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*Official* New Zealand in England 2015

Niall

International Coach
Spinner Mark Craig dominates final day in New Zealand XI's win over Somerset | Stuff.co.nz

Matt Henry has arrived in England and will play in the second warm-up. Looks like Stuff has given up on trying to figure out when the other IPL mercs will be turning up:
Very pleased to see Henry show up, wasting his time carrying drinks in the IPL, if KP is binned as what has been reported and goes back to the Sunrisers, then Kane has absolutely no chance of playing for them again bar injury especially as Henriques and to a lesser extent Morgan have shown some foam, NZ should try and get him released for the second warm up.
 
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NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Desperately want to see the highlights to get a look at Craig and Bracewells wickets. Glad Craig got a decent haul, while Bracewell got middling returns..
 

Chewie

International Vice-Captain
It seems confirmed that Craig will play so no 4 man pace attack

"He's a wicket taker but occasionally leaks runs. He'll be better off for this, having not bowled for at least two months. Mark will be playing for us in the Test no doubt so it's a matter of him getting into good rhythm and being confident."
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Anderson is probably fit to play, but I don't think his absence would really have an effect on whether Craig is in the team. English pitches usually tend to meet the test cricket ideal of breaking up a bit on days 4 and 5, and Hesson will want someone in the team who can exploit that.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Do we really need five bowlers? I know England do but I reckon we're g2g.
Yeah, with Southee, Boult and probably Henry armed with the duke, I reckon we won't have too much trouble taking 20 wickets. The big question is whether or batsmen will make enough runs for the bowlers to defend.
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Yes we need 5 bowlers with an all rounder being the 5th ideally. If nothing else then for workload purposes.
 

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Do we really need five bowlers? I know England do but I reckon we're g2g.
I think instead of it being that you don't need 5 bowlers, you absolutely do need the extra batsman.

I don't think worload woulf be much of an issue either... it's just 2 tests, right?
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Why is Milne not in the test squad?
He's never been picked for tests. I think there are real concerns about his durability, and he's never really bashed the door down in domestic cricket anyway. Oh and he's still injured.
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Yes we need 5 bowlers with an all rounder being the 5th ideally. If nothing else then for workload purposes.
Tbf a jammy Williamson would be perfect, but I get what you mean. We're not going to have Watling 6 and Bracewell 7 for instance, but I don't think we'll be too reliant on an Anerson/Neesham type figure (though Anderson does have dat golden arm).

I agree with OS. We need an extra batsman. Anderson, talent-ability-wise, is good enough to fill that role (despite not really having done so in Tests so far), so if he's fit he certainly plays. if not, I'd much prefer Brownlie at 6 than an Elliott (though WAFG), Munro, Ellis or Wells (am a fan though) type.

We'll probably get a preview to the batting dynamic of an Anderson-less scenrario in the next match.
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Tbf a jammy Williamson would be perfect, but I get what you mean. We're not going to have Watling 6 and Bracewell 7 for instance, but I don't think we'll be too reliant on an Anerson/Neesham type figure (though Anderson does have dat golden arm).

I agree with OS. We need an extra batsman. Anderson, talent-ability-wise, is good enough to fill that role (despite not really having done so in Tests so far), so if he's fit he certainly plays. if not, I'd much prefer Brownlie at 6 than an Elliott (though WAFG), Munro, Ellis or Wells (am a fan though) type.

We'll probably get a preview to the batting dynamic of an Anderson-less scenrario in the next match.
Good post.

I AWTA with all of that.

The only strange thought that popped into my head that I wanted to share is that - should Brownlie really be a specialist number 6 batsman...lets talk about what a number 6 batsman really is and does for a team.

It seems to be the cushiest position to bat in the whole team. At number 5 you are obligated to dominate the attack. At least that is what a classical number 5 batsman should do. Your numbers 3 and 4 should be your engine room. Forget this Cantab crap about having an engine room at 7 and 8 or wherever Ellis batted this year. That is plunket shield bs. In real cricket your number 3 and 4 need to set the table. They need to score serious runs. Don't volunteer to bat in those positions unless you are a gun.
And openers are openers.
But number 6 is cushy. You don't really have to bat with a high SR, you just need to get as many runs as you can and probably you are going to walk out to bat against the old ball and a tired attack. Even if you walk out to bat when your team is in a spot of bother the score will usually be 120 odd and it will be the 40th over.

So what type of batsman are suited to batting at 6.
Now before answering that question I want to explain what I mean by suited. I mean a batsman who won't be frustrated by batting that low down, or be over qualified, or under qualified. Someone who is perfectly suited to bat there.

Young blokes on debut or for their first two seasons make great number 6s or all rounders.

