*Official* Sri Lanka Tri-Series

[Manee]

But wouldn't you just put your best batsman of the ones you have left out there to try and knock off the runs, instead of promoting the less-capable batsmen. Kapugedera can still score pretty quickly, anyway.

Yeah, doesn't make sense, was just speculating.

 

[Himannv]

Yeah, doesn't make sense, was just speculating.

Its quite simple. Herath and Kulasekara are better batsmen than Kapu, hence they bat further up the order. However rather than drop Kapu the board have decided to give him a chance but dropping him even further down the order to see if he improves. Got a not out so seems like it worked.

 

[G.I.Joe]

At times like this, you contemplate a nation with a per capita income of 4.7k beating a nation with a per capita income of 29k. Sri Lanka are just a bit awesome.

 

[Himannv]

At times like this, you contemplate a nation with a per capita income of 4.7k beating a nation with a per capita income of 29k. Sri Lanka are just a bit awesome.

You had to remind me of my salary and ruin it didn't you?

 

[Teja.]

Nah, SL has five times as much population. NZ is hence, excused for the loss tbh.

 

[kingkallis]

At times like this, you contemplate a nation with a per capita income of 4.7k beating a nation with a per capita income of 29k. Sri Lanka are just a bit awesome.

Not again...

 

[Hurricane]

Sounds like the toss will be all important.

I hope NZ plays McKay. I'd love to see him given a go in seamer friendly conditions. Personally, I'd drop Elliot and play Tuffey, Mills and McKay. On paper NZ would have a weak batting lineup, but Elliot has done nothing with the bat in the warm-ups, and Tuffey and Mills could almost be classed as all rounders in ODI cricket.

Disagree with this post - our side was unbalanced last night without Elliot and Tuffey and Mills did not look the part at batting.

I tip my hat to your cool and calmness, sir! I was a little quick out of the blocks. Sri Lanka certainly tried their damnedest to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! A collapse of epic proportions.

Even though it's debatable whether it would have made a difference to the outcome of this game or not, questions need to be asked about the strange NZ team selection for this game.
They replaced the injured Oram with Southee when Styris could have, and indeed did, take over Oram's bowling duties.
NZ essentially played two 3rd seamers (Southee and McKay) at the expense of a batsman.

Agree with your second post here - losing Elliot didn't help either.

WTF. I come home and flick on the tv just as Watling's being caught and I see Nathan McCullum strolling out to bat, I think too myself "hmmm that's a little strange that they've sent him in before Hopkins but whatever" Then I realise Hopkins is already ****ing out there.

Who came up with this XI? Four quicks, a spinner and two all round options. Ridiculous.

Agree with this - it places too much pressure on the 5 batsman to perform and they can't play their shots. Taylor and Greatbatch would have had a lot of say in the team selection.

 

[Jezroy]

WTF Southee? Why is the guy so inconsistent?

Another example of the guy that bowled so well in that T20 Super Over vs Aussie just an hour after getting spanked all over the park.

I don't get it.

And why was the batting line up was short last night? Hopkins at 6 looks pretty bad. At the moment in the ODI team, pick McKay or Southee. You have Tuffey and Mills in the team. Then a third seamer. Then the spinner (N Mac or Jeets), and then Williamson and Styris as the 5th and 6th bowlers. Plus, if Elliot had been in the team, couldn't he have bowled? I think Elliot would have been PERFECT for the position NZ found themselves in last night.

Nice to see Watling prove that his debut vs Pakistan wasn't a fluke. But Guptill needs to start getting some runs, because when B Mac and Ryder are around, he won't be in this team. Big fall from grace from a guy who was selected in an ODI World XI not long ago.

 

[Prince EWS]

WTF Southee? Why is the guy so inconsistent?

Another example of the guy that bowled so well in that T20 Super Over vs Aussie just an hour after getting spanked all over the park.

I don't get it.

And why was the batting line up was short last night? Hopkins at 6 looks pretty bad. At the moment in the ODI team, pick McKay or Southee. You have Tuffey and Mills in the team. Then a third seamer. Then the spinner (N Mac or Jeets), and then Williamson and Styris as the 5th and 6th bowlers. Plus, if Elliot had been in the team, couldn't he have bowled? I think Elliot would have been PERFECT for the position NZ found themselves in last night.

