James
Cricket Web Owner
Some very interesting thoughts by NZ coach John Bracewell on NZ radio today:
* We pick our best six batsmen (that's why Marshall and Fulton open)
* The poor standard of domestic pitches prevents us being able to develop opening batsmen. Until the pitches improve, our opening batsmen won't.
* Vincent and Sinclair were ruled out because of their baby and marriage. 10 days
conditioning is required before you can play cricket in SAF, and because they weren't in the initial camp, they weren't considered.
* NZ cricket has improved since I took over, depth has increased and we now have a proper 'A' team structure in place.
* Although we have dropped in the Test rankings, it is happening to all the teams rated two through seven. Australia are clearly at the top, with the West Indies/Zimbabwe/Bangladesh clearly at the bottom. The other six Test countries are all very evenly matched.
* McCullum batting at 6, Franklin 7, Vettori 8, Mills at 9 in the near future.
* We pick our best six batsmen (that's why Marshall and Fulton open)
* The poor standard of domestic pitches prevents us being able to develop opening batsmen. Until the pitches improve, our opening batsmen won't.
* Vincent and Sinclair were ruled out because of their baby and marriage. 10 days
conditioning is required before you can play cricket in SAF, and because they weren't in the initial camp, they weren't considered.
* NZ cricket has improved since I took over, depth has increased and we now have a proper 'A' team structure in place.
* Although we have dropped in the Test rankings, it is happening to all the teams rated two through seven. Australia are clearly at the top, with the West Indies/Zimbabwe/Bangladesh clearly at the bottom. The other six Test countries are all very evenly matched.
* McCullum batting at 6, Franklin 7, Vettori 8, Mills at 9 in the near future.