**Official** New Zealand in South Africa

[ch00baka]

Originally Posted by Kippax

1994/95 South Africa vs New Zealand TEST SERIES REVIEW - YouTube

How bad was Pringle to be batting behind Morrison?

[BeeGee]

Originally Posted by wellAlbidarned

I'm tripping out here when the **** did we play a three test series

March 2012.

Results | Global | ESPN Cricinfo

[Flem274*]

OK, so we all know that after every 2nd division county season where Franklin takes his customary bag of wickets we get our hopes up he's taking bowling seriously again, only for him to average 50 with bat and ball in the Plunket Shield, but the below might be good for cautious optimism...

Originally Posted by Bond spelling out to Franklin 5 years too late that he really is a bowling allrounder

He has worked hard on his bowling with new specialist coach Shane Bond, and is happy with progress. A four-wicket bag for Wellington in their win over Central Districts early in December left him feeling he was heading in the right direction.

Technical issues had been causing some difficulties, mainly around the use of his front, or non-bowling, arm, getting through the crease better and getting more of his body behind the ball at the point of delivery.

''I've got a little more energy in my runup," he said.

''I've played around with a short and long runup in the last few years but I've gone back to the long runup because I felt I got better rhythm and momentum to the crease. All those little things, hopefully, add up to improvements in the bowling."

Cricket: Franklin eyes more history in Cape Town - Sport - NZ Herald News

[Zinzan]

Franky off a long run-up. The South African's will be shaking in their boots.

[Howsie]

Originally Posted by Briony

BTW Taylor has a poor record against SA so may not be missed as much as you all think.

Right....

And Franklin should be focusing on his batting not his barely club standard bowling. Fact is he says this every year and yet nothing changes, hell remember when Donald was here, Franklin was suppose to have improved out of sight during that time.

[straw man]

The making of Mitchell McClenaghan

Pretty good article about McClenaghan - I didn't know some of that stuff. Less good where the author forgets Wagner exists and paints the third seamer race as between Martin and McClenaghan.

I hope to see Wagner in the side. But if they pick Martin I hope he bowls adequately and then retires gracefully.

Is Franklin really going to bat 7 below Watling? That's such a cop-out and complete admission that he's not offering anything to the team. If he bats 6 at least he knows he's expected to be a batsman and will be judged as such. We can pretend.

Only good thing about Franklin batting 7 would be that Vettori can replace him there for the England series.

[wellAlbidarned]

"McCleneghan is quick - upper 140s quick"

sigh

[Bahnz]

lol yeah, Richardson said something in his column for the Herald about McClenaghan being as quick as Milne. Just like Ian Butler was as quick as Shane Bond back in the day right?

[Flem274*]

He might be quicker than he's shown but 140 is fine. It's the massive improvements in accuracy and his ability to hit the bat very hard that impress me. He looked way quicker than he was clocking in the 20/20s, so we're probably going to hear a lot of the "speed gun doesn't do him justice" calls if he plays for NZ more and does well.

[Mike5181]

McClenaghan has a worse record with the ball than Jimmy Neeshan in the Plunket Shield this season. Let's wait a while before talking him up.

[Kippax]

Mitchell McClenaghan, Pre-Xmas Plunket Wickets - YouTube

Who has impressed at Eden Park this season, Butler, Mills, Bartlett. I'd give Mitch a bit of slack in his average due to that, but seeing he should appreciate decent bounce in a track himself, not a full pass.

[SteveNZ]

Originally Posted by Mike5181

McClenaghan has a worse record with the ball than Jimmy Neeshan in the Plunket Shield this season. Let's wait a while before talking him up.

In all fairness he's bowled on the outer oval highway for all but one of his games. Without looking at numbers, he'd be well off if not for the Wellington runfest. And in spells I saw he was constantly menacing in short sharp bursts, especially against Otago when they almost snuck a last day victory.

I'm constantly impressed with the way he's handling himself both onfield and in the media on this tour. He's come a long way from the kid who snuck into Southees debut Test press conference as a spectator with a cheeky grin and a few suds under his belt

[Kippax]

Originally Posted by Flem274*

OK, so we all know that after every 2nd division county season where Franklin takes his customary bag of wickets we get our hopes up he's taking bowling seriously again, only for him to average 50 with bat and ball in the Plunket Shield, but the below might be good for cautious optimism...

Interesting that Franky is resisting any temptation to get these journos to put 'james franklin 2007 knee injury' into google before they write these pieces. He seems relaxed about people thinking he really did lose nothing in a physical sense by the end of that, but merely gained an appreciation for the fact that bowling is deeply, deeply lame. Crossfit training and broccoli diets? **** me.

[Garson007]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! They're predicting light rain for the entire day I'm going to watch.

[Blakey]

If cricket doesn't work out Mitch can always fall back on being an international male model -
Red Eleven Models Talent Management | Commercial Men | MITCHELL McCLENAGHAN Portfolio