Right arm fast
State Vice-Captain
vettori is by far the best spin bowler in nz (imo) but hes not gr8 by international standards
Perhaps the NZC and Wellington should offer this Mohammad Rafique a nice family home overlooking the harbour. His test average is now almost 7 runs less than Vettori's, although at 34 he's probably not the best stand-down candidate!Right arm fast said:vettori is by far the best spin bowler in nz (imo) but hes not gr8 by international standards
Perhaps the NZC and Wellington should offer this Mohammad Rafique a nice family home overlooking the harbour. His test average is now almost 7 runs less than Vettori's, although at 34 he's probably not the best stand-down candidate!
To be fair, I'd be interested to see someone use google and find that "leave NZ's shores" comment. I'm not saying you made it up Grubb, because it's not the first time I've heard it quoted.Grubb said:It's disappointing that so often they can't seem to put their plans into practice. Especially disappointing that they feel they need to shoot their mouths off before matches. Does anyone remember the "best team to leave NZ's shores" comment before the England tour?
I agree. In case there was any confusion, when I said '34' I was referring to how old he was rather than his average. He's now taken 49 test wickets @ 30.7, which for an attack that he largely has to shoulder the burden for is a top effort.bashar said:Please bear in mind that Rafique started bowling when Bangladesh were not in the test scene. As such, I would say that if we could have shaved a good 10 years from his waist line perhaps then he could have been capable of reaching greater heights.
You think Vettori's armball is good at the moment?bryce said:Vettori......also varies his length much better than rafique and bowls and good armball coming around the wicket to the right hander and uses it about once and over to keep the batsmen honest
don't remember it been whacked lately, by good i meant it is quite difficult to read and generally he puts it on the spot, but fair call about the LBW's he used to get a few with the armball but those have dried right up.Kent said:You think Vettori's armball is good at the moment?
A mate and I were just talking yesterday about when the last time he bowled an genuine armball (not just one that didn't turn) that got someone LBW, rather than dropping it way short and getting whacked.
Thanks Kent. An example of good critical thinking. This is the actual quote: "I've always thought this is one of the strongest teams, if not the strongest, that New Zealand's sent away" (cricinfo). You are right. Different in a rather important way from how I'd remembered it.Kent said:To be fair, I'd be interested to see someone use google and find that "leave NZ's shores" comment. I'm not saying you made it up Grubb, because it's not the first time I've heard it quoted.
I think Cairns said it was the most talented squad of players he's ever been involved with, and if Shane Bond was actually fit that was probably a fair comment IMO. Bearing in mind Cairns played through the 90s, I'd also prefer Bond over Willie Watson or Richardson over Blair Pocock!