***Official*** West Indies in New Zealand 2013/14

[WindieWeathers]

The Kraigg situation could be a tight one!!..if he leaves today he'll have a chance of making it. But i agree the selectors really have screwed us here!!..they know Edwards struggled in England but still contrived to pick him ahead of Fudadin!!..why not Carter aswell? it's a mess and i hope they are all sacked after the India farce.

Gibson could be off after this tour anyway!!..that's the big rumours going around so if that does happen i'd expect big changes to happen next year in our cricket.

 

[Beamer]

Carter should definitely be playing ODI cricket. Not sure about tests until he's converted those many 50's into 100's. Incredibly talented batsman though and a bustling medium pacer.

Any posters here also living in the UK? Any idea if this series is going to be on TV? At the moment it looks like Sky won't be covering it and I can't find it on any other channels either.

 

[Hurricane]

The recent Tests in Bangladesh have again been lean with 54 runs from three innings. He has recently admitted his back was causing him more problems than he let on.

That's sad for baz if his back is making him get out.

 

[Flem274*]

Did his back really cause him to jump into the air and try to play the shot he did in one innings where half of us lost our **** in the manner he got out?

His back will definitely be ****ing with aspects of his play, I won't doubt him there, but some of those dismissals were definitely due to his own errors. Just my opinion of course.

Anyway, absolutely ecstatic to see we went through the whole captaincy saga last year with the long term good in mind. Giving the captaincy to a player in his early thirties with a history of back issues serious enough to force him to give up the gloves and now maybe even early retirement was an amazing move, especially considering how quietly and politely everything went. I'm really stoked there is a decent chance the captaincy will be given to someone a year older than me at any moment, because we all know the last time it happened the captaincy didn't prevent Fleming from completing his test batting apprenticeship at all. So glad NZC would never have the humility to offer the captaincy to a certain experienced player who by many accounts has the respect of the younger players in the dressing room who should have all the power soon enough considering Oram, Vettori, McCullum etc are on the way out.

We're a zoo with no fences.

 

[Hurricane]

well the article, if I am reading it right, is saying he says his back was a contributing factor

 

[Bahnz]

I'm really stoked there is a decent chance the captaincy will be given to someone a year older than me at any moment, because we all know the last time it happened the captaincy didn't prevent Fleming from completing his test batting apprenticeship at all. So glad NZC would never have the humility to offer the captaincy to a certain experienced player who by many accounts has the respect of the younger players in the dressing room who should have all the power soon enough considering Oram, Vettori, McCullum etc are on the way out.

We're a zoo with no fences.

I didn't know you were so close to 2m Pete's age...I agree about ****ing around with his apprenticeship though. The lad needs time to settle.

 

[Flem274*]

McCullum's been promising the world then getting out between 20-40 his entire career. His back is ****ed, but it's not the only reason he has dry spells, and the dismissal I mentioned which sticks in the memory as especially rank was actually quite athletic for someone in pain (maybe the pain of the jump shuffle thing cause him to lose concentration when playing the shot? Only he could say really). I made a big long speculative bull post on what I think has been doing him in though in the Bangladesh thread and I cbf digging it.

McCullum's main issue stats wise is he doesn't score tons. As a specialist batsman I think he only has the excellent match saving double ton in India to show. He's had a few hot streaks of consecutive 50s and the odd good 50-99 knock in isolation, and then a string of low scores. You can draw a few parallels between McCullum and Watson, and one of them is neither convert their knocks during hot streaks into big hundreds, and their records suffer when they inevitably lose form and cop a run of low scores.

 

[Flem274*]

I didn't know you were so close to 2m Pete's age...I agree about ****ing around with his apprenticeship though. The lad needs time to settle.

WAC z

 

[Mike5181]

Williamson was always going to be handed the captaincy relatively early, even if the captaincy fiasco, and McCullum's form/injury problems never happened. Taylor's a good test batsman, but an ordinary captain anyway, so perhaps a 24/25 year old Williamson as captain won't be much of an issue in the role performance-wise. He needs to establish himself as a quality test batsman first though.

 

[Hurricane]

Every other member of the team would need to contract syphilis and drop dead from it before RT would get another go after the effort they went to explain why he was unsuitable. Trent Boult would get the C before Ross.

 

[straw man]

Anyway, absolutely ecstatic to see we went through the whole captaincy saga last year with the long term good in mind. Giving the captaincy to a player in his early thirties with a history of back issues serious enough to force him to give up the gloves and now maybe even early retirement was an amazing move, especially considering how quietly and politely everything went. I'm really stoked there is a decent chance the captaincy will be given to someone a year older than me at any moment, because we all know the last time it happened the captaincy didn't prevent Fleming from completing his test batting apprenticeship at all.

