All Right Kiwis, Hand On Heart: Fulton/Rutherford - Do You Believe?

[Jezroy]

I was an opening batsman.

Good luck, you've got your work cut out for you.

Do you think McCullum worked that out and that's why he moved down the order?

[Prince EWS]

What we clearly need to do is somehow make teenage girls think opening batsmen are hot ****

PEWs to spread the word.

Well I do open the batting in club cricket...

[BeeGee]

Do you think McCullum worked that out and that's why he moved down the order?

You certainly get more action if you're willing to go down.

[Jezroy]

You certainly get more action if you're willing to go down.

Interesting how Hesson helped McCullum go down.

Uh oh.

[honestbharani]

I think I see why most middle order batsmen don't wanna move up.

[jcas0167]

Yes - his fielding/catching is important

At 5 he has played 3 tests - 2 50's and a big hundred. Yes, the big hundred was against Bangladesh, but it was against them when we were 158/5. I think number 5 suits him better than opening at the moment.

Whether there is an opening there for him there is another matter.

I think he could be like Astle at no5, such a clean striker.

[Flem274*]

There is no way in hell Guptill should be playing test cricket as a middle order batsman ahead of Brownlie in the near or medium future, and probably not the far future either.

[Jezroy]

There is no way in hell Guptill should be playing test cricket as a middle order batsman ahead of Brownlie in the near or medium future, and probably not the far future either.

Devil's Advocate - Most people said similar about McCullum batting 5/6 instead of opening.

[Days of Grace]

I want Brownlee to score another couple of 75+ scores when the match is still alive before I am sold on him. I think he has been given a slightly easy ride by some NZ posters.

[Prince EWS]

Devil's Advocate - Most people said similar about McCullum batting 5/6 instead of opening.

That was for balance reasons though to ensure all your best batsmen were playing; not because people straight up didn't think McCullum was better than Brownlie or Flynn or whoever. Certainly in my case anyway.

[Kippax]

I think he could be like Astle at no5, such a clean striker.

He never loses the mechanical rigidity in his ballstriking though tbf, and he's committed himself to the wrong philosophical faction to leave the weight of 83 years of failure behind and let his colours burst. "When the chips are down, when the highs are low, joyride" - McCullum (c). Munro (janitor).

You could always let that nerve-wracking little three-footer fall into the back edge of the cup by picking him as a spinner, that's been proven to loosen up the pipe.

Todd Astle, "Plunket Fire" - YouTube

[Bahnz]

fielding should not factor into at all unless you're replacing him with someone completely unco.

with the young players that we have, it's more a coaching issue than anything else.

On fielding, it's hard to deny that our slip cordon is a bit of a mess at the moment (went back and did a scan for the words "drop" and "chance" in our matches since the Windies tour - 20 missed chances in 10 games. Of course I'm not sure whether that's bad relatively speaking, but it's certainly not good). Even so, I agree that Guptill shouldn't be picked because of his catchnig, especially given that even he was prone to dropping a couple here and there.

On a semi-related note, Southee did a decent job in the slips during the last test, should he perhaps make a more permanent move there?

[Flem274*]

Name Guptill in the squad and keep him on for every over in the field as the sub fielder.

Can you even do that? Sub fielder rule should definitely be a rule ripe for abuse.

[wellAlbidarned]

On fielding, it's hard to deny that our slip cordon is a bit of a mess at the moment (went back and did a scan for the words "drop" and "chance" in our matches since the Windies tour - 20 missed chances in 10 games. Of course I'm not sure whether that's bad relatively speaking, but it's certainly not good). Even so, I agree that Guptill shouldn't be picked because of his catchnig, especially given that even he was prone to dropping a couple here and there.

On a semi-related note, Southee did a decent job in the slips during the last test, should he perhaps make a more permanent move there?

If you're after consistency in the cordon then having a frontline bowler in there regularly isn't a good idea, too in and out. He can stay gully or fourth though.

[Flem274*]

Well you're a bowler and you're pretty good at catching hard red balls.