what do they do? Flog the test spearheads into the ground in the following ODI's. Ludicrous.
Mascarenhas not only presided over a collapse in bowling standards, he stood back and let the captain vastly overbowl Southee and Boult in England, leading to a run of injury problems.

So nothing controversial at all, just fair and accurate commentary on Captain Slog.

Thanks for popping by Mrs Reason. Your son's articles are still **** though.

 

[Spark]

Steve Smith admits he must set a better example as Australia captain | Sport | The Guardian

Smith queried why third umpire Richard Illingworth didn’t use the snickometer to assess an lbw shout that Australia reviewed.

“That was basically what I was doing at the time and that’s deemed to be dissent,” Smith said of his heated approach. “I’ll cop that on the chin and I need to be better as a leader; I need to set the example. That wasn’t good enough.”

Josh Hazlewood was docked 15% of his match fee, the red mist having also descended on the spearhead after Illingworth ruled against the visitors.

Smith and Hazlewood both opted to plead guilty, with the International Cricket Council expected to detail the skipper’s punishment later on Wednesday.

“Yesterday was a mistake on my behalf,” he said. “It’s about trying to learn from my mistakes. Myself and Josh Hazlewood have crossed that line in this Test match and that’s not what we’re about.”

In fairness, the fact that they didn't use snicko was a little weird, but this definitely sounds like someone's had a chat to him.

 

[Burgey]

As with his batting, TPC will turn this around and learn from the experience, eventually becoming an ATG captain and role model.

 

[thundaboult]

Well....that sucked.

Onto a gut-instinct review.

Mccullum: Revolutionary. Thank you for everything great sir.
Wagner: Never back down.
Bracewell: Deserves a lot of wickets, somehow finds a way of not getting them.
Craig: Become a full time batsman.
Anderson: Hit and miss. Test bowling is non-existent.
Watling: Gets out exactly when he doesn't need to.
Latham: Once he starts converting starts, next KW.
Guptill: Odi's and T20's.
Williamson: Very choppy since the start of 2016, but still our best. Not so confident about him being a captain though.
Nicholls: Still deserves more chances. Not bad.
Southee: GTFO you useless ****. But for some reason NZC will still show him the ronchi ODI selection love and pick him when he's bowling 110km short and wide.
Boult: Smh this season. Get help from Ian Pont. Still trust him to get back to his best and go even further.
Henry: Pitch it up. Still a lot of potential especially with the batting now improved.

AUS: Still better than NZ.