*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

[Chewie]

I do! Our seats are in row J in N2. They are a bit side-on, and face the afternoon sun, so I suspect they are not great. On the other hand there is an air conditioned bar directly behind them.

I am a bit below you in M2

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Mine are in the Blackcaps supporters section ... side on, I think.

 

[Chewie]

I think that's M1

 

[Days of Grace]

Any chance of tickets selling out?

I’m thinking flying down from Japan. Be great to watch it with some CWers.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Half considering going over to Melbourne for the Boxing Day test myself, depends on cash I guess. Accommodation is no issue, I would just stay with my cousin in her spare bedroom.

Hope I can get there, always wanted to see a Boxing Day test live.

 

[Days of Grace]

Yeah I reckon accommodation has much more chance of selling out than the match tickets.

 

[Bahnz]

And NZC does what BCCI wants... guess they had to play two tests because of the WTC and FTP. Yeah you know me. Would have rather had 3 tests and 3 ODIs against them. Even 3 tests and 3 T20s if it meant 3 tests. But that wasn't going to happen. The T20s they can start at 8pm (great time for Indian audience).

Saying that, it's going to be very interesting to see how Neil Wagner goes in the tests vs SL in SL and IND in NZ. Hopefully he can stay fit as he really does provide something different to our test attack.

Wonder how close Ferguson is to getting a run in tests? With 9 tests coming up between August and next March... I feel like Henry is a straight swap for Southee if there is an issue with form or injury. So Ferguson would need to be in for Boult or Wagner.

Nah, sorry but 9 tests in a 4 month span is just too much. Half the team will be breaking down injured by the end of it. There's a reason that even England always keeps their summer test schedule to a maximum of 7.

Ferguson will be in the equation, but he's the complete opposite of what Wagner provides. There's no way you'll see Lockie maintaining the same intensity and pressure over a 10 over spell. Depending on how de Grandhomme goes next season that may not be the end of the world, but really there's just no reason to even contemplate breaking up the current seam trio.

 

[Chewie]

Plane tickets are ****ing expensive that time of year

 

[NZTailender]

I've been looking into it and even with staying with friends I don't think I can afford the flights and tickets, plus all the good food and drink Melbourne has to offer.

if I wasn't off to Europe in literally 2 days it might be a different story.

 

[kaetor]

Yeah same here, heading to Europe in 2 weeks time and doing some serious bank account damage, othewise would be snapping up the flights to the boxing day test without a second thought.

 

[straw man]

I'm going but this reminds me I need to organise tickets.

 

[Athlai]

We are probably going to do the irritating "not change a winning side" thing but we should be dropping Munro and Latham IMO.

Latham's keeping was poor, him not going up to the stumps when CDG was bowling got pretty weird. And if Blundell can score more than 5 runs he's already contributing more than Latham has been.

 

[Bahnz]

Arguably if you're going to get Latham to drop the gloves, it'd make more sense to simply shift him up to open, rather than dropping him completely.

 

[Athlai]

Averaging under 30 for the year though while Nicholls had a very good home summer.

 

[Moss]

We are probably going to do the irritating "not change a winning side" thing but we should be dropping Munro and Latham IMO.

Latham's keeping was poor, him not going up to the stumps when CDG was bowling got pretty weird. And if Blundell can score more than 5 runs he's already contributing more than Latham has been.

Latham will be persisted with, he's seen as one of the better player of spin in the side though that becomes irrelevant if he continues to get out in single digits. Blundell has shown he's up to it, but still would be pretty ballsy if they were to bring him in during the business end of the tournament. (Having said that, can recall during the 2011 WC that nobody felt KW was ready for the first XI and he played that incredibly valuable knock in the Dhaka quarterfinal.)


If Nicholls is fit, no need to bother with Munro anymore.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

(Having said that, can recall during the 2011 WC that nobody felt KW was ready for the first XI and he played that incredibly valuable knock in the Dhaka quarterfinal.)
.

The selection was between him and James Franklin. They made the right choice

 

[Zinzan]

Call me stubborn but I’m not dropping Munro mid tournament when he’s averaging around 50 with a SR around 100 in the WC to date, admittedly flattered by not outs against weaker opposition. Also I didn’t think he looked bad at all vs. Rabada the other night before getting out, and that was an unlucky dismissal to get a bat-pad ballooning to the bowler for a caught and bowled. Furthermore unlike some others here I don’t think we have better options at this stage of the tournament, and I’m not at all convinced Nicholls would be any better as an opener.

Re: Latham, yes he’s been short of runs but please leave him at no. 5 where he’s one of 3 players in the middle order who can genuinely milk spinners in a low risk fashion, especially with the prospect of potentially playing India in a knockout game. For them it’s critical we have KW, Taylor and Latham at 3,4 & 5.

It’s too late for expementimg now.

 

[MichaelJ2000]

Call me stubborn but I’m not dropping Munro mid tournament when he’s averaging around 50 with a SR around 100 in the WC to date, admittedly flattered by not outs against weaker opposition. Also I didn’t think he looked bad at all vs. Rabada the other night before getting out, and that was an unlucky dismissal to get a bat-pad ballooning to the bowler for a caught and bowled. Furthermore unlike some others here I don’t think we have better options at this stage of the tournament, and I’m not at all convinced Nicholls would be any better as an opener.

Re: Latham, yes he’s been short of runs but please leave him at no. 5 where he’s one of 3 players in the middle order who can genuinely milk spinners in a low risk fashion, especially with the prospect of potentially playing India in a knockout game. For them it’s critical we have KW, Taylor and Latham at 3,4 & 5.

It’s too late for expementimg now.

I 100% agree with this.

 

[Jezroy]

It’s too late for expementimg now.

But that's the thing that's been making a lot of people on here tear their hair out - why the hell did they not experiment before this?

Munro opening - 32 innings - 5 x 50s - Avg = 25.12 - SR = 109.1

In the last 12 months that drops even more to 23.6 at SR of 104.11

So yes those that are saying that you may as well put CDG in there - yes, you may as well. It's a rubbish idea, but man... is it any worse than this? It's like when they just kept selecting Guptill for the test team on the back of ODI form. They're selecting this guy off T20 form IMO. And I wonder how much of it is because the guy gave up first class cricket to get better at the white ball game? When he just hasn't.

I don't know what they are supposed to do - my preference from who's there is still Latham and Guptill to open, and Blundell to take the gloves and bat 5 or 6. Apart from the fact he couldn't get a massive strike rate up the other night vs WI, I thought Latham actually looked okay and wondered how he'd go with less fielders in the outfield.

Anyway, I'm sure they'll just keep picking the same team and it'll be up to KW and RT to get enough runs for us. Cool.

 

[Flem274*]

he was a better player when he did play fc. he's trying to hit the ball squarer than ever, which is a contributor to his form imo. he can hit well in the v.

will always be vulnerable to inswingers and yorkers with his stance tho.