*Official* New Zealand in Sri Lanka 2012

[Spark]

Here's my Sri Lanka post (will keep this short)

There isn't much their batsmen could have done to mitigate Southee and Boult. Apart from Pirana those were genuine gagfc dismissals. Karunaratne especially got a nasty one on debut.

My only criticism would be Jayawardene and Mathews didn't kill New Zealand completely with the bat. Mathews especially got out in a soft fashion to a bowler who was bowling tight but not with any great venom. Mathews also looked shaky to short pitched quick bowling early on with hook shots that looked compulsive, but since this was my first real look at him in the whites you guys will know better than me about it.

Prasaana got out in supreme chump fashion.

The bowlers were excellent. Kulasekara in particular hit great lines and lengths, which is exactly what you want your medium pacer to do when there is no movement on offer. Herath was simply ****ing awesome. The 2nd innings dismissals of Taylor and Flynn especially were great to watch.

Sounds like Mathews to me. Is usually on the hook, mind, so bowl short to him at your peril

[Spark]

Anyway, I hear we had a few new entrants for the competition today

[Migara]

Sounds like Mathews to me. Is usually on the hook, mind, so bowl short to him at your peril

That was tried by Steyn, Morkel and Philander on a lively wicket, but all three settled to pitch the ball up to him after what they have seen.

[Briony]

Okay, so I’ve stepped away from the computer for a bit to lower my blood pressure.

It’s pretty easy to sit here behind my keyboard and mouth off, but here’s my best monkeys take on it with our best copy of Microsoft Word, player by player.

McCullum isn’t stupid. He knew last night that losing a wicket is the last thing we wanted, just like on day 1 he knew we weren’t in a position where we could afford a batsman to throw it all away. One thing I have noticed, along with the need to feel bat on ball early that the commentators mention all the time which betrays a lack of confidence early in his innings, is he has to remind himself to respect good bowling, or at least that’s how it looks to me when I watch him. Jayawardene and Sangakkara have respected 10,000 good balls before and will respect 10,000 more. It’s ingrained into how they bat. I don’t know whether his dominance of age group cricket has given him no appreciation of respect for the bowler, or whether his role as a wicket keeper batsman curtailed his batting development earlier in his career, or whether it’s arrogance. He tries to bat like the second coming of Viv or Gilchrist but even they blocked ocassionally. McCullum has neither the ingrained ability to respect the bowler nor the execution of those two batsmen. His technique is actually pretty decent but when it comes to actually batting he’s the second coming of McMillan. At his age he probably doesn’t have the time to change his ways so it might be worth telling him to get out there and pretend to be Sehwag minus the sucking in NZ thing.

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Maybe McCullum is someone who is a bit fragile mentally and who just has to keep the scoreboard ticking along. Some batsmen are nervous starters and find it hard to tough it out.

[Spark]

That was tried by Steyn, Morkel and Philander on a lively wicket, but all three settled to pitch the ball up to him after what they have seen.

Yeah, meant more the "fell softly after a period of tight bowling" thing. Seems easily tied down, does Mathews.

[Bahnz]

Well...I'm glad I wasn't able to watch that.

What's really depressing is that the only people performing in domestic cricket are either bowlers, tried and traumatised 30+ batsmen, and Ryder. So it's not really like we have many options for improving the team from the outside.

It's sad to see what Williamson's fallen to. Taking the number 3 spot has proven to be too much and too soon, which isn't really that surprising in retrospect. Also, someone should give him a new bat, his current one has seen better days.

We just have to accept that for the indefinite future, New Zealand will have the worst batting lineup of any of the main 9 test playing countries. I doubt even Ryder will improve things that much. He's too much of a free-spirit to be the basis of a successful batting lineup. What we need is another Richardson, someone who can glue our rickety batting together through sheer bloody-mindedness. But I don't see any on the horizon.

