He looked decent from what I have seen of him, played some powerful shots and was also quite good through the covers. Admittedly I'm not much of a technique judge, but it will be interesting to see how Houpapa goes for Auckland this season.
You called it
He should never have been left out in the cold, but it's good to see New Zealand Cricket at least attempting to right their wrong.
Yeah the thing is though is that Fleming aint an opener and Oram aint a no.6 but that team is a reasonable comprimise.
Fleming's been an okay opener in ODI's. Has more runs there than any other position, and more centuries.
. What about the likes of Iain O'Brien, Tama Canning, Graeme Aldridge... or Daryll Tuffey.
Tama Canning went back to Western Australia in a huff after being hauled over the coals for a disciplinary reason in November 2006. No chance of him ever playing again.Surely there's gotta be better seamers in NZ then Mark Gillespie...
. Heath you really can't talk...
I disagree. He was once one of the most reliable NZ bowlers and after his injury he only managed to play pretty much part of the domestic season. He was not in a position to go to the world cup because of a lack of fitness. If he can just raise his pace to what it was, he could be in the team once again. Of course accuracy is first and foremost most important. So my perspective is, he doesn't get "crap" after an injury he was quite decent and I enjoyed his bowling. Unless he had to dramatically change his action I would think that being in black again next year could in fact be a possibility
Aldridge should have made it before Gillespie. Gillespie just shows more pace than our general seemers which had people excited about him but really his in-accuracy and expense is probably more thwarting to our team than someone like Martin who could probably be a bit more consistent. Aldridge provides consistency generally and consistantly takes a lot of wickets every domestic season.Surely there's gotta be better seamers in NZ then Mark Gillespie...
as a back-up to Patel.
Okay. I'll clarify my position rather than hanging on my previous sweeping statement. Tuffey had been out and had not been at anywhere near his best since the injury he sustained on the last tour of England. He had been in poor form (certainly not form deserving of an international call-up) for his state all season and his callup came out of the blue ahead of more deserving, in form players. He then proceeded to show a lack of pace, a lack of energy, a lack of aggression and poor accuracy in the ODIs he did play. For him then to get a call up to the World Cup when he was clearly short of match fitness was a real slap in the face for those domestic workhorses whose fitness was never in doubt and who were clearly in better form. This does not preclude Tuffey from reaching international match fitness, but clearly it is difficult to reach previous peaks (especially in terms of pace) when you have been out for so long with a string of injuries. Ask Ian Butler, Shayne O'Connor and one HT Davis as they've all been there and suffered from the same underlying problem. The only person who seems capable of getting back to the previous heights is Shane Bond... And how he does it, god only knows.Of course accuracy is first and foremost most important. So my perspective is, he doesn't get "crap" after an injury he was quite decent and I enjoyed his bowling. Unless he had to dramatically change his action I would think that being in black again next year could in fact be a possibility
Some of his bowling wan't looking all that bad when playing before the world cup but he couldn't keep it accurate enough or have enough pace to trouble them.
Harsh. Heath is not in contention and is feeling a little old for a comeback anyway
Aldridge didn't do himself any favours with *that* last over against Auckland in the 20:20 this year. That showed a real problem with coping under pressure.
