England in New Zealand

[Sureshot]

Maybe he means it's Friday in England time. Since you guys are something like half a day behind us.

Whs :o

I'm really wary of underestimating the New Zealanders. Vettori will be reliable, I think he'll perform consistently throughout the tour.

My keeper would be Ambrose, I just didn't see anything special in Mustard.

 

[Leicester Fox]

I think we'll win the tests now Bonds out, ODI's should be close but its time our bowlers stepped up and showed their quality and our batsmen showed a bit of fight when it wasn't all going our way.

 

[RoboRocks]

I think that we need Mustard can unitize the powerplay overs in the ODI's especially if Alastair Cook and Ian Bell are in the top 3.

 

[Jos?Pedro]

Yeah I agree with what people are saying about the strength in our bowlers. Most of our bowlers are fairly new to test cricket, Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Mark Gillespie, and even Michael Mason because the selectors are never giving him a chance. Franklin would be great to have in the squad because of some experience & the left hand - right hand combination he could share with Martin. It's a shame he's injured.

Oh how I miss the late 90s, when we had bowlers like Chris Cairns, Shayne O'Connor, Dion Nash & Simon Doull.

 

[cheese]

Doull was pretty good with swing actually. As for Nash, boy is he some wasted talent with those injuries. He would have been such a fine bowler all rounder had he been less injury-prone.

Those bowlers you mentioned are fairly new to international cricket, but they are also in their 30s already. I just don't get the selectors' reasoning in picking 'new' bowlers that at best will only hang around 2-3 years before they go kapoot.

If you're going to blood new bowlers, at least get somebody with potential to develop. We do have a few in the domestic scene. Most sub-continent nations do this with their bowlers, and look at the rising 'stars' of Sharma and Pathan is only 23!

Vettori made it in when he was 18, and back then he was just another up-and-coming spinner. Look at him now.

 

[irottev]

My problem with O'Brien and Mills is that they don't move the ball enough. We miss Franklin a lot because he got genuine swing and had excellent accuracy. He was a real improver.

I'd probably want to see:

How
Bell
Fulton
Fleming
Styris
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Mason
Patel
Martin
12th: Mills

I think playing two quality spinners may give us an edge. Unless of course the pitches will move around a lot the whole game, which i'm doubting after seeing the Bangladesh series. Also Mason has better control and swing than O'Brien or Mills with the red ball and seems to be bowling around 140km. Cumming is hopeless. Hoggard and Sidebottm will be all over his pads. We can't play a guy who can be so easily exploited. I'd actually like Andre Adams in the side over Mason, however I don't know if he's available. I'd also want Adams for the ODI's and Twenty/20s.

For the Twenty/20's i'd like to see us use Southee. is death bowling is superb. Has to be the best yorker bowler in the country. I'd ease him into the side, even though he is young.

ODI side doesn't need changing from the Bangladesh series in my opinion. Unless we can get Adams to play over Sinclair.

 

[Sureshot]

I think that we need Mustard can unitize the powerplay overs in the ODI's especially if Alastair Cook and Ian Bell are in the top 3.

You have seen Bell's change of style in ODIs of late? He's far more aggressive then he used to be. As said, Mustard doesn't cut the mustard for me...*runs*

 

[Jos?Pedro]

I'd probably want to see:

How
Bell
Fulton
Fleming
Styris
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Mason
Patel
Martin
12th: Mills

I agree with most of that lineup except I'd replace How with Vincent.

Also two spinners would be nice but we would perhaps need more pace attack.

 

[gary0808]

You have seen Bell's change of style in ODIs of late? He's far more aggressive then he used to be. As said, Mustard doesn't cut the mustard for me...*runs*

Completely agree!! His form against India was top notch and is becoming a leading batsmen. He has cemented that No.3 Spot for me.

 

[freddiw]

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/7360.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Rixon

Vettori made his test debut at Wellington for New Zealand against England on February 6 1997. His first Test wicket was Nasser Hussain. Three weeks earlier he had made his first class debut, against the touring English side and again his maiden wicket was Hussain. His ODI debut came a month later against Sri Lanka at Christchurch on March 25th 1997.

When Vettori was 18 he was a youngster going round and through bowling into middle and leg turning the ball away. He got 9 wickets against England on test debut. Steve Rixon the now coach at my school but then NZ spotted him and a week later had him make his debut.

According to Steve Rixon, the new NZ coach has stopped him bowling agressive lines, turning the ball and taking wickets. Now he bowls DOT BALLS.

Trust me this guy also coached Surrey and NSW for many years.

 

[irottev]

Well, that's really interesting, because Vettori seems to be getting a hell of a lot of wickets in both forms lately. I mean, he was the top ODI wicket taker of the year, one of, if not the best bowler in Twenty/20 internationals from the world cup and though he hasn't played so many tests lately, he's also contributed well in that department.

 

[RoboRocks]

You have seen Bell's change of style in ODIs of late? He's far more aggressive then he used to be. As said, Mustard doesn't cut the mustard for me...*runs*

I know Ian Bell has got more aggressive but when it comes down having Alastair Cook at the other end then it really puts pressure because Cook can't seem to rotate the strike well enough and seems to just block out maidens overs and Bell isn't aggressive enough too score from him.

Mustard, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to since the condtions in Sri Lanka were poor to say the least and it didn't attract his style of strokeplay. Look at how Jayasuriya, he didn't make too many runs either. There will be no excuse for Mustard not to make runs in this series since the condtions are more like English condtions in New Zealand and the boundaries are much shorter. Put it this way, if Mustard doesn't his fair share in this series then I won't argue again.

 

[freddiw]

Well, that's really interesting, because Vettori seems to be getting a hell of a lot of wickets in both forms lately. I mean, he was the top ODI wicket taker of the year, one of, if not the best bowler in Twenty/20 internationals from the world cup and though he hasn't played so many tests lately, he's also contributed well in that department.

i agree but apparently he can do better
this isnt from me its from a pro

 

[cheese]

I get this feeling we need Vettori to save our batting more than bowling to win us games. And the only reason he's that good now is because he got in young, which seems to elude our selectors for younger talents looming around.

If we do badly against England I hope the coach gets the boot, but with our record of rewarding average performances, that's doubtful.

 

[Jos?Pedro]

I'm really getting sick of Bracewell. He's not moving the blackcaps forward. And his record with them over the last few years has been crap. Not to mention disputes with players (such as Andre Adams). If we don't get rid of him soon it could turn into the Glenn Turner disaster of the mid 90s. We'd be much better in the hands of someone like John Wright.