***Official*** New Zealand Domestic Season 2017/18

[straw man]

That CD vs Canterbury match would have been great viewing. Slightly disappointing to see such a good bowling attack not knock over the opposition, though CD's batting is pretty damn good too.

 

[Flem274*]

what i found worrying was astle, ellis and jamieson did all the run scoring for canterbury instead of the top order, and they scored against milne whose job for nz is to put the kibosh on those shenanigans. ellis probably canterburys best bowler too.

 

[Prince EWS]

what i found worrying was astle, ellis and jamieson did all the run scoring for canterbury instead of the top order

You must get worried a lot.

 

[NZTailender]

Otago are having a great season of losing games that should be in the bag.

 

[jcas0167]

Otago are having a great season of losing games that should be in the bag.

Yes, at least Neesham did well again in his comeback.

 

[nzfan]

That was an amazing win by the firebirds. Newton and Younghusband getting us home. Excellent partnership that. Glad to know we have good all rounders. It's against the Aces the next game at Basin. Need to win that otherwise it may be curtains as for ford trophy is concerned. What are the chances Finn Allen will play for Auckland Aces on Sunday? I don't believe Firebirds will get any of the under 19 lads but Auckland you never know. Would be great to see Finn Allen playing the Ford trophy.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Hamish Marshall is captain for the Firebirds atm with Bennett injured, so I guess he won't be dropped for Ravindra ... but his form really doesn't warrant a spot in the team.

 

[Kippax]

Yeah, annoyingly for Ravindra and Allen fans, all of the players with their positions under threat rose to their challenge in the last Ford Trophy round. Michael Barry destroying Howsie's prodigies with his nagging clubby mediums (playing all three of Grobbs, Barry and Solia seemed excessive to me, but it worked). Nofal made a hundred, Younghusband made runs and bowled decently.

 

[Kippax]

Phillips probably won't open to make space for Allen btw. Phillips may well be under instruction to put pressure on Latham's ODI spot by getting in plenty of accumulating in the middle overs for Auckland.

 

[Kippax]

Sears brought back into a 'make it with the Firebirds' frame of mind? Not sure.

Hutt and City Teams Named for Dempster Shield | Cricket Wellington

The teams for the Wellington City v Hutt Valley Dempster Shield match have been named. With each side featuring two members of the New Zealand U19 side from the recent World Cup, the match at Kelburn Park from February 4-6 promises to be a great showcase for some of the region’s developing talent.

Play begins at 10.30am.

Wellington City
Lauchie Johns ©
Jakob Bhula
Luke Georgeson
Calvin Harrison
James Hartshorn
Vishi Jeet
James Price
Jack Sargentina
Ben Shields
Hareen Silva
Rakitha Weerasundara
Jed Wiggins

Hutt Valley
Troy Johnson ©
Nick Greenwood
Brett Johnson
Deepak Joon
Callum McLachlan (WK)
Travis Muller
Chander Ravi
Rachin Ravindra
Ben Sears
Tyler Simpson
Ben Skilton
Nik Swain

 

[nzfan]

Yeah, annoyingly for Ravindra and Allen fans, all of the players with their positions under threat rose to their challenge in the last Ford Trophy round. Michael Barry destroying Howsie's prodigies with his nagging clubby mediums (playing all three of Grobbs, Barry and Solia seemed excessive to me, but it worked). Nofal made a hundred, Younghusband made runs and bowled decently.

Yeah bad timing. The same goes for Felix Murray, very good quality spinner this lad but won't get a chance at this point time I guess. We know about firebirds, Ravindra will have to battle to get in. Won't be surprised there'll be few more signings from elsewhere come next year. News is that he's signed up to play professional cricket in India. Besides NZ cricket has his back by having him in the WCT. He'll be looked after and if not firebirds he'll have plenty of offers from elsewhere. Question is are our Wellington lads daring enough to sacrifice their comforts for better opportunities? They first need to worry how are they going to accommodate Ben Sears if at all, otherwise he'll be lost for us. We already have 4 fast bowlers in the mix, Bennett, Newton, Van Beek and McPeake. Besides Alex Ridley and T Muller are also in the mix. Unless someone moves out of here there's no chance to get Sears in.

