***Official*** South Africa in New Zealand 2012

[Hurricane]

So, Rob Nicol, worst New Zealand test batsmen since? Poor domestic record, horrible technqiue, I'd love to know why this guy was given a test cap.

I don't think anyone defended his selection. The reason though is because the selectors value success against international bowlers in ODIs higher than success in the plunket shield. That said I don't recall him doing well against SA in the ODIs or at least nothing amazing.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

After watching him deal horribly with a Kallis short ball in the second dig, I'm not convinced he could have had a high average batting up the order all these years. He seems to have a homespun technique but has he really consistently made big runs against the best bowlers?

I'll answer it myself - he averages below 30 against England, Australia and SA who might be considered the bowling benchmarks. So his average of around 30 over 110 tests might be really where he sits. He's certainly gritty though.

Oh, so you can judge a player's ability to perform "against the best bowlers" by one brain fart against a fourth seamer? Awful logic.

He averages below 30 against those teams - including the first half of his career when he was a damn tailender.

and FFS gritty isn't how anyone should describe Vettori's batting style. He scores consistently at a SR of 65+ in tests, and I've never seen anything resembling a Dravid style 30 from 100 balls from him. He's very much a stroke-maker of sorts.

 

[Flem274*]

and FFS gritty isn't how anyone should describe Vettori's batting style.

Batting position: 8
Nationality: New Zealand

Obvs a gritty player.

 

[Howsie]

I don't think anyone defended his selection. The reason though is because the selectors value success against international bowlers in ODIs higher than success in the plunket shield. That said I don't recall him doing well against SA in the ODIs or at least nothing amazing.

Well yeah, if he had actually scored some runs against South Africa and looked decent enough it would probably make a little bit of sense. But he didn't, infact he looked terrible IMO (which is pretty hard to do in one day cricket these days). Five minutes down at a Plunket Shield match would be all that you would need to see of Rob Nicol, overall that's just how bad he is.

He's the worst batsmen I can remember to play test cricket for New Zealand anyway.

 

[slugger]

it doesn't matter where you put vettori he's always in before he's meant to be in anyway.. blame the batsmen ahead of him...

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

So, Rob Nicol, worst New Zealand test batsmen since? Poor domestic record, horrible technqiue, I'd love to know why this guy was given a test cap.

His form in OD cricket.

 

[Flem274*]

You know Howsie hates a batsman when he misses an opportunity to troll me about Pinga.

Anyway, being a Vettori the Batsman fanboy I think this record needs posting.

WAFG.

 

[Howsie]

His form in OD cricket.

Against Zimbabwe. Jacob Oram was floating up the order and whacking it around like it was 2007 all over again during that series. You'd think his runs would be put into some sort of context against them.

 

[Mike5181]

You know Howsie hates a batsman when he misses an opportunity to troll me about Pinga.

Anyway, being a Vettori the Batsman fanboy I think this record needs posting.

WAFG.

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

Against non-minnows in that time period he averages around 38 which sounds about right for him. He's not quite as good as Ross Taylor but he's better than everyone else we have. He's a specialist batsman occupying that number six spot now so those sorts of numbers should be expected of him despite the incompetence of the other batsmen.

 

[Sparkley]

The current RSA attack is insanely good.The addition of Vernon to an already formidable attack makes it so good that it is almost unfair for the batting side facing them.

 

[SeamUp]

Proteas best in world - Williamson

England may hold the No.1 spot in the world Test cricket rankings but New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson believes the Proteas are the real top dogs.

The 21-year-old, who battled for four hours and 13 minutes to make 77 in the second Test in Hamilton, believes the team that thumped them by nine wickets deserves to be called the best in the world.

'We know what we're up against and it's probably the best team in the world at the moment,' he said looking to the third Test in Wellington which starts on Friday.

Williamson had struggled for runs this summer and the way he fought after coming to the wicket with the score at 3-7 won praise from captain Ross Taylor after the defeat.

'A lot of guys wouldn't have handled it (the situation) as well as he did,' Taylor said.

Williamson, who scored 131 on his Test debut against India in Ahmedabad, says his lengthy vigil at the Seddon Park was his toughest examination in his burgeoning Test career.

But he admits the bouncy Basin Reserve pitch will provide South Africa's potent attack another chance to give him a working over.

'There's another challenge ahead in Wellington on a different surface so my preparation will be around that sort of track and how to combat their bowlers on that wicket.'

The Black Caps, dismissed for 185 and 168 in Hamilton, have added batsmen Dean Brownlie and Daniel Flynn to their squad at the expense of opener Rob Nicol and seamer Brent Arnel.

But whoever takes the field in Wellington, Williamson says they have to be at their very best if they stand a chance of squaring the series.

'We know we have to bring our A' game to really compete. We showed glimpses of it in Dunedin and in Hamilton we fell a bit short. But we know we can do it and we need to keep that belief that we can do it in the next game.'

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

The weather for Wellington is not set fair, Gentlemen. This may mean 1 of two things:

1. Believe the weather forecast and every day will be interrupted by rain at some point.
2. The weather forecast in Wellington is usually only solid about 10 minutes in advance, so the fact that the forecast is for rain could equally likely mean that the weather is set to be a scorcher.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Proteas best in world - Williamson

England may hold the No.1 spot in the world Test cricket rankings but New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson believes the Proteas are the real top dogs.

