Hi all, been thinking a bit lately - when Fulton (hopefully) returns to form and Jess Ryder (hopefully) stops being a douche and recovers, we may actually have a bit of a log jam; at least in our one day side.
Assuming management wants to keep the Ryder/McCullum experiment at the top; How needs to bat three then we have to choose between Taylor / Styris / Fulton / Flynn / Oram for 4, 5, 6 and 7.
I'm wondering if it's time Scotty was left out, as much of a servant he's been for us. His knees are shot; you could see him struggling to run - even though the rain may have been a slight factor - he can't bowl particularly quick and opts to bowl those stupid off spinners. He does, however, have the stabilising veteran presence that I'm sure relieves some pressure off McCullum, Taylor and How; does this counteract both his knees and his stupid haircuts? Who knows. I'd say give him this series and the Champions then if he's not performing, goodbye Scotty.
If Fulton plays it seems silly to play him below four; so pencil him in there and then Taylor at five which seems low but I'm sure there'll be plenty of NZ collpases for him to bat time. Flynn at six, well. I've never seen him play a one day game but everything I've heard and read points to him being able to bat very well in the limited form - but can he finish ala Hussey? And this leaves Oram at seven. So a hypothetical lineup...
Ryder
McCullum
How
Fulton
Taylor
Flynn
Oram
Vettori
Mills
?
?
The problem with this XI is the fact there's only five bowlers which is funny considering not long ago we had everyone able to throw their arm over. This is why I'd love to see Oram being put to six and maybe dropping Flynn; I'm sure Vettori and Mills could do fine at their new respective positions and another bowler - Patel maybe? - could be put in. It'd be a nice balance.
Also expanding the point someone made earlier about the massive decline we've had since '04, I was brooding over it at work and figured we, had we been in bizarro world where the Black Caps get good luck, this could be our test team:
How
Opener - even in bizarro we'll never have two openers.
Sinclair - a non weirdo Sincas who realized his potential
Fulton
Taylor
Ryder
McCullum
Oram
Vettori
Bond - if only
Martin
It's a bit of a cutesy line up, with four bowlers and Oram and Vettori at 8 & 9 but Ryder can turn his arm over. If bizarro world was super Fleming would sacrifice everything to be the opener but I can imagine that team stomping England this year.