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

[Bahnz]

As much crap as Siddons (deservedly) gets for being a loud-mouthed cheerleader who likes to import his way out of trouble, I'm really glad somebody is coming out and rubbishing the "it's a mental thing" excuse. All the confidence in the world couldn't turn Dev**** into a international player.

 

[hendrix]

thought Devcich looked allright on both the A games and the last ODI

 

[Meridio]

Martin Crowe would be having a fit at the high backlift thing.

And yeah, I mostly agree with the not-a-mental-problem bit. Although they do keep making the same ****ing mistakes over and over again, which is mental.

 

[Immenso]

Really enjoyed those articles, good stuff Jamie.

First article read a little but like positioning himself for jobs, protecting his reputation - but second one had no whiff of that.

Really good to read technical analysis, so rare in NZ media about NZ players. Especially as batting technicalities isnt one of my strong points beyond the basics.

Interesting about Papps. From the vault I could tell he had changed from the hobbit nurdler of the mid noughties to the rotund biffer of last season. Good to read about that with a bit more detail.

Laughed at the "booming it"

 

[Immenso]

Martin Crowe would be having a fit at the high backlift .

I thought that too, but interesting to get differing analysis.

I guess it's a crazy t20 world these days

 

[Flem274*]

There are definitely mental issues as well, but they change from player to player and manifest in different ways. It's pretty ironic though Siddons' elected skipper is one guy who could do with some confidence (and a technique).

We could discuss high v low backlifts all day, but I'm glad Siddons is at least trying to make a change rather than letting his players repeat the same technical mistakes over and over. This is a change from last season though, when he was trying to change Boam from being an orthodox and technically correct batsman to a power player. The "overcoached" word was bandied around a bit.

Maybe it's not surprising an Australian coach prefers higher backlifts. It would be easier to play horizontal bat shots if your bat is already halfway there. New Zealand has traditionally been all about the front foot though, and the lower the bat is the easier it is to time the ball and play late to fuller bowling with late movement.

 

[hendrix]

Martin Crowe would be having a fit at the high backlift thing.

I think there are a few more nuances to it. Basically what he's saying is that you have to be able to drive a bowler with enough power to reach the boundary.

 

[NZTailender]

Siddons 4 coach? Would be better than McHesson. He seems pretty much spot on on a lot of things there.

Papps 4 BlackCaps?

 

[Flem274*]

Siddons has too much of a history of parochialism or blind optimism. Someone who thinks Franklin has been shafted or Gillespie's bowling was up to it last year shouldn't really be the head coach imo.

 

[Hurricane]

Siddons has too much of a history of parochialism or blind optimism. Someone who thinks Franklin has been shafted or Gillespie's bowling was up to it last year shouldn't really be the head coach imo.

He would change if he was head coach. Right now he's probably incented on developing as many black caps from Wellington as he can. Could even be a hidden clause in his contract we don't know about.

 

[Flem274*]

Would he?

We can only judge him on what he has shown us. Plenty of people "might" be good coaches and "might" put away bad habits. His actions show nothing to suggest he is any less biased and parochial than Grant Bradburn, and his Wellington side are spoon material.

 

[BackFootPunch]

How much of Siddons' rhetoric is just part of his coaching 'act' though? Those blokes are in his team, he's going to do everything he can to make them feel good - including bigging them up to the media etc. I don't think you'd ever see any of his apparent parochialism transfer if he ended up coaching NZ.

 

[Flem274*]

Telling a player they're booming through the crease when they're blatantly not hurts both the quality of the selectors knowledge and reduces the pressure on the player to bowl properly. Likewise, saying Franklin was shafted is bollocks. The bloke barely averages 20 as a specialist batsman and about a million with the ball.

Back your players by all means, but be honest about them. If that means you have nothing good to say to the media, then don't say anything to the media.

Siddons obviously knows his stuff when it comes to batting, but that doesn't make him the best man for the job on everything.

 

[Hurricane]

The fact his team sucks is a good reason.