Nice to see Watling prove that his debut vs Pakistan wasn't a fluke. But Guptill needs to start getting some runs, because when B Mac and Ryder are around, he won't be in this team. Big fall from grace from a guy who was selected in an ODI World XI not long ago.

Would still have Guptill in the ODI team at full strength TBH. Could really strengthen the lower order to have McCullum or Ryder coming in a bit lower. McCullum's a good ODI opening bat but he was an awesome finisher too - probably better at it than at his role opening actually.

 

[Jezroy]

Would still have Guptill in the ODI team at full strength TBH. Could really strengthen the lower order to have McCullum or Ryder coming in a bit lower. McCullum's a good ODI opening bat but he was an awesome finisher too - probably better at it than at his role opening actually.

I don't know. Pretty much for me now B Mac, Taylor, Ryder, and Styris are all shoo in (Ryder issues pending) - basically leaving 2 slots for the likes of Elliot, Watling, Oram, Guptill and Williamson. Normally you would have Vettori 7 I guess. Hopkins 8 if McCullum isn't keeping. Then you have 3 more bowlers at the end - Tuffey/Mills/McKay/Southee/Patel/N Mac depending on the situation.

I know that is putting a lot of faith in the unproven Watling and Williamson to compare them to Guptill/Elliot/Oram - but Elliot seems to be underrated by the selectors, Oram, well, who knows, and Guptill... not sure he knows or the management know where he should actually bat.

 

[Prince EWS]

I don't know. Pretty much for me now B Mac, Taylor, Ryder, and Styris are all shoo in (Ryder issues pending) - basically leaving 2 slots for the likes of Elliot, Watling, Oram, Guptill and Williamson. Normally you would have Vettori 7 I guess. Hopkins 8 if McCullum isn't keeping. Then you have 3 more bowlers at the end - Tuffey/Mills/McKay/Southee/Patel/N Mac depending on the situation.

I know that is putting a lot of faith in the unproven Watling and Williamson to compare them to Guptill/Elliot/Oram - but Elliot seems to be underrated by the selectors, Oram, well, who knows, and Guptill... not sure he knows or the management know where he should actually bat.

Well for me, this should be the team at full strength.

Guptill
Watling
Ryder
Taylor
Styris
Elliott
McCullum
Vettori
Mills
Tuffey/Southee/McKay
Tuffey/Southee/McKay

McCullum should be right to keep every game now that he's not keeping in Tests.

Guptill could potentially drop out of the that team for either Oram (with McCullum opening and Oram at 7) or Williamson (with Ryder opening, Taylor at three and Williamson at four) but Oram would have to get fit or Williamson would have to score a few runs in this series for that to happen. Both offer a lot more with the ball with Guptill at this point so it'd perhaps be better to get one of them in with no specialist fifth bowler there but I think I'd be opting that side as it stands.

If Oram played then Nathan McCullum could potentially come in for one of those last two quicks as well depending on the pitch. Hell I'd probably take Oram ahead of all of them on bowling alone if I was sure he'd actually get through his overs, but I'm not so he misses out.

 

[BeeGee]

Would still have Guptill in the ODI team at full strength TBH. Could really strengthen the lower order to have McCullum or Ryder coming in a bit lower. McCullum's a good ODI opening bat but he was an awesome finisher too - probably better at it than at his role opening actually.

I think the jury is still out on Guptill batting in the top three. He really needs a big score in this series to demonstrate that he should be batting there.
McCullum batting lower in the order has a lot of merit, but the biggest obstacle to that idea is McCullum himself. Even though he has had the vice captaincy taken from him, he still seems to have the last say as to where he bats and how he bats, and he thinks he's a opener (in all forms of the game).

 

[Jarquis]

Elliot, Styris and Rider good enough for 10 overs aren't they?

 

[Prince EWS]

Elliot, Styris and Rider good enough for 10 overs aren't they?

