** Official ** Sri Lanka in New Zealand tour

[Will Scarlet]

That's 1/141 off 28 overs (5 r/o), further showing his ineffectiveness to either take wickets or bowl tight. One or both of these are critical to perform in ODIs.

Andre Adams can bowl at nearly the same pace as Butler, but you don't see him included to supposedly balance the attack. Adams also takes wickets, as his FC and ODI records show.

A crap fast bowler is still a crap bowler.

 

[shaka]

Canning was named in the squad for Harris

 

[bryce]

i'm not really a fan of butler in ODI's either, but he has more of a future in the side than either adams or canning, also i agree with sportychic33 - imagine the controversy if butler was dropped after those comments made by the coaches little brother!
dropping styris from the ODI team would be absurd, he is a vital part of new zealand's success and his batting and bowling skills are equally valuable to new zealand's ability to win matches, contemplating that thought for test matches is fair enough where he only really offers inconsistent batting.

 

[Tim]

Why on earth would you want to drop Styris!? I just think he's batting a little too far up the order...I think he would actually be a very good #6.

 

[sportychic33]

i think styris is fine where he is. He is a vital part of our bowling attack in the middle overs and is just going through a form slump with his batting at the moment.

 

[Tim]

John Bracewell was effectively in a catch 22 situation thanks to his brother. Whatever happens there will be criticism that a) he only picked Butler to avoid being further criticised or b) if he doesn't pick Butler it will go a long way to suggesting that there is indeed a problem between the two of them.

 

[JASON]

NZ team named for ODIs.

The full team is: Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum, Hamish Marshall, Mathew Sinclair, Jacob Oram, Chris Cairns, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, Kyle Mills and Ian Butler.

How the hell does Butler maintain his spot? He took 1/141 for ND! Surely Canning is a better prospect.

There is a general perception (rightly or wrongly) that subcontinental players struggle against sheer pace more than anything and that may be one factor in the decision to retain Butler !!

IMO its a toss up between Butler and Mills as to who carries the drinks, although Vettori could also be dropped to accomodate both (is an outside possibility)!!

Mills's batting in the second Chappell- Hadlee ODI would make it very unlikely for him to be dropped !! So it may well be between Butler and Vettori !!

 

[DT8]

who are the key players?

I think they are Fleming and Sangakkara even though Vaas and Styris might get in on the act.

 

[nookie_lk]

The players to watch will be Atapattu , sanga and vass..... in NZ it will be styris and Flemming

 

[shaka]

I'l be interested to see how well Tuffey bowls on his return to international cricket.

 

[Tim]

My Player to watch from NZ is: Brendon McCullum.

 

[Richard Rash]

There is a general perception (rightly or wrongly) that subcontinental players struggle against sheer pace more than anything and that may be one factor in the decision to retain Butler !!

IMO its a toss up between Butler and Mills as to who carries the drinks, although Vettori could also be dropped to accomodate both (is an outside possibility)!!

Mills's batting in the second Chappell- Hadlee ODI would make it very unlikely for him to be dropped !! So it may well be between Butler and Vettori !!

You have got to be joking. If they dropped Vettori heads would roll. Particuarly as NZ doesn't have any part time spinners. He is on fire at the moment.

 

[Tim]

Dropping Vettori in favour of playing Mills & Butler would definately cause an uproar (of titanic proportions in Hamilton)

 

[shaka]

Especially after the series he had against the world champs.
My pick is a shock, i predict that Astle is due to come back into form, and it would be great to see it on home soil.

 

[bryce]

My Player to watch from NZ is: Brendon McCullum.

can we pick the same players lol, but seriously i would of picked him too, in the sri lankan team i think maharoof could make life difficult for the kiwi's.
i like what bracewell has done by picking a small squad so everyone can get some cricket, he said he may not even have a designated 12th man just so everyone can get game time which i think is a top idea, i think you mentioned a concept like that before the squad was announced tim so points to you.

 

[Richard]

The question that immidiately sprung to my mind is: how the hell did Sinclair keep his spot?
I've seen Butler get picked too many times before to be that surprised.
Vital series for Chaminda and Nuwan coming-up - if they can bowl like they did last time they visited New Zealand (albeit Chaminda only played 1 game) then Sri Lanka have got a great chance.
This could quite justifiably be called the biggest series in ODI-cricket - the top two teams (excluding Australia).
I hope it lives-up to it's billing, unlike the NZ-SA series last winter.

 

[bryce]

The question that immidiately sprung to my mind is: how the hell did Sinclair keep his spot?

3 reasons,

*48 in the first ODI
*catch of the season
*bracewell doesn't like dropping players he uses frequently

 

[Richard]

Wow, 48, what an amazing achievement, especially considering how fantastic a ODI career he's had.
And since when has a sensational catch meant someone deserves to stay in the side?

 

[anzac]

firstly so far as the squad is concerned I expect to see Butler carry the drinks..........I would not have picked him on his current form.............

secondly I have just read on cricinfo that Flem's opening partner may well be decided by the state of the pitch & they expect Sinclair to get the nod if the pitch favours seam & swing - WTF!!!!!!

Am I mistaken or does this fly in the face of everything we are told about Sinclair's lack of foot movement when first at the crease - is Astle that good that we look to 'sacrifice' another batsman so as not to expose him in the early overs of the game & why should he gain any more 'protection' than the Captain?????

I wonder what all this does for Sinclair's confidence - to me it looks more & more like he is being used as the 'bunny' / scapegoat, and his time in the side is limited only by the time it takes them to put together another opening pair at Test level..................

man I am getting really jack of these bs selections!!!!!!!

 

[Richard]

It really is amazing how insensitive selectors can be.