New Zealand Off Season 2014

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Huzzah! Ryder playing for Essex! Great news.

Hopefully he plays in the County Championship too as the Essex top order could really do with a bit more solidity. Him and Napes playing together. All kinds of win.

 

[jcas0167]

Bob Carter takes new job at NZ Cricket - sport | Stuff.co.nz

Bradburn's not their guy for NZ A and NZ U19 anymore.

Jamie Siddons to come in as batting coach and sort out Fulton.

Craig McMillan might be considered given he did the job filling in when Carter was unavailable last summer?

Chris Cairns had suggested they bring in Michael Bevan with the World Cup approaching, but that seems unlikely.

Good to see Ryder's unique talents being recognised by Essex. Hopefully he goes well.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

According to an article on the BBC website, Ryder will be playing all forms for Essex. Great news.

 

[hendrix]

Excellent news.

I imagine making the world cup squad will be a big goal of his, so to do that he's going to need a monster season.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Well, he is exactly the player that Essex need. The top order would have been more at home in the Plunket Shield in recent years. The number of times Essex were 80-odd (or less) for 5 or 6 last season was incredibly poor. Even the start of this season, the top order has looked flaky. I wonder who will be dropped for him. Smith, perhaps? He should make hay on the pitches at Chelmsford come June/July.

 

[hendrix]

Bob Carter takes new job at NZ Cricket - sport | Stuff.co.nz

Bradburn's not their guy for NZ A and NZ U19 anymore.

Not that we know his real impact, but the lack of progress of certain batsmen with obvious technical flaws doesn't speak well of Carter's performance. Guptill and Rutherford being the most glaring examples.

 

[NZTailender]

Well, he is exactly the player that Essex need

Jesse Ryder: the Harvey Dent of Essex

 

[Kippax]

Not that we know his real impact, but the lack of progress of certain batsmen with obvious technical flaws doesn't speak well of Carter's performance. Guptill and Rutherford being the most glaring examples.

One of the many things I admired was Ross's ability to ignore those around him, especially mediocre coaching staff, whom he understood knew nothing of the fortitude required out in the middle of an international match. He shut them out and stuck to what he knew, what he was learning himself. In the modern era, that is a very important attibute.

 

[Kippax]

Search begins for a Black Caps batting coach | Stuff.co.nz

Former New Zealand batsman Craig McMillan appears the early favourite to be interim Black Caps batting coach, as the net is cast wide to find Bob Carter's long-term successor.

Carter, who was recruited by head coach Mike Hesson when he took over in August 2012, departed yesterday to take up a high performance role with New Zealand Cricket in Christchurch, overseeing the NZ under-19 and NZA sides.

NZC immediately began the hunt for a new batting coach, which will need to be a quick one with the Black Caps departing for West Indies on May 24.

McMillan stepped in for the Wellington test against West Indies in December when Carter was away at a family wedding, and also worked as a batting adviser for Plunket Shield champions Canterbury. He can work with Hesson and is close with captain Brendon McCullum.

McMillan said yesterday he was considering the role but hadn't yet decided if he would apply.

Other contenders are domestic coaches Jamie Siddons (Wellington), Gary Stead (Canterbury), Matt Horne (Auckland) and James Pamment (Northern Districts), along with former Knights coach Grant Bradburn, who has coached NZA.

Siddons previously did the job for Australia under John Buchanan and is a proven batting coach, with Michael Papps and Michael Pollard two of his recent success stories.

He is on leave and couldn't be contacted yesterday, and it remains to be seen whether he could work under Hesson or be comfortable with so much time away from his young family.

NZC's operations manager Lindsay Crocker said the interim coach for the West Indies wouldn't necessarily be guaranteed the role long-term.

Ideally it would be a New Zealander, or someone with in-depth knowledge of the domestic scene like Siddons.

"We know who they [main contenders] are; there's four or five, maybe more, and availability will be the key," Crocker said.

"We'll run the ad and we'll place it in front of the noses of people who are qualified. It's an absolute open process and it's got to be someone who works with Hess so he will be part of it."

Crocker said international playing experience wasn't a prerequisite.

He said nothing sinister should be read into Carter's departure after his second stint as the team's batting coach.

Carter, 53, had long been keen on a high performance role developing younger players, and the stability of the Lincoln-based job and less time on the road was appealing.

 

[BackFootPunch]

Please not McMillan. Please. Though at least he'd be out of the comm box.

 

[Flem274*]

i want to write off mcmillan as a parody but mccullum did credit him for helping him improve his performances this summer iirc.

but if his coaching is anything like his commentary...

horne seems to be spoken well of. siddons' success with papps is overstated imo. wellington still don't have a batsman in the test side and watching the vault footage papps is more or less the same player with a new backlift and more willingness to hit over the top. the flaw which prevents him from being a test cricketer (pressing forward to back of a length bowling) is still there.

bradburn or macka will get the job.

