***Official***Match #16- New Zealand vs Afghanistan- October 18th-Chennai (D/N)

[SillyCowCorner1]

Murali still a better wrist spinner than him

 

[BeeGee]

NZ probably a better team right this moment, in these conditions than Aus/SL/SA/Pak too

It's been impressive, just quietly. The great thing about going 4-0 is the game against India is nowhere near as important as it could have been. If NZ lose against the red hot Indians It's no big deal. But if they win it's a virtually guaranteed SF spot. Pressure off.

 

[straw man]

Job well done.

Even though England conceded a pretty good score to lose, usually the absolute biggest danger to lose to Afghanistan is to get rolled by their good bowlers. A middling score batting first pretty much ensures victory. They wanted to lock that in no matter what to get the two points instead of using it as open wicket practice for better opponents.

Agree - NZ's innings was a reward for a batting lineup with lots of cake. So we can reliably make a middling score even where we fail to keep wickets in hand (here we later pushed it to a high score). Even if we'd lost Latham/Phillips around the 35 over mark, Chapman and even Santner would have been a decent bet to nudge the ball around for 10 overs.

Downside can be lack of icing, though with Phillips/Chapman/Santner at 6-8 I think that's still the best icing we've had in long time.

 

[Athlai]

Yeah Phillips and Chapman are some supremely rich icing, and Santa is the sprinkles on top. Particularly with his tendency to smash the last ball of the innings.

 

[thierry henry]

God he's good at smashing the last ball

 

[Flem274*]

Yeah one quiet advantage we have is Phillips and Chapman are real batsmen for their domestic teams who just happen to score very quickly.

Neither are the finished article probs but it's a strong foundation to push for a semi final standard side.

 

[Silver Silva]

The reason why i think NZ are doing so well, is because of the healthy competition that exists in their squad , they aren't just competing with others but there is also internal motivation to compete.

If you look at the bench for the Afghanistan game , it was Williamson , Southee, Sodhi and Neesham ..

Williamson and Southee are legends of NZ cricket, and if they were 100% optimal condition they would have started the tournament but because of injury , it's given others a chance and guys like Ferguson ,Ravindra , Young , Chapman , Henry they know that it's not a guarantee that they won't be swapped for these players returning so actually proving they deserve to be in the team is what they are focusing on rather than the fear of failing to the opposition.

Similarly with Sodhi on the sidelines , Santner, Phillips , Ravindra know they have to deliver in the spin department to keep Sodhi on the bench. NZ are getting the most out of their squad of 15 while other squads don't have that level of competition for places. It also helps that so many of the NZ players are versatile so one change won't effect the balance of the team that much.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

mostly correct except henry is a straight up better ODI bowler than southee, irks most nz fans that tim is undroppable in white ball

 

[Athlai]

I reckon Southee may have kept him out if he got to play in the warm ups. Bowls well in these conditions, but Henry has done well. Better than Boult imo.

 

[Zinzan]

Most pleasing thing for me is finally, & against all odds sanity has prevailed with our team selection.

This is the side I named from the start (except KW in for RR or Young when fit), but not in my wildest dreams did I think our selectors would.

Chapman, in his 12 ball stay showed why he's such an asset for us at 7 - as I've been bleating on about- and with Santner at 8 we bat as deep as the South Africas, Australias, Indias & even perhaps the Englands of this world.

It also shows the value of keeping mediocre Southee on the sidelines, and with Lockie finding his feet we now have as strong a 40 overs in Boult, Henry, Lockie & Santner as any other side (maybe with the exception of India).

Our only obvious weak point vs. other top sides is that 5th bowling option, which I'm happy to sacrifice for the balance & depth it gives us with the bat. Our fielding makes up for that chink anyway, especially with our weakest fielder Sodhi not playing. Chapman adds to our already top-class fielding although I would like to know why he seemingly no longer bowls.

History or not, in my mind we should start favourites against Australia. Bring it.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Henry is the 7th ranked ODI bowler in the world, Southee is the 75th.

Henry has 47 wickets at 24 since the last world cup, Southee has improved from the 2019 cycle but still only has 28 wickets at 29.

No way on the planet Southee would have ever been in the side ahead of Henry.

 

[Sunil1z]

@Zinzan

Which is stronger kiwi side ?
2015 WC or 2023 WC

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Most pleasing thing for me is finally, & against all odds sanity has prevailed with our team selection.

This is the side I named from the start (except KW in for RR or Young when fit), but not in my wildest dreams did I think our selectors would.

Chapman, in his 12 ball stay showed why he's such an asset for us at 7 - as I've been bleating on about- and with Santner at 8 we bat as deep as the South Africas, Australias, Indias & even perhaps the Englands of this world.

It also shows the value of keeping mediocre Southee on the sidelines, and with Lockie finding his feet we now have as strong a 40 overs in Boult, Henry, Lockie & Santner as any other side (maybe with the exception of India).

Our only obvious weak point vs. other top sides is that 5th bowling option, which I'm happy to sacrifice for the balance & depth it gives us with the bat. Our fielding makes up for that chink anyway, especially with our weakest fielder Sodhi not playing. Chapman adds to our already top-class fielding although I would like to know why he seemingly no longer bowls.

History or not, in my mind we should start favourites against Australia. Bring it.

The selections have improved a lot since Larsen departed. Maybe we've been too harsh on Stead all this time and the insanity has been coming from the Postman?

 

[Mike5181]

With Williamson in the XI I think this is the best team we've ever put out.

 

[Zinzan]

@Zinzan

Which is stronger kiwi side ?
2015 WC or 2023 WC

'23 comfortably over both 2019 & 2015.

Batting alone, here's the career batting records of our current top 8

Conway averaging 51 @ SR 89
Young 43 @ 86
Ravindra 37 @ 109
Mitchell 48 @ 94
Latham 35 @ 85
Phillips 34 @ 91
Chapman 26 @ 113
Santner 29 @90


With KW 48 @ 81

Bowling's pretty much the same top 4 as we had in 2019 & aside from Ferguson all improved bowlers & a better bowling attack than the 2015 side.

 

[Molehill]

Are NZ hyping themselves up a little bit? As shown in the England series, those two teams had a habit of thrashing each other, seemed like it was NZ's turn this time. Then they've won 3 matches they were massive favourites for anyway, and had Afghanistan not fielded like a bunch of U11's, it may have been a very different game. But what NZ have done well is avoided the upsets. They will almost certainly qualify for the semis, but whether that makes them a decent team, still not so sure.

This World Cup is a bit of a mess so far, but India and NZ have managed to dodge the **** flying around.

 

[Flem274*]

2015 was our best ever squad. We had a good ODI attack on the bench. Peak Neesham didn't even make that squad.

 

[Adorable Asshole]

What about 2007 NZ side? They were considered the favourites.

 

[Sunil1z]

What about 2007 NZ side? They were considered the favourites.

What ?

 

[Zinzan]

Are NZ hyping themselves up a little bit?

Not that I can see, no-one's been saying NZ are winning the thing, just that the selectors are getting things right & that it's arguably better than recent NZ WC sides.