*Official* New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka 2019

[Flem274*]

plus tom latham is the lesser batsman at everything except downhill skiing

one averages 64 against south africa, the other 11

 

[Flem274*]

in fact i think tom latham having 9 tons @ 42 is almost voges level of jammy haha

latham against probably the 3 most dubious opening attacks (sri lanka, bangers, zim) - 12 tests, 7 hundreds, average 83

latham against everyone else - 31 tests, 2 hundreds, average 30

those 2 tons were in the same series too - the uae tour in 2014. they were genuinely excellent tons, but sadly that's all he's really done that's notable apart from smash substandard touring bowlers around new zealand.

 

[Chewie]

Can someone fix the spelling mistake in the thread title, I just noticed it and now I can't unsee it

 

[Moss]

in fact i think tom latham having 9 tons @ 42 is almost voges level of jammy haha

latham against probably the 3 most dubious opening attacks (sri lanka, bangers, zim) - 12 tests, 7 hundreds, average 83

latham against everyone else - 31 tests, 2 hundreds, average 30

those 2 tons were in the same series too - the uae tour in 2014. they were genuinely excellent tons, but sadly that's all he's really done that's notable apart from smash substandard touring bowlers around new zealand.

Wouldn't be that hung up on Latham's output and numbers if he were at least able to see off the new ball and set some sort of a platform for those below him, but he's not been doing that often enough either. And he was all at sea against the likes of Chris Morris and Shaheen Afridi in the World Cup in seamer friendly conditions which is kind of galling for a test opener. Oh well, he's a better bet than Guptill for sure.

 

[Kippax]

NZ squad to be announced on Monday. Geenty tips a fourth spinner in Tastle to go and just Blundell as batting cover.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...patel-will-somerville-to-reunite-in-sri-lanka

 

[The Hutt Rec]

NZ squad finally out tomorrow. Geenty tips a fourth spinner in Tastle to go and just Blundell as batting cover.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...patel-will-somerville-to-reunite-in-sri-lanka

Funny that the article has Astle as the incumbent ... I agree with fourth choice (taking into account Santner's batting contribution as well).

 

[vandem]

Funny that the article has Astle as the incumbent ... I agree with fourth choice (taking into account Santner's batting contribution as well).

Santner and Astle's batting (along with de Grandhomme's usefulness with the new ball) is important to the balance of the playing XI. Allows for multiple bowling options without having a weak #8-9-10-11. Could be:
- Santner at #7 with 2 specialist seamers (Boult + Wagner) and 2 other spinners (probably Astle (#8) + Sommerville), or
- de Grandhomme at #7 with 1 specialist seamer (Boult) and 3 spinners (either Santner or Astle #8 + Patel + Sommerville), or
- (less likely) de Grandhomme at #7 with 2 specialist seamers (Boult + Wagner) and 2 spinners (either Santner or Astle #8 + Sommerville).

 

[Jezroy]

in fact i think tom latham having 9 tons @ 42 is almost voges level of jammy haha

latham against probably the 3 most dubious opening attacks (sri lanka, bangers, zim) - 12 tests, 7 hundreds, average 83

latham against everyone else - 31 tests, 2 hundreds, average 30

those 2 tons were in the same series too - the uae tour in 2014. they were genuinely excellent tons, but sadly that's all he's really done that's notable apart from smash substandard touring bowlers around new zealand.

Thing I think that they continue to see in Latham is that he has the ability to have those good days (genuinely looked good in the 2 WC innings vs England after looking average AF for most of the tournament), or a good run (#5 ODI domination of a couple of years ago).

Yes his numbers vs anyone decent since his debut are a bit ****, but I can't think of anyone I'd rather have there. Plus the guy is still only 27, so hopefully he can turn a big corner and really start making hay at some point (which is what I think the coaching staff and selectors really think can happen).

Also hoping he does well against Sri Lanka. He loves the spin. And he loves the Lankans.

 

[Flem274*]

given the english discard andersons early career statistics on a daily basis, what do we think of tim southee since he actually became test standard and not a slightly porky teenager/early 20s kid?

50 tests, 204 wickets @ 27

looking through his record, geez he loves subcontinental batsmen. the little indians, sri lankans and pakistanis can't handle him. the little bangladeshis tho, they're so little they're too small for him to see. he can only muster an average of 34 against them during this time. his record against south africa and australia is lolbad.

unfortunately we can't control the narrative like a big 3 team can and slip in little sneaky 'most skillful bowler in the world' comments because tim southee is only the 3rd best bowler in his own side, but when the english come down here for their slaughtering i think i will repost this to begin the mass triggering.

 

[Jezroy]

given the english discard andersons early career statistics on a daily basis, what do we think of tim southee since he actually became test standard and not a slightly porky teenager/early 20s kid?

50 tests, 204 wickets @ 27

looking through his record, geez he loves subcontinental batsmen. the little indians, sri lankans and pakistanis can't handle him. the little bangladeshis tho, they're so little they're too small for him to see. he can only muster an average of 34 against them during this time. his record against south africa and australia is lolbad.

unfortunately we can't control the narrative like a big 3 team can and slip in little sneaky 'most skillful bowler in the world' comments because tim southee is only the 3rd best bowler in his own side, but when the english come down here for their slaughtering i think i will repost this to begin the mass triggering.

