***Official*** New Zealand in Australia 2011

[Agent Nationaux]

Is there a decent pace prospect in the NZ domestic circuit who could be a long-term prospect (apologies for not knowing much about the domestic scene)?

 

[Prince EWS]

Is there a decent pace prospect in the NZ domestic circuit who could be a long-term prospect (apologies for not knowing much about the domestic scene)?

Depends what you mean by "pace". Trent Boult was 12th man for this game; he's not particularly quick but he's a young, very promising left armer who has done extremely well domestically.

Adam Milne (not in the squad) is genuinely quick but hasn't done a lot in First Class cricket yet and has been plagued by injury. Played a T20 for New Zealand and got hammered but impressed a lot of people.

 

[Athlai]

Bennett is moderately quick.

 

[Prince EWS]

Bennett is moderately quick.

He said long-term prospect though.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Yeah heard about Milne and he got hammered by Pak IIRC. But he was really quick (150). When I say pace I mean 145 plus (obviously I am a Pakistani, so I am obsessed with pace ).

And why am I not surprised that it's you who answered my question (since you follow every single team's domestic scene).

How good is Boult (apt name) in comparison with say Junaid. Can he bring the ball in to the right-hander?

 

[Furball]

Clearly he meant in general. Obviously that was a bad test, but I can point to these two tests when they played at home:

HowSTAT! Match Scorecard
HowSTAT! Match Scorecard

where they were absolutely woeful too. Doesn't mean they are overall "very ordinary" at home.

Saying India are very ordinary away from home as if that is the norm is plain wrong. Saying they will be ordinary away from home from now onwards or in the near future is a fair enough prediction. But you can't change the past.

Depends what your definition of "ordinary" is though. There's no doubt, recent series against England aside, India have been a tough proposition recently, but to be honest I don't think it's completely unfair to call them ordinary away from home. Bangladesh aside, when was the last time India won 2 Tests in a series away from home?

 

[Noble One]

Daniel Christian is an interesting selection as standby for Hobart.

Nice to see the form batsman in the competition rewarded. The selectors are clearly concerned that they need a fifth bowler given the short break and the lack of fit bowling options available at the moment. Christian is unlikely to forge a great Test career, however as a backup option he would be capable of a useful fifty and bowling 10-15 overs in an innings if required.

Andrew McDonald has really missed his chance by having a slow start to the season, and not returning strongly from his injury last year.

 

[SteveNZ]

Goes back to not having that extra warm-up match on an Australian pitch with a bit of bounce in it, no matter who the bowling attack was.

I doubt it, quite frankly. A NSW 2nd XI wouldn't have made a lick of difference, whatever pitch it was on.

I doubt Arnel will play. We need 20 wickets to square the series, nothing else is relevant. So whilst he might come in and do a better holding job, that's not what we required. Rest assured a flat belter is being prepared in Hobart. We've got to stick with what we've got and expect more out of them.

 

[Zinzan]

Ah that was fun.

New Zealand fans going on about how they're going smash 450-500 and beat this rabble no bother, to wanting their batsmen hung drawn and quartered and the utter despair at a crushing defeat. Always from one extreme to the other, players are either heroes or villains.

Bring on the Second Test. A stodgy surface should level the playing field.

It's funny that whilst most people in life obtain pleasure through, love, companionship, helping others etc, there are some sad, lonely, pathetic, cynical & remarkably ugly nerds out there who gain pleasure in other ways...that's life I suppose

 

[Jono]

Depends what your definition of "ordinary" is though. There's no doubt, recent series against England aside, India have been a tough proposition recently, but to be honest I don't think it's completely unfair to call them ordinary away from home. Bangladesh aside, when was the last time India won 2 Tests in a series away from home?

"Very ordinary" isn't winning or drawing series though. Surely no one defines "very ordinary" with 1-1 in SA or 1-1 in SL.

That's definitely not what I associate with the term. They won in NZ, WI, drew in SA and drew in SL. They lost in Aust in a closely fought 2-1 series. They lost in Eng badly of course but before that won.

They are far from a great team. Hell you can argue they aren't/weren't a very good team. But they weren't "very ordinary" away from home. Their away record isn't too much worse to England.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Honestly, only a twisted individual who enjoys strangling puppies would take pleasure in seeing a team like NZ, who gets starved of test cricket, lose.

Meh. Would take similar pleasure in Australia losing (against NZ).

Will definitely want New Zealand to win when they play India or South Africa.

 

[Scaly piscine]

It's funny that whilst most people in life obtain pleasure through, love, companionship, helping others etc, there are some sad, lonely, pathetic, cynical & remarkably ugly nerds out there who gain pleasure in other ways...that's life I suppose

Awww don't put yourself down, I'm sure you have your good points.

 

[Spikey]

Daniel Christian is an interesting selection as standby for Hobart.

