***Official*** New Zealand in Bangladesh & Sri Lanka 2013

[Bahnz]

Thoughts:

I actually don't know if he will ever really be a first change bowler. Neesham looks more likely to succeed in this department, but I think Anderson is ahead of him on the batting side of the equation. It would be nice if he could develop his bowling as well, but with the seamers we have we'll only need a few old ball overs from him. I think he's a great chance to get in at number 6 at some stage.

I think Anderson has all the basic tools to eventually be a Watson-esque bowler - skidding the ball through at mid-130's pace and generating sharp away swing from close to the stumps - and one who could one day be relied on to bowl 10-15 overs a day and pick up a few wickets here and there. He produced a few very encouraging performances with the ball back in 2009/10 - before he was effectively knocked out of the sport for 2 and a half years by injury. The problem is that he's had so little bowling in interim, that he's really back to where he was as a 16 year old - promising but without any control or consistency. So yeah even if he stays free of serious injury (har har) I reckon it will take several years for him to get to the level where he can be an effective performer at the international level as a bowler.

 

[Flem274*]

I'm dubious about playing Anderson until he shows more with his bowling tbh. He has amazing hand eye coordination and a lot of power, but so does James Franklin. Anderson's technique isn't as shoddy but his batting is still very raw and imo he's a test match number seven. It's a feasible selection since Watling is easily good enough to bat at six (it might suit him being shuffled up one away from the tail even) but then it becomes a question of does Anderson offer more than Brownlie? He's not the batsman Brownlie is but he can bowl, but then Anderson is a 5th bowler at present and KW can do that job better on turning pitches.

 

[Flem274*]

I think Anderson has all the basic tools to eventually be a Watson-esque bowler - mid-130's pace, generates sharp away swing from close to the stumps - and one who could one day be relied on to bowl 10-15 overs a day and pick up a few wickets here and there. He produced a few very encouraging performances with the ball back in 2009/10 - before he was effectively knocked out of the sport for 2 and a half years by injury. The problem is that he's had so little bowling in interim, that he's really back to where he was as a 16 year old - promising but without any control or consistency, so yeah even stays free of serious injury (har har) I reckon it will take several years for him to get to the level where he can be an effective performer at the international level as a bowler.

I think he can become a genuine bowler who bats at seven tbh. I really like the look of him with the ball. Just needs to be able to get more than two mintues in at a time to develop it.

 

[Bahnz]

I think he can become a genuine bowler who bats at seven tbh. I really like the look of him with the ball. Just needs to be able to get more than two mintues in at a time to develop it.

Hmmm...maybe I'm just thinking to fondly of his backfoot mulching of Onions and Broad at Queenstown earlier in the year, but I've always considered his batting to be his primary talent - then again, before he was elevated to international cricket, a lot of people would've said the same about Franklin (including Jimmeh himself)...

 

[hendrix]

I think he can become a genuine bowler who bats at seven tbh. I really like the look of him with the ball. Just needs to be able to get more than two mintues in at a time to develop it.

Unlike Franklin, Anderson has always played as an allrounder. This is not an experiment - he's batted in the top 4. He's a very capable batsman and is more accomplished in that discipline than bowling IMO.

He hasn't done enough to displace Brownlie, but he should be aiming for that number 6 spot in the long run, IMO.

I think Anderson has all the basic tools to eventually be a Watson-esque bowler - skidding the ball through at mid-130's pace and generating sharp away swing from close to the stumps - and one who could one day be relied on to bowl 10-15 overs a day and pick up a few wickets here and there. He produced a few very encouraging performances with the ball back in 2009/10 - before he was effectively knocked out of the sport for 2 and a half years by injury. The problem is that he's had so little bowling in interim, that he's really back to where he was as a 16 year old - promising but without any control or consistency. So yeah even if he stays free of serious injury (har har) I reckon it will take several years for him to get to the level where he can be an effective performer at the international level as a bowler.

Yeah, but even Watson has never really been a first change bowler.

Certainly, with our pace bowling stocks there's no need for him to be bowling more than a few tight overs with the old ball. This would be a great addition to the team because we're awful with the old ball right now.

 

[hendrix]

Hmmm...maybe I'm just thinking to fondly of his backfoot mulching of Onions and Broad at Queenstown earlier in the year, but I've always considered his batting to be his primary talent - then again, before he was elevated to international cricket, a lot of people would've said the same about Franklin (including Jimmeh himself)...

Maybe Franklin was a batsman at school level, but I'm pretty sure he was seen as a bowler from first class level onwards.

Anyway, just because Franklin couldn't do it doesn't mean Anderson can't.

 

[Bahnz]

There's also the question of whether you want to play 3 left arm seamers. That'll give the Deshi spinners a real crater to aim at.

 

[straw man]

Aside from anything else, it would be quite funny if we selected two spinners to turn the ball away from the right-hander... and then three left arm seamers so that they don't have any rough to bowl into .

On a less extreme but more realistic level, as Boult and Wagner are sure to play and leave footmarks outside RH offstump, that's just another reason why Williamson is likely to be our key spinner.

 

[Bahnz]

Maybe Franklin was a batsman at school level, but I'm pretty sure he was seen as a bowler from first class level onwards.

Anyway, just because Franklin couldn't do it doesn't mean Anderson can't.

As early as 1999/2000 Franklin (only 19 at the time) was already batting at number 5 for Wellington and his left arm swing was very loopy in those days.

I think it was only really the 2004 tour of England that made Franklin realise that this whole swing bowling lark could actually work out quite well for him. He thoroughly outbowled Martin and Tuffey while trundling in and letting it go in the mid-120's - when he reappeared later that season v Aus, he'd clearly been working on his strength and speed and was bowling a good 10 kmh faster on average.