I feel dreadfully sorry for Boult, Southee and Jeets. They've done excellent work in these last 3 matches, work that would be match-winning for most other sides. Also, I'd give Bracewell a couple more games to find his stride, he deserves it after his efforts last season.

[Flem274*]

Well that's the thing, a left arm spinner who batted at 10 in school and FC cricket woke up one day and decided to be an opener, and managed to average 44. It wasn't pretty, but if Richardson can do it then these blokes can.

[Bahnz]

Well that's the thing, a left arm spinner who batted at 10 in school and FC cricket woke up one day and decided to be an opener, and managed to average 44. It wasn't pretty, but if Richardson can do it then these blokes can.

But none of them want to. They all grew up watching Greatbatch and Jayasuriya and Gilchrist smashing sixes everywhere, and decided that was how they wanted to play. And because the standard of high-school and age group cricket in New Zealand is so low, they were able to do exactly that and none of them never needed to bother developing the rock solid defensive technique of a John Wright or an Andrew Jones.

At this point, I reckon it's much too late for McCullum to change. Taylor could, but he's weighed down enough be the captaincy as things are. Ryder's ego will always lead him into trouble, and he'll ignore or abuse anyone who tries to tell him that. Guptill does want to, but doesn't have the raw talent of the big 3. Williamson is too young and being asked too much...<sigh>

Hoping Flynn and Watling can add a bit of guts to our middle-order. Otherwise I'd advise just leaving the side as it is. Nothing can or will change anytime soon, but the best players are where they should be, and should be given a few more opportunities to fail. If Williamson doesn't start to show signs of turning things around by the England tour, I'd consider moving him down the order. Otherwise we kinda just have to cross our fingers and pray that Cachopa will turn out to be the next Bradman.

[Migara]

Yeah, meant more the "fell softly after a period of tight bowling" thing. Seems easily tied down, does Mathews.

Happens when facing spinners mainly. But does play rash shots. He has to tighten if he wishes to open. But if he's wasted at #6, then better have rash shots, because he has to be aggressive.

[Scaly piscine]

Must be quite unusual for the openers to grab a pair in the first innings and then finish not out in the second.

[Meridio]

Had given thought to waking up at 4.30am to watch this. Am very glad I didn't. Not much to say that hasn't already been said. Am actually giving semi-serious thought to quitting my job, hiring a batting coach (not a NZ one, obviously) and turning myself into a professional cricketer, so I can show these useless ****s how to bat.

[Bahnz]

From this article:

Black Caps fold: Taylor hints at changes - Sport - NZ Herald News

"Leg-spinner Todd Astle looks a good bet to come in to the side for the second test and could potentially replace James Franklin given his ability to bat at No 6 if required."

[Flem274*]

nothing like a fc average of 23 and 1 century in 50 games to strike fear into the hearts of sri lanka

i do love how it's implied nicol is below him though

edit: so southee was injured. yep, he's definitely turning a corner with his bowling because the injuries are setting in. marto appears to be next cab off the rank.

so lets imagine a world where martin comes in for southee/bracewell and astle bats at 6. im pretty sure our issue in this test just gone was batting you know.

[Prince EWS]

New Zealand should bite the bullet and fly Watling over there ASAP. The original statement which accompanied the squad announcement made it perfectly clear Watling was only missing the Test leg because the selectors thought getting some Plunket Shield cricket under his belt would be more beneficial than carrying the drinks as the reserve batsman, and he'd now surely worth a place in the eleven. They don't even have to go back on anything they've said; they just need to adapt to the fact that Franklin, after looking okay in India but not making any significant runs, backed that up by looking like a number ten here and has become a clear liability.

Failing that, Franklin has to play the second Test. Nicol is not a serious option and when you get rolled for 221 and 118 but keep the opposition to 247 the last thing that should be on your mind is dropping a batsman for a leg spinner.

[Dan]

Now I'm a fan of Todd Astle, but batting him at 6 is a completely ridiculous idea.

Franklin shouldn't be near the squad, let alone the XI.