***Official*** New Zealand in Zimbabwe & Zimbabwe/New Zealand/India ODI Tri-Series

[Chubb]

"Ferreira in line for Test debut

Cricinfo staff

July 26, 2005

Neil Ferreira, a left-hand top-order batsman, is expected to be called into the squad when the Zimbabwe selectors name their team for the first Test against New Zealand on Thursday.

Sources within the selection panel said that Ferreira, a 26-year-old left-hand batsman, would be named in the starting line-up as an opener. The selectors wanted Matabeleland and Zimbabwe A opener Terrence Duffin to partner Ferreira, but Duffin is unavailable for selection due to a knee injury.

Ferreira, who is currently playing club cricket in England, impressed the selectors during Zimbabwe's two four-day matches against Pakistan A in May. To show that he was really committed to playing for Zimbabwe, he bought his own ticket to return home from England when he learnt that he had been called up to the A side. He scored 57 runs in the first innings and followed that up with 90 runs but that all in vain as Zimbabwe A went down by three wickets in the first four-day match at the Harare Country Club.

The selectors have constantly ignored Ferreira in recent years despite brilliant form for Manicaland in the Logan Cup. In 2001-02 he hit three centuries in five matches with a high score of 210 against Matabeleland despite the pressure of being captain, wicketkeeper and opening batsman for Manicaland.

Ferreira and former Manicaland teammate Richard Sims hold the country' first-class record for the first wicket stand of 314 against Matabeleland at Queens Sports Club in October 2002.

He was part of the group of players who rebelled against the Zimbabwe board last year but he subsequently returned to the fold. It is largely believed that the selectors are fed up with Stuart Matsikenyeri's consistent failure at Test level and now want to try out other options for the top-order slot."

Thats come out of the blue! I thought Ferriera didn't have a shot anymore. As the article said, they have ignored him completely despite his great showings in the Logy cup: nine, hundreds, eight fifties, a top score of 220*, 2427 runs @ 37. He is also an U19 international, apparently best buddies with Doug Marillier and Vermeulen. He can also keep wicket, so if it comes to Tatenda having to bowl he can stand-in.

Stuart Matsikenyeri hasn't been able to perform at test level despite his evident talent so it's no surprise to see him dropped. I suspect Ferreira will open with Trevor Gripper (if ZC have got any sense)

 

[shaka]

If he was making heaps of runs and really looking impressive, why is it only now that he gets picked at the oldish age of 26?

 

[Chubb]

A) because he's a white man, I suspect
B) First Grant Flower, then Vermeulen, Marillier, Gripper and Taylor were in front of him as an opener, and Andy Flower and Tatenda have had the keeper's spot sewn up for years.

Also if there had been even the faintest hint of disciplinary problems, not that I know of any with Ferreira, ZC can be very vindictive about it, look at Taylor getting banned for example, and indeed that's what's happened to Greg Strydom, who also makes stacks of runs in the Logy Cup.

 

[marc71178]

Parliament pretty much unanimously passed a motion disapproving of the tour (2 parties disagreed, ACT and the Maori Party), but since NZC is contractually obliged to go that's not going to achieve much. The government could easily have stopped the tour by either paying the fine for not touring or passing legislation preventing the tour that would have avoided the fine. So the motion they passed today was really pretty useless.

Typical politicians then!

 

[Blaze]

J Marshall
B McCullum (wk)
H Marshall
S Fleming (c)
N Astle
S Styris
L Vincent
J Oram
D Vettori
J Franklin or C Martin
S Bond

Or

J Marshall
B McCullum (wk)
H Marshall
S Fleming (c)
N Astle
L Vincent
J Oram
D Vettori
J Franklin
S Bond
C Martin

Cummings is old we want an opener that can play for more then 2 seasons

And I think Styris/Oram/Vincent all have to play. If one fails drop him for a opener and then drop McCullum down the order.

McCullum won't open at test level. It is too much of an ask.

 

[aussie]

would it such a problem is Fleming opened again for the Kiwis???, i know he failed miserably againts the aussies but i dont think any other attack in the world would put him under so much pressure.Now that Richardson has retired i think himself of either Papps/Cumming should open....

 

[Retox]

McCullum won't open at test level. It is too much of an ask.

Well who is gonna miss out Vincent,Styris or Oram?

 

[AndrewM]

would it such a problem is Fleming opened again for the Kiwis???, i know he failed miserably againts the aussies but i dont think any other attack in the world would put him under so much pressure.Now that Richardson has retired i think himself of either Papps/Cumming should open....

