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*Official* Australia tour of New Zealand Feb-Mar 2024

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Tom Latham has been in the side a long time now, maybe needs a freshen up & reset. He's just shy of 32 so could in theory have 3-4 good years left, so needs to work out what he wants to achieve.

In mine and many other's opinions we should move on from him as the ODI wicket keeper. Surely won't be it for the next ODI world cup and we should start with other options whenever we next play ODIs. He's perhaps been caught between two very different roles, as test opener and ODI wk bat in the middle order, which don't have a lot of crossover skills. I don't know what he wants, but the best thing for NZ imo would be if he forgets ODIs and doubled down on being the best test opening batsman he could be. I don't think he's that at the moment - yeah maybe he'd always fail against the top tier test bowlers, but the last few series he's been swishing at a lot of balls that a test opener has no business playing it. Renewed intense focus might eliminate that from his game.
In my mind Latham is older than he is, maybe because he's been around so long. He's 31, turning 32 this year. Giving up ODIs is probably something he won't desire because he feels he could make the 2027 world cup, but it is something we should look at if we want the best out of him. Conways 32, turning 33, so even in a best case scenario where they both magically find form, they'll both retire around the same time, so a succession plan is needed, whether that's playing Ravindra in the middle order until one of them does retire, or blooding someone new. I would say though, as class as Ravindra is in the middle order in *checks notes* two innings, the longer we have him there the less natural the transition to opener will be as I can see him missing more and more Plunket Shield in favour of multi format international duties. So for mine, the time is now - this year - or never.

The last time Latham scored a ton was vs Pakistan in the boxing day test of 2022, which was a good un. If we use 1 Jan 2023 as the marker, he's been middling at best, averaging 28.21 - a touch more than Conway, and slightly less than Nicholls (whose average is boosted by the single 200*, whilst Latham had a few 50+ scores in there in a much harder role). Given his more chronic recent lack of form, Conway was under more pressure despite scoring a test century in that time frame, plus that ostentatious WC century. In fact, if we use that same timeframe, Conway has overall been the better all format batsman than Latham, but unlike Conway Latham's lack of form hasn't had articles written in the news. I'm wondering if there's a bit of a team culture problem, in the sense that once they question his spot in the side, it won't just be for Tests, it will be for ODIs, and it seems like a too hard basket thing for Gary to find a Test opener and a ODI wicketkeeper at the same time.
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
I think you're confusing him with Mitchell.
Saw this earlier and was going to comment but had to rush for the bus. Like wtf, how could you even mistake the two? Don't think social actually watches cricket

Sears in for O'Rourke who is out with a hamstring strain.
Conway set for surgery | Nicholls to stay on for second Test

BLACKCAPS opener Devon Conway will this week undergo surgery on the left thumb he damaged during the KFC T20I series against Australia.

Following several scans and specialist advice, the decision was made to operate on Conway with a likely recovery period of at least eight weeks.

Canterbury batter Henry Nicholls who was called in as cover for the first Tegel Test will stay with the squad for the second Test.

BLACKCAPS coach Gary Stead wished Conway a speedy recovery.

“We’re all feeling for Devon,” he said.

“He’s a massive part of the BLACKCAPS and we’re going to miss his presence both on and off the field.

“We wish him all the best for his surgery and we will be there to support him as he begins his recovery.”
Steady as she goes will probably play the same XI and just swap in Sears, maybe Santner for SP. Doubt he'll do anything radical like get Ravindra to open and bring Nicholls in to the middle order, or play Young at his natural position.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Nah not buying that at all

As to your question Smith at least I know tended to do a lot better when he did come in early rather than having to wait around. Pre-2021ish, make it 2/10 and you could usually put him down for a ton
I had a quick look at an example of a team that Williamson "succeeds" against (Pakistan, chosen at random) and one he "fails" against, Australia. I excluded innings where he wasn't batting at #3 (that's 3 innings vs. Australia and 2 vs. Pakistan)

The mean over that he comes in against Australia is ~6.4 and the mean over he comes in against Pakistan is 15.4.
The median over against Australia is the 5th and against Pakistan is the 8th.

That said, he has scored tons from early starts (166 vs. Australia coming in the 3rd over, 129 vs. Pakistan coming in from the 1st). His double tons against Pakistan were from coming in later (20th and 53rd overs respectively).

Against Australia, coming in after the 10th over he averages 56.2 (sample size = 6). Against Pakistan after the 10th over he averages 74.4 (sample size = 11)

So, I would think there's something in there that suggests his opening colleagues could be aiding him a little more against the better sides. I'll have a look at India/England later
 

Flem274*

123/5
Stop reacting guys lol

Pleassntly surprised Sears got the call up, though if they're gonna pick slightly fragile quicks, Ferguson is a top 5 bowler in the country anyway, get him in.

