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*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Seifert's upside isn't big enough to advocate taking him and his iron gloves.

Hell of a talented player but I don't think he's at the stage where he can go out and score runs v top opposition. At least with Blundell you get better keeping, and an element of death hitting (runs v Australia don't hurt either)
 

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
Mmm that's not good, especially for things that don't make money like domestic FC cricket and test cricket.

Our only hope is that it was written by Mark Reason so I'm just going to assume it's wildly inaccurate.
 

Flem274*

123/5
only this lot could take the profits from a world cup and an indian tour and make a loss. didn't they sign that 'england, india, australia get lots more money' thing too?

i see what they're trying to do here with long form cricket. if tests go, i go. i realise im not their target demographic (they want all of my mad bastard south asian friends and colleagues who stay up late to watch the ipl and indian/pakistani odis) and i don't really care. i like several sports, i'll watch the others instead.
 

Jezroy

State Captain
I was worried at first too, but it does say they have about 17 million in the bank and a further (on average) 16 million coming in each year from the ICC (when I say on average, they have received less than that for the last few years so should have years where they receive more).

So hopefully enough to keep them going for a while yet. Gee I hope D White isn’t the man in charge of the company credit card though.

Plus, you know, the winners of the World Cup get $4 million... so... um... yeah
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
If NZC keeps running losses like they have they'll be circling the drain in 3 or 4 years time though.

I do think that there's a good chance that before long the only tests that NZ will play will be day-nighters. Wouldn't be at all surprised if the Shield is shrunk down to 5 games next season.

NZC as an organisation is in dire-need of an independent performance review. Apart from the constitution being refreshed after the captaincy-change debacle, the organisation has remained untouched since White took over back in 2011. The fact that we've seen stark declines in crowd attendances in the past few years whilst simultaneously fielding arguably our best ever ODI and test sides as a fairly damning indictment on the organisational and marketing strategies that the NZC has employed.
 
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thundaboult

International Debutant
I've always been disappointed with the lack of exposure for cricket in New Zealand, and to the rest of the cricketing world as well. After the run in the 2015 wc, I thought it would change and open eyes. Although I did hear of more kids signing up and a higher interest in general...my initial fears came true, that fear being that NZC would completely bottle it and all that momentum, fanfare, the amazing amazing unbelievable unprecedented memories created in that tournament, would all go to waste. Its a goddamn shame.

I'll give you all general examples, I go on youtube and there are barely any full match highlights involving New zealand. Also, unlike England, India, Australia, Sri Lanka, West indies, and now even Pakistan, the blackcaps youtube channel is completely useless. There are no highlights of recent matches, nothing. I'm living in canada trying to find some footage and I can't even imagine how gutting it would be for a younger kid in nz aspiring to be the next kane, boult, bond and then going on common media platforms and find nothing but farts about NZC. Kids from the other nations though, have more than enough footage to gorge on and be inspired by their heroes.

Something that disgusts me to my core is the involvement of sky sports NZ or sky sports in general. I'll bring it back to youtube again...do you all remember the greatest day in New zealand cricketing history 4 years ago? New zealand vs south africa, world cup semi-finals. It was fantastic wasn't it? Well, sky doesn't think so. I have seen numerous youtubers post full length highlights of that match, over these last 4 yeas, the views always ROCKET to hundreds of thousands and even more a million in nothing more than 2 or 3 days, but each time, sky takes it down for copyright or some other bull. Same goes with basically all the other matches that New zealand had in that tournament, they are removed as fast they are uploaded. I have to give special mention to that time of our lives documentary as well, it is a brilliant one hour piece of nz's journey to the final. It is something that should be up for free on youtube and other platforms as a staple for a fan or new fan to marvel at. But of course, its gone as soon as its uploaded. You would think that after all these years, such iconic content should be up there for the world to see but once again, Sky and NZC doing what they do best, which is nothing at all. And you would think that for being such a small nation with such little resource and talent pool, the cricketing board and broadcasters would go out of their way to BRING the content to the people so you get more engagement and fanfare, instead of actually RESTRICTING and removing...its one of the most puzzling things I have ever seen. You need all the help you can get but you aren't even helping yourself. Its like being a new restaurant owner and not advertising, and then also turning the ones who do come, away from your establishment.