Yeah, but they're all basically sixth bowlers. Having thee sixth bowlers instead of one fifth bowler doesn't always work, and they're all similar types of bowler as well so if one of them gets carted the others probably will too, providing it's not just because he's bowling ****e. Oram's a genuine frontline bowler in one day cricket (albeit one who often doesn't get through his full quota because he hurts himself) and Williamson's a spinner, so having one of them there instead of Guptill could definitely improve the attack a bit.

I'm in favour of an eleven that has them bowl ten between them but it's definitely a potential weakness. I just think Guptill's a better OD bat than Oram and Williamson by enough to have it like that.

 

[Hurricane]

At the end of this tournament and a few more innings by Watling/Guptil/Williamson/Elliot I will put my thinking cap on about a full strength NZ team. But Watling looked pretty good didn't he - like Athlai said we have plenty of competition for openers and I don't see him batting anywhere else. One of the incumbent openers would have to move down the order.

N Mac is making a case for being a fixture in the WC team next year.

 

[Prince EWS]

At the end of this tournament and a few more innings by Watling/Guptil/Williamson/Elliot I will put my thinking cap on about a full strength NZ team. But Watling looked pretty good didn't he - like Athlai said we have plenty of competition for openers and I don't see him batting anywhere else. One of the incumbent openers would have to move down the order.

N Mac is making a case for being a fixture in the WC team next year.

Well you only really have two openers and one of them is Guptill. McCullum and Ryder have opened in the past with reasonable success but I think it was more a case of them having a go there because you had no openers than the fact that the management thought they were best used there - at first anyway. Nothing wrong with having them continue to open if the rest of the country's best batsman are all more comfortable in the middle order, but I don't think there should be any reservations about moving them down the order. McCullum's had a lot of success as a finisher too and I'm actually quite confident Ryder would be more effective a little further down.

If Watling keeps up his good start then he should definitely be opening the batting at full strength.

 

[Spudsy2061]

Didn't see the match but it looked like Ajantha Mendis bowled brilliantly. Looking at his career stats, he looks impressive so far. Anyone seeing he could be the best bowling option for Sri Lanka (don't know if he already is or not now with Murali leaving)?

 

[BeeGee]

It's fantastic that NZ have so many international quality selection options. It's great to have genuine competition for places in the team.
Just a pity we can't say the same about the Test team.

 

[Hurricane]

Well for me, this should be the team at full strength.

Guptill
Watling
Ryder
Taylor
Styris
Elliott
McCullum
Vettori
Mills
Tuffey/Southee/McKay
Tuffey/Southee/McKay

All-round records | One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | Cricinfo.com

I like MCCullum opening I think he tries to get us off to a flyer and as the above stat shows he has done an ok job there. And I think Guptil or Watling would benefit from having an attacking player at the other end.

The reason why New Zealand seemed to do well in ODIs last year is that we had 4 batsman capable of getting a fifty every time they walked out to bat Ryder/McCullum/Taylor/and even Guptil - I think all of these batsman need to placed in key positions. Guptil seems to have gone off the boil for some reason...hopefully he will come good.

But my main reason for backing McCullum opening is that I prefer him scoring 30 runs opening the batting to scoring 30 runs at number 7. It establishes momentum for the team and gets us off to a solid start.

I also think there is something to be said for enriching his job description as a cricketer to make him want to turn up to the park and train hard. If opening turns his crank then let him do it (provided he performs there).

 

[Hurricane]

Well you only really have two openers and one of them is Guptill. McCullum and Ryder have opened in the past with reasonable success but I think it was more a case of them having a go there because you had no openers than the fact that the management thought they were best used there - at first anyway. Nothing wrong with having them continue to open if the rest of the country's best batsman are all more comfortable in the middle order, but I don't think there should be any reservations about moving them down the order. McCullum's had a lot of success as a finisher too and I'm actually quite confident Ryder would be more effective a little further down.

If Watling keeps up his good start then he should definitely be opening the batting at full strength.

Ryder would look good at three you are right.

I agree with BeeGee that it is nice to have some competition and depth to the squad - I don't remember a time as a fan when we had choices. I do think the choices will make themselves though at the end of this tournament.