There does seem to be a more concerted effort in the past 12 months to select height and/or pace when forced by injury or availability to not pick the main 5.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Saw this earlier and was going to comment but had to rush for the bus. Like wtf, how could you even mistake the two? Don't think social actually watches cricket





Steady as she goes will probably play the same XI and just swap in Sears, maybe Santner for SP. Doubt he'll do anything radical like get Ravindra to open and bring Nicholls in to the middle order, or play Young at his natural position.
I have the very ominous feeling that the lesson Stead will take out of the first test is "We need more batting" and so will play SP and Santner and leave Sears on the bench.

Looking forward to seeing Sears in tests, but it's a bigger that it comes in a season where he's been in miserable FC form. If you wanted a whippy replacement for O'Rourke, Fisher would've been the form choice you would've thought. Still Sears has played well for NZ in the short form this season, let's hope he can build on that.
 

jcas0167

International Debutant
Saw this earlier and was going to comment but had to rush for the bus. Like wtf, how could you even mistake the two? Don't think social actually watches cricket





Steady as she goes will probably play the same XI and just swap in Sears, maybe Santner for SP. Doubt he'll do anything radical like get Ravindra to open and bring Nicholls in to the middle order, or play Young at his natural position.
Which I don't mind tbh. Ravindra is doing fine at 4 and Young has the technique to see off the new ball. Got out to Marsh and Head.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Stop reacting guys lol

Pleassntly surprised Sears got the call up, though if they're gonna pick slightly fragile quicks, Ferguson is a top 5 bowler in the country anyway, get him in.

There does seem to be a more concerted effort in the past 12 months to select height and/or pace when forced by injury or availability to not pick the main 5.
"Oh Flem, don't you know that Ferg has broken down injured in 100% of the tests he's played and therefore will always break down injured if he plays tests? Stick to what you're good at - Sincerely, Gary Stead"
 

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
I had a quick look at an example of a team that Williamson "succeeds" against (Pakistan, chosen at random) and one he "fails" against, Australia. I excluded innings where he wasn't batting at #3 (that's 3 innings vs. Australia and 2 vs. Pakistan)

The mean over that he comes in against Australia is ~6.4 and the mean over he comes in against Pakistan is 15.4.
The median over against Australia is the 5th and against Pakistan is the 8th.

That said, he has scored tons from early starts (166 vs. Australia coming in the 3rd over, 129 vs. Pakistan coming in from the 1st). His double tons against Pakistan were from coming in later (20th and 53rd overs respectively).

Against Australia, coming in after the 10th over he averages 56.2 (sample size = 6). Against Pakistan after the 10th over he averages 74.4 (sample size = 11)

So, I would think there's something in there that suggests his opening colleagues could be aiding him a little more against the better sides. I'll have a look at India/England later
Bro don't do that lol. Even if there is "something in that" it's not a good excuse anyway
 

anonymouskefe

U19 12th Man
Not sure if Sears would have been my pick cant see him maintaining his pace for very long at all and once that goes dont think he would be very affective i see him as a white ball bowler with his changes of pace. Would much rather Ferguson or Fisher called up who can both swing the ball as well as fisher having the same ammount of 5 wicket hauls as sears in 11 less games
 

Immenso

International Vice-Captain
Why didn't Sears play Plunket Shield round? The first chance to play red-ball for 3 months. Because he isn't robust enough to last 4 days?

While I had 100% confidence in O'Rourke being a test bowler, I don't have that for Sears, because I don't see the control of any sideways movement. (but I see his mastery of pace variations so am 100% on him as a white ball bowler).

Not saying he is a dud. Will know more after/during the test with closer cameras and seeing if he is doing any deliberate wobble, etc. But from the Plunket Shield streams with more distant end on cameras, I'm not deciphering what plans he has apart from pace and bounce.

I don't watch teams who can't catch, so I'll miss the debut. But good luck anyway and full speed.
 
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HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Bro don't do that lol. Even if there is "something in that" it's not a good excuse anyway
I don't care where it's "an excuse" or not. It felt that Williamson comes in earlier against quality opposition - probably a function of Latham's success against the lesser lights, but is that gut feeling reasonable or not - after all, Latham isn't the only opener. Other things from the data I looked at was that in a set of innings against Pakistan, Williamson was coming in later but without the scoreboard looking any better as that was the spell that Raval was hanging around for a while but not scoring many runs. Believe it or not, it wasn't just about your fishing post but was a question I'd been thinking about anyway as I'd been discussing it at the game.
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Why didn't Sears play Plunket Shield round? The first chance to play red-ball for 3 months. Because he isn't robust enough to last 4 days?

