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**Official** Pakistan v New Zealand in the UAE 2014

Kippax

Cricketer Of The Year
November 3-5 v Pakistan A, Sharjah
Nov 9-13, 1st test, Abu Dhabi
Nov 17-21, 2nd test, Dubai
Nov 26-30, 3rd test, Sharjah
x 2 T20Is
x 5 ODIs

Hamish Rutherford poised for NZ test reprieve | Stuff.co.nz

Coach Mike Hesson will name his 15-man test squad today, which is expected to be low on talking points after their 2-1 series victory in the West Indies in June.

Opening positions continue to be the head-scratchers, and while Hesson's extended loyalty to Peter Fulton ran out in the Caribbean, he appears reluctant to jettison Rutherford despite the ongoing test struggles which saw him drop off the 20-strong contract list.

The 25-year-old has a solitary half century from 24 test innings since his 171 on debut against England, and scraped 39 runs from four innings in the West Indies after falling ill in Trinidad.

The free-flowing lefthander impressed in 50-over matches on the recent New Zealand A tour of England, averaging 49.42 from seven innings including a knock of 95 against England Lions. Encouraging reports from batting coach Craig McMillan on tour may have helped his cause, along with a lack of strong contenders.
 
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Kippax

Cricketer Of The Year
New Zealand Cricket - One change to BLACKCAPS Test squad

BLACKCAPS Test squad for series v Pakistan in UAE
Brendon McCullum (c) - Otago Volts
Corey Anderson - Northern Knights
Trent Boult - Northern Knights
Doug Bracewell - Central Stags
Mark Craig - Otago Volts
Tom Latham - Canterbury
James Neesham - Otago Volts
Luke Ronchi - Wellington Firebirds
Hamish Rutherford - Otago Volts
Ish Sodhi - Northern Knights
Tim Southee - Northern Knights
Ross Taylor - Central Stags
Neil Wagner - Otago Volts
BJ Watling - Northern Knights
Kane Williamson - Northern Knights
“Doug had a very good NZ A tour and we just think that in the heat in the UAE his experience and resilience in those conditions will be important.”

“Likewise Hamish demonstrated a lot of positives on that England tour. His balance was back and with that came his confidence.”
 

Flem274*

123/5
despite being a CD fanboy even im surprised dougeh is still fourth in line. good work from him to impress on tour.

it sounds like they're playing it safe with matt henry.

edit: ronchi and anderson still our reserve batsmen i see. bit light i think.
 
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hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
I'm also somewhat disappointed that Ronchi and Rutherford are still there, but given there hasn't been much first class cricket since the last tour there's no performance indicators to picking someone like Guptill, Flynn or Raval.

I do think Raval has been consistently overlooked...
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Bracewell over Henry is a very conservative pick.
Ehh...when we get down to it, Bracewell was just as impressive on the NZA tour as Henry was. He's a yard quicker than Henry, and has a lot more experience of bowling in hot, dry conditions. I always suspected that he'd end up getting the nod this time. Would be disappointed if Henry doesn't get a run in at least one of the SA ODI's though.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
I'm also somewhat disappointed that Ronchi and Rutherford are still there, but given there hasn't been much first class cricket since the last tour there's no performance indicators to picking someone like Guptill, Flynn or Raval.

I do think Raval has been consistently overlooked...
Raval didn't do himself any favours by allowing his form to drop off dramatically in the back half of last season. I agree that Rutherford sticking around isn't ideal, but then again besides Gupturd who is there who's really dominated domestic cricket as an opener (I think we have to all assume that Michael Papps is never getting reselected).
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Raval should've at least been on the A tour ahead of MBracewell.

Flynn too IMO.

It seems tha Brownlie has somehow leapfrogged those guys.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Hesson has said Brownlie is only considered as a middle order option until he proves himself as an opener domestically.

Raval faded away I can't remember what Flynn did last season, though he did get a run of low scores from memory. I think Hesson just flat out doesn't rate either of them. Flynn was a fall guy in South Africa and Raval has never been on the radar. They bet on Macewell coming good and lost.

