*Official* NZ Domestic Season

[bryce]

ND 98/5 Marshall 9* Yovich 4*, Franklin has 4/13 off 12 and a half overs, funny how he does well in the longer game and poorly in general in the shorter game

 

[Tim]

Perhaps its why the NZ selectors told Franklin to concentrate more on 4 day cricket..it appears he may have no future in ODI cricket for NZ.

 

[Will Scarlet]

Kent,

if NZCC is so strapped for cash & need the BC's to be on show then perhaps they could start the season with some sort of alternative series & play it down South were the pitches are supposedly better at that time of year???

IMO the current format for the Championship is a disgrace re these early season pitches, and does not do any good for NZL cricket.............let alone 'fringe' player development - no wonder we can't develop genuine top order batsmen, seam or spin bowlers.................

Have to agree. Even if it means that three games are played in the same place, like the recent A games. It always seems to rain in the north during the first half of the season.

Batsmen are generally in for a hard time during this period. For example, Fulton has lost form since the commencement of this season, unfortunately.

 

[Tim]

N.D at it once again....making life look difficult on a good batting track.

 

[Arjun]

In which grounds are List-A OD's played?

 

[bryce]

i wonder if former glamorgan player alun evans is eligible for ND, he's scoring a shitload of runs in the 'A' tournament

 

[southern man]

Went along to the Varsity oval today.


Greg Todd batted superbly, to resuced us, we could easily been our for 190 or 200. But he put his head down and got us a very competitive score. After he got to fifty he attacked the bowling very well.

 

[bryce]

yeah so much for CD giving him the flick, he has been scratching around the first class scene for a while now since he was a teenager without doing anything significant, maybe he has found home in otago.
ND got cleaned up with franklin getting 5 wickets in each innings and flem belting 80* from 66 balls to see wellington home, ewen thompson managed his maiden FC century off 80 balls and they finished on 350 odd despite being 95/5 at one stage - englefield continuing his good form picking up 95

 

[anzac]

Have to agree. Even if it means that three games are played in the same place, like the recent A games. It always seems to rain in the north during the first half of the season.

Batsmen are generally in for a hard time during this period. For example, Fulton has lost form since the commencement of this season, unfortunately.

it's part of my theory as to why we seem short of decent top order batsmen, and why we have a plethora of med-fast seamers / 'allrounders' - rain affected early season pitches with no pace or bounce...............

hence most consistant batting performances through the entire season appear to come from the midlle & lower order hitters like McMillan & Co..........the best the top order can hope to do on these tracks is to stick around long enough to take some of the shine / seam off the ball - no wonder we have so many lower order bowling 'allrounders', and no wonder our more consistant top order batsmen appear to be so defensive & slow scorers.............

 

[anzac]

having said all that I'll also say that I don't think the top order batting is really as poor as it seems, and I do believe we do have genuine top order talent - just that it does not have the consistant opportunity to perform - eg How this season started well with 3 tons on the trot, but has had a bad run on dodgey tops and now is out of sorts & needs to start from scratch again.........

I am encouraged by some of the performances from the likes of Cumming & Gaffaney who may have benefited from being able to bat on the southern pitches at the start of the season..........whereas How has suffered as a result of the CD travelling circus.............

 

[anzac]

lastly (for the time being on this subject), I also think that the condition of the domestic Championship pitches and the way they play has something to do with not only the style of batsman that is more successful, but also the 'success' of the ODI side, and as a consequence why we have so many ODI style 'hitters' in the Test team, and also why they have so many batting collapses.............the successful attributes of the domestic game (both batting & bowling) are more suited to the shorter rather than the longer form........

the batsmen are good when the pitch is flat & there is little movement, but as soon as those conditions change (pace / bounce / spin / swing / variable pitch conditions etc) they do not have the 'comfort zone' or technique to dig in & adapt accordingly.............

while the bowling may not gain any genuine benefit from this (other than the early season green tops), it does tend to produce these 'allrounders' to enable the side to be stacked with bowling options & batting 'depth'..........

 

[Tim]

I recall a few years ago Jarrod Englefield was described as a batting prodigy, but he drifted from C.D. to Canterbury & now back to C.D after failing to produce enough runs.

He might have begun to mature this season. Potentially, he could be an option in the middle order for the Black Caps in the long run.

 

[southern man]

I want to know where Jordan Sheed learnt how to play cricket. First taking the great catch to get rid of Astle, then batting with authority.

Bard Scott also bowled beautifully today, The ball he got McKintosh with was a stunner jagged back alot.

 

[Tim]

Sheed might have turned the corner this season...he's been impressive for Otago 'A' & for once he's converted a good score for Otago against a pretty good Canterbury side.

It's been great for NZ Domestic cricket that Otago have played well this season. They've undoubtabley got the weakest side in the competition, but they've played collectively & guttsed out some good results.

What has happened to Canterbury & Auckland this season anyway? they've been woeful. It's a bit of a concern that our supposed 2 best domestic sides have really struggled.

 

[southern man]

He looked all class when batting something i have never seen from him before. But his real acid test will be seeing if he can carry on with it tomorrow.

We need to set around 350 to 400 to be in the a chance of winning, so Sheed and Todd need to put together a big partnership.

Auckland and Canterbury are teams full of champions rather than champion teams.

 

[bryce]

lou vincent 146* - he often does post a good score while trying to get back into national contention and it will be interesting to see if he can play consistently well for once

 

[shaka]

So far this season he has been batting well (Vincent). At auckland club level he made quite a few 50's and 100's, which did a lot for his confidence.

 

[bryce]

he must be having a big wog now - he is 183* with only walmsley left

 

[Kippax]

Sounds like How got a good ball from Adams and was caught behind for 13.
Unless you've got an irresistable case we all know the BCs lean towards 'the devil they know' (e.g. McMillan), so with How no longer the flavour of the month, things have to be leaning heavily in Papps' favour.

Surely they won't consider Vincent as a test opener again, will they? When I saw Wellington using Woodcock as a makeshift opener rather than Fleming opting for some practice in the role, I was tempted to rule out the skipper leading from the front in Rigor's absence. Interesting that Sinclair is no longer opening for CD though, so figure that one out.

If I was forced to bet $1000 on the test top 8 to start the 5 tests in March/April, I guess it would now be something like this (second choice in brackets):

Papps
Fleming (How)
Sinclair (Fleming)
Styris (Sinclair)
Astle
Oram
McCullum
Vettori

 

[Kippax]

Before anyone welcomes me to the forum, most of the Kiwi regulars know me quite well!

I started to see a few potential problems with using my actual name, and since James no longer lets you get your nickname on CW changed, I've started afresh.