Yes I think this is an appropriately snarky response to talk of McCullum retiring early after the all the upset Hesson and others caused to install him as captain. It really does seem that McCullum's days as a test player are numbered.

Hindsight makes it more and more obvious that a split captaincy (Taylor tests, McCullum ODIs/T20s), properly broached as a subject and then with a well-handled transition, would have been a far better solution.

McCullum's main issue stats wise is he doesn't score tons. As a specialist batsman I think he only has the excellent match saving double ton in India to show. He's had a few hot streaks of consecutive 50s and the odd good 50-99 knock in isolation, and then a string of low scores. You can draw a few parallels between McCullum and Watson, and one of them is neither convert their knocks during hot streaks into big hundreds, and their records suffer when they inevitably lose form and cop a run of low scores.

'Former vice captain that wants to bat in a new position every few months, wants to bat aggressively but gets out the same way all the goddam time, doesn't seem to learn and doesn't make hundreds. General rabble rouser that bosses the dressing room, instigates dissent towards any coach he doesn't like and gets them sacked, and doesn't want to answer to more soft-spoken types' *.

Yeah I think there are a few similarities there... In saying that, Watson is still comfortably the more annoying of the two, while I've always retained some sort of affection for McCullum as a cricketer despite the numerous frustrations.

* another overblown personality stereotype brought to you in the style of Kippax

 

[Flem274*]

Since this starts tomorrow is it sticky time?

 

[jcas0167]

I wonder how good the medical advice has been, if McCullum's back has been this bad why didn't he give away the gloves earlier?

Unfortunately, there isn't really scope for cricket to offer 'sabaticals' like those offered to McCaw and Carter.

It's a real shame, as he showed a real flair for the captaincy last season and his form was superb. Fingers crossed he can manage through this season and his form improves, as Williamson doesn't need the extra responsibility at this stage of his career.

 

[Kippax]

Very pleased to hear the groundsman is growing in confidence, but has he earned the right to prepare a good pitch?

Black Caps ready for green University Oval deck - Cricket News | TVNZ

Meanwhile, Tamati said he was pleased with pitch preparation and testing had shown the wicket, one across from the duller pitch used for draws against South Africa and England in the last two summers, was harder too.

After two draws - both affected by rain - Tamati was keen to produce a result wicket.

"I think we played it a bit safe, especially with the opposition bowlers that were here," he said.

"This time we're a bit more comfortable. We're happy with how it's coming along and I think there'll be a bit in it."

With Tests likely to be played at Christchurch's Hagley Oval soon, Tamati could be under pressure to produce a more entertaining pitch or risk losing the South Island Test to Christchurch.

 

[Bahnz]

A couple of thoughts:

Kane Williamson shouldn't play in the first test. Yeah, he's the only test class top 3 bat that we have, but that only makes it more vital that he stand aside and get back to full fitness, given that we've got another 4 tests to come. If you're still saying that a broken bone is troubling you two days before the start of a test, then you're not going to be ready imo.

If McCullum doesn't make runs against a depleted (and likely jet-lagged) WI bowling attack in this series, then he should call it a day. It's ridiculous given the chaos that brought about his ascendancy to the captaincy role, but we've simply got better test batsmen (Ryder, Vettori) coming back later this season. Further, McCullum is too valuable a T20/ODI player to be risked for the mediocre returns that he's been producing in test cricket over the past 3 years.

Perhaps if Dan does come back into the team later this season, he could be talked into taking over the test captaincy for the next 12-18 months in a caretaker role?

Bit weird that this game is starting on a tuesday.

 

[Bahnz]

Glad to see the Black Caps' staff are reading my posts.

Williamson Scratched from First Test | Stuff.co.nz

 

[jcas0167]

Glad to see the Black Caps' staff are reading my posts.

Williamson Scratched from First Test | Stuff.co.nz

Good move and I'm happy Redmond gets another chance.

Will be interested to see how Sodhi and Anderson go.

 

[straw man]

Probably sensible but gah, I don't really want Redmond at 3. As I said before I wouldn't mind Redmond filling in as an opener if Fulton was injured, but now that push has come to shove I would really prefer Latham at 3, given Brownlie's poor form.

 

[Flem274*]

I hope he tons up.

Redmond will ton up.

 

[Bahnz]

Latham needs to score some runs at the top for his province before he can even begin to be considered for the test side.

I'm not a huge fan of Redmond's return either, but seeing as the match is being played at Dunedin, this is probably the best ever time for him to make a return. With Williamson probably only a week away from his return, it could be trouble for Fulton if he fails and Redmond makes runs