While I had 100% confidence in O'Rourke being a test bowler, I don't have that for Sears, because I don't see the control of any sideways movement. (but I see his mastery of pace variations so am 100% on him as a white ball bowler).

I don't watch teams who can't catch, so I'll miss the debut. But good luck anyway and full speed.
I'm wondering if it's because it's the last test of the season and they want to get a look at how he goes. I don't have high hopes but I don't think it's the worst decision. Better than picking a bowler who replicates what Southee and Henry do anyway.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Why didn't Sears play Plunket Shield round? The first chance to play red-ball for 3 months. Because he isn't robust enough to last 4 days?

While I had 100% confidence in O'Rourke being a test bowler, I don't have that for Sears, because I don't see the control of any sideways movement. (but I see his mastery of pace variations so am 100% on him as a white ball bowler).

I don't watch teams who can't catch, so I'll miss the debut. But good luck anyway and full speed.
I suspect it's just an NZC directive to manage his work loads. Odd though if the selectors were thinking about him as a potential call-up in the event of injury.

I've seen Sears look very quick in FC cricket on plenty of occasions, but he has a very different role for Wellington than O'Rourke had for Canterbury. Was always used as a shock bowler - come on for 4 or 5 overs, try and ruffle the batsmen up and get a wicket. If he's going to be NZ's 3rd seamer in a 3 man attack he's going to have to play a very different role, so yeah not 100% on it. Good argument that Duffy would've been a better pick in terms of offering up a like-for-like replacement. Still, not the worst selection in the world.
 
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RMBolton

U19 Debutant
I honestly don't care who comes in. Solia appears to be the form opener in the plunket shield this season, though some people on here have written him off. Dunno, never seen him bat. But it could be him, Will O'Donnell, Henry Cooper etc. Hell we could crib from Australia's notes and promote KW up the order. We need to at least try something else. Latham's now played 40 tests v India, England, Aus and SA and averages 26 v them.
Hit 'em with a bit of BowesBall. Just as long as Starc doesn't play the role of Nathan Smith.

Now I'm imagining him scoring a run-a-ball century against Cummins &co. If he did that, he'd be a national hero whatever the result.
 
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HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
For those complaining about the highlights packages yesterday, whilst running through the MBIE Endeavour Fund Smart Ideas grants from 2023, I noted the following $1m award:

University of Auckland
AI-based behavioural analytics for live sports broadcast
Science leader: Patrice Delmas
Duration: 3 years
Contract value (GST excl.): $1,000,000

So, the future for our sports broadcasts is AI. Perhaps it's already here in the form of Scotty Stevenson (AI generated sports mate commentary) or the malfunctioning McMillan Bot. But maybe this'll mean an upgrade soon.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
For those complaining about the highlights packages yesterday, whilst running through the MBIE Endeavour Fund Smart Ideas grants from 2023, I noted the following $1m award:
Ah, there's a description:

Our research programme addresses the need for better sports analytics as used by broadcasters to improve their customer’s viewing experience, increasing their viewership and revenue, and by sports clubs to improve their coaching and training strategies, improving competitiveness.

Currently, the application of computer vision techniques and automatic intelligent analysis — discovering the causal reasons for why actions are made — is lacking. Even wealthy sports teams and leagues are not able to leverage the latest advances in Artificial intelligence and behaviour modelling despite the extensive availability of team visual data recorded during training and live broadcasting.

Providing intelligent analysis through computer vision and causal models will improve access to affordable explanatory and predictive analytics for: sports clubs; small broadcasters and content creators, providing an affordable means to deliver accurate analysis of players; and team behaviours with the potential to increase their revenue, viewership, and competitiveness across a variety of sports (individual, team, and e-sports). It will also provide fans with a more immersive sporting experience, further increasing viewership and revenue.

Our broadcasting (Sky TV), Sports (The warriors) team and software development (Arcanum and 9spokes) partners will support our research and ensure a successful outcome by the end of this project. We expect potential benefits to the New Zealand economy of between NZ$10M and $NZ100M by 2030, while significantly reducing the incidence of sport injuries in New Zealand which cost our country up to NZ$700M each year.

We expect spill-over benefits to the public and the economy such as i) reduced mental and physical health effects of sport injuries; ii) support to small-scale local broadcasters and content creators; iii) new high-value manufacturing products and jobs in media and AI software applications.
Odd combination of reducing injuries and enhancing media content type outcomes.
 

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