**Official** New Zealand Domestic Season 2013/2014

[HeathDavisSpeed]

For those in Wellington, I understand there's some kind of World Cup Publicity shindig down on the waterfront tomorrow around late lunchtime. Guys like Hadlee and Waqar, along with some current NZ cricketers will apparently be playing a friendly match or something. I think the 'cricket' starts at 1pm.

 

[hendrix]

...on a tuesday?

I guess they'll get the lunch hour yuppies...

 

[Hurricane]

We don't have yuppies in wellywood - we have toyota corolla driving civil servants.

 

[Kippax]

Haha, madness. Who knew this thread is about four months ahead of the game. We'll be using Dukes in no time.

'SKYCITY KNIGHTS use roster space to recruit batting promise!', oh god, please don't. He'd be treating his wicket even more like it's a softball out.

 

[Kippax]

Cricket Wellington eye up Chris Gale for Firebirds... | Stuff.co.nz

Still the sprinkles and never the cake with Wellington. Not sure what Tamim's up to, I believe he said wanted to play for Siddons every chance he could.

 

[Kippax]

A bit of research I've now done with the filter for Munro's last two FC seasons, just to check if there is any clear feeding pattern favoured by our fastest-ever player to 1000 FC runs.

Arnel 5/0 (15 balls)
Astle 22/1 (42)
Beard 19/0 (25)
Boam 66/0 (55)
Boult 0/0 (0)
Bracewell 50/1 (48)
Butler 31/1 (33)
Duffy 13/0 (9)
Elliott 35/0 (50)
Ellis 30/0 (38)
Gillespie 84/2 (76)
Hutchinson 49/0 (33)
Johnston 9/0 (37)
Kuggeleijn 33/0 (30)
Lamb 52/0 (66)
Lonsdale 11/0 (21)
Mathieson 22/1 (15)
NcCullum 8/0 (18)
McMillan 27/0 (29)
Milne 0/0 (0) ..........46/1 (31) in shorter forms
Neesham 104/3 (96)
Nethula 20/0 (45)
Small 0/0 (0)
Sodhi 8/1 (12)
Southee 0/0 (0)
Wagner 120/0 (93)
Wheeler 0/0 (0)
Woakes 32/0 (38)

 

[Hurricane]

That's one heck of a SR.

he is seriously not worried at all by pace. The faster it comes the faster it goes off his bat as far as he is concerned. Steyn didn't worry the man.

He has done far better than I ever thought he would. I started a thread called on the record (I think) where I picked that he wouldn't play two seasons for Auckland. Yet he made the blackcaps. His technique is poor lets face it and the ball hits his bat half the time rather than him hitting the ball. Yet he has a good eye doesn't he. I really lament that his bowling is not up to it in List A. He would be a terrific number 7 player in ODIs for NZ if he could send down 5 overs. He should never ever be picked for another test match side even if it means bringing back Chris Harris from retirement first.

One thing we confirmed about him though - is that if you score a double in the Plunket you are going to get into the test team. Seems to happen with everyone.

For his development he needs to move up the order. If he is going to come in at number six then he is always going to have to play his shots if he wants to make a century and go big. I also recommend that he studies Daniel Flynn's game (not his defensive system) but just his temperament and ball striking skills. And remodels his fundamental core batting system from the ground up.

 

[Flem274*]

So basically Colin Munro could be one hell of a player if he completely changed his offside technique?

I'm not expert, but I think having a less extremely open stance might help him get into better positions when it's full outside off. While the openness of his stance sets him up well to cream it through the onside it means he has to move more to play through the offside (not that he really appears to care about moving much anyway).

Very talented player though. I think Steve made a post saying he was a pure bowler until a couple of seasons ago and never really gave his batting much attention in his younger years. It's a shame his potential went unrecognised for so long because he obviously has the talent, he just needed someone to help him learn the art of batting ten years ago.

 

[Kippax]

That's one heck of a SR.

he is seriously not worried at all by pace. The faster it comes the faster it goes off his bat as far as he is concerned. Steyn didn't worry the man.