If you are a journeyman like say Brownlie could be accused of being, and you can only make the team by batting at 6, do we really want you. Wouldn't we prefer to use that position to mentor some young bloke for the future of the team, or to trade off some batting prowess and get some overs out of the person so that we get a strong return on investment out of arguably the cushiest position in the side.

Now I have pulled most of this out of arse, and it just popped into my head, so yeah make of it what you will.
 

Immenso

International Vice-Captain
Brownlie hasn't been mentioned in any official capacity as cover for Anderson has he? Just our assumption about a month out that he'd be next cab off to fill the Neesham/Anderdon hole.

Santner might be surprisingly close to a premature test debut.

Disappointed that next tour game is a mickeymouse-class match. This will set us back.
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Good post.

I AWTA with all of that.

The only strange thought that popped into my head that I wanted to share is that - should Brownlie really be a specialist number 6 batsman...lets talk about what a number 6 batsman really is and does for a team.

It seems to be the cushiest position to bat in the whole team. At number 5 you are obligated to dominate the attack. At least that is what a classical number 5 batsman should do. Your numbers 3 and 4 should be your engine room. Forget this Cantab crap about having an engine room at 7 and 8 or wherever Ellis batted this year. That is plunket shield bs. In real cricket your number 3 and 4 need to set the table. They need to score serious runs. Don't volunteer to bat in those positions unless you are a gun.
And openers are openers.
But number 6 is cushy. You don't really have to bat with a high SR, you just need to get as many runs as you can and probably you are going to walk out to bat against the old ball and a tired attack. Even if you walk out to bat when your team is in a spot of bother the score will usually be 120 odd and it will be the 40th over.

So what type of batsman are suited to batting at 6.
Now before answering that question I want to explain what I mean by suited. I mean a batsman who won't be frustrated by batting that low down, or be over qualified, or under qualified. Someone who is perfectly suited to bat there.

Young blokes on debut or for their first two seasons make great number 6s or all rounders.

If you are a journeyman like say Brownlie could be accused of being, and you can only make the team by batting at 6, do we really want you. Wouldn't we prefer to use that position to mentor some young bloke for the future of the team, or to trade off some batting prowess and get some overs out of the person so that we get a strong return on investment out of arguably the cushiest position in the side.

Now I have pulled most of this out of arse, and it just popped into my head, so yeah make of it what you will.
Interesting post which raises a good question, especially in regards to the likes of Brownlie who has tried to transform himself into an opener.

If you look at the squad, the only person who would really be totes OK with 6 would be Baz. Watling, maybe. In terms of the future though if we have to look outside Anderson and Neesham (who will probably battle it out for that spot until Baz retires, when I expect Anderson will step up to 5) no one genuinely springs to mind from the PS because there are so rarely ever a specialist batsman at six. I mean, look at this least from the last couple of rounds from the PS of who batted 6:

Santner
Woodcock
Matt Taylor
de Boorder
Brad Cachopa
Watling
Blundell
Ellis
van Wyk

All-rounders and keepers! Plus Matt Taylor who I don't know much about. Of those batting at 5 who aren't journeyman ala James Franklin or simply Anton Devcich, there's Tom Bruce, Josh Finnie and Henry Nicholls. It would be interesting to know how long McCullum will play for (apparently a year according to someone earlier in the thread?) because ideally you'd have a young batsmen like one of those named - or Will Young or Robbie O'Donnell - debut with the old hand at 5 for a bit of experience. If it becomes a Anderson-Neesham 5-6 will specialist bats only be considered for 1-4? It's a strange scenario while Williamson and Taylor are untouchable at 3 & 4. Latham was the last specialist guy to debut in the middle order as a replacement (remember how we chose Redmond that time? lol) and he's moved up to his natural position. So, given McCullum's possible window of a year and the Neesham-Anderson L/O, one would hope NZC would be developing these guys with an aim to bat 5 or 6 in over a years time, because none of them are ready to be playing Test cricket. I guess there's also the elephant in the room of Munro, but who knows what NZC's perception of him is in terms of Test cricket. Personally I'd be looking to Will Young and Tom Bruce.

In that sense, I'd view the NZ 'A' team/squad with development in mind as being:
Rutherford (needs work as we all know)
Bracewell (just open already wtf Otago)
O'Donnell
Young
Nicholls
Bruce
Blundell+ (hopefully de Boorder takes over from Ronchi as Test keeper #2)
Astle
Milne
Wheeler
Duffy

Santner
Finnie
Seifert
????
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Brownlie hasn't been mentioned in any official capacity as cover for Anderson has he? Just our assumption about a month out that he'd be next cab off to fill the Neesham/Anderdon hole.

Santner might be surprisingly close to a premature test debut.

Disappointed that next tour game is a mickeymouse-class match. This will set us back.
Santner to be our Agar if so. Which would be terrible overall.
 
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