*Official* England in NZ 2023

[RossTaylorsBox]

Dark, but lol

 

[Athlai]

So they just didn't want to ask Boult? What a ****ing shambles NZC is.

 

[jcas0167]

Which kind of suggests Boult's test career is over under the current regime.

 

[social]

Somewhat understandable if everyone is available but they aren’t

Weakening the team while also potentially creating a PR problem by selecting a guy who is on the nose doesn’t seem like the smartest move

 

[NZTailender]

On one hand, being contracted means something and foregoing that contract means you don't get the same advantages of being a sure thing for selection.

On the flipside, you should be fielding your strongest side 100% of the time and Boult makes the test team any day of the week. We're hit by injuries and other delays to the main players so he should be getting that call just as much as any fringe player. Steads decision not to call up Boult was because he wanted to give preference to contracted players - which is bullshit, since both Duffy and Kuggleijn aren't contracted Black Caps.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Weakening the team while also potentially creating a PR problem by selecting a guy who is on the nose doesn’t seem like the smartest move

NZC's Moral Dilemma

The moral cost of selecting someone who doesn't have a central contract for a Test match (note that they're still happy to select Boult for T20s and ODIs) is apparently higher than selecting someone who admits not to know what 'no' means.

 

[thierry henry]

Started to feel a bit sick yesterday afternoon. This truly feels like the most doomed late Christmas present of all time.

 

[NZTailender]

NZC's Moral Dilemma

The moral cost of selecting someone who doesn't have a central contract for a Test match (note that they're still happy to select Boult for T20s and ODIs) is apparently higher than selecting someone who admits not to know what 'no' means.

I was going to include this in my previous post but erred on the side of attacking a straw man because Stead responded to a comment about selecting Kuggleijn with:

That's not my job, I guess, to do that," he responded when asked of the moral issues around the matter.

Can't help but feel by not making the SOS call he was making a moral decision, considering neither of the replacements are centrally contracted. Duffy, sure, he can be considered a potential player in some ways, but Kuggleijn has moved into that Rutherford/Broom part of his career where he's only getting a call as a fall back on a seasoned player, rather than someone who has a genuine chance of winning a contract in the next round.

Just stinks all over for mine.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Note that Southee has confirmed Tickner's in the starting XI, so it's between Duffy and Kuggeleijn for the final spot in the line-up. (https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...k-caps-test-debut-against-england-at-bay-oval)

EDIT: Stuff are picking

Latham
Conway
Williamson
Nicholls
Mitchell
Blundell
Bracewell, M
Southee
Wagner
Duffy
Tickner

Which is an incredibly long tail, starting at Michael Bracewell. I can't help but think they'll be looking to Kuggeleijn to provide some batting reinforcement. With Tickner in, you're looking at a tail with 3 #10s and 1 #11, really. It's about the only time that I hope they're massively overconfident about Bracewell's batting ability.

 

[social]

On one hand, being contracted means something and foregoing that contract means you don't get the same advantages of being a sure thing for selection.

On the flipside, you should be fielding your strongest side 100% of the time and Boult makes the test team any day of the week. We're hit by injuries and other delays to the main players so he should be getting that call just as much as any fringe player. Steads decision not to call up Boult was because he wanted to give preference to contracted players - which is bull****, since both Duffy and Kuggleijn aren't contracted Black Caps.

I was wondering about whether “contracted players only” is a blanket selection policy so thanks for clarifying

Obvious that NZC has gotten their noses out of joint because Boult wants to pick & choose where he plays

However, Boult is tipped to be picked in the WC squad in spite of knocking back a central contract so it smacks of hypocrisy

 

[Prince EWS]

I was wondering about whether “contracted players only” is a blanket selection policy so thanks for clarifying

It can't be in this case because they've run out of contracted players.

 

[thundaboult]

It can't be in this case because they've run out of contracted players.

I kind of get why white ball stuff may be treated differently - Tests are more of a privilege - but they also recently played Boult in the UAE Tests without a contract anyway. The whole thing is weird.

wait what?

 

[Prince EWS]

Nevermind, he totally didn't play those. I lost my mind.

 

[Prince EWS]

And they were in Pakistan anyway. I've really lost it.

 

[Athlai]

Note that Southee has confirmed Tickner's in the starting XI, so it's between Duffy and Kuggeleijn for the final spot in the line-up. (https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...k-caps-test-debut-against-england-at-bay-oval)

EDIT: Stuff are picking

Latham
Conway
Williamson
Nicholls
Mitchell
Blundell
Bracewell, M
Southee
Wagner
Duffy
Tickner

Which is an incredibly long tail, starting at Michael Bracewell. I can't help but think they'll be looking to Kuggeleijn to provide some batting reinforcement. With Tickner in, you're looking at a tail with 3 #10s and 1 #11, really. It's about the only time that I hope they're massively overconfident about Bracewell's batting ability.

Macewell WAG

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I mean, it's only a couple of weeks since Larsen said this:

NZ selection manager Gavin Larsen hopes Boult will play ODI World Cup

"We want him to be involved, we'd love him to be involved, we understand entirely his situation so we will keep working with him," Larsen said

www.espncricinfo.com

It's really hard to fathom. I can only assume Boult said that he wouldn't play, but NZC seem to have made great pains to state that they didn't even ask him.

 

[social]

On an unrelated note, bit surprised to see that Southee is skipper

Fine bowler but seem to remember reading/hearing somewhere that there were a few rumblings in the Kiwi camp about how much influence he & Boult had over selections etc

 

[straw man]

Feels like I can't even keep up with the **** news coming out of the NZ camp right now. Two weeks ago I was going to make a standard earnest post about whether Young or Phillips was the better choice to replace Nicholls (even though they won't replace him). How quaint. Since then there's been an escalation of:
- Henry unavailable
- Jamieson serious back injury
- a backdrop of this crazy cyclone
- Boult not selected even when we're in an injury crisis, have run out of contracted players and he's available
- picking ****ing Kuggeleijn in the squad

It's got to the point where actually selecting Tickner in the team seems like the least of our problems. Let alone M Bracewell, that's ancient news. Fully expect to Southee to tread on a ball before the match tomorrow and get ruled out. Altogether, WTF.

 

[Athlai]

Lets make it a dustbowl and pick Ajaz/Sodhi/Macewell. Spin can be real again, just this once

 

[NZTailender]

IMO considering Bazball we should pick 11 batsman and just have everyone field on the rope while Mitchell opens the bowling with Will Young, the rest of the overs being sent down by Phillips, Williamson, Ravindra and *checks notes* Robbie O'Donnell? Actually, give Blundell a whirl while Latham takes the gloves so we can have the full XI bowl. In fact, bring back Jeet (Raval) for some dour defence at the top and George worker since he fits the 30 plus journeyman criteria, plus can bowl a bit.

Raval
Worker
Williamson
Conway
Young
Latham
Ravindra
Mitchell
Phillips
R O'Donnell
Blundell+