 

[Prince EWS]

Should almost definitely be Siddons from what I know of the candidates, which means Bradburn is a shoo in.

 

[hendrix]

McMillan didn't actually have a bad technique or anything. And he might actually tell Guptill to play his natural game, which while not a good thing is better than him playing the way he has been of late.

 

[Dan]

Yeah, agribusiness is doing a Gillespie right now. Bradburn Sports expanding its product range is almost a certainty.

(Am I Kippax-ing right?)

 

[BackFootPunch]

McMillan didn't actually have a bad technique or anything. And he might actually tell Guptill to play his natural game, which while not a good thing is better than him playing the way he has been of late.

Yeah fair but if you've heard him talk about the game on TV you should be worried about some of the **** he'd say if he was the batting coach. He just doesn't seem to have the analytical eye I'd like to see from someone in that position, though he probably does overplay his views for the viewers at times.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Yeah fair but if you've heard him talk about the game on TV you should be worried about some of the **** he'd say if he was the batting coach. He just doesn't seem to have the analytical eye I'd like to see from someone in that position, though he probably does overplay his views for the viewers at times.

I reckon it's this. A Test match cricketer would have to talk differently to a TV audience than to another Test level batsman. I just hope he knows when he's got the wrong idea.

 

[hendrix]

Yeah fair but if you've heard him talk about the game on TV you should be worried about some of the **** he'd say if he was the batting coach. He just doesn't seem to have the analytical eye I'd like to see from someone in that position, though he probably does overplay his views for the viewers at times.

I'd agree, but to play devil's advocate, a) is there much technical analysis beyond the obvious that's actually going to help the players? b) it's possible he does actually have some of his own unique knowledge and c) The same sort of facilitative role that Hesson seems to perform where he uses the resources within the group rather than dictate might be the best method.

I mean, the best possible batting coaches in NZ might actually be Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum, so if they get to a point where McMillan is responsible for basically throwdowns and making sure everyone prepares in their own individual manner, that might actually be the best option so long as they're working together.

 

[BackFootPunch]

I'd agree, but to play devil's advocate, a) is there much technical analysis beyond the obvious that's actually going to help the players? b) it's possible he does actually have some of his own unique knowledge and c) The same sort of facilitative role that Hesson seems to perform where he uses the resources within the group rather than dictate might be the best method.

I mean, the best possible batting coaches in NZ might actually be Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum, so if they get to a point where McMillan is responsible for basically throwdowns and making sure everyone prepares in their own individual manner, that might actually be the best option so long as they're working together.

I guess it does all depend on the role that Hesson and whoever else is in charge wants their batting coach to play. I think it's clear that most of our batsmen do need that technical analysis in order to improve - much of it is pretty obvious tbf, most of the posters on here can identify Guptill's major weaknesses - so someone who'll just give throw downs and reinforce bad habits won't do the trick. We do need someone who'll bring their own approach to the table but it needs to be someone willing to work in with each individual's needs. Hesson has the facilitative role sorted, he's brilliant at it. We need some fresh ideas imo and I don't think McMillan is the best guy for it.

The problem is that all the best qualified people are unlikely to be keen - we've been extremely lucky with bowling coaches in recent years, perhaps we'll get lucky here too.

 

[hendrix]

Yeah I agree. I guess Hesson will be best positioned to make that call.

I'd love to get someone foreign in there. I keep thinking there might be some old 90s batsman like Atapattu or someone like that who might be interested.

 

[jcas0167]

Yeah I agree. I guess Hesson will be best positioned to make that call.

I'd love to get someone foreign in there. I keep thinking there might be some old 90s batsman like Atapattu or someone like that who might be interested.

Graham Gooch might be looking for a job soon. James Pamment seemed to do a pretty good job with ND in his first season.

Siddons certainly has a lot of fans:

Franklin also hailed coach Jamie Siddons whose success stories Michael Papps, Stephen Murdoch and Pollard were key contributors this campaign. "He's been a breath of fresh air after a number of years of mediocre cricket. He's very strong on his philosophies around batting and that's rubbing off on the young guys and even the older guys."

Wellington Firebirds end 10-year cricket wait | Stuff.co.nz

Me, Shakib [Al Hasan] and Mushfiqur [Rahim] the captain, we rate Jamie very, very highly and a lot of the boys do as well. He is the only one who changed our culture and changed the thinking of the batsmen," said Tamim.

"He got aggressiveness into us and his hard work - his 3 years of hard work - is just paying off now. We won the [one-day] series against the West Indies recently and all the hard work he put in is just paying off now. It's unfortunate he's not with us any more, because I personally think he's an incredible coach."

Cricket | Jamie Siddons the Best Coach Says Tamim... | Stuff.co.nz