Your New Zealand World Cup Squad if selected today...

[Hurricane]

I'd like to see this team for a game, after that Elliott/Latham to get rotated at the #5 position and we drop a spinner*

Guptill
McCullum
Williamson
Taylor
Anderson
Ronchi
NcCullum
Vettori
Mills
Southee
McClenaghan

*unless a spinner scores a boatload of runs

Yes Yes Yes

Love it

Especially just for one game,

Although Latham did finally score some runs on Saturday,

Must be a very serious family crisis to keep Grant Elliot out this long. Sometimes family crisis is code for something else more serious so I hope it is nothing major.

 

[Athlai]

I'd also bat NcCullum at 5 in the event we're 90-130/3 at the 20-30 over mark. A little bit of stale cake for the icing to come.

 

[Prince EWS]

I'd also bat NcCullum at 5 in the event we're 90-130/3 at the 20-30 over mark. A little bit of stale cake for the icing to come.

Haha I was going to suggest earlier that Nathan McCullum should perhaps bat five himself if the team balance was going to change to the one you posted, but I thought it was probably overthinking the whole thing a bit and decided against posting it. After seeing what happened when Vettori batted five, I now definitely think it'd be over-thinking it. If both Elliott and Latham are left out then Anderson just bats 5 IMO.

 

[Hurricane]

Haha I was going to suggest earlier that Nathan McCullum should perhaps bat five himself if the team balance was going to change to the one you posted, but I thought it was probably overthinking the whole thing a bit and decided against posting it. After seeing what happened when Vettori batted five, I now definitely think it'd be over-thinking it. If both Elliott and Latham are left out then Anderson just bats 5 IMO.

Yeah

Anderson is ten times the batsman Vettori (at the moment) and NMac are.

Anderson will probably be one of the weaker 5s out of the top 8 teams but he will be serviceable.

(don't compare and contrast those two sentences plox)

My other reason for wanting 5 bowlers in the team is that it removes the need for Anderson to bowl more than 5 overs. And he will not get through the tournament uninjured if he has to bowl ten every game. He is not a resilient player.

 

[Flem274*]

That's why we desperately need Elliott to come through. Anderson is best at #6 or #7 imo and with Anderson, Elliott and Kane we have three guys who are better than part time if not quite proper bowlers (well Kane was pre-chuck gate anyway).

I'd feel much more comfortable with 50 overs of proper bowlers but we're not going to get it in time for the World Cup unless Anderson, Dan or NcMac hit a purple patch in their weaker suits. 50 overs of proper bowling will have to be a 4 year project for 2019.

 

[hendrix]

Yeah I think Elliott has to be in our top XI.

Need a Guptill injury so we can get Latham in though.

 

[Hurricane]

That's why we desperately need Elliott to come through. Anderson is best at #6 or #7 imo and with Anderson, Elliott and Kane we have three guys who are better than part time if not quite proper bowlers (well Kane was pre-chuck gate anyway).

I'd feel much more comfortable with 50 overs of proper bowlers but we're not going to get it in time for the World Cup unless Anderson, Dan or NcMac hit a purple patch in their weaker suits. 50 overs of proper bowling will have to be a 4 year project for 2019.

Elliot is arguably not international standard when it comes to bowling.

Whether he is or isn't doesn't really matter but what I do know is that Brendon didn't bowl him in the first game which tells me he is not part of the bowling plan. I have a suspicion that Brendon thinks he is crap at bowing. Could be wrong though and have been before.

 

[hendrix]

Elliot is arguably not international standard when it comes to bowling.

Whether he is or isn't doesn't really matter but what I do know is that Brendon didn't bowl him in the first game which tells me he is not part of the bowling plan. I have a suspicion that Brendon thinks he is crap at bowing. Could be wrong though and have been before.

Nah Elliott's bowling is not going to improve in the next few games. Corey Anderson's might.

The less dependent on Elliott's bowling the better, but in all likelihood we will need it as Corey just can't be relied on to bowl 10 night in night out.

 

[Flem274*]

Grant Elliott is a perfectly fine one day bowler.

Admittedly, he's at his best in English conditions where he contributed heavily with the ball in an ODI series, but he's always been able to get some shape and put it in decent areas.

Whether he'll cope on modern New Zealand and Australian pitches is a good question.

 

[halba]

milne must play

 

[Hurricane]

milne must play

God I love posts like that.

The first time I saw such a post was 4 years ago and it is etched in my mind

"Hamish Bennett must play in the test and he must bowl like the wind".

I felt inspired by the post. Hamish didn't however because he broke down after 6 overs into the test and single handedly lost our chances of winning. He was rightly never selected again.

 

[Jezroy]

Feeling much better about Elliot after today. Looked okay against the spinners. Played a dinky little "reverse sweep". Looked increasingly calm.

I wonder how bad Milne's injury is? First player to be invalided out of the World Cup? Such a NZ problem.

 

[_Ed_]

I was just glancing through our squads at previous World Cups, and I got a good laugh out of the '99 one - Carl Bulfin and Matt Hart! Ah, the memories.

 

[_Ed_]

 

[Zinzan]

Played Ed. I almost forgot Carl "Martin-Crowe-Love-child-of-max-cricket" Bulfin ever existed

 

[Jimbo the giant]

Bulfin was a legit good one day bowler especially in his CD days. He was unlucky to get selected when he was mostly out of form and he only had a couple of games any way. He could have been a good international bowler given the opportunity. He did seem to go to **** at Welly though I suppose.

I always liked max more than t20

 

[Bahnz]

Bulfin was a legit good one day bowler especially in his CD days. He was unlucky to get selected when he was mostly out of form and he only had a couple of games any way. He could have been a good international bowler given the opportunity. He did seem to go to **** at Welly though I suppose.

I always liked max more than t20

Not really true, Bulfin had an outstanding season for Wellington in the year of his international callup - 18 wickets at 21. I would say the only unlucky part about his selection was that he was called up to play against South Africa. Unfortunately it turned out that the team with Allan Donald, young Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini in their stable couldn't be frightened into submission with a couple of 145k long hops. Who knew?

 

[Jezroy]

Jeeeeeeeeeez I'm worried about our openers.

I know it was swinging around a little last night, but we just look so ordinary if Baz doesn't go full mental on it.

 

[vandem]

Boult 5-0-19-3 vs SAffers!

Yes, I know it's only a semi-serious warmup match, and Amla is not playing and AB is still in.

But do we still have Boult nay-sayers here? IMHO he's been considered by McHesson as a match winner in any format for the last 12 months, and so was a lock for the WC 15, the only question was whether he'd do enough in warmup games to crack the playing XI.

 

[Athlai]

Where the haters at??