Nice to see the form batsman in the competition rewarded. The selectors are clearly concerned that they need a fifth bowler given the short break and the lack of fit bowling options available at the moment. Christian is unlikely to forge a great Test career, however as a backup option he would be capable of a useful fifty and bowling 10-15 overs in an innings if required.

Andrew McDonald has really missed his chance by having a slow start to the season, and not returning strongly from his injury last year.

If only he had a good season before this one...

I'm not quite sure how this doesn't turn out like S. Smith if he plays but he surely won't play so.

 

[Days of Grace]

Shock, horror, but I agree with most of what Scaly says about New Zealand cricket.

Defensive reactions from NZ posters are showing, tbh.

 

[andyc]

I think a McGrath clone ripping up the Shield would have struggled to be picked because there would have been doubts about his lack of pace. Not saying Copeland is a clone of McGrath but I definitely think there's less trust in his success because he doesn't bowl quickly.

The McGrath comparisons have been non-stop with Hazelwood, and he played an ODI when he was still 19.

 

[Ruckus]

AWTA

Watson as a pure batsman would only qualify in our top 6 due to the absolute dire depth we currently have. It is the bowling that makes him so valuable for us. Without that he'd have to stand and fall on his batting alone and if every one's perennial whipping boy Hughes gets the bullet the eyes will turn pretty quickly to Watson if he doesn't get back amongst the runs. If all he's good for are 50s he'll need to make them 2 out of every 3 innings or he'll be under heaps of pressure.

We need that good 5th bowler option atm and the move to bring Christian into the squad is an indication the selectors are looking at options outside of Watson.

I don't agree he'd only make our top 6 because of our depth issues atm, but in any case isn't that just all the more reason why we should be allowing him to focus on his batting? The bottom line is, while our bowling still needs a fair bit of time to be 'road tested' and trialled, it is looking a fair bit more promising and solid than our batting atm. Surely, then, we should be trying to get the most out of Watson as a batsmen, because frankly there aren't that many more pure batsmen who can replace him at this stage.

 

[Zinzan]

Shock, horror, but I agree with most of what Scaly says about New Zealand cricket.

Defensive reactions from NZ posters are showing, tbh.

I agree with most of what he says as well DOG. In fact I was criticized by other NZ posters about constantly being too negative about NZ throughout the test, even before it turned to crap, simply because I had a feeling about what was around the corner.

What I do find hard to understand is why Scaly appears to get such immense pleasure out of NZ failing, that's what my comment was about. It is rather bizarre when you think about it.

 

[SteveNZ]

My issue is that everything is so negative, and spiteful, and a real downer really.

I'm certainly not defensive about my side. I can certainly go along with criticism when it's reasoned and based on fact.

And this isn't pointed at anyone but I don't see anyone coming out of the woodwork and saying Chris Martin justified his selection in that Test, yet there were plenty - from NZ and abroad - willing to write him off as just another average cricketer and one undeserving of a spot.

We're always so quick to search for the negative. Yes my side was rubbish, but there are some definite talents in the Australian side bowling wise. They even excite me - I just like seeing good cricket.

Plus Vettori, Brownlie and Martin gave a good account of themselves. Funny, probably the least three talented players in terms of what they produced (Vettori and Brownlie with the bat and Martin with the ball). There's something to be learned, even if it won't be.

 

[Hurricane]

I am not going to read any of Scaly's comments as I am just logging in now. His thoughts on NZ are well documented and he simply dissapears when we do well.

But I must say I have never been more dissapointed - 150 was our score. All credit to Brownlie who looked like the real deal. But is he our own batsman with an adequate technique against 145kmh bowling. Australia were simply too fast for our batsman it must be said. We only have Adam Milne who can bowl that quick and he is not test quality. Australia just turns around and sneezes and they have a new bowler who can bowl 145 or even 150.

Kane was undone by a terribly good ball in the 1st dig - but what was he really doing to that delivery in the 2nd dig. Taylor has been dodgy outside off stump for some time now. And Ryder just didn't seem to believe that we had a **** show of pulling off a draw so didn't even try. And which is worse a batsman like Guptil who is simply outmatched by the bowling or someone who wasn't mentally ready for either his first or second innings.

What are the solutions - none that I can see. Is Brownlie better off at 3 and Kane at 6? Should McCullum take the gloves back and risk ending his career early. Bring Timmy Mac back into the team. He did score 80 against Aussie at the basin reserve and I am not sure that Guptil is any better than him.

What else do I have to say...yes Aussie prepared a pitch which suited their bowling attack. A bouncy one. McCullum and Guptil were both undone by bounce. Why can't we produce green seamers at home and just become known for it.

Anyways this is my post.

 

[Jono]

Its always baffled me how pace unsettles the NZ batsmen. Been that way for years.

They had Bond bowling to them in the nets for how long (albeit he was injured a bit). Surely they should be used to the heat!