***Official*** New Zealand tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa 2016

[Zinzan]

Lol Not really telling given the sample set of over half of those is based on 1 match. Jeepers.

 

[Kippax]

Munro by ground
The Home of CricketArchive

Perhaps not quite as concerning as Ravals by ground but yeah, a lot of runs on what you'd consider to be the roads of NZ domestic cricket

If we were setting the par for these silly Auckland pitch-and-putt courses, Hopkins seems the ideal club champ. Gives Munro seven shots a round.

 

[straw man]

Yeah, although Hendrix is quite a good and candid appraiser of emerging bats, and he finds Young to be unimpressive and limited btw. Being completely removed from New Zealand cricket's tribes and agendas, the bitter 'wets vs. dries' divide, I'd say Hendrix has proven himself ideally positioned to make the 'Latham vs. Rutherford' calls, the 'Ronchi should never open against Anderson in England' calls, the ones Hesson and McMillan are slightly too bumpkinish to know intuitively.

Does Young hit a mental brick wall at 60 or 70 because he possesses some really admirable Latham qualities in him, exhausting himself with a hard marking perfectionism? Or does he only get to 60 or 70 because he's even more limited through the leg side than say Sinclair was, and although he's nimble and has been seen happily using his feet to take the game to spinners, really requires the medium-pacers to stray into his favoured zones, otherwise he's negated and ground to a halt? Would a 48 strike-rate against Sri Lanka A's pies on the gentle roads of home become a turgid 28 strike-rate against South Africa or India away?

He is perhaps a little weak off his legs, having a somewhat closed stance and wanting to make his first movement forward and across. However I think there's lots to like there too; plays the ball late and looks generally unhurried (unless it's a pull shot that he's failing to connect with). Sure, it might all fall apart against a nasty fasty bowling bouncers and attacking his stumps, but the only way to find out is to promote him.

 

[straw man]

I'll see if I can format this post nicely. Forgive me if I guff it.

I took a trip down memory lane.

Here is what ciricinfo said about his inning in the commentary:



Quotes on Munro after his second test inning by esteemed CW members and pundits

...

Some fine Munro-trolling in this thread Hurricane. Think it was also said that Munro facing Robin Petersen looked like he had never faced spin bowling of any form ever in his life. Must admit I posted a couple of times that Munro should play that test ahead of Franklin under the 'couldn't possibly do worse' principle, which actually shows that in fact it is always possible to do worse.

That said, Steve's post below is fair and I would always believe in second chances if they're thoroughly deserved. I doubt that Munro will get that far, he's done well to make himself a fixture in the T20 side and will probably get more ODI chances, but tests, very unlikely barring a massive run of injuries.

And if we're considering Manu, there's absolutely no relevance to what he did in his first Test. He was thrown into a situation he wasn't ready for, and he is a significantly different and better player than he was then. He's played bugger all FC cricket for anyone but Auckland, so probably needs to address that if he wants back in. Unlikely given his IPL and CPL involvement that he's sniffing out a Test spot with any great urgency, however.

 

[straw man]

If we were setting the par for these silly Auckland pitch-and-putt courses, Hopkins seems the ideal club champ. Gives Munro seven shots a round.

Six years after his final test and there's finally some evidence on the underlying reason for Hopkins being not not-terrible. Didn't realise he was such a ftb.

 

[Moss]

I'm too lazy to look this up, but what was Latham's first class record like when he was handed his test debut? It seems to be the main thing counting against Young at the moment (despite some stellar season averages of late) is his conversion rate. It could be that Hesson and the selectors are tempted to pick him but have resolved not to go down the road of picking obvious skill/potential without the pure numbers to back it up. Trying to work out whether that was the case with Latham who was the last young batsman after KW thought to be by the general consensus a sure shot test player.

As an aside I really like Young's offside play, reminds me a bit of Taylor when in the zone.

@Hendrix: No trolling intended

 

[Kippax]

Latham would've had 2-3 tons, 12 or so fifties and been averaging mid thirties before he feasted on Wellington with a 261, a couple of months before his Test debut. Bowled off a no ball by Franklin in the nineties, iirc.

 

[Bahnz]

Latham would've had 2-3 tons, 12 or so fifties and been averaging mid thirties before he feasted on Wellington with a 261, a couple of months before his Test debut. Bowled off a no ball by Franklin in the nineties, iirc.

He had a legitimately huuuuuge 13/14 season. Two double-hundreds, but also a few 90's in very challenging early season conditions where the rest of the Canty batting fell in a heap. It was a pretty stunning transformation actually, as prior to that he'd had an entirely forgettable FC career - though I suppose he'd been in his teens up to that point so it's understandable.

 

[Kippax]

Pleased to see Sky TV and CSA are playing chicken again.

 

[Zinzan]

FFS, not this *** again

 

[NZTailender]

gtfo

 

[Athlai]

Didnt SA broadcast it free online last time?

 

[Zinzan]

Yup, Remaining Black Caps ODIs in South Africa to be streamed live and free in New Zealand | Stuff.co.nz

 

[Grumpy]

Can't wait to see Steyn in action again.

 

[vcs]

Can't wait to see Steyn in action again.

Would love Steyn to destroy with Williamson playing some heroic lone hands.

 

[Stefan9]

Can't wait to see kg & steyn bowling together properly in a test.

I will be interested to see the crowd numbers, hearing on social it might be even lower then the usual SA test numbers...

 

[91Jmay]

Can't wait to see kg & steyn bowling together properly in a test.

I will be interested to see the crowd numbers, hearing on social it might be even lower then the usual SA test numbers...

Something really needs to be done. So many empty stadiums in Test matches

 

[Stefan9]

Well this time its the making of the administrators themselves. Plenty of talk of a boycot on social media because of the now official quotas...

 

[Black_Warrior]

Getting pretty excited for this. I hope SA bowl first. I can't wait anymore to see Steyn back in action

 

[Moss]

Getting pretty excited for this. I hope SA bowl first. I can't wait anymore to see Steyn back in action

On that note, will be mildly interesting to see if KW decides to bat if he wins the toss, remembering how much flack BMac received for batting first in the 2013 opening test.