New Zealand in South Africa

[irottev]

I absolutly hate to ressurect this topic, but since the test series is starting soon, I think its a good idea.

New Zealand team has been named:

Stephen Fleming (captain)
Daniel Vettori (vice captain)
Nathan Astle
Shane Bond
Peter Fulton
James Franklin
Jamie How
Brendon McCullum
Hamish Marshall
Chris Martin
Kyle Mills
Jacob Oram
Michael Papps
Jeetan Patel
Scott Styris

Its great to see Oram back, watch out, hes in excellant form with bat and ball. Papps also recalled after around about a year off. He had a good start to tests and ODI's until Lee sent him to LaLa Land.

Our weakness is going to be in our top two or three. How and Marshall havn't looked very good and Fulton is still new, but has had the best innings of the three. Our bowling attack is strong and middle-low order batting is very tough. Its going to be a close series.

 

[genghis_khan]

lol u kiwis were pummeled in South Africa in that ODI series!...lets hope u do better in the tests...but u are generally a better ODI team than test, so thats worrying.

i think South Africa will win 3-0

 

[irottev]

Pummeled, heh, hardly. It was a close series. We could of easily of won two games there. We just didn't have the finishing blow.

I think New Zealand will win 1-0. It could even be a draw. I really don't see either side winning 3-0. Thats a stupid prediction.

I predict a close series with a few draws and a victory for us. 3-0 is a stupid prediction. I don't care how much we will contrinue to be under-rated. I just can't wait for Bond and Vettori to totally dominate the South African batsmen. The batting side of things isn't so certain.

The NZ Cricket awards were just on, for anyone interested. Vettori got player of the year again. I thought Bond and Astle were mabee better candidates but I guess Vettori had 4 things going for him, batting, bowling, fielding and captaincy. Bond and Astle got ODI awards for Bowling and Batting respectivly. Chris Martin and Matthew Sinclair got the first class Bowling and Batting awards.

 

[aussie1st]

Its not like SA have been setting the world on fire in the test arena against Aus. NZ have the bowlers to compete with SA especially with Oram back. Batters they are really struggling at the top of the order. Middle is pretty solid though.

 

[genghis_khan]

Pummeled, heh, hardly. It was a close series. We could of easily of won two games there. We just didn't have the finishing blow.

I think New Zealand will win 1-0. It could even be a draw. I really don't see either side winning 3-0. Thats a stupid prediction.

I predict a close series with a few draws and a victory for us. 3-0 is a stupid prediction. I don't care how much we will contrinue to be under-rated. I just can't wait for Bond and Vettori to totally dominate the South African batsmen. The batting side of things isn't so certain.

The NZ Cricket awards were just on, for anyone interested. Vettori got player of the year again. I thought Bond and Astle were mabee better candidates but I guess Vettori had 4 things going for him, batting, bowling, fielding and captaincy. Bond and Astle got ODI awards for Bowling and Batting respectivly. Chris Martin and Matthew Sinclair got the first class Bowling and Batting awards.

no im not interested sorry...

you lost the ODI series 5-0...thats a pummeling in my book irottev. wouldve, couldve, shoudve...kiwis still got thrashed.

the reason i predicted such a scoreline is because i think the South Africans will have little trouble with u.
Ntini, Pollock and Nel will cause problems for what is in my opinion a weak batting lineup. And in foreign conditons, the kiwis will struggle.

The Smith v Bond battle will be very interesting, after Smith has struggled against Lee all summer, he will need to win this battle.

 

[irottev]

lol ok whatever. Afgter the series ill be sure to send you a PM saying you were wrong. ODI's and Tests are a totally different story. That was at the very start of the season, we are at the end now. We will see which team has progressed further.

And by the way, you don't have your facts straight. We lost it 4-0 not 5-0.


We thrashed in the twenty/20. See different games. Now we are 5 nearly 6 months down the track, in form and in a totally different type of game, you can't dwell on the 4-0 loss. There is not much between the teams. 2 wickets, 19 runs, are tiny margins. Then 4 and 5 wickets wern't that bad either. The 4 wicket one was won i nthe last over and the last was shortened from bad weather.

 

[James219]

Good point GK, Bond will have the psychological edge over Smith, and he's fairly accurate with deceptive swing and pace, so if the supporting bowlers are consistent enough to keep Smith under pressure (not that they won't pick him up either), we may well see some more poor performances from him, and if so, possibly stripping him of the captaincy and/or his position. If they do get at him with success and manage to contain him, they could well pin the overall morale of the side by attacking the, um, central point. That's providing he's fit after his finger injury which is a little obscure to the public at the moment. I hope he does play though, and succeeds, I don't mind him.

But yeah irrotev, no matter what way you look at it, how close it was, how weakened NZ were or how poor their luck, they were hammered. But that's not to say NZ won't come out victors in the test arena, they're a well balanced side, more so than SA maybe, with a good captain, and One- Day Cricket/Tests are completely different. And the Africans aren't exactly jumping for joy with their current form.

 

[irottev]

4-0 is a hammering. But the margins of the games were tiny. The games were close, closer than it looks.

 

[James219]

Yeah fair point, NZ were very competitive, but having the ability to come off in those situations with resilience whilst under pressure shows the character of a side just as much. But NZ were understrengthed, burdened by a few player's absences which unsettled their balance I suppose.

 

[jazz]

im still wary of south africa they can avenge their defeat from the australians and be a new looking side against new zealand

 

[siddharth2002]

I was wondering if the poll in this thread could be changed for test matches

 

[irottev]

Yeah good point. Mabee we should make a new thread? Anyway ill let a admin sort that out and sticky.

The first tour match starts tomorrow depending on which timezone your in. (the 7th)

Apparantly Papps and How are going to open, which is good because Marshall didn't handle it very well. I presume hes going to be left out. hes quite a good substitute fielder to have.

 

[genghis_khan]

irottev 'mabee' is actually spelt 'MAYBE'...sorry but ive noticed u write it incorrectly that way quite often so i thought id correct u.

anyway...will Oram be playing?...presumably he'll make the all-rounders role his own now considering Cairns has retired.

the keys:

Shane Bond: As always will be leading the attack and the extent of NZ's success will depend heavily on him.

Daniel Vettori: These two bowling in tandem should be good ....quality spinner is vettori

Graeme Smith: captaincy and place in the team could be on the line after a poor summer against Brett Lee & Aus.

Herschelle Gibbs: Hopefully he will tighten his technique and not be bowled as much but i think a couple of brutal Bond inswingers could be his undoing lol

Ntini: will fancy his chances against a frail looking NZ top-order

 

[irottev]

Ok maybe, whatever lol. I will try remember. I am not a poor speller, its just a habit and everyone has the odd word they just can't get right.

Oram will be playing. He didn't just go over for the ride
He really will make a huge difference. Hes in form with both bat and ball according to recent domestic figures.

I am excited to see Papps back, but like you say, Ntini may cause nightmeres for the top order. He is definatly the biggest threat.

Are you guys getting the coverage over in AUS?

 

[genghis_khan]

Ok maybe, whatever lol. I will try remember. I am not a poor speller, its just a habit and everyone has the odd word they just can't get right.

Oram will be playing. He didn't just go over for the ride
He really will make a huge difference. Hes in form with both bat and ball according to recent domestic figures.

I am excited to see Papps back, but like you say, Ntini may cause nightmeres for the top order. He is definatly the biggest threat.

Are you guys getting the coverage over in AUS?

lol nope

not on free-to-air TV anyway...FOXTEL might be covering it but they might just be covering Australia's tour of Bangladesh.