The people WANT to see this content, they want to reminisce on the history and they are HUNGRY, but they are never given those moments to be inspired by. If you even narrow it down to just the players, there is barely any footage on the star players as well, including kane, boult, ross, gup, and newer firebrands like sodhi and ferguson. No spells, no innings, there just isn't much for people to see therefore, no opportunity for them to spectate on their nation's exploits to become a fan and back them.

And form what I've heard repeatedly, on tv, there isn't much domestic cricket exposure to the nz public as well. So that only adds....when NZC and sky don't give a crap, why should the people?

Hell, even on commentary, other than Ian Smith, our other commentators in doully and co, like to talk about the other teams more than our own boys. At least that's the feel I get whenever I tune in to watch a nz match.

We neeeeeed to start backing our boys a lot more and put more eyes on them. We need to start painting these lads as the big stars in our backyard and their success needs to be plastered all over the place for the world to see. This whole dark horse, low key underdog underrated persona that has haunted NZ for so long needs to vanish.

Now I know this might not directly correlate with the NZC turning in losses, but its one of the several problems that need to be addressed. There is barely any accessibility to New zealand cricket, and zero exposure. This needs to change if we are to go on and inspire young kids who can turn into gems, and bring us a world cup or two.

Feel free to correct me if I have written something false or misleading. But my time being a NZ fan, all the stuff I wrote above is what I usually experience. The game isn't taken very seriously and in result, we never win any silverware. We are perennial wanderers. Always running hard on that treadmill but ultimately, going nowhere.
 
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The Hutt Rec

International Vice-Captain
It used to be the same with the NRL taking down anything rugby league related off youtube back in the day ... but they worked out it was a dumb thing to do and stopped in about 2008, from memory.

The World Cup might be different though, does some international place hold the rights to that worldwide?

I remember the season after the World Cup, the crowds did seem bigger and there were more ads and promotions, etc with the Blackcaps on it. That exposure and wave has definitely died off. I’m finding it unbelievable how little publicity there currently is ten days out from another World Cup.

As for the domestic game, we do need to talk it up more, the Super Smash should be a real flagship. It’s higher quality than the Big Bash and people should know that. Imo the investment of having every game live on Prime would be well worth it. If we keep cutting back on domestic cricket here then the game will die ... we’ll return to the late-2000s levels of mediocrity that we only barely survived the first time around.
 

thundaboult

International Debutant
I remember the season after the World Cup, the crowds did seem bigger and there were more ads and promotions, etc with the Blackcaps on it. That exposure and wave has definitely died off. I’m finding it unbelievable how little publicity there currently is ten days out from another World Cup.
THIS. Our golden opportunity to capitalize on such a success from 2015 has been completely wasted. Blatantly and embarrassingly at that. And as a result, that is what you get....zero buzz just a few days out from your team's biggest show, one that only happens every 4 years. When Indian news sites are the one's who are writing more articles about New zealand cricket than New Zealand media itself, there's a problem.
 

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
It's rather grim but NZ Cricket has to be blamed for this. Simply put cricket is our summer sport and no other sport quite competes with cricket. Besides we have a world class side at the moment and they win more than they lose. Public interest I feel has never been better in cricket than before so what's stopping NZ Cricket from making cricket popular and selling the sport better? I think NZ cricket deals is very poor. We have the best teams visiting us and we are playing mostly good teams of late so why are we in this state. It's hard to believe the domestic cricket is taking away much of the money. They have already reduced from 10 four day games to 8. I have a strange feeling they are plotting this to bring the 4 day games to no more than 5 from this year. That will be the death of test cricket in NZ. Just because we have a good team now doesn't necessarily mean we will have one in future.
 

