*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

[honestbharani]

Is a fast short ball weakness even going to be a problem in India?

Short ball weakness can be much more of a probem in LO than longer formats AFAIC. Its easier to duck or weave out of the way and not score off them in tests and FC, not so much in LO and the slower bouncers have been the most difficult ones to hit for literally all batsmen.

 

[Kippax]

Didn't Blundell have some pretty solid Plunket Shield numbers when he got picked? I can't remember precisely but I always thought of it as one of the least surprising selections to the test side since the team started getting good around 2013/14. Tbf, I'm sure there were plenty of ND cricket stalwarts who were grumpily insisting that he was no match for the raw talent of Tim Seifert, stats be damned.

Yes, what I was getting at in the post is Blundell has a lower overall Shield average than someone like Kruger van Wyk or Mark Chapman (36 vs. 49 and 40), and despite being around since 2011/12, Blundell never really managed a dominant Shield season of the Sinclair, Papps or Carl Cachopa proportions, or even a dominant Ford Trophy or Super Smash campaign,. His first time scoring 3+ Shield tons in a summer was 2020/21 when he was opening against the Dooka, and he averaged 31.

 

[Nintendo]

Yes, he lacks finesse, I admit this. 49 (England away) in his first knock in Test cricket though, and yet we're supposed to believe it was some big outrageous scandal of a pick. Give me a break from this soy milk-soaked devotion to the names that an utterly anachronistic and outmoded Plunket Shield laboratory have been pointing to as our potentially big studs.

Those Shield numbers would probably tell us to think twice about picking Tom Blundell.

Almost like Phillips, the guy we wanted to play instead of Bracewell made 50+ on test debut against cumm-pattinson-starc-lyon in AUS when all 4 where on fire and bullying NZ for fun all summer. Also has a better fc record, both with bat and ball, had actually played for NZ as an all-rounder pre that tour, had a better Plunket shield in 2021 and had county runs to his name.

But yeah macewells 49 on debut validates a brain-dead selection policy.

 

[Kippax]

Have you ever watched Glenn Phillips trying to handle full swing bowling?

 

[Kippax]

Even his own brother Dale has said in an interview to probably not take his brother Glenn too seriously in terms of red ball aspirations.

 

[Nintendo]

Have you ever watched Glenn Phillips trying to handle full swing bowling?

Ide let Phillips handle my full, swinging balls, if that's what your asking.

On a serious note, haven't seen him vs the full swinging ba, but Phillips has outperformed Bracewell across the past 2 Plunkett shield season's with a Duke's in use and had county runs to his name just before the England test series, you can't seriously try and tell me that Phillips would have faired worse than macewell.

 

[Kippax]

Yeah, NZC using Test play as the reward for unglamorous and loyal stalwarts of their domestic scene is a thing that needs to be kept tabs on.

Macewell wasn't that atrociously bad in his two Tests. Impartial comms weren't instantly jumping on him as looking obviously out of his depth with either bat or ball.

 

[Howsie]

Haha I really don’t like Bracewell now, that’s all I’ll say ?

 

[Kippax]

You have one winning ticket in your posting career, Howsie. It wasn't Corey Anderson, it wasn't Zak Gibson, it wasn't Tim Seifert, it probably won't be Josh Clarkson. The more posts you dedicate to Daryl Mitchell, the better this forum will be.

 

[Prince EWS]

You have one winning ticket in your posting career, Howsie. It wasn't Zak Gibson, it wasn't Tim Seifert, it probably won't be Josh Clarkson. The more posts you dedicate to Daryl Mitchell, the better this forum will be.

I'm sure everyone will be pleased to remember that Blocky was the biggest Mitchell fan here, back in the day.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Dedicating my entire existence to predicting with 100% accuracy who will be good at cricket... to trigger the forum libs

 

[Mike5181]

I'm sure everyone will be pleased to remember that Blocky was the biggest Mitchell fan here, back in the day.

Yeah, but he didn't rate Trent Boult.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah, but he didn't rate Trent Boult.

He thought Wagner was better - an insane opinion at the time but one which has found a lot more support lately.

 

[Athlai]

He was also a giant ****wit

 

[Flem274*]

Impartial English comms are paid to be positive, and they probably didn't look too deep into his offies either.

100% if Macewell makes a match winning contribution on that tour English pundits would have crucified their own players for losing to a guy who averaged 19 last year and like 47 with the ball.

 

[Howsie]

I'm sure everyone will be pleased to remember that Blocky was the biggest Mitchell fan here, back in the day.

Funny thing is I never really rated Mitchell that highly ? He couldn’t play spin to save himself early on, I didn’t hold out much hope for him at the international level.

Definitely plenty of whifs over the years. Corey Anderson, Jimmy Neesham, Tim Seifert, Bevan Small, Ben Wheeler, James Fuller, Hamish Bennett, Matt Henry, Doug Bracewell and Mitchell Santner the batsman. I didn’t rate Neil Wagner for the longest time either

Nope I’d say only three cricketers that I rated super highly have ever gone on to have the kind of careers I expected. Thankfully they’re probably up there inside our top Top 10 of all time

 

[Athlai]

Haha I mean didn't most of us rate Southee Williamson and Boult before they even hit 19 years old? Not exactly alone in those predictions.

 

[Howsie]

Haha I mean didn't most of us rate Southee Williamson and Boult before they even hit 19 years old? Not exactly alone in those predictions.

Ehhhh

I mean yeah, I guess. Southee got plenty of heat for the longest time, people were already starting to write him off before he kicked on in 2012

Boult I’m probably more stoked I saw his success coming in limited overs cricket. Not many wanted him in that 2015 squad from memory.

Williamson was kind of getting the Southee treatment. Hadn’t really done that well in his first 2-3 years of international cricket, people had definitely already lowered their expectations on him. I’d love to find the post but I remember someone saying they would happily take Williamson averaging early 40’s with the bat in tests. I can’t remember my exact quote but I said something like “If Williamson doesn’t end up averaging over 50 New Zealand will never have a batsman achieve that”

Essentially I’m a massive ND homer and I never gave up on them even with early struggles ?

Edit: Kyle Jamieson, was always on that train too actually. Had actually sold someone on him back in 2014 ish to get him up here when he was stuck playing A cricket for Canterbury

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Once again:

 

[Immenso]

The point about Mitchell being awful v spin early in his career ...

He was Ponting v the short ball but Harris/Oram v anything spinning into his pads.

From that, I wouldn't write off Chapman. Unlike someone's post earlier , I always thought he looked good v spin, but had the kippax short ball question mark.