Anyone know if they're taking 14/15/16 players for the test squad? I assumed 15, in which case I figured the 11 in the current test plus Boult and Wagner as cover for the seam bowlers, Watling as cover for keeper and batting (or him in with van Wyk as cover - even if McCullum could keep in a pinch, either Watling or van Wyk are as good as any other batsmen they might pick), and a spinner (probably Nethula..)
Yeah I though the NZ/WI series was pending, but see cricinfo make no reference to it on their future tours page, Cricket | Current and Future Tours | ESPN Cricinfo Do you know when it's supposed to be played?
No-one's denying that. But he's not the sixth batsman to be put on the team sheet, making that irrelevant. I'd say Boult would have a better chance of helping us win than Guptill or Nicol etc.
Selection-wise it should be Brownlie's possible contribution vs Boult's. Our batting line up has struggled to put up any decent totals and the fourth seamer has largely been unsuccessful so far in this series. As a result of this the logical thing to do would be to give Dean Brownlie, the guy with a test average of 44.66 and a first class average of well over 50 a chance to add some solidity to our battting. If it was Rob Nicol vs Trent Boult there would be no problem. The latter should play but seeing as Brownlie is actually a decent batsman it's worth it.
I think the point he was making was that it should be neither Nicol v Boult or Brownlie v Boult.. but in fact Flynn or Guptill v Boult, as Brownlie should be ahead of both of them.
Should be but at this stage as far as we know it isn't so the selection decision between Boult vs Brownlie is still the issue for the third test.
I had it in my head that it was soon too but looked it up the other day and is actually not til July/August. So we have quite a break after this current series.
Very harsh. Yeah the 'Wagner will save us' stuff is annoying but he's done his time to qualify and I hope he is successful.
Haha yeah.
I view it kind of differently, myself. Ronchi was born in New Zealand and has always been a New Zealander; he has proper New Zealand heritage, he has a Maori tattoo, his team-mates have always considered him as "the Kiwi" and I've always thought of him as having a nationality of "Australia/New Zealand" in my own head. The fact that he chose Australia first and is now moving on to his second choice because he failed isn't really good for the game IMO, but it's better for the game than players with no real ties to their second choice country moving there as adults and gaining eligibility through residency. Van Wyk and Brownlie bother me more than Ronchi; the fact that the former two never played for their first choice countries doesn't change the fact that they were their first choice countries, and if they'd been able to, they would have. The key difference is that they just moved essentially at random while Ronchi at least has proper New Zealand ties before adulthood.
Makes me sold on him.
Ronchi has international caps. Brownlie, Elliott etc were reasonably young and complete unknowns when they moved. Elliott especially gets cleared of all charges because he was very average for a long time in the Shield and never buggered off to an even easier competition. Iirc even his initial test selection was pretty random.
Cheers, hadn't checked the PDF.
Brownlie and van Wyk moved for the same reason Ronchi did though; to have a crack at a higher level of cricket than their home system would grant them. That he has international caps is irrelevant IMO; it's the same thing.. only Ronchi actually had ties to New Zealand before he moved. Brownlie and van Wyk would've had international caps too if they were actually good enough to receive them during their time at home. "Moving because it's easier" is precisely what they did too.Ronchi has international caps. Brownlie, Elliott etc were reasonably young and complete unknowns when they moved. Elliott especially gets cleared of all charges because he was very average for a long time in the Shield and never buggered off to an even easier competition. Iirc even his initial test selection was pretty random.
Lots of people move to new countries as teenagers/early twenties, so I don't really have too many issues with the others, even if I only warm to them because they play for CD/are lovable/gun it for NZ, but Ronchi has ODI caps for Australia and rather than trying to get back in the Aussie side he's moved over here because it's probably a lot easier (though it could backfire if Haddin gets the flick and Kruger guns it).
I also really, really don't want to cop the jokes England get.
Not entirely true. Dean Brownlie's father was born in New Zealand that's why he made his first class debut in 2010 and was playing tests by 2011.
Well Ronchi himself was born in NZ so surely that trumps Brownlie's old man. But they both came to NZ for the same reason; to play cricket at a higher level. Nowt about loyalty to our flag.