In a way it's good position for firebirds to be in with no opportunities to play their contracted players like Matt Taylor, Fraser Colson, Papps etc let alone getting Sears, Ravindra and the likes a look in. That said they need to win more if they are spoilt for choices.

Lockrose is destined to play for Otago for good number of years. Finn Allen surely will get a look in, Aces are quite good at nurturing young ones. He's done better than Glen Phillips at the Under 19s.

 

[Kippax]

Auckland team for tomorrow now named. Just McClenaghan has come in for the injured Parikh.

 

[Immenso]

I wouldn't have thought Ravindra would have been a likely pick at provincial level yet in the white ball formats.

I could see him getting eased in during later plunket shield rounds in a middle order and spin bowling role. Although if Wellington are in contention for the title they may not.

Usually these young punks get their debuts after their province is out of title contention. With the notable recent exception of Glenn Phillips getting his debut in a Ford Trophy semi final.

 

[Immenso]

We already have 4 fast bowlers in the mix, Bennett, Newton, Van Beek and McPeake. Besides Alex Ridley and T Muller are also in the mix. Unless someone moves out of here there's no chance to get Sears in.

TBH, that's not a fearsome logjam. Other than Bennett. There's 2 other spots.

Maybe I'm underating the other 3?

It's not like he has a Henry, Nutall, Jamieson level internal competition.

Or Wheeler, Rance, Small, Tickner, Bracewell and occasional Milne.

 

[Kippax]

Oh Ravindra just as a spinner shouldn't think of himself as too inferior to Ridley, McPeake, Younghusband and some of these others we're willing to run out in the Ford Trophy. He got a bit straight to England and got smashed a bit in Queenstown, which was a shame. Still took 13 wickets in his six WC games.

 

[nzfan]

I'd hope Edgar and Pocknall at least share my hunch Sears would actually do better for the Firebirds on a bouncy Basin pitch than his club stats ever suggest. Bounce bowling just not working out for him in the Hutt Districts stats, from either a wicket-taking or economy point of view.

Now you're talking, right on the money. Club decks just not good enough for express pace. The stats won't necessarily do justice. The deck, catching, fielding everything matters.

Would be awesome to see Sears bowling at Basin in tandem with Bennett. Watched sears bowl last week, he poled Andrew Fletcher twice in an over. Andrew fletcher a seasoned campaigner and no mug with the bat. Pace does count.

 

[nzfan]

On another note, speaking to one of the NZ Cricket stalwart he reckons Ravindra bats better than Kane when he was at the same age and bowls as good if not better than Vettori when he was at the same age.

Also it seems one of the NZ greatest ever had a look at Ravindra batting for no more than 5-6 balls and said he's going to be our greatest.

I'm not of the same opinion. I know he's very handy but needs to be seen if it's hype or substance. We sure will know in few years time.

 

[Kippax]

Good to see Sears with the new ball in club cricket today, rather entering the attack underneath Brunton and McPeake. An early wicket for him, bowling to Jakob Bhula right now -
https://www.crichq.com/matches/603968/commentary

 

[Flem274*]

On another note, speaking to one of the NZ Cricket stalwart he reckons Ravindra bats better than Kane when he was at the same age and bowls as good if not better than Vettori when he was at the same age.

Also it seems one of the NZ greatest ever had a look at Ravindra batting for no more than 5-6 balls and said he's going to be our greatest.
.

names?

 

[Howsie]

On another note, speaking to one of the NZ Cricket stalwart he reckons Ravindra bats better than Kane when he was at the same age and bowls as good if not better than Vettori when he was at the same age.

Also it seems one of the NZ greatest ever had a look at Ravindra batting for no more than 5-6 balls and said he's going to be our greatest.

I'm not of the same opinion. I know he's very handy but needs to be seen if it's hype or substance. We sure will know in few years time.

Was it Gavin Larsen? Sounds like something that dopey prick would say. Williamson was playing first class cricket not long after turning 17, Ravindra at a full year older right now hasn’t even managed a game yet. Heck, by the time Williamson was 19 he was the best batsman in domestic cricket. That’s a lot of catching up to do in the next year......

Williamson was God like as a teenager, like he was 100 times better than the next best batsman you knew and that was no lie. If Ravindra is indeed better than Williamson at the same age then somebody needs to be sacked ASAP because he should be playing now