***Official*** Top End Series

[Beleg]

Hmm, isn't Saeed Anwar Jr. quite old though?


or am I confusing him with Ejaz Ahmed Jr?

Naumanullah was considered by many to be a future test batsman during the early 2000's.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Hmm, isn't Saeed Anwar Jr. quite old though?


or am I confusing him with Ejaz Ahmed Jr?

Naumanullah was considered by many to be a future test batsman during the early 2000's.

Nah, Saeed Anwar jnr is fairly young I think. Opening bat/left arm spinner?

 

[adharcric]

India A has 3 specialist openers that must play and a fourth in Pujara.

Uthappa, Dhawan, Sharma, Gambhir, Rao*, Sodhi, Patel+, Jadeja, Chawla, Singh, Paul

I don't exactly trust Sodhi and Patel at 6 and 7, so this lineup is deep but not so strong in the middle.

 

[Xuhaib]

I hope Asif Hussain gets selected his teammates call him Veeru due to his facial resemblence with Sehwag. A good clean striker of the ball who relies more on eye then feet movement.

 

[Craig]

Saeed Anwar jnr a cousin of Saeed Anwar?

 

[Xuhaib]

Saeed Anwar jnr a cousin of Saeed Anwar?

Nah, why would 2 cousins have the same full name .

 

[adharcric]

Do you guys think we'll see someone from the A side replacing Venugopal Rao in the national side, given Tendulkar isn't back by the time the side is renamed.
Rohit Sharma? Or is it too early?

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Too early. But aside from the openers, there aren't really any batting candidates in the A side for an ODI slot.

 

[brockley]

Will NZ 2 teams play in the academy series in june as well,and does anyone know indias or south africas team for the academy series or will it be the A teams named.

 

[Craig]

Nah, why would 2 cousins have the same full name .

No idea, people are strange though.

I mean we have a trade union offficial in Queensland by the name of Grace Grace

Wouldn't you just change it?

 

[Arjun]

India A has 3 specialist openers that must play and a fourth in Pujara.

Uthappa, Dhawan, Sharma, Gambhir, Rao*, Sodhi, Patel+, Jadeja, Chawla, Singh, Paul

I don't exactly trust Sodhi and Patel at 6 and 7, so this lineup is deep but not so strong in the middle.

Couldn't miss this, but if the people in charge think picking a whole bunch of openers will solve the Test team's problems at the top of the order, they're mistaken. You'll only have four half-baked openers, one of whom will be picked and then dropped after a few matches. They're making the same msitakes as in the past.

Sodhi is fine, while Patel has often been picked because of his superior batting, so batting him higher up will reveal how useful he is. While his selection may be considered as a blunder, it could get worse, if they had Maninder Bisla (junior Rahul Dravid) anywhere in the team. A lot will depend on the batting of Chawla and Jadeja as well, so this is a decent selection, which will throw these talented youngsters in the deep end to get them active all round. Let's just hope Parthiv doesn't drop anything here. Sodhi's underpowered bowling, however, is a cause for concern.

Do you guys think we'll see someone from the A side replacing Venugopal Rao in the national side, given Tendulkar isn't back by the time the side is renamed.
Rohit Sharma? Or is it too early?

It's too early for Rohit Sharma, but Gautam Gambhir is the obvious choice. They can bench Uthappa.

 

[NZTailender]

Jaques is coming home to play this series and Vincent will replace him at Worcs. I thought Vincent was playing too...

 

[adharcric]

It's good to know that VRV Singh will get more experience immediately after the tour of West Indies, but I wonder why RP Singh isn't in the A team now that he's been dropped from the test side. Having Gautam Gambhir in here is also huge for his confidence, because it doesn't look like he has any place in the test squad with Dravid having shown that he can step in as an opener.

 

[Dark Hunter]

No idea, people are strange though.

I mean we have a trade union offficial in Queensland by the name of Grace Grace

Wouldn't you just change it?

