***Official*** New Zealand in India 2016

[Daemon]

Can Guptill play spin? I don'g think he'll have a hard time opening against an Indian quick. It's Ashwin that will be the problem.

I suspect Ronchi is in as a funky wannabe McCullum intent selection. He'll open in the 2nd Test if the first goes **** up.

 

[Zinzan]

I don't mind the Neesham selection because he (and Anderson) are actually amongst the best middle order batting prospects anyway. A question I have though - when's the last time Neesham played competitive cricket?

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Here's Jimmy's recent cricket....just whiteball stuff for Derby...

 

[Zinzan]

Guptill should not be there at all. Not opening, not middle order, not number 11. Him having a shot at a middle order place is a ****ing disgrace.

No disagreement that Guptill should've been dropped, I'm talking about how daft the Neesham selection was given they dropped Raval and retained Guptill....

 

[hendrix]

If I remember correctly he was still playing 50 over County Cricket about a month ago. .

Here's Jimmy's recent cricket....just whiteball stuff for Derby...

cool cool so I assume Jeetan Patel's missing name is just a typo right?

 

[Zinzan]

Can Guptill play spin? .

No, it's always been his weakness (along with the playing the new ball) which makes it all the more ridiculous.

 

[hendrix]

Can Guptill play any test standard bowling?
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No.

 

[CharlesLara]

What's Raval's bowling like? Alert: Kippax?

If you can't have one Jeets you can have another.

Has a better natural leg spinner than Sodhi, Nethula etc. Can turn it square, but because he can, his margin for error is small cause he tends to be a bit wide and gets cut/hit behind square a bit, which is not what you wanna hear. He'll be easy to play off the back foot, which is what those slow tracks in India demand.

EDIT: You need stump to stump hunters who will bowl slightly flatter but drift it crazy on these types of tracks cause the turn will take care of itself.

 

[Zinzan]

I'd love to hear the warped rationale for dropping Raval.... something like "his batting would have been better suited to Steyn/Rabada & Philander on seaming decks than on the slow spinning conditions he actually grew up playing on"...

 

[Athlai]

To disagree with the above, Guptill plays spin rather clumsily but he actually scores a fair amount of runs against it, his ODI average against spin is significantly higher than against pace and I suspect the same is true in Tests.

...That said this is mostly due to being well set by the time the spinner usually comes on, and I don't think anyone is arguing that once Guptill gets himself in he can start to churn out the runs at a steady rate. Facing Ashwin very early on his innings will likely be one of his hardest tests.

...That said, the cynic in me believes that India isn't going to give us anything but the roadiest of roads on this tour and back themselves to knock us over. Unlike the SA tour, I doubt they'll feel the need to roll the dice on some minefields and just back themselves to outlast us on roads as they have historically done.

 

[hendrix]

You can actually see the moment Hendrix lost all hope.

Yup.

#ronchithadonkey
#dougeh#canbat
#guptill4eva
#jeet&jeetsGAGF

 

[CharlesLara]

I'd love to hear the warped rationale for dropping Raval.... something like "his batting would have been better suited to Steyn/Rabada & Philander on seaming decks than on the slow spinning conditions he actually grew up playing on"...

LOL! The real kicker is that is probably not far off the mark, they have to find a way to justify and I can see them actually entertaining such comments.

Also with regards to Jeet and playing spin, and this is coming from my experience playing with and against him, he loves using his feet and scoring runs not letting the spinner settle, which is fine here where bounce is consistent and turn slow and small which is a completely different kettle of fish. IMO out of all the guys I have played against in club cricket, as a leggy, Jeet really hate leg spin at times haa.

 

[hendrix]

I'd love to hear the warped rationale for dropping Raval.... something like "his batting would have been better suited to Steyn/Rabada & Philander on seaming decks than on the slow spinning conditions he actually grew up playing on"...

The official rationale was that they wanted to get him in the squad so he can learn how to pack a suitcase.

 

[Zinzan]

To disagree with the above, Guptill plays spin rather clumsily but he actually scores a fair amount of runs against it, his ODI average against spin is significantly higher than against pace and I suspect the same is true in Tests.
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Stop muddling up white-ball cricket with Test cricket. Guptill's been destroying excellent new ball pace attacks in ODIs for a long time now... it's apples and oranges.

If you can find some data showing he scores runs against good spin attacks in tough conditions, I'll look at it, but I wouldn't be suspecting anything from what he does vs. a white-ball..... surely we know that by now.

 

[Kippax]

I'd love to hear the warped rationale for dropping Raval.... something like "his batting would have been better suited to Steyn/Rabada & Philander on seaming decks than on the slow spinning conditions he actually grew up playing on"...

Probably because Hesson and McMillan were actually forced to sit there and watch him bat, getting roughed up by Gerald Aliseni and so on.

It's probably a bit like how Sussex CCC and Wellington would've felt with Craig Cachopa this year. The gleam of that high 40s FC average he once tempted them with, long gone.

 

[hendrix]

I kinda agree with Athlai there to be honest.

Guptill not as terrible against SC style spin* as he is against decent fastbowlers, and could do ok.
He is terrible against spinners who use bounce e.g. Lyon and Swann.

*relatively speaking, of course. He's still terrible.

 

[Prince EWS]

Aliseni reference, yessss

 

[Zinzan]

The official rationale was that they wanted to get him in the squad so he can learn how to pack a suitcase.

Who knows, It could even be something like the young lad was a bit awkward and didn't fit into the team-culture.... remembering Hesson is big with the whole 'team fit" thing. Because as you say, that reason given for a 27 year old is laughable.

 

[Zinzan]

I kinda agree with Athlai there to be honest.

Guptill not as terrible against SC style spin* as he is against decent fastbowlers, and could do ok.
He is terrible against spinners who use bounce e.g. Lyon and Swann.

*relatively speaking, of course. He's still terrible.

Any evidence for this? And I mean 'good' spin attacks....

Besides... Ashwin's at least as likely to extract bounce as Lyon or Swann, unless you're banking on the tracks playing especially low in India.. Kumble used to get bounce on low tracks regardless, so I'm guessing Ashwin will be the same..

 

[Kippax]

And then we pick Luke ****ing Ronchi.

Yeah as I told you all last night, Hesson with big raps on Ronchi as a pure bat, we all know this. Very nearly played that third UAE Test in 2014, before the eleventh hour Vettori selection.

Many men like him of the numerical persuasion would say it's 1) Williamson 2) Taylor 3) Latham 4) Ronchi, as far as credentials against the red ball in Asia/WI goes. Just watch out for a SLA turning it away from his cut-across defensive strokes, or that flicky wristy sweep he always top-edges.

 

[hendrix]

Any evidence for this? And I mean 'good' spin attacks....

Besides... Ashwin's at least as likely to extract bounce as Lyon or Swann, unless you're banking on the tracks playing especially low in India.. Kumble used to get bounce on low tracks regardless, so I'm guessing Ashwin will be the same..

Oh absolutely. He'll get destroyed by Ashwin no matter what. Any good bowler will eat him for breakfast.

Just observation, no evidence and I CBF looking it up. Think he might've done ok against Herath at Dunedin, if I recall correctly? Could be wrong. Just talking relative strengths, not absolute.