Guptill is in the middle of a technical overhaul and Hesson is very cold on Old Guptill. I don't think he was ever an option for this tour and Hesson will wait until New Guptill is ready so he can assess.
 

RxGM

U19 Vice-Captain
Ehh...when we get down to it, Bracewell was just as impressive on the NZA tour as Henry was. He's a yard quicker than Henry, and has a lot more experience of bowling in hot, dry conditions. I always suspected that he'd end up getting the nod this time. Would be disappointed if Henry doesn't get a run in at least one of the SA ODI's though.
The thing with Bracewell is generally he has struggled bowling in the heat, I cant remember if he had this under control in Bangers last year but have memories of him struggling in SL and India.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Given Henry's struggles in SL on the A tour last year, I can't imagine that he's 100% comfortable in those conditions either.

Bracewell was more Durgh than DOUGEH!!! in Bangladesh, but he wasn't helped by a ball that stopped swinging after 4 overs and a series of dropped chances off Tamim.
 

RxGM

U19 Vice-Captain
Hesson has said Brownlie is only considered as a middle order option until he proves himself as an opener domestically.

Raval faded away I can't remember what Flynn did last season, though he did get a run of low scores from memory. I think Hesson just flat out doesn't rate either of them. Flynn was a fall guy in South Africa and Raval has never been on the radar. They bet on Macewell coming good and lost.

Guptill is in the middle of a technical overhaul and Hesson is very cold on Old Guptill. I don't think he was ever an option for this tour and Hesson will wait until New Guptill is ready so he can assess.
Flynn averaged 45 last season- he struggled in first couple of games but ended up scoring 800 runs. I would have love to seen Raval even only as a short term option, his leggies could have been quite dangerous especially without Kane's throwing and I think he probably would have been able to score at least 100 runs over the course of the tour which is more than Hamish has scored in the four tests this year.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Time for a real test. Pakistan in the UAE are always a tough prospect, and I somehow doubt our batting order will enjoy the prospect particularly. Pakistan still have some reasonable spinning resources to call on post-Ajmal, but ours our still largely unproven.

Not willing to predict this one - two mercurial teams, could go either way. Might have more of an idea when we see the line-up Pakistan are going to put on the field.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Time for a real test. Pakistan in the UAE are always a tough prospect, and I somehow doubt our batting order will enjoy the prospect particularly. Pakistan still have some reasonable spinning resources to call on post-Ajmal, but ours our still largely unproven.

Not willing to predict this one - two mercurial teams, could go either way. Might have more of an idea when we see the line-up Pakistan are going to put on the field.
Rehman's a better bowler than a lot of people give credit for. He gave us significant problems in New Zealand back in 2011, so I could see him cleaning us up pretty easily in the right conditions. Not sure about the rest though, particulalry given that there only seem to be about 3 people in Pakistan who haven't been identified as bowling with a suspect action.

Pakistan launch crackdown on suspect bowlers | Zee News

Another important factor will be whether the PCB are willing to break out their best ego brush in order to bring Younis Khan back into the fold.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
The thing with Bracewell is generally he has struggled bowling in the heat, I cant remember if he had this under control in Bangers last year but have memories of him struggling in SL and India.
yeah. The "experience" thing is like saying Guptill is experienced. He experienced being utter crap.

Not a bit issue.

I do hope they go with Sodhi over Craig.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Rehman's a better bowler than a lot of people give credit for. He gave us significant problems in New Zealand back in 2011, so I could see him cleaning us up pretty easily in the right conditions. Not sure about the rest though, particulalry given that there only seem to be about 3 people in Pakistan who haven't been identified as bowling with a suspect action.

Pakistan launch crackdown on suspect bowlers | Zee News

Another important factor will be whether the PCB are willing to break out their best ego brush in order to bring Younis Khan back into the fold.
Zulfiqar Babar is their best spinner.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Raval is a myth.

Henry is going to be debuted in home conditions not in a potential quick bowler graveyard.

One of the most uncontroversial squads ever.
 

Kippax

Cricketer Of The Year

Henry really does piss all over Bracewell in terms of wicket quality tbh. Chris Donaldson must have reported some gym numbers on Henry that are piss-weak.
 

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