Macka said:
Just a quick reply. I don't think Papps is quite ready for international cricket yet, he's a good prospect for the future for sure. I don't see any reason why Fleming can't open the innings, he's a good leaver, his technique has improved a lot recently, and most importantly, he did it against England with success.
I'm really not sure who is going to bat in the top order. In my view NZ needs to develop another top orders batsman for us to have more consistancy. Marshall is an option, as is Fulton. I think once NZ agrees on a lineup they should stick with it. Yes Marshall is poor on slow pitches and Sinclair isn't great on seemers - but I don't agree with the 'horses for courses approach'.
McMillan and Sinclair's batting is quite different but Sinclair is great to watch once he gets going.
I have some concerns re Papps 'forward press' on fast & bouncy pitches - esp as he isn't tall......not everyone agrees but that's ok.........
I agree re the Top Order - IMO we have Sinclair, Fulton & Marshall as options atm, with the likes of Taylor, Vincent & Stewart in the next tier..........
with 'horses for cources' I'm not advocating wholesale changes - just a player or two...........
just about everyone does it for their bowling attacks without even thinking about what they are doing - they retain the core of the attack & just bring in a specialist for the conditions (or the opposition), be it spin (wrist or finger), pace, bounce, RAO v LAO or swing.
I'd just apply the same philosophy to the batting - the core of the lineup should have the technical abilities to play on any surface, but some players excell in certain circumstances & may struggle in others , sometimes as a result of their style of play rather than any lack of ability - Marshall is a good case in point. His style is effective when the ball comes onto the bat, but is less so when he has to make the pace - if there is another player option available who does well in those circumstances then why not swap for the series????? We used to do it 20 years ago - the likes of John Reid from AUCK getting selected just to play in the sub-continent because of his ability to play spin bowling.........
For me it comes down to 2 primary questions - seam or spin, and then if it is seam - does the ball come onto the bat or not. So we are not looking for a great number of change options (3 types of batsmen), and consequently not a revolving door of players in / out of the team........(unless other circumstances dictate).....
IMO NZL batsmen are at a disadvantage because the domestic pitches are low & slow seam which is a minority so far as intnl conditions go, as it would appear that the ball comes onto the bat more often than not.........ENG, AUS, RSA & WIN would all have more pace & bounce of various degrees, the sub-continent is spin city, leaving just ZIM as a possible match for pace & bounce.
As a consequence some players that seem to excell at Home, struggle Away because of their style - Macca is twice the player at Home as he is Away, Vincent is the opposite. The ideal is obviously to have a player effective in all, but atm we do not have too many of those capable of making the sort of contributions that the 'specialists' can with any level of consistency. Hopefully we will be seeing an improvement in pitches & technical abilites to help brdige the gap etc..........
The other point to bear in mind with my 'horses for cources', is that I'm also calling for a 6-4 split in team selection - I agree that it is too disruptive to apply to the current 5-5 selection philosophy.
