** Official ** Sri Lanka in New Zealand tour

[Macka]

Yes the way they're treating Sinclair is a joke. Astle is our best ODI batsman, he opens, end of story. Sinclair is in the team because he has a whole heap of potential. Sure he hasn't lived up to that yet but his performances for NZ A and domestic cricket means he can't be ignored. It really annoys me that the way he gets treated, if they would just bat him at 4.

Now I see Fleming is saying opening the batting (in tests) would be a challenge he would relish. Where was all this enthusiasm during the Australian tour? The Aussies a little too good for Fleming to open against? I really don't understand this, he was keen to open against England but against Australia we didn't hear a would from him about opening. Instead Sinclair is told he has to open despite his lack of footwork, poor starts and never actually opening before. Now we hear Fleming is suddenly happy to open the batting again. Too late Fleming, we needed you against Australia. However at the same time he is backing Papps to replace Richardson (which shouldn't happen in my view) while it seems Bracewell has asked Sinclair to open for CD.

Why doesn't Fleming just come out and say he will open? He's the obvious choice. Papps hasn't scored a run recently, How is promising but not ready and Matt Horne/Bell are old news.

 

[dinu23]

Adams should have been brought in instead of Butler.

 

[dinu23]

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

Nooki_lk, u know how atapattu is! he's a tubelight. if he can get to 20 then he will kick on. untill then u never know when he will get out. if the pitches are like the ones they had against india i think all SL batsmen will struggle.

 

[Kent]

if the pitches are like the ones they had against india i think all SL batsmen will struggle.

Trust me, you'll be very unlucky if you strike anything like those! Unless there's plenty of rain between now and the test, Wellington in particular looks like providing a dry, fair test match surface for the Sri Lankans.

John Bracewell and Scott Styris actually launched an attack on the Basin groundstaff for producing a pitch with too much pace and bounce last summer against South Africa, so I don't think they're in NZ's pocket at all.

 

[anzac]

Trust me, you'll be very unlucky if you strike anything like those! Unless there's plenty of rain between now and the test, Wellington in particular looks like providing a dry, fair test match surface for the Sri Lankans.

John Bracewell and Scott Styris actually launched an attack on the Basin groundstaff for producing a pitch with too much pace and bounce last summer against South Africa, so I don't think they're in NZ's pocket at all.

yep and I thought it was a bloody good pitch................the sort of pitch that Marshall would relish (along with a few other batsmen perhaps) - but the likes of McMillan not quite so........I must admit to being somewhat surprised that Styris attacked as he did, I thought he was a bat foot player who had done well on those sort of wickets...........

my understanding was that it was the type of pitch that Flem etc had been advocating for the past couple of seasons - pace & bounce & not too much in it for the f/med trundle brigade - make the bowlers work & allow the batsmen to play shots with the ball coming onto the bat...........

 

[anzac]

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.

IMO he is well overdue runs at Test level & must perform to retain his place in the side...........& I'd expect him to perform at Home as the type of pitches suit his style the best - IMO he's like Macca & most other NZL batsman in that regard...........

 

[anzac]

Granted i spose when you put it like that i will have to agree with you and when i think about it i would say that mental application has been a huge factor in his faliures although i still think his technique is nothing more than average and not that flash really.

I'd forgotten about Astle's humble beginings.................but what it brings to mind is that in a 5-5 split (NZL standard test selection) the middle order of Styris & Astle at #4 & #5 consists of 2 converted bowling allrounders - little wonder we have consistant batting collapses when the going gets tough!!!!!!!!

furthermore it is also little wonder that the State sides have a pre-occupation with allrounders and starting them as high as #4 in their batting lineups - the national selections are not really leading by example & encouraging / rewarding genuine batsmen are they..............

the team that lost to AUS in the Test series had only 2 'genuine' batsmen Fleming & Sinclair, and the best of the 'converts' has now retired..........

they must start to select genuine batsmen - if not then the selection panel needs to retire.............

 

[Legglancer]

When looking at the 2001 stats its surprisingly obvious how much NZ lagged behind SL in terms of performance. Any thoughts on how diffarant the wicket/weather conditions maybe in 2005 jan as opposed to 2001 feb ?

