**Official** New Zealand v Australia

[meatspx]

McMillan has been on fire in recent weeks for Canterbury. Get a couple of 100's and a few wickets, Bracewell must take this into account though, against spin, he can be the best hitter.

Scoring runs should be a higher priority than hitting the ball hard. NZ's middle-order has consicently failed, it's time for change. His bowling will be ineffective against the Aussies.

Perhaps playing the extra bowler will be good, whilst promoting Vetorri, now he's on fire.

 

[anzac]

whilst both Papps & McMillan have been scoring runs recently - the majority has been in OD cricket which is not any recommendation for Test selection when they can not find any consistant form in the longer game...........

atm neither would be in my Test side...........

likewise despite Vettori doing well with 2 tons opening in ODs for ND, I'd not look to promote him further up the Test order as a permanent move - to do so would constitute a further shortening of the batting IMO...............

 

[anzac]

again because it is against AUS in NZL IMO the selectors will only make changes as forced upon them in regard to Richardson & Oram, and I further believe they will play Oram as a specialist bat & bring in another bowler to maintain a 5 man attack to try to compensate for a lack of penetration & strike bowlers.............

to this extent I expect to see Flem open in an effort to give some stability to the top of the order, and I expect to see either Cumming or How partner him with Sinclair at #3;

then comes the first of the changes with McCullum at #4 followed by Astle & then Oram - Styris misses out on recent form and Macca does not get a call up back into the starting side;

then the 5 bowlers with Vettori, Wilson, Mills, Wiseman, Tuffey & Franklin - 1 ommitted regarding pitch conditions, although I also expect Braces to want Wiseman in with Vettori as much as possible leaving Franklin as last call........

I prefer to see Franklin in the side rather than Mills, but I also think that AUS have the wood on Franklin whereas Mills doesn't seem to be so intimidated....

Wilson gets a call up as IMO they will want to try to have some pace, and the alternatives in Butler & Adams have not shown anything markedly better.....

 

[anzac]

if Oram does not recover in time to play as a batsman in the series & Styris continues to struggle, then IMO they will look at both Marshall & Macca, but also Vincent could warrant a recall into the middle order...........

bottom line I don't expect to see any other 'new' batsmen other than a specialist opener.............

depending on Team & individual performances in this series, the squad for the SRL series could / should look for 1 or 2 more new faces.............

my major concern is that the Championship has not thrown up any genuine new fringe seam options as a result of injuries.................whilest I will admit that some have performed well in reality the options available are currently the same as considered during the ENG Tour (plus Wilson)................and time is running out for the likes of Sherlock / Scott / Cornelius etc to have enough of an impact to warrant a squad spot for the ZIM & RSA Tour...........

 

[Kippax]

to this extent I expect to see Flem open in an effort to give some stability to the top of the order, and I expect to see either Cumming or How partner him with Sinclair at #3

You really think How's still in the running after he said the following, Anzac?

"It's flattering for your name to be mentioned by opposition coaches but international cricket is not really on my mind.

"I've taken some big steps forward in my batting this year, but in terms of being ready for test cricket, I think I have to wait a wee while yet. I'm not sure I'm ready to face Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath - I've still got a lot to learn."

After getting cold feet and playing McMillan ahead of Marshall in AUS, picking a rookie like How who doesn't even back himself yet would be a massive change of philosophy. I just can't see it to be honest.

 

[Kippax]

I'd definitely have Franklin in ahead of Wilson. He's been in great form in both forms of the game. Sure he had a bad test against them but deserves another chance.

Obviously quite a bit will hinge on how Wilson looks in the ODIs (providing he plays). From the little I've seen though, technically he p***es all over most of our other pacemen. His seam wasn't scrambled like Tuffey's, he hit consistent lengths better than Butler and Martin usually can, his bounce was a factor, his pace is respectable, etc.

If he can maintain that, the only issues IMO loom as being his stamina (what his 20th over of a day woud be like if he's feeling some of his old niggles), and the prospect the Aussies may go out of their way to attack him before he starts feeling comfortable at international level.

As for Franklin - because he works on a 'float it up there and see what happens' method, he's long been known for fairly lacklustre second and third spells. He's so dependant on swing and bowling a drivable length (hell, even Mills has a better short ball), it would leave NZ extremely vulnerable if he was one of only two genuine seamers picked.

It was interesting to see Franklin with about a 60km/h wind coming over his left shoulder at the Basin a few weeks ago. He charged in and bowled well, with that extra bit of pace making him a handful for most of the ND batsmen. It was no surprise to hear Richard Hadlee say he's desperate to see him charge in like that more often, wind-assisted or not wind-assisted.

 

[bryce]

again because it is against AUS in NZL IMO the selectors will only make changes as forced upon them in regard to Richardson & Oram, and I further believe they will play Oram as a specialist bat & bring in another bowler to maintain a 5 man attack to try to compensate for a lack of penetration & strike bowlers.............

to this extent I expect to see Flem open in an effort to give some stability to the top of the order, and I expect to see either Cumming or How partner him with Sinclair at #3;

then comes the first of the changes with McCullum at #4 followed by Astle & then Oram - Styris misses out on recent form and Macca does not get a call up back into the starting side;

then the 5 bowlers with Vettori, Wilson, Mills, Wiseman, Tuffey & Franklin - 1 ommitted regarding pitch conditions, although I also expect Braces to want Wiseman in with Vettori as much as possible leaving Franklin as last call........

your reason for not considering martin?(especially favouring mills ahead of him)
for your own consistency sake he should be considered - he has had a poor one-day season but has 19 wickets@19.36 in the four-dayers this season

 

[bryce]

As for Franklin - because he works on a 'float it up there and see what happens' method, he's long been known for fairly lacklustre second and third spells. He's so dependant on swing and bowling a drivable length (hell, even Mills has a better short ball), it would leave NZ extremely vulnerable if he was one of only two genuine seamers picked.

a good point you raise and i've thought this way for a while, our countries two apparent best swing bowlers franklin and mills both can be effective in their opening spell when the ball is swinging but bowling with the old ball they are completely unpenatrive because IMO neither have really developed a reliable stock ball they can bowl consistently with the old ball

 

[anzac]

You really think How's still in the running after he said the following, Anzac?



