***Official*** New Zealand in South Africa

[Smudge]

Looks like Craig McMillan has turned to something where he has equally as little control over what he's doing.

 

[Loony BoB]

It's a pity you're not going to be in NZ to balance up the talkback lines, LB. There's a good chance the simmering unrest towards Bracewell will finally overflow if Papps is named in the 1st test XI and Styris isn't.

Adopting a 'do what your opponent wants least' approach, Styris has to play with either Fleming or Fulton opening IMO. It's Papps (viewed as a gritty, one-dimensional hack who they couldn't wait to play at home) vs. the guy who scored 321 @ 80 on their last tour here. The only upside the Proteas lose is an earlier crack at Fleming, which I doubt would even up the ledger in their eyes.

Didn't you just say that Bracewell pointed out that speculation about Styris being dropped is 'silly'? Would that not mean that he will in fact not be dropped? Maybe I'm missing something here.

I think Papps playing is a good thing. People have been waiting for him or Sinclair to play for some time now.

 

[Kippax]

Didn't you just say that Bracewell pointed out that speculation about Styris being dropped is 'silly'? Would that not mean that he will in fact not be dropped? Maybe I'm missing something here.

Reading the article again, I think what Bracewell meant was he was unhappy with the manner in which Styris' place was being questioned. The whole "Fulton has the tools to open" bit in that article now seems like a complete red herring.

Since arriving he's talked about re-establishing specialist openers and a specialist # 3, and earlier about re-introducing a # 6 "who bowls a heavy ball". The only way for his myriad comments to fit together are with either Astle or Styris being omitted from a first-choice XI. At least that's what I'm left with before my head starts hurting too much to continue.

 

[Loony BoB]

Considering how crap most of our bowlers are, we should include Oram, Styris and Astle... but drop bowlers and just use those guys instead. Just think!

Papps
How
Fulton
Fleming
Astle
Oram
Styris
McCullum
Vettori
Franklin
Bond

Now that's what I call batting depth. Bowling? Bond, Franklin, Oram, Vettori with a bit of Astle & Styris. Not too bad, to be honest. Oram can't do much worse than Martin / Mills, can he?

EDIT: Don't answer that last question.

EDIT: Go one better, take out Franklin and put in Vincent! Bond, Oram, Astle, Vettori with a bit of Styris. Bond and Vettori take all of the wickets anyway, we may as well just keep bolstering our batting side until we have century makers in every position. In fact, why not take out Bond and put in Sinclair. Oram and Styris to open, Astle and Vettori to make up the rest. Vettori to take all of the wickets. Sinclair looks like an ideal #8 to me! Hi, my name's John Bracewell and I'm better than you.

 

[_Ed_]

EDIT: Go one better, take out Franklin and put in Vincent! Bond, Oram, Astle, Vettori with a bit of Styris.

McCullum at 9 and Vettori at 10!

 

[vic_orthdox]

1-0 to SA.

 

[Retox]

If Bond can do something special then NZ might win a game. Hopefully Futon/How score some runs.

 

[Loony BoB]

Tour Match: Rest of South Africa v New Zealand at Benoni, 7-10 Apr 2006

Delay - Day 1 - Technical Problems

I thought they said Papps took care of his technical problems.

 

[Kippax]

Rest of SA won the toss and are batting anyway, LB. Interesting that Astle was left out of what otherwise looks like a shadow test XI. Either they're letting the others fight it out for berths in this warmup, or he can consider himself dumped again.
http://www.supercricket.co.za/default.asp?id=175731&des=article&scat=supercricket/domesticcricket

I've just finished watching the rugby and I'm heading out - I wouldn't be surprised though if Radio Sport try and get hold of someone over there for updates from now on if you want to head over to the website and listen on delay.

 

[Loony BoB]

Unless radio sport are now operating an online radio (which I can't see on there, outside of the listen back stuff)... that won't do me much good in Edinburgh. But yeah, I'll wait for Cricinfo or some other site to update.

 

[Kippax]

Yeah, they're about 20 mins delayed I think because of rights issues. Click on the links on the right in the listen back section (the ones that are full hours) and you can listen live...ish.

 

[Loony BoB]

Looks like NZ are struggling to take wickets at the moment.

 

[Loony BoB]

Either they're intentionally not caring about winning the game and are instead just trying to get some bowlers into form, or else Bond is injured... NZ is getting hammered and he's only bowled nine overs.

 

[TT Boy]

Good to see Neil McKenzie and JP Duminy making claims for a test berth. McKenzie really has changed his game over the past two years (though he still struggles against spin), famed for his gritty determined batting McKenzie now plays with a almost carefree manner, flamboyant and sparkling strokes all over the wicket.

Loony Bob, would not draw much into the game the pitch is meant to be a road (probably the reason why Bond was only given nine overs).

 

[Blaze]

Either they're intentionally not caring about winning the game and are instead just trying to get some bowlers into form, or else Bond is injured... NZ is getting hammered and he's only bowled nine overs.

Why would we care about winning it?

 

[Loony BoB]

Why would we care about winning it?

 

[Blaze]

At the end of the day it is just a hit out for us to adjust to the conditions and get back into things. No one cares about the result...

 

[Goughy]

Good to see Neil McKenzie and JP Duminy making claims for a test berth. McKenzie really has changed his game over the past two years (though he still struggles against spin), famed for his gritty determined batting McKenzie now plays with a almost carefree manner, flamboyant and sparkling strokes all over the wicket.

Loony Bob, would not draw much into the game the pitch is meant to be a road (probably the reason why Bond was only given nine overs).

Neil McKenzie- Best captain in SA

 

[Loony BoB]

At the end of the day it is just a hit out for us to adjust to the conditions and get back into things. No one cares about the result...

It is about adjusting, even experimenting (possibly), yes. But to not care about winning at all would be a sad place to be, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Retox]

Why would we care about winning it?

I would hate to be in a team with you.


The black caps should be going into every game trying to win.