Sri Lanka in New Zealand, 2000/01 One-Day Series Averages




New Zealand Batting and Fielding

Name Mat I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St

CZ Harris 5 5 2 168 56 56.00 73.36 - 2 2 -
CD McMillan 5 5 0 140 61 28.00 68.96 - 1 - -
JDP Oram 4 4 0 96 59 24.00 102.12 - 1 2 -
L Vincent 3 3 1 48 31* 24.00 78.68 - - 1 -
DL Vettori 5 4 2 47 17* 23.50 88.67 - - 1 -
SP Fleming 5 5 0 116 67 23.20 77.85 - 1 1 -
RG Twose 4 4 1 55 23 18.33 56.12 - - 1 -
AC Parore 5 5 0 88 49 17.60 56.05 - - 7 -
MS Sinclair 3 3 0 50 25 16.66 50.50 - - - -
AJ Penn 1 1 0 15 15 15.00 65.21 - - - -
NJ Astle 4 4 0 58 33 14.50 45.31 - - 2 -
JEC Franklin 4 3 0 18 13 6.00 37.50 - - - -
CM Spearman 1 1 0 5 5 5.00 38.46 - - - -
CS Martin 4 3 1 2 1* 1.00 20.00 - - 1 -
DR Tuffey 2 1 1 0 0* - - - - - -

New Zealand Bowling

Name Mat O M R W Ave Best 4w 5w SR Econ

CZ Harris 5 36.5 0 148 2 74.00 1-33 - - 110.5 4.01
DL Vettori 5 43 2 184 4 46.00 3-21 - - 64.5 4.27
NJ Astle 4 12 0 54 3 18.00 2-22 - - 24.0 4.50
CD McMillan 5 21.5 1 109 3 36.33 3-44 - - 43.6 4.99
CS Martin 4 30 2 150 4 37.50 2-56 - - 45.0 5.00
JEC Franklin 4 31 1 157 4 39.25 3-44 - - 46.5 5.06
DR Tuffey 2 17 1 87 4 21.75 2-36 - - 25.5 5.11
JDP Oram 4 13 0 78 2 39.00 2-20 - - 39.0 6.00
AJ Penn 1 4 1 29 0 - - - - - 7.25

Sri Lanka Batting and Fielding

Name Mat I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St

RP Arnold 5 4 1 179 78* 59.66 78.85 - 3 - -
MS Atapattu 4 4 1 169 76 56.33 67.06 - 2 2 -
DNT Zoysa 5 3 2 49 32 49.00 136.11 - - 1 -
ST Jayasuriya 5 5 0 200 103 40.00 89.28 1 1 4 -
DPMD Jayawardene 5 4 1 102 46 34.00 61.44 - - - -
RS Kaluwitharana 1 1 0 34 34 34.00 109.67 - - 1 2
HDPK Dharmasena 5 4 1 71 32 23.66 54.19 - - 1 -
PA de Silva 5 4 0 69 37 17.25 69.69 - - 1 -
K Sangakkara 5 5 1 59 20 14.75 74.68 - - 7 -
M Muralitharan 5 2 1 5 4 5.00 100.00 - - 4 -
KEA Upashantha 2 2 0 5 4 2.50 45.45 - - - -
CRD Fernando 5 1 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 - - 1 -
IS Gallage 2 1 1 3 3* - 100.00 - - - -
WPUJC Vaas 1 0 - - - - - - - - -

Sri Lanka Bowling

Name Mat O M R W Ave Best 4w 5w SR Econ

DNT Zoysa 5 37 5 128 8 16.00 4-28 1 - 27.7 3.45
HDPK Dharmasena 5 42 2 156 5 31.20 3-33 - - 50.4 3.71
M Muralitharan 5 44.5 3 178 10 17.80 5-30 - 1 26.9 3.97
WPUJC Vaas 1 8 2 32 2 16.00 2-32 - - 24.0 4.00
ST Jayasuriya 5 18 0 75 1 75.00 1-32 - - 108.0 4.16
IS Gallage 2 16 0 79 3 26.33 2-42 - - 32.0 4.93
PA de Silva 5 11 0 56 2 28.00 2-35 - - 33.0 5.09
KEA Upashantha 2 13 2 67 4 16.75 4-37 1 - 19.5 5.15
CRD Fernando 5 33.4 0 196 5 39.20 2-34 - - 40.4 5.82