Mike5181

International Captain
I know you can attribute some of the decline in NZ cricket-related posts to members aging, but it's definitely petered out significantly over the last few years. And these are supposed to be some of your most passionate fans, the guys that cared enough to stay up until some ungodly hour just to watch an 8th or 9th ranked team lose to Bangladesh, again and again, all those years ago. People are watching less, talking about it less, and instead looking to the Game of Thrones, the Fortnites, etc. for their entertainment.

I know come World Cup time, some of it will ignite back up again, but I just don't see how you can expect to compete when there's **** all games on the schedule (out of sight, out of mind), zero coverage of our domestic game, and with more and more people justifiably dropping SKY TV.
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
On a more positive note I see that the NZ World Cup warm-ups are being televised live on Sky and Prime.

9:30pm on Saturday vs India.
 

thundaboult

International Debutant
Likely 11 for the opener against SL

Gup
Nicholls
Kane
Ross
Blundell
Neesham
Grandhomme
Santner
Sodhi
Ferguson
Boult
 

Jezroy

State Captain
Likely 11 for the opener against SL

Gup
Nicholls
Kane
Ross
Blundell
Neesham
Grandhomme
Santner
Sodhi
Ferguson
Boult
Depending on warm ups and pitch conditions I guess.

If Munro has two good warm ups and Nicholls doesn’t, would Henry miss out all together? Not really any room for him as I think it’s either opening or 5.

Latham to come in if fit.

And I think the bowling attack is still very up in the air. Definitely Boult and Santner, but then it could be any combo methinks. I think they have to play De Grand and Neesh in the team, as Santner at 7 is probably one place too high. Which means that it’s 4 bowlers with 10 overs from Grand Neesh and maybe Kane. I guess if Munro is in the team, he can bowl a bit too. We just don’t have that strong all rounder (by the looks), so will have to make do with a few allmost rounders.
 

thundaboult

International Debutant
Don't see Latham making it into the first game, they won't risk him so quick. Plus, Blundell will get some world cup game time, who knows how important that could be at the later stages of the tournament. He will feel a bit acclimatized. You are right about Santner and Boult, they are lock-ins. But so is Ferguson, he is easily our second best seamer. I think the third bowler will be a toss up between henry/sodhi.southee as they will rotate in and out. Stead would be wise to keep southee away from this side...his spot belonged to Bennett anyways. Same could go for CDG, his spot belongs to a Kugss or Bracewell, but more towards Kuggs.
 

TheBrand

First Class Debutant
If Latham is rested for 1st game I'd imagine it will go something like

Gup
Nicholls
KW
Ross
Blundell
Neesham
CdG
Santner
Henry/Sodhi
Ferguson
Boult

Further to the discussion about NZ Cricket really not capitalising on 2015, one thing that really bugs me is that how cricket is our 2nd biggest sport yet there's no talk shows about it. Rugby, League, Netball all have at least one show (1 hour) per week talking about current happenings in the game. Cricket has none of that, really disappoints me. If I could I'd take Inside the Box to TV haha.
 

thundaboult

International Debutant
Great points. Now Since I'm a born Indian, I can understand and speak a bunch of languages such as hindi punjabi and urdu, and lately, I've seen a big rise in former Pakistani and Indian cricketers, journalists or even regular fans open up youtube channels talking about their own country's game and the rest of the world as well. I do not follow south african, english, and australian media as much but with their resources and the obvious popularity of the game, I am sure they cover it rather comprehensively with shows on TV and such. I also can confirm that afg, bangladesh and sri lanka are rabid cricket supporters and have many shows on news channels that highlight the game. Popularity of the game in west indies seems to have regained a bit of momentum lately because of the CPL and a couple t20 trophy wins. They are definitely on the rise now.

I can also confirm that after constant attempts to find a sports show that talks about local new zealand cricket and the blackcaps, there is nothing out there like you said.

By the way, I have listened to your show and am a fan of it, I really enjoy your podcasts. I agree dude, hell even I could easily talk about domestic/international New Zealand cricket for an hour or two every week...and I LIVE IN GODDAMN CANADA on the other side of the planet. If only I could find somebody had the same amount of info and passion. But all my friends are supporters of the big cricketing nations so there goes that.....
 
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