 

[hendrix]

As early as 1999/2000 Franklin (only 19 at the time) was already batting at number 6 for Wellington and his left arm swing was very loopy in those days.

I think it was only really the 2004 tour of England that made Franklin realise that this whole swing bowling lark could actually work out quite well for him. He thoroughly outbowled Martin and Tuffey while trundling in and letting it go in the mid-120's - when he reappeared later that season v Aus, he'd clearly been working on his strength and speed and was bowling a good 10 kmh faster on average.

Interesting. I guess it goes to show the importance of having a clear idea of one's role in the team.

Again, as nice as it would be to have a Cairns - i.e. someone that can bowl first change or even open the bowling, we really don't need that at all. His batting is what we need and I hope that's what he focuses on.

 

[straw man]

It'll also be interesting to see how Brownlie goes against the spinners. I have heard he has spent a lot of time working on his skills against spin and I really rate him against the quicks, but I can see Latham making his test debut if Dean leaves the selectors in much doubt and the wicket looks a bit sticky.

I too like Brownlie but he's on thin ice. I would give him the first test but I want to see results vs spin right away. If he's spent the last 18 months working on playing spin but hasn't made any improvement (and the signs vs Swann in England weren't good) then we probably can't expect him to ever play spin competently.

If he books a double failure vs spin in the first test then would seriously consider Latham or Anderson for the second.

 

[Prince EWS]

I'm dubious about playing Anderson until he shows more with his bowling tbh. He has amazing hand eye coordination and a lot of power, but so does James Franklin. Anderson's technique isn't as shoddy but his batting is still very raw and imo he's a test match number seven. It's a feasible selection since Watling is easily good enough to bat at six (it might suit him being shuffled up one away from the tail even) but then it becomes a question of does Anderson offer more than Brownlie? He's not the batsman Brownlie is but he can bowl, but then Anderson is a 5th bowler at present and KW can do that job better on turning pitches.

Yeah, Anderson would be a real option at #7 if Williamson wasn't arguably the best off spinner in the country anyway.

 

[hendrix]

Even without taking Williamson's spin into account, we don't have 2 test standard spinners right now so he'd never be part of a 3-seamer 2-spinner attack unless Sodhi really does turn gun and we get Vettori back to full fitness.

 

[RxGM]

If Anderson significantly out performs Brownlie in the warm up, he will be in as a batsman who bowls a bit, batting at 5/6

NZ is the position were nothing other than a series win will be accutly embarasing and undermine McHesson, I am struggling to see with a bowling line up of Boult/Wagner/Bracewell/Martin/Williamson how we are going to take 20 wickets unless we get reverse.

McCullum would prefer to have somone who can get through 10 overs a day hence the selction of Munro in RSA, but he has said that they have to justify there selction purely as a batsman. Anderson has done enough in the last 12 months to convince McHesson that he is good enough.
Unfortunatly for Brownlie the other three middle order players are not going to be dropped, it was a huge oversight not to make Brownlie capt of NZA to give him a crack to progess his game against spin, but i think they will go for the attacking option and pick Anderson to bat 5/6.

For what its worth imo Anderson should not be anywhere near the Test squad untill his fitness significantly improves,

 

[hendrix]

It will be interesting to see how specialised McHesson's thinking is in terms of batting replacements. If Latham is being considered primarily as an opener, is he still further ahead of Anderson in the race for a middle order slot, or will he be considered purely as a replacement for Rutherford/Fulton or maybe if Williamson gets injured at number 3?

McCullum himself has batted just about every position, I really hope he sees how potentially limiting this could be to Latham's development.

 

[Kippax]

I see Scott Styris is scoring tons in the Dhaka Premier League, wac.

 

[Bahnz]

NZ is the position were nothing other than a series win will be accutly embarasing and undermine McHesson, I am struggling to see with a bowling line up of Boult/Wagner/Bracewell/Martin/Williamson how we are going to take 20 wickets unless we get reverse.

Unfortunatly for Brownlie the other three middle order players are not going to be dropped, it was a huge oversight not to make Brownlie capt of NZA to give him a crack to progess his game against spin, but i think they will go for the attacking option and pick Anderson to bat 5/6.

The thing to remember is that while that bowling lineup looks a bit average the Bangladeshi batting (despite finally achieving some progress in the last couple of years) is still pretty feeble. It would be hugely disappointing (and highly indicative of the importance of Southee) if the bowling is unable to take 20 wickets even in unfriendly conditions.

I actually think that Brownlie's absence from the NZA squad indicates that Hesson intends to stick with him for at least the first test, regardless of how Anderson goes in the warm-up. Of course, this is assuming that the different sectors of the New Zealand selection process actually communicate with one another...

 

[Kippax]

Unlike Franklin, Anderson has always played as an allrounder. This is not an experiment - he's batted in the top 4. He's a very capable batsman and is more accomplished in that discipline than bowling IMO.

He hasn't done enough to displace Brownlie, but he should be aiming for that number 6 spot in the long run, IMO.

'Corey Anderson' and 'accomplished' shouldn't be used together at all. Some of the worst shot selection and play of lateral movement in the whole vault belongs to that guy.

 

[Flem274*]

I would actually have McCullum on the chopping block over Brownlie because he can't score on seaming pitches, turning pitches or under serious pressure unless it's a road (barring his double ton, which I hoped was a turning point). For all Brownlie's faults against spin, he has made runs when the chips are down against good pace attacks in difficult situations. McCullum is the perfect example of what Burgey would call a downhill skier, which is why he bats six.

But I know it's a pipe dream. McCullum is a good tactician, fielder, gloveman and final nail in the coffin though. Arguably NZ's best gloveman ever imo.

 

[Flem274*]

Boult will be fine but the other three could be boom or bust.