**Official** New Zealand in England

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I find that hard to believe, ITBT. Only very rarely over any remotely lengthy period of time have I seen the batsman whose first-chance record is superior to his scorebook one.

Granted I made this up, but that doesn't make my statement any less true.

Not only is it FACT, it's TRUE (underlined, bold etc.) FACT.

 

[Flem274*]

I find that hard to believe, ITBT. Only very rarely over any remotely lengthy period of time have I seen the batsman whose first-chance record is superior to his scorebook one.

Richard, Richard, please tell me you didn't take him seriously?

 

[Richard]

Granted I made this up, but that doesn't make my statement any less true.

Not only is it FACT, it's TRUE (underlined, bold etc.) FACT.

Heathmeister, that was an unworthy way for this thread's 100th page to be brought-up.

 

[Richard]

Richard, Richard, please tell me you didn't take him seriously?

Nope, just pretended to.

 

[Flem274*]

What remains to be seen is whether any are remotely likely to succeed at Test level.

I've also been told it's clueless to say Papps has no clue against anything short before now (16toS) with some feeling too (I wasn't the one that said it, it was Fuller). So I remain to be convinced on that score.

OK I'll rephrase: He's just clueless


Ok in all seriousness, I'd be interested in the reasoning they posted.

 

[Richard]

Well sadly 16toS seems to have gone missing in recent times, but if he's reading this thread any time soon I'm sure he'll rehash.

 

[Flem274*]

Well sadly 16toS seems to have gone missing in recent times, but if he's reading this thread any time soon I'm sure he'll rehash.

Okey dokey.

Though I must say, even if he does turn out to be OK against the short ball it still doesn't excuse his test record though there is hope for him. How came from further back than Papps did and his ODI and test career is on the rise.

 

[PY]

Excellent start by Southee, he seems rather good (based on results as I don't have TV)

 

[Leslie1]

What does everyone think of Mason, O Brien + Martin as NZ's bowling attack combination for the 3rd test?

We have yet to find a good bowling combination in this tour, where two bowlers can bowl in partnerships.

I think after the test series' ended it would be fair to say that the seam bowlers haven't taken enough wickets - considering the conditions which everyone thought would favor the likes of Mills, Southee for NZ and Sidebottom, Anderson for England.

 

[S.P. Fleming]

I dont know the stats but Ricky Pontings domestic record isnt all that flash.

 

[Perm]

I dont know the stats but Ricky Pontings domestic record isnt all that flash.

He averages over 61 for Tasmania and almost 100 for Somerset (admittedly he's only played four games for them).

I'd say that's pretty flash.

 

[PhoenixFire]

One sentence and you've managed to:

Completely ignore his strike-rate which is very good
Completely ignore the pitches and conditions he played on which basically entailed 1 road (where he got a rapid 50), the odd typical flattish wicket and a few tough 'uns. His record would be more like a mid to high 20s average with ~100 SR if he'd been playing on a good cross-section of pitches.
Completely ignore the role England need to fill which Mustard was selected to play in.
Suggest someone who's a proven failure in ODIs, a guy who averages 21 at a poor strike rate and isn't very good with the gloves. Essential worse than Mustard in everything.
Display rubbish grammar and spelling.


Still at least you haven't posted 56,000odd times.

1) TBH, I couldn't give a crap what his strike rate is, even if it was 250, averaging 23 is simply not good enough for an ODI team who should be challenging for the 4-2 places in the world rankings. Regardless, a strike rate of 90 odd isn't remotely high enough in this day and age to compensate for an average of 23.

2) Fair enough, he did play on some pitches where there was a bit of seam movement, but if an opener can't cope wih that, then what hope does he have of actually making some runs? You can't excuse an average of 23 by saying that he has played on some hard pitches, because a top standard opener (or whatever you want to call him) should be able to handle them.

3) He has been selected as a pinch hitter, but what use is a pinch hitter if he only manages to stick around for an average of 25 balls in every game?

