Ben Wheeler, "Elusive Stag" - YouTube
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveNZ
He's moved to ND, FYI (Sodhi).
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Ah okay, interesting. Saw the Knights named a minimum nine contracts. five more next Thursday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flem274*
Taylor, Ryder, Williamson will be remembered as far better than any of those middle order batsmen.
Taylor already is.
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Yep I'd AWTA. Guptill, Flynn, Williamson and Taylor certainly don't make me feel I've got a downgrade as a cricket-watcher from Horne, Bell, McMillan and Fleming. Our bowling clearly lacks two or three hardened and canny seamers in their late 20's compared to the Rixon era, so you can blame the injuries (and who knows tbh, maybe lack of sheer talent as well) of that Butler/Sherlock/Burtt generation for that.
The fact I can quickly think of two other reasonably near-neighbour sports that have suffered dismal declines in NZ's bid to remain relevant and competitive (golf and tennis), and the fact we're becoming increasingly reliant on 'imports' in those as well, suggests the problem runs much deeper than simply Justin Vaughan being an incompetent, market-led milquetoast, or any other single person.
One of my own theories is that back as recently as the 90's, England and many of our other rivals and benchmarks were still trying to pursue a conscious narrative within their sports, and across a number of them you'd have to say they've found the abandonment of this liberating tstl. Flintoff (or Lewis Hamilton, or Rory McIlroy...) will never write a newspaper column of the intellectual scope of an Atherton, but they wouldn't acknowledge a "prick" or a "negative loser" like Atherton as the ideal for anything, which has perhaps been the telling change.