straw man
Hall of Fame Member
I can say it and I will say it: Hopkins is rubbish. He has looked a rubbish batsman every time he has played for NZ and unfortunately gets the chance to prove it repeatedly . I've heard he's a nice guy - perhaps that's why Vettori picked him?PS as for last nights game. I dont blame them for playing Hopkins. You simply cant play only 5 batsman. He had to play and its not his fault there were no other batting options in the squad. Thats a selectorial **** up.
You also cant simply say Hopkins is rubbish because of his limited and sporadic chances record. If Broom gets that luxury then check out Hopkins first class and ODD record over the last couple of seasons.
My pick for last night was Diamanti - Patel weakened the batting too much in an already questionable lower order. Would generally back Diamanti closing his eyes and swinging to score more runs than Hopkins by pure random chance. Of course it would have been someone else if the proper reserves had been selected for the tour.
PS: For your team, reckon Styris should be 3 and Taylor 4 - don't like Taylor being any higher than that. Also McCullum is never going to not open again due to his leadership spot in the team, so we may as well stop wishing it would happen. Agree with Athlai that Ryder should be the one moved down the order where he's not exposed to the new ball. Only problem is it leaves too many similar right hand bats at the top.