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New Zealand doom and gloom thread

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I remember being hugeley frustrated at some of those 'A" teams with averages ages of 29. But when I tried to come up with alternatives it was doing things like picking hail-marys like Tim Robinson based on one FC century etc etc

The next few 'A' teams should be quite fun. I don't think we are looking at another 88-92 generation. But we are looking at an above average looking crop IMO.
Fair point. This is particularly true or valid for top order batsmen.
 

Flem274*

123/5
I'm just not sure what you gain from playing guys like Young, Nicholls, Bruce or the SP. You know what you're gonna get from them. If there was a sudden middle order emergency and you needed to select Bruce, then his appearance or not for the A team isn't going to make you think differently about what his returns are likely to be. Sure, some experience is needed in the A team.

If I look back to that NZ A vs. Australia A series, the only players below 30 were Foxcroft (25), O'Donnell (29) and Duffy (29).

2nd Test, in came Mitch Hay, Abbas, Ashok and O'Rourke but that squad is still suffering from the same maturity bias as the Test team. Of the batsmen in that first test (and the 2nd for that matter) they're going to be retiring or declining at exactly the same time as Mitchell, Williamson, Nicholls, Young, Conway etc. Great that Abbas was there, but Cooper and Solia are not realistically replacements for Latham/Conway.
Fair, but I think it's less about learning and more about challenging the immediate reserves as much as possible. We know they can go big in domestic cricket but we might need them to play 2 tests in India or England.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Young is a perfectly serviceable wider squad guy that can serve as injury cover if we are down 2-3 batsman.
 

RMBolton

U19 12th Man
I like the snippet on Max Chu being the best gloveman (which I will now take as the literal gospel truth 4ever), because I'm never otherwise going to know who has the best keeping skills domestically. Most relevant for test wicketkeeper and if he keeps performing then yes could line up to succeed Blundell. M Hay the other leading young candidate, by the looks of things.

First though we need a new white-ball keeper to replace Latham, and ideally to relieve Conway of the gloves in T20, and Chu doesn't seem like a white-ball batsman. I would say it will be interesting to see what they decide there, but it will probably just be to change nothing.
I think the white ball keeper will eventually be Allen, but the problem for him is domestically he's behind Fletcher. Ideally he'd take over in FT & SS as the Aces' keeper when he's playing.
 
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Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
I think the white ball keeper will eventually be Allen, but the problem for him is domestically he's behind Fletcher. Ideally he'd take over in FT & SS as the Aces' keeper when he's playing.
Can't agree. Having a non-specialist keeper perhaps led to Conway's injury and Allen's batting is genuine x-factor. Besides, he's also one of our best fielders and with G Phillips and Ravindra (and perhaps Clarkson/Foxcroft/Abbas etc to bowl a bit) in the top 6, we can easily pick a keeper at 7. Australia won the 2022? WT20 with Wade at 7 if I remember.
 

RMBolton

U19 12th Man
I wouldn't pick Allen. Not without at least a season as a keeper for Auckland.

My main thinking around Allen getting the gig is that BCs HQ will want a keeper who's guaranteed to make the XI with the bat. Of course, that's with the current outlook. In a post-Stead era, things should be better.
 

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