• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
Quotes from Hesson strongly suggesting they're planning to play Tastle in the SL tests. Article also gives a perspective on Nethula's recent troubles - I really hope he finds some form and confidence soon.
Cricket: Legs come off spin hopes - Cricket - NZ Herald News

Hesson expects two spinners to be required in the Sri Lanka tests at Galle and Colombo. Cue Todd Astle. With Vettori again out, this time recovering from an Achilles injury, Astle's batting could be an asset at No 8 in the order. The 26-year-old has a first-class hundred and opened for Canterbury in the early part of his provincial career. Add that to his 68 wickets at 33.31 over the last two seasons and his skill set is more desirable than Nethula's.

"Todd's a good character who trains hard and has taken plenty of his wickets in the second innings of matches," Hesson says. "He's got the confidence to chuck the ball up and beat players in the air. His record of 55 [first-class] games with 127 wickets at 34.79 is pretty good by New Zealand spinning standards. He's excellent in the field but hasn't fulfilled his potential with the bat.

"When playing two spinners, you're committed in some way to one guy who can at least bat a bit. Todd's that man because we can't expect too many runs out of Jeetan.
Two seamers, two spinners plus a part timer sounds would usually be sensible for Sri Lanka in terms of attack structure, however in our case it puts a hell of a lot of faith in Patel and Astle to bowl really well. Personally I only think this approach makes sense if the pitch/conditions offer absolutely nothing to pace, as in any other conditions each of our three seamers is superior to two mediocre/poor/'promising' spinners. I'd also like to see Boult, Southee & Bracewell given a fair bit of time bowling together and I don't know which I'd leave out.

I will accede that, although I'm sceptical, I will be excited to see Tastle bowl.
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Todd's that man because we can't expect too many runs out of Jeetan.
Starting to like this Hesson guy. Most accurate quote I have seen from a coach in a long time. Jeets has been batted as high as 8.

One of his innings in India where he was caught second ball at third man was quite vulgar.
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
What screwed up his average last season was his econ rate which was 3.9
His SR was 57

That benchmarks against Swann's career FC SR of 64

So basically his control is just lacking but he is a wicket taker. If I was him I would try to just get as much bowling in as I humanly could for whatever FC team in the world would have me during the NZ off season.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
“BJ Watling will return to New Zealand after the one-day matches. He has spent a lot of time touring but has had limited opportunities to play and we believe it is best for his development if he’s made available for the upcoming Plunket Shield fixtures."

Plunket Shield > sitting on the side lines, I guess. If there's an injury or drastic decline in form of one of the players it'd be stupid not to have our best players available though.
Yes, exactly. The Test side should take precedent. Nicol seems to have been included because the selectors feel he's the next best batsman of those they don't care about missing Plunket Shield games, which is absurd. Even if only for the fact that Sinclair would've been a better option under that criteria anyway. ;)
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Yes, exactly. The Test side should take precedent. Nicol seems to have been included because the selectors feel he's the next best batsman of those they don't care about missing Plunket Shield games, which is absurd. Even if only for the fact that Sinclair would've been a better option under that criteria anyway. ;)
I thought with the loss of Flem we had heard the last of Sinclair love.
 

lockton2skipper

U19 Debutant
now that the young guns boult bracewell and southee, finally have got established who will emerge from the next crop of contenders to make a test bowler.
milne, small, wheeler, duffy, henry, ? discuss.
 

Kippax

Cricketer Of The Year
I'd picked Small to be the next to get a LO debut, but he needs some surgery on a rib injury now sadly. We haven't seen Wheeler for a long time, definitely has his work cut out considering how many left-armers NZC would consider works in progress and slightly more durable. Duffy's left shoulder does collapse and he loses about a foot of height in his action, he may be a while away if he tries to fix that, probably needs to to go from tennis ball bounce to really menacing bounce.

Ben Wheeler, "Elusive Stag" - YouTube
Matt Henry, 1/27 vs. South Africa, Feb 2012 - YouTube
Jacob Duffy, HRV Cup Debut, Jan 2012 - YouTube
NZ Domestic Seamers A-Z - YouTube
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah, I rate Small quite highly as well.
I havn't seen these guys and will try to get out this summer. From the one ball montage in the A-Z footage:

Small
Badenhorst
Smidt
Wheeler

Looked to have the best actions and would like to see more of them if I was a scout. Of all them I would be most keen to see more of small if Kippax has more on him.

@mike - Henry's action is not sustainable health wise. It is better than it used to be but his run up is an issue. He waltzes into the crease like it is a sunday afternoon jog with the family dog and then gives 100% exertion in his delivery stride. how do you spell back problems.

He will have an injury plagued career unless he remodels his run up completely.
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
It probably will be Milne next to make the Test side, he's progressing through T20 to ODI and eventually Test as the pathway seems to be in this day and age.

Injury permitting, Henry will be well ahead of Small. Slightly quicker, better bat, serious cricketer. He may be somewhat injury prone but it won't boil down to action, he's pretty sharp in that respect.
 

Top