Tbf I remember Howsie was highly amused by how late he was on Dernbach at 146. We'll see how he goes with the Windies attack I guess.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Bad news for the Volts ahead of Champions League - no Lee or Fuller and still don't know about RTD

 

[Slippaah]

I feel kinda bad for doing this, because I know shamelessly self-promoting can kinda suck at times, but I've started doing a bit of writing for a cricket website and would like to get some feedback/people reading. By all means tear the article apart; only one way to improve.

New Zealand Cricket’s Domestic Exodus

Nice piece. Good luck with that.

The NZC hierachy are arguably the villains . Who at NZC is in charge of promoting youngster's interests ? What do they actually do about it? How much are these bureaucrats paid compared to the marked abscence of funding for young talent ?Is there simply no money at all? Its these departing 22 year olds you mention and non retained school leavers who hurt N Z. Cricket bleeds talented school leavers because,unlike other mainstream N Z sports, there is so little in place for them in N Z as they leave school.If you don't make N Z at U 19 level or jump onto a domestic contract then what..?If you want to go to Uni first where is the youngster development and retention programme ? Non existent unless perhaps you were on the N Z U 19 radar. Either your parents pay or you are lost to cricket. Very sad for what is still N Z 's leading summer game, with about 100,000 registered players.

One example of crickets failure. P M 's Scholarships for young sportspeople in N Z provide a hugely valuable programme for them annually outside their sport. Awarded each year by government funded High Performance Sport N Z (HPSNZ). See 2013 HPSNZ P M 's List of over 330 recipients in 17 N Z sporting disciplines at PM Athlete Scholarship recipients 2013 | High Performance Sport New Zealand

How many young cricketers on the List in 2013? None. One NZC Board Member is on the HPSNZ Board for goodness sake .

As for the HPC at Lincoln, I saw inside it briefly last year and was disappointed. It is a poorly lit,tired surfaced anachronism.Why is there not a modern Cricket HPC somewhere near Auckland with top notch coaches? Near where half the population of the country live? Some ICC Associate countries have better indoor facilities than NZC , a Test Playing country.

.

 

[Flem274*]

I don't know the ins and outs of the NZC system, but I know the system of another summer sport and I would say we do better than cricket at providing clear pathways for youngsters despite having less resources and a wider gap between us and competing countries in both money and numbers. Domestic competitions pull bigger crowds as well...

There is still plenty of cronyism and jobs for the boys unfortunately, but it's pretty insane how often cricket manages to shoot itself in the foot compared to every other sport in the country. I'm talking both management wise and player development wise.

A lot of it might be down to the facilities available at club level. There are hundreds of all weather sand arenas around the country which you can use whenever you want and they're built to a good standard because clubs run on a tight budget and need their facilities to last. Half the cricket nets around the country are falling to pieces. If you compare the quality of the cricket nets in Palmerston North to the quality of the various riding club facilities it's a no contest. I will concede that I actually think the practice facilities for cricket are harder to make to a good standard than our ones though. Especially when it comes to keeping injuries down.

From a cultural standpoint I think we have a better culture than cricket too. Cricket is too focused on being hard working kiwi fighters who can compete if we scrap hard. We get told to get out there and **** Europe up their arseholes because they looked down on us for so long. We know we can be the best in the world because we've already done it in one discipline. I guess it's an example of success breeding success.

 

[Hurricane]

My post is only loosely connected to the above two posts. I feel a contributing factor to NZ's poor performance is a lack of coaching. When you make the rep sides in cricket they start to actually teach you things (based on my brief exposure and talking to guys who were selected for youth teams) - if you are trying to develop to make those teams you have to teach yourself - which isn't good enough. In fact there is an inbuilt belief in cricket that all players should self coach - I don't see other sports doing that.
And the coaching that is available at the lower levels in cricket for Reserve grade teams and high school 1st XIs is poor compared to rugby. In rugby we know our chops and 13 year olds have amazing techniques for rucks and mauls. In cricket young batsman often have 3 or 4 shots they have mastered instead of 9 or 10.
Young bowlers often do not get shown how to seam it both ways.

These are all problems with grass roots cricket in New Zealand.