 

[Richard Rash]

After one series of green pitches against india it seems the biggest myth in world cricket is that New Zealand always has green pitches. I can assure you unless we have a huge downpour the pitches will be excellent. You can see that from the number of centuries scored in the first two rounds of domestic cricket. I think there have been 8 or something like that. Last year against Pakistan and South Africa the pitches were flat and i think it will be more of the same this year

 

[Macka]

It's a shame they don't play at Carisbrooke anymore.

I have a bit of a worry about Styris and Astle together in the batting order. I never liked the idea of Astle and McMillan together because they're both such bad starters, which leads to the well-known NZ batting collapse. I have the same worry about Styris and Astle. I would like to see McCullum in at 5 - he has a better technique then Astle, Style and McMillan. It's my view a solid technique leads to more consistant starts (no real surprise I guess).

 

[southern man]

From what i have heard from a decent source McCullum in the future will feature in the top 6. But Braces won't put him up there until he is clearly the best player in the world in the position he is in.

 

[Kent]

What does that mean exactly, SM? We could be waiting a while if McCullum has to be better than Gilchrist!

What happens if Styris, Astle or the new opener(s) have a miserable series against Sri Lanka? Is Bracewell going to search the domestic scene before promoting McCullum?

 

[Macka]

I'd still like to see Fulton get a go in the team. I really hope he scores some runs before the tests. If they were to go with Fleming opening (unlikely? I'm not sure) I'd like to see Fulton at 3. It seems Sinclair will continue to open.

Interesting Fleming opened before the Australian test series (Bangladesh doesn't count) and now he says he would 'relish the challenge' if asked to open against Sri Lanka. Where was this responsibility against the Australians?

 

[bryce]

It's a shame they don't play at Carisbrooke anymore.

where are they playing the internationals in dunedin this season and will carisbrook ever host anymore cricket matches?

 

[Kent]

There is speculation today that one of Jamie How, Jesse Ryder or Ross Taylor could replace Craig McMillan in the ODI side named this afternoon.

Personally I can't see it happening.

I suppose it's a moot point now, but who on earth was speculating that?!

It's fair enough to think How and Taylor must be close to getting ahead of McMillan in the pecking order (say if we needed a 14-man OD squad to travel overseas tomorrow), but Jesse Ryder? I'd like to think everyone will give him at least another 12 months to prove he's got his form and his life in order.

 

[southern man]

What does that mean exactly, SM? We could be waiting a while if McCullum has to be better than Gilchrist!

What happens if Styris, Astle or the new opener(s) have a miserable series against Sri Lanka? Is Bracewell going to search the domestic scene before promoting McCullum?

Not the best keeper batsman, but the best player @ his number in the order. He wants him to be the most feared 7/8 batman in the world.

I don't think we will be waiting for that long for McCullum to take over from Gilchrist, Gilly is 33 and he surely cant go on forever.

 

[anzac]

Fleming
How
Sinclair
Fulton
McCullum
Styris
Astle/Marshall/Taylor etc
Oram
Vettori
Adams/Franklin/Mills etc
Tuffey

 

[bryce]

i wouldn't bring taylor or ryder in unless they showed some form worthy of national selection in the state shield

 

[JASON]

I agree with ANZAC's call. How and Fulton are the next two batsmen who should be in consideration for Test selection along with Hamish Marshall .

 

[Kent]

I can assure you unless we have a huge downpour the pitches will be excellent.

Well, apart from perhaps Yarrows Stadium (a rugby ground in one of the wetter regions of the North Island) and maybe this one...

Cricket: Doubt cast on Westpac Park wicket

19.12.04
by DYLAN CLEAVER

With the first home test of the summer less than a month away, doubts have already been cast on the suitability of the Westpac Park wicket.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=4&ObjectID=9003885