After getting cold feet and playing McMillan ahead of Marshall in AUS, picking a rookie like How who doesn't even back himself yet would be a massive change of philosophy. I just can't see it to be honest.

in all honesty neither can I - and I wasn't aware of what he had said.............

I guess I was going thru' a process of elimination as to what the options are - Papps should be 1st cab but has no form in the Championship atm, Sinclair & Flem would be obvious as the 2 with the most recent intnl experience as openers, but with a shortened & out of form middle order I can't see them playing both as openers.........which leaves Cumming as the most consistant opener this season but who is apparently out of favour, and How as top run scorer thus far.............

so if How has eliminated himself & Cumming is still out of favour then Papps possibly get in by default & in all probability NZL will be 1 down inside the 1st 5 - 7 overs...............again.............

Vincent has been doing well, but IMO it would be another sacrificial choice if they went with him to open again...............

 

[anzac]

your reason for not considering martin?(especially favouring mills ahead of him)
for your own consistency sake he should be considered - he has had a poor one-day season but has 19 wickets@19.36 in the four-dayers this season

I'd love to see a genuine 'strike' bowler in the team, but I don't know if Bracewell has any confidence in him after the ENG Tour - in AUS he preferred Mills & Franklin ahead of him and so far as I know Martin hasn't torn anyone apart thus far - plus he is not going to contribute anything with the bat.....if he doesn't make it into the squad v AUS or SRL then his return to intnl cricket may have lasted only 1 season!!!!

I get the impression that Bracewell is trying to get some variety into the bowling attack, but I agree the both Mills & Franklin appear to be new ball bowlers only..............

 

[Ming]

Martin showed he can be match-winning with the ball, only a year earlier. He's also been in great form for Canterbury in the SC, he would be my option to partner Tuffey with the new ball. Hopefully Martin can rediscover that devastating form last year against South Africa, where he swung the ball beautifully.

However, in my mind, the 3rd seamer spot is still widely up for grabs. At this stage I would prefer.

 

[cricket player]

Scoring runs should be a higher priority than hitting the ball hard. NZ's middle-order has consicently failed, it's time for change. His bowling will be ineffective against the Aussies.

Perhaps playing the extra bowler will be good, whilst promoting Vetorri, now he's on fire.

Scoring runs should be a higher priority than hitting the ball hard huhh?

How can you score runs with out hitting the ball hard.You hit the ball hard either if you want the ball to go for four or for six.If you take a look at the upper order of australian batting depth you would see that player more ken to hit the ball hard from the first 15 overs rather then stopping the ball and looking for singele's.

If you want to win againts a team like australia you need to hit hard and hit big.

 

[v800]

A good innings in a cricket game has both big hard hitting and controled shots around the ground

 

[bryce]

I'd love to see a genuine 'strike' bowler in the team, but I don't know if Bracewell has any confidence in him after the ENG Tour - in AUS he preferred Mills & Franklin ahead of him and so far as I know Martin hasn't torn anyone apart thus far - plus he is not going to contribute anything with the bat.....if he doesn't make it into the squad v AUS or SRL then his return to intnl cricket may have lasted only 1 season!!!!

I get the impression that Bracewell is trying to get some variety into the bowling attack, but I agree the both Mills & Franklin appear to be new ball bowlers only..............

yeah, like ming i'd like to see if martin can again bowl like he did in the last home test series - btw i'm not sure if you knew or not but butler has been ruled out meaning wiseman is quite likely to get a game

 

[BlackCap_Fan]

Scoring runs should be a higher priority than hitting the ball hard huhh?

How can you score runs with out hitting the ball hard.You hit the ball hard either if you want the ball to go for four or for six.If you take a look at the upper order of australian batting depth you would see that player more ken to hit the ball hard from the first 15 overs rather then stopping the ball and looking for singele's.

Ever heard of timing the ball well? You don't need to smack the ball for all it's worth. If you time the ball well, it'll fly.

 

[cricket player]

Ever heard of timing the ball well? You don't need to smack the ball for all it's worth. If you time the ball well, it'll fly.

hitting hard also reguires timing Some way or the other you have to hit the ball hard while you are settled in because you want to take the runrate further.

 

[age_master]

you dont HAVE to hit the ball harder, you might choose to, but timing is far more important than power, even when you are looking to lift the run rate.

 

[cricket player]

you dont HAVE to hit the ball harder, you might choose to, but timing is far more important than power, even when you are looking to lift the run rate.

You also have to have the power to lift the ball over the top mixed with the perfect timing.You can just time the ball and expect it do go over the boundry do you?No you dont,because if you take a look at cairns,afridi,flintoff,they have the timing but also the power.

 

[marc71178]

Scoring runs should be a higher priority than hitting the ball hard huhh?

How can you score runs with out hitting the ball hard.You hit the ball hard either if you want the ball to go for four or for six.

It's called timing.

There are batsmen who can hit the ball out of the park with minimal effort.

 

[marc71178]

hitting hard also reguires timing

Not necessarily.

2 of the best hitters in world cricket get a lot of their sixes from timing.