Like I said they do start unlocking the vault and doling out some coaching morsels for you to chew on if you are Kane Williamson - but if you are a late bloomer or just want to be the best you can be you are SOL.

When I listen to the AB coaching staff after a win or a loss - the interviews are full of insight and they know exactly what we have to do in the next game to win. When I listen to Hesson or McCullum after a loss there is no great cerebral insights. And we do crap things like batting first against SA in SA in a first test when there is a bit in the pitch and wonder why we get bowled out for 45. We basically don't seem to have enough knowledgeable people and there is a reticence to coach at the lower levels.

 

[Flem274*]

Coaching is a good point. How often do you see top level coaches teaching Nigel Nobody in cricket? Tbf it's like that in a lot of sports but again returning to my own, high level coaches are more than happy to teach regular muppets provided you can pay and are willing to front up, shut up and learn. The cost isn't that high and group lessons make it pretty affordable.

I think it was Ian Chappell who had a rant on our tour to Australia in 2009 or so about how having the best coaches at the top is a waste of time because you want them teaching your kids. He inadvertently touched on a good point - you need to make the best coaches available to anybody who wants to learn. Sure, they will end up teaching many people with low ceilings but if you have as many players as possible reaching their potential it raises the standard all the way from club thirds to the national side.

 

[RxGM]

I can recall someone senior in NZC saying essentially we have limited resources and a small talent pool so we must identify and promote talant, ie. if we dont pick you early go get stuffed.

On a completly different topic I have just moved to near eden park, and I was somewhat flabergasted to see that they are playing rugby on the wicket block at eden park No2, has this always been the case, what is it like round the traps.

 

[Flem274*]

I can recall someone senior in NZC saying essentially we have limited resources and a small talent pool so we must identify and promote talant, ie. if we dont pick you early go get stuffed.

And imo that's backwards. They shouldn't be annointing chosen ones, they should be asking youngsters to prove themselves worthy.

It also reeks of saving the best coaching for the chosen few, which has been a common anecdote in this thread. You guys already know what I think about only letting a few have access to the best stuff. I think we artificially limit our talent pool by overdoing the talent scouting and high performance academies. These things have their place, but when you pick out a few guys to get the best treatment and exclude everyone else from getting any crack at those resources you're lowering the standard of your own pool.

 

[Kippax]

Garden of Eden groundsman calls it a day - Sport - NZ Herald News

"I'd say getting rid of Eden Park's slow and low tag", did he what. Munners won't be too pleased to see him go, nor Bartlett.

 

[RxGM]

And imo that's backwards. They shouldn't be annointing chosen ones, they should be asking youngsters to prove themselves worthy.

It also reeks of saving the best coaching for the chosen few, which has been a common anecdote in this thread. You guys already know what I think about only letting a few have access to the best stuff. I think we artificially limit our talent pool by overdoing the talent scouting and high performance academies. These things have their place, but when you pick out a few guys to get the best treatment and exclude everyone else from getting any crack at those resources you're lowering the standard of your own pool.

I compared the 2011/12 contract lists with the 13/14 lists

There were 30 new names in the 13/14 list

20 of those played nationally Under19's, a further 6 played regional under 19's, two overseas imports in Grobellar and Ronchi, and only two were non age group representatives: Mark Craig and McClengahan

I dont think these numbers will surprise anyone at all, just thought I would quantify

 

[Hurricane]

^thanks for that.

I guess on one hand the only players who make an impact for us really are the childhood prodigy players. So perhaps it is justified at one level.

I can't help thinking though that having better grass roots cricketers will result in having better parent/coaches for our 8 and 9 year olds where it all starts. KW was created by his old man training him everyday wasn't he. The best player in my intermediate had a dad that trained him everyday. And in my high school our star player came from an esteemed cricketing family and he went on to play FC. So if we can have some knowledgeable cricket crazy parents out there that would help as well.

If you do get identified young then you are good to go. My Boss's son is in the Future Firebirds program and they have been grooming him since the age of 14.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

My Boss's son is in the Future Firebirds program and they have been grooming him since the age of 14.

I just hope Rolf Harris isn't his coach.