4) The difference between Prior and Mustard is that the former actually looks like a batsman and the latter simply doesn't. Prior hasn't been good enough at ODI level with the bat or gloves, but he has looked better witht he bat and ptrtty much the same with the gloves.

5) I really couldn't give a **** what you think of my spelling and grammar, in all honesty.

 

[Richard]

I dont know the stats but Ricky Pontings domestic record isnt all that flash.

He averages over 61 for Tasmania and almost 100 for Somerset (admittedly he's only played four games for them).

I'd say that's pretty flash.

Haha, nice burn really.

I remember hearing that Ponting had signed for Somerset for a short stint in 2004, and thinking "that could mean some very, very, very big runs".

I recall particularly one game. Day\night match, and there was rain around. Ultimate combo for seam and swing in this (and any, but more spectacularly than ever in this) country. Somerset's bowlers (even Gareth Andrew ) bowled competently and kept Durham in check. Neil Killeen, an excellent one-day bowler, dismissed Michael Burns with a massive away-swinger off the first ball of his second over. Ponting came to the crease. John Francis, the other opener that game, is a left-hander, but Burns (a decent county batsman) had already played and missed at Killeen several times, and Francis was hit about the pads repeatedly. Ponting barely missed the middle of the bat. He couldn't get Killeen away, but he murdered the rest of the attack, and Killeen never looked like dismissing him even with a swinging new ball.

I've rarely seen such an eloquent demonstration of a batsman being obviously in a different league. Paul Allott mentioned it on commentary at the end of that Killeen over from which he dismissed Burns: "Already evident here of Ponting's class". And it truly was.

 

[Richard]

Excellent start by Southee, he seems rather good (based on results as I don't have TV)

Yep, has generally looked pretty good too. I'd guess he might well get a recall for Trent Bridge now, and if he can get some more in the second-innings I'd imagine it'll be firmed-up.

That's a nice redeemer for what's so far been a very poor tour for him.

 

[FBU]

C'mon then - who's How obviously better than at the current time?

I might remind you that Michael Papps too scored runs against England - though admittedly he was dropped on 14 or something.

I'd love to see how performances would've gone had How been picked to face-up to Steyn, Nel and Ntini and Papps to out-of-touch Hoggard, Anderson, Broad et al.

Papps 4 c Mustard bowled Anderson (Canterbury v England XI)

 

[FBU]

Sure, J How's suitability in the side is somehow fabricated by the fact that he has only faced English's bowling attack that only have Sidebottom and Panesar looking dangerous, .

Sidebottom, Anderson and Panesar have all got How out three times each and Broad once, probably because he had gone by he time Broad came on to bowl.

 

[NZTailender]

Papps 4 c Mustard bowled Anderson (Canterbury v England XI)

MHW Papps lbw b Flintoff 86 (New Zealand v England)

 

[_Ed_]

38-3.

Good to see we're still in top second-innings form.

 

[Athlai]

Marshall looks like he's ruined his chance at getting the third Test IMO, Fulton's spot now.

Leaving the lineup as...

How
Redmond
Fulton
Taylor
McCullum (wk)
Flynn (Marshall)
Oram
Vettori


Martin, Mills, Southee, O'Brien, Mason and Patel for the last 3 spots.

Martin taking one leaves two spots, in all fairness Mills should be dropped for O'Brien, but that will never happen, so Mills is likely to get the 2nd spot.

Martin, Mills, Southee being the likely lineup.

Though I wouldn't be all that adverse to dropping Flynn for the extra bowler. Jeeves or Southee IMO. Mason should feel a bit out of luck that he hasn't got a spot in the team.

 

[Bahnz]

Marshall looks like he's ruined his chance at getting the third Test IMO, Fulton's spot now.

Nah, Braces has already said the top 3 are set in stone, barring injury, for the entire series, which is a sensible enough policy.