*Official* New Zealand in England 2015

[Hurricane]

There's a lot of theatre in cricket, or there was or should be. Paddles and Warnes appeals both the best ever I reckon, joint first place. Just absolutely demanding the umpire give it out with total conviction. Paddles even had a follow through to his iconic appeal: feet splayed wide, legs bent at the knees, hands open wide thrusting skyward as he roared at the umpire. Then once it was given, the slump forward in relief that the umpire had seen what had been so apparently obvious, fingertips brushing the pitch.

He saved his appeals Hadlee. No speculative appeals.

 

[Skyliner]

that's not kane though. he's an assassin.[/QUOTE

How would you sledge the guy? He just seems like ice. There's no huge ego there so nothing to attack, nothing to rile up, no buttons to push. He's been called the cyborg lately...like he's a machine, a cricketing terminator sent from the future. A great white shark, operating to an instinctive purpose - to kill and eat and swim....I mean bat and bat and score runs.

 

[Hurricane]

that's not kane though. he's an assassin.[/QUOTE

How would you sledge the guy? He just seems like ice. There's no huge ego there so nothing to attack, nothing to rile up, no buttons to push. He's been called the cyborg lately...like he's a machine, a cricketing terminator sent from the future. A great white shark, operating to an instinctive purpose - to kill and eat and swim....I mean bat and bat and score runs.

He would be easy to attempt to sledge, plenty of material, just he would ignore it, which I think is your point.

 

[Zinzan]

that's not kane though. he's an assassin.

Yup, the silent assassin sums KW up beautifully. It's as if the weapon he uses is so sharp that the opposition don't know they're injured until they look down to see blood gushing out. His ability to get to 31 off 33 balls seemingly with no risk and no shots of anger must be fairly soul destroying for bowlers.

 

[Skyliner]

He would be easy to attempt to sledge, plenty of material, just he would ignore it, which I think is your point.

Yes, exactly what I mean. The object of sledging is obviously to visibly rile your opponent, boosting your own morale while hopefully negatively impacting on the targets performance. But if it's water of a ducks back, then there probably is some counter effect. I remember that test in 2001/02 in Perth when Warne was pulling faces before bowling, Gillespie was flapping his arms like a bird when running in, there would have been a heap of verbals going on, and Astle and Parore batted on and on. I swear I heard Warne scream in frustration "F*CK" over the stump mike at the end of one over. There was no comment from the channel 9 team.

 

[Cabinet96]

Plunkett out Overton No. 2 in.

Absolute state of our bowling options for this series.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I have never seen Taylor loft it over extra cover for 2 in his career.

I didn't see Martin Crowe smash Shoaib Akhtar for 30 in one over in a WC game and end his career.

 

[harsh.ag]

Is that you Shane Warne?

Just kidding, thanks for that post.

Haha, sometimes I wonder if I should try and listen in on Channel 9's commentary, and join in the fun. Or at the very least avoid quoting Tubby and the gang.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

I mean ebullient in the sense that these superstars of the game looked like they were enjoying themselves. As much as Viv was described as 'arrogant' I reckon he loved being the man and he loved to entertain and above all to win, and his persona was a big part of him doing that. I reckon the personas these guys developed were what enabled them to go to the extra level: apart from the superlative skills, they couldn't be seen to be bested. The personas could have started with an element of acting and then they had to live what they had created. I found it interesting that when Sodhi went to Melbourne to work with Warne, one of the things Warne told him to do was develop a persona.

Viv Richards was the Muhammad Ali of cricket

 

[Skyliner]

I didn't see Martin Crowe smash Shoaib Akhtar for 30 in one over in a WC game and end his career.

Akhtar was bowling non-stop full tosses and Rosco had no choice but to hoist them way over the boundary. Some of the worst international bowling I've seen, no exaggeration. Some very dubious bowling and fielding in that match....PAK wicket keeper didn't seem to want to want to catch the ball.

 

[harsh.ag]

Akhtar was bowling non-stop full tosses and Rosco had no choice but to hoist them way over the boundary. Some of the worst international bowling I've seen, no exaggeration. Some very dubious bowling and fielding in that match....PAK wicket keeper didn't seem to want to want to catch the ball.

No no, he wanted to.

 

[Flem274*]

martin crowe made his name against one of the worst aussie sides of all time. martin crowe secretly sucks.

you see i can be selective and dire too.

 

[Skyliner]

I'd say Akhtar destroyed himself in that match. It was suicide by cop, and Ross was the cop.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Yup, the silent assassin sums KW up beautifully. It's as if the weapon he uses is so sharp that the opposition don't know they're injured until they look down to see blood gushing out. His ability to get to 31 off 33 balls seemingly with no risk and no shots of anger must be fairly soul destroying for bowlers.

KW appears to have no need to play himself in. From the first ball he looks like he's already on 200*.

 

[Hurricane]

It wasn't a bad team except for a short period.@flem

Bruce Reid
Terry alderman
On and on

What actually was their line up when border was reputed to be the only good player. By the time Crowe came along they were very good.
Sometimes I think that Aussie side gets belittled because they were smoked by the West Indies

 

[King Pietersen]

Absolute state of our bowling options.

Fixed.

 

[Skyliner]

We can't go down this road otherwise we end up saying things like Paddles 9 fer was against a rubbish Aus batting line up.

 

[Zinzan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppm3yaeiZiY Williamson MOTM interview

 

[Dan]

Dan's Official GOAT Batsman Rankings
1. Bradman, DG
=2. Williamson, KS
=2. Smith, SPD

 

[kiwiviktor81]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppm3yaeiZiY Williamson MOTM interview

Amazing that he talks about how frustrating it was not to be there at the end and bat even longer after already scoring 118.