Thing is I reckon some of his bad patches have been down to conditions/form as much as anything else. His Australian numbers will be wrecked from the roadie roadies that we’ve played on (plus the last two series there he was definitely not at his best, especially 2011 if that’s when it was).

He does seem to go through up and down form more than others in the team.

But happy if that’s our third best test bowler.

 

[Jezroy]

Thought it would be interesting to see who we’ve played the most tests against in recent years. Certainly feels like we play a heck of a lot of Bangladesh, West Indies, and Sri Lanka. But we really don’t play them away much, especially WI and SL. So it feels like we play them much more than we actually do...

So in the last 20 years, you may be surprised to hear that our most common opposition is...

England 23 tests
Australia 22
South Africa 21
India 20
Pakistan and West Indies 19 each
Sri Lanka 16
Bangladesh 15
Zimbabwe 9 (TBF we’ve been pretty generous playing that many against them in the last 20 years)

That’s 164 tests in 20 years, so just over 8 a year.

Surprised it’s that many, and that it’s that many against “the big 4”.

 

[Flem274*]

we played england, australia and south africa alot during the fleming era. i wouldnt be surprised if most of those sri lankan and bangers tests were this decade.

it feels extra common because one or both usually tour here each summer for 2 tests where they've often struggled post-murali.

england are usually pretty good for a tour tho. nz is a popular tourist destination and the games are often close so i think barmy army and tour group support would be sneaky good.

 

[Jezroy]

we played england, australia and south africa alot during the fleming era. i wouldnt be surprised if most of those sri lankan and bangers tests were this decade.

it feels extra common because one or both usually tour here each summer for 2 tests where they've often struggled post-murali.

england are usually pretty good for a tour tho. nz is a popular tourist destination and the games are often close so i think barmy army and tour group support would be sneaky good.

Well last 10 years is still pretty interesting.

Vs Pakistan 13 tests
SL WI SA IND 10 tests each
Eng Aus 9 tests each
Bang 7
Zim 4

Interestingly, we played 82 tests. Which is exactly the same amount as we played between July 1999 and July 2009.

Anyway, nice to finally be going to Sri Lanka. Should be a tough series for New Zealand, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they spring a surprise. No Herath for us to deal with is huge.

 

[Flem274*]

that is interesting jezroy

bit of a random post but fmd we had a medium pacer dominated shield last season didn't we? mcewan, baker, mccone etc all loving it and not many batsmen scoring runs. bennett, henry etc got their names in there but otherwise it looks like the nz a program and nz t20 squads removed a lot of players from the pool.

we're going to be absolutely boned if the accountants force through a shortened shield season. hardly anyone plays a full quota of games as it is.

ben lister is supposedly bloody fast isn't he? if he is i can definitely see him joining kuggs, jamieson, tickner etc in the nz a program given he took some poles last season.

 

[Kippax]

Nah I recall Lister troubled KW and Watling with his left-arm over and swing towards the outside edge, but no, never really known for pace.

The most amusing guy to try and work up a sneaky head of steam last season was actually Meridio's friend, Andrew Hazeldine. He's only about 4'10 tall, but Larsen put a NZ XI silver fern on his chest and he was really trying to get Mominul, Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar hopping, with some success.

Sneaky Quick Hazeldine - YouTube

 

[Ulzan69]

There 2 test tours need to be scrapped. 3 tests should be the min.

15 series coming up with 2 test matches in Inaugural
World championship it's good for India

Next mos. We have 2 test, we will gained 120 points easily vs timid windies

https://a2.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/cricket/cricinfo/1151020_900x707.png&w=570 v &bformat=jpg

If eng win ashes 5/0
24x5 = 120 points they have to work hard

 

[Ulzan69]

3 test series common in the past with new point system you gains 13.3 for each draw test.i wants more 2 test.

Nz vs SL I think 2 test next mos

 

[Ulzan69]

Is not Ross retiring yet?

Rossco good till
4 more years

 

[straw man]

NZ squad to be announced on Monday. Geenty tips a fourth spinner in Tastle to go and just Blundell as batting cover.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...patel-will-somerville-to-reunite-in-sri-lanka

This is confirmed. No complaints from me - I had Ferguson instead of Astle but tbh Ferguson would always be sitting on the sideline in those conditions.

I hope when selecting the XI we don't give too much weight to the apparent batting of Astle, Santner, De Grandhomme and even Somerville - we know how the lower order typically just folds in foreign conditions, especially against spin, so need to start by simply picking whoever we think are the four best bowlers for the conditions.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

[FONT=&quot]Squad pretty much as expected:

Kane Williamson, Tom Latham, Jeet Raval, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling, Tom Blundell, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Todd Astle, Tim Southee, Will Somerville, Neil Wagner, Ajaz Patel, Trent Boult.[/FONT]