The 21-year-old, who battled for four hours and 13 minutes to make 77 in the second Test in Hamilton, believes the team that thumped them by nine wickets deserves to be called the best in the world.

'We know what we're up against and it's probably the best team in the world at the moment,' he said looking to the third Test in Wellington which starts on Friday.

Williamson had struggled for runs this summer and the way he fought after coming to the wicket with the score at 3-7 won praise from captain Ross Taylor after the defeat.

'A lot of guys wouldn't have handled it (the situation) as well as he did,' Taylor said.

Williamson, who scored 131 on his Test debut against India in Ahmedabad, says his lengthy vigil at the Seddon Park was his toughest examination in his burgeoning Test career.

But he admits the bouncy Basin Reserve pitch will provide South Africa's potent attack another chance to give him a working over.

'There's another challenge ahead in Wellington on a different surface so my preparation will be around that sort of track and how to combat their bowlers on that wicket.'

The Black Caps, dismissed for 185 and 168 in Hamilton, have added batsmen Dean Brownlie and Daniel Flynn to their squad at the expense of opener Rob Nicol and seamer Brent Arnel.

But whoever takes the field in Wellington, Williamson says they have to be at their very best if they stand a chance of squaring the series.

'We know we have to bring our A' game to really compete. We showed glimpses of it in Dunedin and in Hamilton we fell a bit short. But we know we can do it and we need to keep that belief that we can do it in the next game.'

NZ have managed to bowl South Africa out cheaply in their first innings both Tests, one time scoring a little more and the other a little less than NZ managed. This is against the 7th/8th best Test side who were carrying Nicol in their lineup. Awesome stuff. Also lets have a look at how many times Kane (he of about 40 international caps total) has played against England...

Tests? Zero.
ODIs? Zero.
T20s? Zero.

So yea he's in a great position to comment. Concentrate on becoming a fixture in a no-name batting lineup first.

 

[SeamUp]

NZ have managed to bowl South Africa out cheaply in their first innings both Tests, one time scoring a little more and the other a little less than NZ managed. This is against the 7th/8th best Test side who were carrying Nicol in their lineup. Awesome stuff. Also lets have a look at how many times Kane (he of about 40 international caps total) has played against England...

Tests? Zero.
ODIs? Zero.
T20s? Zero.

So yea he's in a great position to comment. Concentrate on becoming a fixture in a no-name batting lineup first.

Well we just going to have to wait and see later this year.

No number 1 team in the world gets drubbed 3-0 away from home like your team did.

Still smarting from losing the last time we were over in England?

Don't forget the 1-1 drubbing if there ever was one in South Africa as well.

You talk a big game for England so maybe just quieten down a touch when your side hasn't done much yet.

 

[SeamUp]

The weather for Wellington is not set fair, Gentlemen. This may mean 1 of two things:

1. Believe the weather forecast and every day will be interrupted by rain at some point.
2. The weather forecast in Wellington is usually only solid about 10 minutes in advance, so the fact that the forecast is for rain could equally likely mean that the weather is set to be a scorcher.

Raining everyday till Thursday but haven't seen Friday's forecast so not looking good.

Hopefully the wind will dry the mositure.

 

[SeamUp]

Graeme Smith set to go past Sobers and M.Waugh in the all-time test run scorers list in the Wellington test match which will take him to 22nd on the list. All that with a technique of his own.

Dale Steyn chasing down Jacques Kallis in the leading test wicketer-takers. After Kallis would be a current player in Zaheer Khan.

 

[Flem274*]

NZ have managed to bowl South Africa out cheaply in their first innings both Tests, one time scoring a little more and the other a little less than NZ managed. This is against the 7th/8th best Test side who were carrying Nicol in their lineup. Awesome stuff. Also lets have a look at how many times Kane (he of about 40 international caps total) has played against England...

Tests? Zero.
ODIs? Zero.
T20s? Zero.

So yea he's in a great position to comment. Concentrate on becoming a fixture in a no-name batting lineup first.

So insecure. What do you care of what Williamson thinks?

 

[Howsie]

'We know what we're up against and it's probably the best team in the world at the moment'

Uh oh, get your effigies out. How dare anyone say that about this South African team. Overreaction much?

As for South Africa I wonder if they will give any thought into dropping Tahir and playing de Lange at the Basin. Downwind, bowling 150k+, he could potentially help South Africa wrap the test up inside two days.

 

[SteveNZ]

NZ have managed to bowl South Africa out cheaply in their first innings both Tests, one time scoring a little more and the other a little less than NZ managed. This is against the 7th/8th best Test side who were carrying Nicol in their lineup. Awesome stuff. Also lets have a look at how many times Kane (he of about 40 international caps total) has played against England...

Tests? Zero.
ODIs? Zero.
T20s? Zero.

So yea he's in a great position to comment. Concentrate on becoming a fixture in a no-name batting lineup first.

Not certain what relevance Nicol being in our line-up has when you're talking about South Africa being bowled out cheaply.

He has however played against Pakistan, who beat England, so maybe he's okay to judge.

 

[marc71178]

You talk a big game for England so maybe just quieten down a touch when your side hasn't done much yet.

So much irony in this sentence it must be intentional.