Not very surprising, knew that all along anyways. There is no way Stead would cut Nicholls. There is no chance he's going to change the outlook of the team. He wants to sign off with a victory in test cricket. I'm sure he has already selected the world cup team and teams already for the rest of the time he has. He's a risk-averse man. Exact opposite of Baz.Stead: lol at anyone who thought there would be any change to the side whatsoever:
Stead said he was optimistic opening bat Devon Conway and pace bowler Matt Henry will be fit for the first test against Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval in Christchurch starting on March 9.
Conway didn’t field on the fifth day with an abductor strain while Henry went off before lunch with a lower back problem but returned to bowl after the break.
That means New Zealand will keep the same squad of 13 they had at the Basin Reserve for the tests versus Sri Lanka in Christchurch and Wellington.
“There's always people knocking on the door, and you always have those conversations, but we felt the 13 that we had here is the right 13 to go forward,” Stead said.
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Dropping Mitchell would be totally insane imo. It's possible it was a bit of a golden run and he'll descend into mediocrity, but you should find that out before deciding it for him while he's still averaging over 50.Latham
Rachin
Conway
Williamson
Phillips
Blundell
Mitchell/Smith
Jamieson/---------insert name here
Southee
Henry
--------Insert name here
Young still next cab off the rank for batting after those blokes
Boult and Jamieson obviously welcome with open arms
I wouldn't drop him either. But I reckon Smith in squad is good.Dropping Mitchell would be totally insane imo. It's possible it was a bit of a golden run and he'll descend into mediocrity, but you should find that out before deciding it for him while he's still averaging over 50.
I like the idea of Mitchell, Rachin and Phillips as a kind of context dependent fifth bowler though.
Inspiration vacuum is a good term for it.What an absolute inspiration vacuum. Stead OUT.
His boss David White is happy though, that's all it matters to keep the job.I find it staggering that he can just have no care whatsoever for the state of this team in one or two years. Surely it’s part of the job to plan for the future? What a tragic legacy to leave.
Thank goodness he wasn’t playing yesterday and we could enjoy the win!And of course that means that ****ing tosser Kuggeleijn stays in the squad and any last minute injury and he picks up another undeserved cap.
Never underestimate the ability of a person to not understand things they don't want to understand.Don't know how a coach can sit there and say everything is ok when it's just clearly not.
I've posted this before but now that cricket is fully pro and the team is stable, domestic cricketer needs to be an upper middle class job.We play no test cricket for 7-8 months after this series. You can't blame players grinding domestic cricket if they just say **** it and pick up T20 contracts instead.
Hmmm I don’t know, it makes sense but I’ve definitely heard of it having a detrimental effect in regards to first class cricketers.All our domestic contracted players should be playing overseas during winter, in club cricket wherever they can find a place. I often wonder if domestic fortunes change so dramatically for a lot of our players who aren't in the Black Caps because they literally just don't play cricket for a good few months. Seems like barely any player can string two good seasons together.
I sadly expect he'll start. Nicholls at 4 (Young dropped), Bracewell 7, Kuggeleijn 8 for his batting.And of course that means that ****ing tosser Kuggeleijn stays in the squad and any last minute injury and he picks up another undeserved cap.