***Official*** New Zealand in the West Indies 2014

[Flem274*]

Bradburn spent most of his time with KW trying to turn him into an offspinner/thrower and the Tauranga crew were responsible for his batting.

Bradburn is riding on the coattails of the work put in at youth level by others and was fortunate enough to inherit Southee, KW, Boult etc. Everything concrete to hi name i.e. his selection philosophy and his judgement of who bowled better or whatever is either awful or at odds with what others observed i.e. Bradburn was the only guy watching the A tour who thought Sodhi bowled better than Astle. Pink eyepatch much?

His emphasis on fitness is commendable. The rest? Meh.

And did I really just read someone say with a straight face that Devcich has a good technique?

 

[Blocky]

Yeah, it's just best to say we have absolutely no idea unless we've seen behind the curtain.

Which in the case of ND, I have.

 

[Blocky]

And did I really just read someone say with a straight face that Devcich has a good technique?

He does, you put him in the nets against near any bowler in the country and he'll look a million bucks. He picks up length very quickly and works on similar footwork to Martin Crowe in terms of getting forward in order to spring onto the backfoot when necessary. His issue is that he has no mental competence and is not good in match conditions, he's too busy having pissing contests with everyone on the field and is too easy to wind up and get him to make a mistake.

I'll take you back to posts I made here regarding BJ Watling having one of the best techniques in the country at the time that he was failing as an opening batsman for NZ... the difference between these two (who grew up playing cricket together) is that Watling worked away in match conditions to improve and had a much better and more humble mental state to learn from his deficiencies. But in youth group level, Devcich was every bit the prospect as Williamson for a good reason.

 

[Flem274*]

So you're saying the playing around his pad, swiping and hard hands are the result of him being a massive douchebag (and just not being mentally there)?

 

[Blocky]

It's a result of him believing he can bully any opposition attack because he has success doing that in the nets, Ask yourself why a lot of players become bottom hand heavy and tend to play around their pads - Ross Taylor tends to do it quite frequently and gets out in some of the daftest most annoying ways possible, but you'd have no issues if I said Taylor had a great technique but certain mental deficiencies.

Devcich should never play for NZ, and should struggle to get a game for ND - but the reality is, that's not because of pure talent and technique, that's because of mental application..

 

[Immenso]

Williamson's series in some NZ historic context;

NZ's 12th best, (and 4th best if series 3 matches or less)

Cricket Records | Records | New Zealand | Test matches | Most runs in a series | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Blocky]

The more heartening thing there is seeing three current Black Caps up high in that list, and all of them adding to that list in very recent series.

 

[Mike5181]

It looks like we're looking at Jimmy as a potential opener in limited overs cricket.

 

[Beamer]

I see Kemar Roach is up to 10th in the ICC's bowling rankings. Boult is at 9, Southee 6.

Good stuff Kemar, I expect he will climb into the top 5 over the next year or so if he stays fit.

 

[Slifer]

He is?? Great Job Kemar I knew u had it in u. The real test however, lay ahead in India and South Africa. Hopefully, you, Holder and the rest of our prospects can stay and help restore the WI to its former glory.

 

[vandem]

Has there been any announcement about extra NZ players for the T20s? Thought I saw a item (stuff? cricinfo?) last week saying that extra players would be announced, but haven't seen anything since.

 

[BeeGee]

Has there been any announcement about extra NZ players for the T20s? Thought I saw a item (stuff? cricinfo?) last week saying that extra players would be announced, but haven't seen anything since.

No extra players. Just the 15 man squad.

 

[Bahnz]

Pity, would've loved for Milne to get another go, but I guess flying him halfway round the world for 2 measly T20's just isn't worth it.

 

[Athlai]

Sodhi/Craig as spinner is a bit dire.

 

[Prince EWS]

I actually think T20 should be Sodhi's best format in theory. His record over 12 games is gash though.

 

[hendrix]

Sodhi/Craig as spinner is a bit dire.

Sodhi's pretty good in limited overs.

Wagner, Rutherford, Fulton horrible picks, especially considering that they're keeping the likes of Henry, Milne, McCleneghan and Guptill out of the side.

 

[Flem274*]

who gives a **** it's international T20

 

[hendrix]

who gives a **** it's international T20

yeah I think this is their exact attitude and tbh I agree.

 

[Prince EWS]

Wagner, Rutherford, Fulton horrible picks

Well Fulton's no real chance of getting selected anyway. It's interesting that Neesham is apparently going to open with Williamson though, because I don't think they'll pick Watling in T20 which means Rutherford or Latham will have to bat five or six.

Williamson
Neesham
McCullum
Taylor
Anderson
Latham
Ronchi
Southee
Sodhi
Wagner
Boult

Swapping Latham with Neesham would make that team look a lot better. I don't really get the point of Neesham opening in limited overs cricket in general; the ODI openers should presumably be Guptill and Latham from this point, and in T20 it should be Guptill and Williamson with Latham also around. It's Test cricket where the team needs another opener.

 

[hendrix]

Swapping Latham with Neesham would make that team look a lot better. I don't really get the point of Neesham opening in limited overs cricket in general; the ODI openers should presumably be Guptill and Latham from this point, and in T20 it should be Guptill and Williamson with Latham also around. It's Test cricket where the team needs another opener.

This is all about the world cup.

as far as CW is concerned, we have plenty of ODI openers:
Guptill
Ryder
McCullum
Latham
Williamson

However:
McCullum is no longer seen as an opener, for unknown reasons.
They don't want to move Williamson from 3 no matter what the circumstances.
They want Latham as a wicket keeping option (stupid when Watling is there).
They're starting to question Guptill's batting ability.
Who knows wtf will happen with Ryder.