That's a fair idea, and it was very admirable of Fleming to put his hand up for opening in England last year, but i think it puts too much pressure on him to open and captain in a test match. Although he scored a century against England last year while opening, he is our best batsman and if we lose him early the rest of the batting line-up looks shaky. New Zealand need his experience at no.3.or 4.

Cumming and James Marshall should be given an extended run at the top. If the selectors drop either of the two then it is an admittance that selecting either Cumming or James Marshall was a mistake. For the purpose of consistency and solidarity, these two should open for at least the next test series. What people have overlooked (and i have until this sentence) is one Michael Papps is also in the mix. Admitedly he is getting over an injury but he scored consistently in the Emerging Players Tournament, scoring at least 40 per game.

So really, in partial contradiction to my last paragraph, Papps should partner Cumming or James Marshall once match fit. There is plenty of time for James Marshall to establish a record in tests as he is still young. Cumming is 28 and is very experienced at first class level even if he is still a rookie at in tests. He knows his limitations and understands his game and should be at least one of the permanent members of the test side for a time to come.

 

[AndrewM]

Well who is gonna miss out Vincent,Styris or Oram?

My tip - Oram. Against Zimbabwe anyway.

Until Oram is back to his proficient best in both trades, i don't believe he will be selected purely as a batsman. Vincent to play at 6, with Styris at 5. H Marshall and Fleming round out the top 6.

 

[Prince EWS]

I had a feeling Ferreira would be selected for this tour.

They picked him in the A-team, which signified that they were actually looking at him as a possible test player. As far as I know, he had never played for Zimbabwe A previously. And he was clearly one of their best batsmen in that series.

With Taylor banned and Matsikenyeri severely out of sorts, I was definately getting the feeling that Ferreira would be picked. As for the other opening position, its really up for grabs. Rogers has failed there in test matches, and I think he should be a middle order player or nothing. Gripper hasnt set the world on fire in the Logan Cup, and Marillier isnt really an opener, despite playing there in one dayers. Ebrahim is a chance I guess, but I think he'll be picked at 3 or 4.

 

[aussie]

Although he scored a century against England last year while opening, he is our best batsman and if we lose him early the rest of the batting line-up looks shaky. New Zealand need his experience at no.3.or 4.

yea in a way they might, but look at this Kiwi full stenght in my view:

M.Papps/C.Cumming
S.Fleming
H.Marshall
S.Styris
N.Astle
L.Vincent or C.Martin/D.Tuffey (you can either bat Vincent at 6 or send Oram up their & strengthen the bowling attack with either Martin or Tuffey)
J.Oram
B.McCullum
D.Vettori
J.Franklyn
S.Bond

in think their is fair experience in the middle order their & has i said before opening with either Papps & Cumming/J.Marshall will make the Kiwi top order look a biy weak, so even though he failed againts the aussies that century last year againts ENG shows that not too many other bowling attacks will fail him like that.

BTW what or your views on the futures of McMillan & Sinclair

 

[Blaze]

Well who is gonna miss out Vincent,Styris or Oram?

Styris. Him Astle and Vincent are fighting it out for 2 spots.

 

[honestbharani]

Why not have Astle back to opening?

 

[Macka]

Why not have Astle back to opening?

Back to opening? We're talking Tests here. Repeat after me: Astle should not open, Astle should not open...

 

[Macka]

That's a fair idea, and it was very admirable of Fleming to put his hand up for opening in England last year, but i think it puts too much pressure on him to open and captain in a test match. Although he scored a century against England last year while opening, he is our best batsman and if we lose him early the rest of the batting line-up looks shaky. New Zealand need his experience at no.3.or 4.

...

It was admirable for Fleming to put his hand up in England and open the innings. However, it was very irresponsible of him to not continue open the innings against Bangladesh, and then again against Australia in Australia. I'm not a fan of having two new openers in the team; even worse, three new players in the top 3. This will just put more pressure on the middle-order. Ideally, I believe Fleming should be opening because there is absolutely no reason why he shouldn't. He's technically good enough and has all the experience in the world. In addition, he's batted at 3 behind dodgy openers for years. It's very unlikely this will happen, though.

 

[AndrewM]

It was admirable for Fleming to put his hand up in England and open the innings. However, it was very irresponsible of him to not continue open the innings against Bangladesh, and then again against Australia in Australia. I'm not a fan of having two new openers in the team; even worse, three new players in the top 3. This will just put more pressure on the middle-order. Ideally, I believe Fleming should be opening because there is absolutely no reason why he shouldn't. He's technically good enough and has all the experience in the world. In addition, he's batted at 3 behind dodgy openers for years. It's very unlikely this will happen, though.

