Mar 4 - New Zealand vs Zimbabwe

Calling on all NZ members. Is Tim Southee a shoe-in for today's game? How certain is he to start? I am often unsure with who to pick with the New Zealand team as they are very erratic in choosing their XI.

This is for Cricinfo Fantasy, of course.
 
There was talk of Mills and Oram getting a shot this time, but if I recall Simon Doull's chat about the issues of selection, he seemed to think Oram would come in for How and Mills for Bennett. Or NZ might keep How and ditch Franklin for Oram. Haven't heard Southee's name mentioned as being in danger, but you never know...
 
friend of mine just called me (he knows nothing about cricket) wanting a cricket pick for tomorrow. I just said "new zealand ought to beat Zimbabwe" and he hung up. sends me a text 20 minutes later saying he bet 500 on it and they better not lose :facepalm
 
They really have to swap Franklin and Styris back as well, just when Franklin was starting to establish himself as an international quality number six, they moved him up to five and he's been useless in the couple of games he's batted there. If anything Styris is a number four, so I have no idea why he's down at six.

Franklin averages 9 (S/R 49) in 6 innings at five, while he averages 128 (S/R 89) in 5 innings at six.

Styris averages 39 in 67 innings at four, while only 31 and 29 at five and six respectively.

In terms of the bowling, I'd play both Mills and Oram, but I think that they selectors may persist with Bennett considering what he did against Kenya.
 
Calling on all NZ members. Is Tim Southee a shoe-in for today's game? How certain is he to start? I am often unsure with who to pick with the New Zealand team as they are very erratic in choosing their XI.

Bennett seems to be the one under threat to lose his spot if Mills is brought in.
 
Yeah, Tim Southee will definitely be in the playing XI. Given he's the only New Zealand quick bowler who can reverse swing the ball he's probably their most potent bowler at the moment.
 
friend of mine just called me (he knows nothing about cricket) wanting a cricket pick for tomorrow. I just said "new zealand ought to beat Zimbabwe" and he hung up. sends me a text 20 minutes later saying he bet 500 on it and they better not lose :facepalm

Doh ! :facepalm
 
What great fielding from Bennett. Brilliant.

Go Tim Southee!
 
That is a good team NZ have picked, Nathan McCullum has shown hes more than capable with the bat and the pace attack looks good too.
 
NOOOO VETTORI! How dare you drop a catch off my trump player!?

Never mind. All is forgiven.

Ervine looks very shaky out there. Doesn't seem to know where his off stump is and is just hanging his bat outside off stump without any real purpose. Pretty sure he'll get out very soon.

Great captaincy from Vettori. Very good thinking with that field setting. Also very good bowling from Mills to execute that plan. He didn't give Ervine anything.

...wow. Mediocre isn't the word. This pitch is one the flattest in the history of cricket. It has absolutely nothing in it.

I do love Brendan Taylor though. He's all class.
 
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Zimbabwe in real trouble now at 45/5. Looks as though NZ should coast through this game. I would have preferred them to bat and get some time in the middle but Vettori lost the loss.
 
We're much better bowling first I reckon.
 
Yeah, I think that's part of our problem on the subcontinent. (Of course we still have many other subcontinent problems)

We've never been good batting first, but when we come to the subcontinent we start to look to bat first because of how flat the pitches are, which could be where we come unstuck. (That's just what I've observed anyway, I'm not 100% sure if that's right)

Rigga made a good point last week, if you bat first and bat badly you're already out of the match, but if you bowl first and you bowl badly you can still win the match like we saw with Ireland the other day.
 
I cant believe people were saying we might lose this before the game. We always seem to bash the minnows but then lose to the test nations.

Oh no just saw Bennett got picked :facepalm

I really have changed my opinion on this guy after that last game, his bowling was atrocious. Im no fan of Oram but he is far better than Bennett, and was our best bowler against India until the end when he got smashed. Theres no point playing Bennett in these games when hes just going to choke in the big games like he did vs Aus..

Anyone reckon Williamson should've got a crack??
 

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