Your not taking on board my point though. Basically lots of people are single minded until they get promoted and then they see the big picture. Basically people do whatever they are incented to do and those incentives change at a higher level.

Ideally you would promote someone who already sees the big picture my only point is that to quote Athlai - he wouldn't be terrible.

 

[BackFootPunch]

Yeah I tend to think Siddons would be a good batting coach, though not sure how well he'd get on under someone like Hesson.

The thing with NZ and batting coaches though is that we have this strange desire for everyone to bat exactly the same way, using whatever technique the national batting coach favours. I remember going to a national U17 tournament and having John Wright get us all together in a big room to practice grip, stance and backlift on the rest day. Perhaps that sort of thing is a hangover from the academy days, not sure. I think Mark O'Donnell tried to change quite a few player's techniques during his tenure as well.

 

[Hurricane]

How much of Siddons' rhetoric is just part of his coaching 'act' though? Those blokes are in his team, he's going to do everything he can to make them feel good - including bigging them up to the media etc. I don't think you'd ever see any of his apparent parochialism transfer if he ended up coaching NZ.

This basically - I was using convoluted theories to say the same thing.

 

[Flem274*]

The fact his team sucks is a good reason.

Your not taking on board my point though. Basically lots of people are single minded until they get promoted and then they see the big picture. Basically people do whatever they are incented to do and those incentives change at a higher level.

Ideally you would promote someone who already sees the big picture my only point is that to quote Athlai - he wouldn't be terrible.

And how do we know someone doesn't already see the big picture? Siddons is in the media a lot so he gets a lot of attention, because he likes to big up his own players and slam everyone else, whether they be national or domestic. Sometimes he's bang on, but most of the time he ends up looking unprofessional and worse, the players under his tutelage can't back him up. If he really wants to be the national coach he needs to shut up, get his team winning and start looking at the big picture.

The coach Siddons mouthed off about the other day, Vaughan Johnson, has actually done quite well with his Otago side in all three formats since taking over from Hesson and a couple of years ago Otago weren't looking all that flash. During Johnson's tenure they've finished second in the Shield and been very successful in 20/20 on a global scale. Individually he's gotten good results out of the likes of Rutherford, Redmond and Butler and he's brought in intelligent imports like RTD and Ryder.

I really don't know anything about Johnson or his opinions because he doesn't seem to let on much, but you can't sniff at his results. EDIT: Siddons meanwhile, has continued to let Wellington fall to pieces. Anthony Stuart may have started it but Siddons has certainly been in the job for long enough to be expected to get our second largest city performing. Instead he's lost Boam, Ryder and Austin-Smellie and let a poor team culture fester, and is trying to patch it up by giving noted inspirational character Jimmy Franklin the captaincy.

 

[Hurricane]

I think what you are saying is that he sucks for multiple reasons beyond his parochialism a) his team sucks b) he doesn't get results c) he mouths off unprofessionally.

I don't mind his recent mouthing off in the media. Some of it might do some good and someone was going to say something after we lost 3-0

I have met vaughn Johnson. BFP probably knows him intimately. Vaughn was my club coach a few years ago. He could see my spin was troubling the batsman at my first practice so he came over a closer look. Then I bowled a few pies and he left - wise man.

 

[Bahnz]

Apparently Johnson is a bit of a tool, at least according to people from the local TAB branch. However, he's always been an undeniably excellent bowling coach - always found ways of getting the best out of Mk.1 Franklin, and under his coaching both Gillespie and O'Brien went from domestic nobodies to international contenders.

I wouldn't be too harsh on Siddons for losing Jesse. I get the feeling that the "poor team culture" mentioned earlier in the year was in no small part due to BFJ's attitude to his team-mates, practices and matches. We all know that everyone in Wellington Cricket was fed up with him for treating the entirety of last season as one big elaborate piss-take - probably the only commonly-shared opinion in the side - so it's no surprise to see him go.

 

[Hurricane]

didn't have a bad reputation at the club he made us wear white shirts to practice - that is all I remember , and yes used to be a bowling coach.