*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Yeah, good decision for 'us' and Georgeson, but it's a shame he's messed Ireland around here. Seems a bit of a poor show to sign a contract and then quickly back out of it. Good to hear he'll still be playing in Ireland though in the off-season - that can't be a bad thing (at least until he's able to get a County contract).

 

[nzfan]

Yeah, good decision for 'us' and Georgeson, but it's a shame he's messed Ireland around here. Seems a bit of a poor show to sign a contract and then quickly back out of it. Good to hear he'll still be playing in Ireland though in the off-season - that can't be a bad thing (at least until he's able to get a County contract).

I suppose the frustration of not having been picked in the later half of the season for the firebirds? I can only guess. I do feel Firebirds have messed around quite a bit in the last couple of years. No wonder they aren't able to put good show consistently. Georgeson is one of the very few players in Wellington that is good enough to play all formats of cricket. They should not have messed around with him in the first place but you're right signing up with Ireland and then a U turn doesn't look good on paper.

 

[nzfan]

 

[nzfan]

Although I don't mind us shoring up few associate sides but still this is a bit unprecedented playing 10+ games on the trot. Ireland isn't an associate side but still you can't quite say they have made enough strides. This year we will have played way more associate sides than test playing nations.

All in all 15 white ball games this year scheduled in all vs Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands put together. How is this going to help us prepare for the T20 wc and the one day world cup in India I have absolutely no idea. These are all the games we have prior touring Australia.

Next summer as of now we are playing Pakistan (away) and Sri Lanka (at home) which is not bad.

 

[Kippax]

Just the latest irresolute biblical Jonah that Heinrich Malan's had to put up with coming out of New Zealand, Luke Georgeson. Thanks for mucking Heinrich around.

I can only hope Vishvaka keeps Georgeson right where he belongs (in a bib and running out new pairs of gloves).

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I can only hope Vishvaka keeps Georgeson right where he belongs (in a bib and running out new pairs of gloves).

By the end of the season, Georgeson (and Bhula) was having to even fight hard for that privilege. Regardless, I suspect this whole Irish escapade will mean that Georgeson has to fight much harder for the opportunity to get back in the team than he otherwise would have.

 

[Kippax]

Yes when you've just finished a season with your career first-class average sitting under 20, it seems only a member of this presumptuous TikTok generation would be seen in press releases talking about feeling newfound doubts about doing anything which hurts his chances of playing for New Zealand.

I guess the country can often just get that weak in his position, so he was probably correct to feel those doubts.

 

[Kippax]

If Georgeson played three years of ODIs and the odd Test for Ireland, then did his requalifying period back in New Zealand, he'd be about 29 at the point of his New Zealand Test debut. Not the worst path for a hard grafter if he'd actually taken it. Sort of debuting at a Mark Richardson or Will Young age.

 

[Nintendo]

If Georgeson played three years of ODIs and the odd Test for Ireland, then did his requalifying period back in New Zealand, he'd be about 29 at the point of his New Zealand Test debut. Not the worst path for a hard grafter if he'd actually taken it. Sort of debuting at a Mark Richardson or Will Young age.

Bold assumption to think ireland will play tests in the next 3 years.

 

[Kippax]

Yeah the Heinrich Malan interview I read last month was a bit doubtful on seeing many Tests in the near future.

Ireland coach Heinrich Malan: 'It's about inquisitively asking questions and getting people to think differently'

With 15 home games this summer, Ireland's new coach is hoping the players get plenty of experience ahead of the T20 World Cup

www.espncricinfo.com

What are your plans to ensure Ireland become an active Test team?
It's well documented that Covid and the [bad] financial times have put a bit of a constraint around the focus area. There's obviously been a real focus from a white-ball point of view. But it's also for us as an organisation to think outside the box on how we best use our funding, get more players to consistently play three- or four-day cricket.

How do we create opportunities for some of our players to play in the UK? If you look back to when Ireland was building up to having the golden years, a lot of those players were playing county cricket and were hardened first-class cricketers by the time they played for Ireland.

How do we best use our training facilities? How do we best [organise] our domestic competitions, knowing we've got some iffy weather sometimes? Training in an indoor centre knowing that we are going to go to the subcontinent, where the ball is going to turn square?

Hopefully some of my experiences over the last ten years in New Zealand, which is similar in terms of conditions over winter, can help. It is only recently that facilities have changed in New Zealand,

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Real shame. Hope Ireland, Afghanistan, and Zimbabwe can get a decent test schedule.

 

[nzfan]

 

[ataraxia]

Might as well put this in an easier to read format:

Williamson
Conway
Latham
Nicholls
Young
Rutherford

Blundell
Fletcher

de Grandhomme
Mitchell
Ravindra
Macewell

Southee
Boult
Henry
Jamieson
Wagner
Tickner
Duffy

Ajaz

 

[nzfan]

I can almost second guess these days the selections from Larsen and Stead... obviously the playing xi picks itself and hope everyone that's picked up goes well but one surprising pick IMO is M Bracewell. I think he had a very bad red ball season from memory. Shows how much t20 form these days gets you anywhere. He was also named player of the season for the firebirds purely based on t20 stats, didn't really do much in domestic one day or 4 day. Shows t20 is the flavour and we have to move on with time. We will see more and more successful t20 players picked for other formats going forward I think. I'm ok with that but having seen lot of firebirds cricket M Bracewell just don't excite me as a long term player but I want it to be proved wrong and hope he has good success.

Still feel like we could have at least picked few youngsters, it's not like to play for Black Caps you have to be 30 or nearing 30. Although it does help in test cricket to have more experienced players.

I honestly think we could do with some youth in the side. I have no doubt the one youth player in Ravindra won't make the cut for the final 15. In 3-4 years time we will have lots of current players missing and we will have plenty of players coming in with no experience whatsoever. I can already see there is a dearth of batters, spin bowlers and fast bowlers who are young enough and can play for long periods of time like Southee, Boult, Kane, Latham etc did.

 

[nzfan]

Glad to see Duffy back in the mix, I really think he will go well in England with Dukes ball. Doubt if he's going to get a game though. Probably not even the warm ups?

 

[Immenso]

Duffy ?????? WTAF?

Even with a big squad, how the hell? He's been terrible.

 

[vandem]

Picking 20 to cover the two FC warmup games, test squad will be trimmed to 15 before the 1st test.

Stead said “That means no players or staff will stay with the side for the entire 14 weeks while we’re away, as we balance the workloads.

So perhaps Macewell / Tickner etc get a 3 week holiday on the Cote D'Azur, then fly back to Ireland and play in all three white ball series (Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands).

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Yeah Macewell and Duffy are the 2 surprising picks. The others fairly predictable. Rutherford and Fletcher had been in the test squad earlier in the year so fair enough. Would be good to start investing in youth a bit more imo.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Tests on Spark Sport and SENZ Radio.

 

[vandem]

Glad to see Duffy back in the mix, I really think he will go well in England with Dukes ball. Doubt if he's going to get a game though. Probably not even the warm ups?

Duffy should get 1 game. Only 5 seamers are there for the two warmup games. I suspect some discussion with coaching team + Henry + Jamieson + Wags about whether they need 1 or 2 games as test build-up, with gaps filled with Tickner + Duffy + Patel.

But Duffy perhaps lucky to get picked. Doug Bracewell was an option if they wanted an experienced seamer in case of Boult / Southee arrival delay.

Note no Ferguson again, same issue at WTC Final, he's not going to be there for warmup games and isn't one of the 5 seamers in contention for 4 test spots, so no need to have him on tour.