I know this is off topic, but seeing that, i had to mention it. One of the owners of the theater at my school is named 'Gaye Gay'

 

[Arjun]

I know this is off topic, but seeing that, i had to mention it. One of the owners of the theater at my school is named 'Gaye Gay'

It's good for VR Singh to get some Test match experience, but not this way. Anyway, RP Singh is there in the A team for the tour, as well as SS Paul. Gambhir still is a prospect, especially because he can play in both Tests and ODI's unlike Jaffer, while Dravid is not an option at the top in either form.

 

[adharcric]

It's good for VR Singh to get some Test match experience, but not this way. Anyway, RP Singh is there in the A team for the tour, as well as SS Paul. Gambhir still is a prospect, especially because he can play in both Tests and ODI's unlike Jaffer, while Dravid is not an option at the top in either form.

Hmm, I must have been mistaken then. RP Singh is in the A team but not VRV Singh. Still, it's better than the reverse scenario given that VRV is at least getting experience with the test side. Dravid is an option at the top in both forms, but not a very desirable one. In tests, you don't want to sacrifice your best batsman and one of the greatest one-down batsmen of all-time. In ODIs, you want guys who can take advantage of the field restrictions and Sehwag-Tendulkar form the perfect combination. Gambhir's chances in tests have gotten slimmer after the Jaffer knock, and his chances in ODIs as a reserve opener are decent but not any better than those of Robin Uthappa or Shikhar Dhawan, younger talents who haven't had opportunities yet.

 

[Hero_Don]

These would be the likely playing elevens for the two New Zealand teams I would say. Squad 1 is stronger in the batting while Squad 2 is stronger in the bowling. Squad 1 is loaded with attacking stroke makers so we could see some big scores, while the Squad 2 batsman are more defensive players (bar McMillan).

Squad 1

Jamie How
Jesse Ryder
Peter Fulton
Lou Vincent
James Marshall
Ross Taylor
Nathan McCullum
Graham Aldridge
Mark Gillespie
Michael Mason
Warren McSkimming


Squad 2

Matthew Bell
Michael Papps
Mathew Sinclair
Craig McMillan
Rob Nicol
Gareth Hopkins
Hamish Bennett
Kyle Mills
Jeetan Patel
Richard Sherlock
Chris Martin

One-Dayer Squad and 4-Dayer Squad maybe?

 

[Xuhaib]

Pakistan have announces their squad and i see there is no place for the 2 U-19 WC stars Jamshed Ahmed and Anwar Ali,infact the third seamer the less impressive Akhtar Ayub has been selected.

Its looks fishy fishy to me

 

[Arjun]

Hmm, I must have been mistaken then. RP Singh is in the A team but not VRV Singh. Still, it's better than the reverse scenario given that VRV is at least getting experience with the test side. Dravid is an option at the top in both forms, but not a very desirable one. In tests, you don't want to sacrifice your best batsman and one of the greatest one-down batsmen of all-time. In ODIs, you want guys who can take advantage of the field restrictions and Sehwag-Tendulkar form the perfect combination. Gambhir's chances in tests have gotten slimmer after the Jaffer knock, and his chances in ODIs as a reserve opener are decent but not any better than those of Robin Uthappa or Shikhar Dhawan, younger talents who haven't had opportunities yet.

Now that Jaffer has scored a double century, how likely is he to make the ODI side? Since the selectors have washed their hands off Gambhir and the likes of Uthappa and Dhawan are not regulars in either team, he may have let loose a cat amongst the pigeons. If you have the same openers in Tests and ODI's, you will have better starts in both forms of the game. That often happened when Gambhir played for India.

 

[adharcric]

Now that Jaffer has scored a double century, how likely is he to make the ODI side? Since the selectors have washed their hands off Gambhir and the likes of Uthappa and Dhawan are not regulars in either team, he may have let loose a cat amongst the pigeons. If you have the same openers in Tests and ODI's, you will have better starts in both forms of the game. That often happened when Gambhir played for India.

Gambhir wasn't a regular opener for very long. When he finally became one when Sachin went out, he threw away starts and Sehwag's form dipped too. As for Jaffer, I think the selectors will go for the younger options first - Uthappa, Dhawan, Gambhir. The reason they opted for Jaffer in tests is because he has been in very good touch in first-class cricket. I'm not sure how well-suited he is to one-day cricket.