** Official ** Sri Lanka in New Zealand tour

[Sir Gaddy]

Hamish Marshall is ace, bit worried about his domestic average though could be a sign of a things to come

 

[chaminda_00]

Hamish Marshall is ace, bit worried about his domestic average though could be a sign of a things to come

Maybe it has more to do with the pitches in NZ the his overall ability. There have been many batsmen in Sri Lanka who start of with low domestic averages but end up with good test averages.

 

[Smudge]

Hamish Marshall is ace, bit worried about his domestic average though could be a sign of a things to come

His ODI career has been fairly consistent - while he will have some lulls in test cricket, I still imagine his test average will be over 40 after five years.

 

[James90]

Malinga's bouncer is probably his best weapon, it was in Australia anyway

 

[Kippax]

apart from his score card - how has Hamish been handling the spin bowling - his known main weakness - or has the pitch been flat enough to not offer anything as yet?????

From the limited amount of play I saw he seemed to be charging and hitting the spin bowling straight down the ground, saw 2 fours and a six hit that way.

That's probably the most pleasing aspect of the season for me - the way Marshall's footwork and confidence against spin has improved. Thinking back to October when he was playing back to Rafique, he looked desperate for some pace from the pitch or the bowlers to help him hit the ball off the square. As Ed pointed out that isn't always the case now.

He won't do a McMillan very often in terms of racking up big overs against spin, but it's hard to call it a clear weakness anymore either.

County cricket could have been ideal for him this winter I reckon, firstly to try and ride his momentum all the way to Africa, and secondly keep developing his confidence to dominate whoever the bowler is or whatever the pitch is like.

Perhaps Middlesex would like to exchange Styris, or Notts exchange Flem for Hamish. Then again maybe Sajid Mahmood or the guile of Gareth Batty will get him back averaging in the mid-20's, who knows.

 

[anzac]

Hes got all the talent in the world.. and he is young

can I say I told you so?????

I've been on his case for Test inclusion since the WC from memory.................along with Hamish...........

I seem to recall some heated posts with Mingster about my gripes about the youngsters like Franklin & Hamish doing ok & then being cast to the wilderness..........

 

[anzac]

Agreed, so far he has shocked the kiwis early on, but Marshall handled him pretty well I thought. He has not played NZ before, to my knowledge anyways, so the shock factor is affecting them slightly. I dont think it has happened before that an umpire had to remove his tie, in that manner

from memory I recall him being milked for runs by AUS when they played up here in Darwin...........in the end IMO the AUS batsmen got themselves out as a result of his roundarm slingshot action, as opposed to any 'wicket taking deliveries'..............

 

[anzac]

His ODI career has been fairly consistent - while he will have some lulls in test cricket, I still imagine his test average will be over 40 after five years.

I still want to wait until I see him do the same thing on an overseas Tour..........preferably to the sub-continent..............where he'll have to work more for his runs.....

but I agree that his temperament is encouraging & he seems to value his wicket.........

 

[anzac]

pleasing to see 2 NZL batsmen score tons in the same innings - I'm sure that Hamish has had a positive effect on Astle...............

a pity that Vincent couldn't contribute
well done McCullum & hard luck for another 90+..................

 

[anzac]

now it's up to the bowlers to work with the runs they've been given...........

 

[chaminda_00]

now it's up to the bowlers to work with the runs they've been given...........

And now it up to the Sri Lankan batters to make the most of a flat track

 

[Kippax]

can I say I told you so?????

I've been on his case for Test inclusion since the WC from memory.................along with Hamish...........

I seem to recall some heated posts with Mingster about my gripes about the youngsters like Franklin & Hamish doing ok & then being cast to the wilderness..........

It is intriguing to see how much the perceptions have changed (and the contracts will change) of a lot of NZ's players from the old news article below, which I dug up from last year.

There are three new names who'll presumably be test picks even at full strength (Franklin, J Marshall, Cumming), meaning at least two incumbents (and Rigor) will need to be cut loose by NZC. Harris and Papps, perhaps?

Needless to say if this was the stockmarket, Tuffey and McMillan's major shareholders could be warming their hands on a ghetto fire shortly. Annual earnings figures at least halved for both I'd imagine.

Copyright Independent Newspapers, Ltd. Apr 23, 2004

....the selectors rank the players from one to 20 not only on the past season's performances, but also on their projected impact in the coming season. Test match results carry additional weighting.

Injured players like Nathan Astle and Shane Bond, who played minimal top-level cricket last summer, will have their retainers reduced, but because of their expected value will still keep a reasonable ranking.

Bond and Astle were among the top bracket of earners last season, but they should have been usurped by the likes of leading performers like all-rounders Scott Styris and Jacob Oram plus consistent pace bowler Daryl Tuffey.

The retainers range from $125,000 for the top player going down to $45,000 for players 17 to 20.

Rankings are kept confidential but a possible order could be: Stephen Fleming, Daryl Tuffey, Jacob Oram, Scott Styris, Chris Cairns, Shane Bond, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Michael Papps, Mark Richardson, Kyle Mills, Chris Martin, Hamish Marshall, Chris Harris, Lou Vincent, Paul Wiseman, Mathew Sinclair, Ian Butler.

 

[psxpro]

Kippax, I would say Sinclair is far more likely to lose his contract than papps. Pappas hasn't had many opportunities at all. Imo he is a better Test opening prospect than cumming.

I also have huge hopes for Ross Taylor

 

[sledger]

Kippax, I would say Sinclair is far more likely to lose his contract than papps. Pappas hasn't had many opportunities at all. Imo he is a better Test opening prospect than cumming.

I also have huge hopes for Ross Taylor

yes i must say that when i saw papps play in england last year i was very impressed with him and thought it looked like he had decent potential.

 

[marc71178]

Bizarre that someone like Cairns is so high despite not playing Tests.

Also Bond is a tad high considering there's no guarantee he'll be the success he was.

 

[psxpro]

Cairns is high becasue he is a big match odi performer.
He deserves his place there imo.

 

[marc71178]

That list is strange though.

Marshall below Mills and Martin (and Richardson!)

 

[psxpro]

Marc, that was last year's list.

 

[Kippax]

To be honest I'd much rather have Cumming and Sinclair contracted with a tour of South Africa looming (pretty much the highlight of the 12 month period) than Papps.

Sinclair because he's got 3 test or 'A' hundreds on SA wickets, and Cumming because he's fairly unflappable and has a decent pull shot. Some have said Papps shuffling forward on any tarmac-like surfaces we strike in SA wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not convinced of that.

Papps was even very poor at FC level this season, so you could now argue for Fulton, Ryder, Taylor or How being more deserving of a contract IMO.

 

[psxpro]

Cumming hasn't convinced me yet. Apart from one innings (where he was dropped early on) he has looked a bit out of place.

Sinclair can score big innings but I don't know about him, he has too many poor innings in the middle, and the thing is he can only bat in the middle order but I don't see any place for him there at all. If we lose early wickets, i would never have confidence in Sinclair to Rescue us. Also with the slow way our openers start we need stroke makers in the middle order and sinclair isn't it.

People may have go on about how papps has technical flaws but you can't take the fact that when he has been given any opportunities he has done pretty well. So I don't see reason for him to be taken off.