**Official** New Zealand in South Africa

[BeeGee]

Luckily Vettori isn't playing.

Daniel Vettori - Two Crazy Deliveries - South Africa v New Zealand 1st test Hamilton 2003/04 - YouTube

All credit to the very dodgy pitch, mate.

Pitch repairs displease referee | Cricket News | Global | ESPN Cricinfo

I remember that game. A chunk of the pitch (right where Vettori was pitching it in the vid) broke up and came out, and overnight the groundstaff glued it back in. In the morning they were ordered to take it back out again.

[Immenso]

This article makes it sound like Wagner's "aggressive net performance" has moved him into contention for the playing XI...
New Zealand in South Africa 2012-13 : Neil Wagner targets his own in bid for return | Cricket News | South Africa v New Zealand | ESPN Cricinfo

Geenty article on Stuff, after I assume watching the same practice, implied the opposite. Wagner unlikely based on the other 4 from first test getting new ball each in training and peppering Mac, Guppy, Flynn and Kane.

Who knows .....

[NZTailender]

Wagner's averaging 34 with the bat in FC cricket this season. Could make a straight swap for Franklin

[Blain]

I cant believe that Franko hasnt even come under a bit of fire in the media. Surely they know how **** he has been for us in the last year, and is yet picked over and over? It's not like he is in his mid 20s.

And pretty funny how he is unleashing on the NZ batters with a new ball.. 125ks must be scary stuff! Might as well get Arnel over there as well.

[wellAlbidarned]

He's just such a nice bloke

[Prince EWS]

I reckon Todd Astle would play the second Test if he was actually on tour. Having him in for Franklin as the number seven bat and fifth bowler would allow four quicks to play instead of Patel. Bruce Martin's batting isn't good enough to offer that option, so the only serious alternative to Franklin is Munro, and well....

I don't rate Tastle's bowling much as I've said but just for balance reasons and the fact that he had a decent debut I was surprised he was cut from the squad altogether after that one match, and my surprise continues here.

[NZTailender]

He's just such a nice bloke

And you want him to succeed. Well I do, anyway. When he gets dropped he'll probably go back to scoring lots of runs in FC cricket and taking wickets. Some intensive coaching for his batting technique is needed. like, long term, day in day out type of stuff. Do we not have the money to do stuff like that?

[NZTailender]

I reckon Todd Astle would play the second Test if he was actually on tour. Having him in for Franklin as the number seven bat and fifth bowler would allow four quicks to play instead of Patel. Bruce Martin's batting isn't good enough to offer that option, so the only serious alternative to Franklin is Munro, and well....

I don't rate Tastle's bowling much as I've said but just for balance reasons and the fact that he had a decent debut I was surprised he was cut from the squad altogether after that one match, and my surprise continues here.

And you just know he'd probably be good for 1 or 2 vital wickets of top order batsman. granted, they'd be his only wickets in the game probably, but they'd be important.

[Prince EWS]

And you just know he'd probably be good for 1 or 2 vital wickets of top order batsman. granted, they'd be his only wickets in the game probably, but they'd be important.

He's got the technique with the bat to contribute as well as the top order is managing as well; his problem has always been kicking on with starts and doing justice to his technique with big runs, I don't imagine his Test batting output would be much different to his domestic output given how highly that technique has been spoken of.

Playing him as one of four bowlers would definitely have been too dangerous a move IMO so I can see why Bruce Martin is the backup spinner, but with four seamers and Kane also in the side in case he got murdered, I think he'd be an okay pick here. PE should suit him if it plays anything like it has in the last few ODIs I've seen there, too.

[hendrix]

If we're talking who could be there instead of Franklin, Jimmy Neesham is a better option than Astle IMO.

[NZTailender]

He's got the technique with the bat to contribute as well as the top order is managing as well; his problem has always been kicking on with starts and doing justice to his technique with big runs, I don't imagine his Test batting output would be much different to his domestic output given how highly that technique has been spoken of.

Playing him as one of four bowlers would definitely have been too dangerous a move IMO so I can see why Bruce Martin is the backup spinner, but with four seamers and Kane also in the side in case he got murdered, I think he'd be an okay pick here. PE should suit him if it plays anything like it has in the last few ODIs I've seen there, too.

I think Franklin's mental game has always been one of his bigger problems standing in the way of really flourishing as a specialist batsman. When he has some semblance of confidence, he actually looks alright. But you don't see that at the moment. Makes you wonder, if we played an innings really well and he'd come in at 5/6 for 500 (remote, I know) how he'd handle that and how confident he'd be of scoring runs when it doesn't matter. Of course, it matters more that we rarely get into such a situation so his role is more crucial where he's batting, almost more so than some of the top order positions.

Agree re: Astle. I don't dislike the selection of Martin and I hope he gets a gig in this second test, and in future series to be honest. Could be a late-blooming Swann type. But yeah, Astle playing a game as 5th bowler wouldn't have been the worst. Maybe they want him playing domestic with eyes on the England series? If Martin plays and gets dropped, as well as Patel not looking so hot right now, he might just become the #1 pick for the spinner role...

[Kippax]

He's got the technique with the bat to contribute as well as the top order is managing as well; his problem has always been kicking on with starts and doing justice to his technique with big runs, I don't imagine his Test batting output would be much different to his domestic output given how highly that technique has been spoken of.

Tastle did get bullied by James McMillan's pace and bounce. Could be time for Tastle vs. Short Stuff.

[NZTailender]

If we're talking who could be there instead of Franklin, Jimmy Neesham is a better option than Astle IMO.

Possibly. I think the point here is that a 4-man pace attack with Astle as the spinner wouldn't be worse than 3 seam-1 spin-Franklin.
1. Boult-Bracewell-C.Martin-Wagner-Astle vs 2. Boult-Bracewell-Wagner-B.Martin-Neesham vs 3. Boult-Bracewell-Wagner-Astle-Neesham? The first one looks the strongest.

[Prince EWS]

If we're talking who could be there instead of Franklin, Jimmy Neesham is a better option than Astle IMO.

The reason I'm bigging up Astle for the role is the fact that it'd all Wagner to come in for Patel. If you played Neesham then you'd still have to play Jeets or Bruce Martin. I don't really think picking someone with one hundred and an average of 20 odd as a batting allrounder really makes much sense anyway, as much as I think Neesham will play a lot of Tests for New Zealand eventually.

I like Jeets (and Franklin for that matter), and PE may even suit him actually, but I don't think he's really going to be a good option against South Africa in general. If Todd Astle was on tour the whole balance of the team could change and both Franklin and Patel could be replaced.

[straw man]

I reckon Todd Astle would play the second Test if he was actually on tour. Having him in for Franklin as the number seven bat and fifth bowler would allow four quicks to play instead of Patel.

This makes sense seeing as that's how I'd generally like to see Vettori used (bats 7, provides spin and lets us play four quicks), and Tastle is Vettori-lite. A different style of spin bowler yes, but could perform a similar role in the side if he improves.

We still need a quick bowler who can bat 8 though.