Fleming opened in England due to an injury to Michael Papps. That was the main reason i believe. So it was effectively a short-term solution. Although i agree, he is technically good enough, and has been in early due to our openers in the past, i firmly believe that your best batsman should bat at 3. As it is a youngish test team (by age and test experience), Flem should at least separate the top and middle order. If he got out early while opening, our batting has the potential to crumble. For the sake of solidarity we need to stick with two specialist openers. It doesn't send a very positive message to the likes of Cumming, Papps, J Marshall and others who are trying to cement an opening spot if Fleming himself opens.

 

[NZTailender]

Astle should definitely be at five or six. It all depends on who they choose. IMHO, Vincent is best at four..and Fleming at 3. But Hamish is an excellent batter there. Or maybe Vincent and James opening, Hamish in third, Astle fourth and Fleming fifth, Oram six, McCullum seven, followed by Vettori, Franklin, Bond and Martin. Or even Oram instead of Martin and have Styris at six.

 

[Chubb]

I had a feeling Ferreira would be selected for this tour.

They picked him in the A-team, which signified that they were actually looking at him as a possible test player. As far as I know, he had never played for Zimbabwe A previously. And he was clearly one of their best batsmen in that series.

With Taylor banned and Matsikenyeri severely out of sorts, I was definately getting the feeling that Ferreira would be picked. As for the other opening position, its really up for grabs. Rogers has failed there in test matches, and I think he should be a middle order player or nothing. Gripper hasnt set the world on fire in the Logan Cup, and Marillier isnt really an opener, despite playing there in one dayers. Ebrahim is a chance I guess, but I think he'll be picked at 3 or 4.

I think Ebrahim should bat three, because of his recent success there. Rogers might get the job done, but I think he's better at opening in ODIs. Gripper has to do it I think, but if Marillier wants to play internationals he should be given a try as a test opener, and definately open with Rogers in ODIs, at least untill Taylor comes back. What about Charles Coventry? his hundred against Pakistan A came in the middle order, true, but he opened in his only ODI appearance to date and he has done it for Matabeleland. Coming up on the outside, Stuart Carlisle. Four is probably his best position, but when has that stopped ZC from moving him all over the place?

if it hadn't been for that awful injury the obvious choice would be Mark Vermeulen. That was such a shame, he was just getting it together on the international stage.

 

[Kippax]

That's a fair idea, and it was very admirable of Fleming to put his hand up for opening in England last year, but i think it puts too much pressure on him to open and captain in a test match..

For someone who backed himself to call Graeme Smith "mentally frail", should this really be an issue?

It seems Fleming is faced with the situation he had going into last year's Lord's test - face the new ball in order to fit all of NZ's so-called "core of experience" (at Lord's that pretty much meant Astle and McMillan) into the XI, or now be more selfish, and actually start scoring the sort of runs that does his "clearly NZ's best" tag justice.

The only longshot I can see for Fleming to have his cake and eat it too would be for Hamish Marshall to start opening. With the South African tests now moved to April, these two against ZIM aren't really building up to anything in particular, which I guess opens the door to these sort of ideas.

Frankly Hamish deserves to bat wherever he wants, but as an uncomplicated guy with a less of a 'what if?' outlook than Fleming, he may not perceive opening in tests as that big a deal.

Otherwise I'd say Styris, with a FC average of 25 for Middlesex against pretty mediocre Div. 1 bowling stocks this year (Fleming's averaged 71), can't have too many complaints if he's left out of the 1st test side.

 

[Zinzan]

would it such a problem is Fleming opened again for the Kiwis???, i ...

Agree....Especially as our squad is full of talented middle order players.

My test team would be.....

J MARSHALL
FLEM(That was Mcgrath who made him struggle against Aus.Not the fact he was opening)
H MARSHALL
VINCENT (like him at 4 or 5 on recent form)
ORAM ( I'd like to see them experiment with Oram slightly higher in the order especially if not doing too much bowling)
ASTLE (Like Styris has been disappointing in county cricket - Well suited to no.6 where he can play more freely - Has Styris fighting for this no.6, handy bowler slot.
MCCULLUM
FRANKLIN
VETTORI
BOND
MARTIN

Looks much stronger in the bowling Dept with Bond and Oram back.

To Miss out......
STYRIS- due to his indifferent county form coupled with the fact Astle is able to bowl those restricting overs again. Also the above lineup gives you 4 seamers plus Astle.
Needs better form to challenge to regain a middle order slot

WISEMAN - Unless an extremely dry track i'd bowl just the one spinner

CUMMING - Hasn't the technique nor the age on his side to continue with in my view. I think J Marshall a better pick.

MILLS - I still wondering what happens between Bracewell and Mills when the lights go out. I still have my concerns about a NZ test lineup with Mills included.