13th Match - New Zealand v Afghanistan

[Howsie]

No you're right, they will stick with him, they've shown that over the last two years. It's one of a few reasons why this New Zealand team won't make it to the semi finals.

 

[Zinzan]

No you're right, they will stick with him, they've shown that over the last two years. It's one of a few reasons why this New Zealand team won't make it to the semi finals.

Our lack of a class opener to partner Guptill is a weakness, yes, but can we stop pretending Nicholls has shown anything to suggest he'd do well in that openers slot against the new ball. The guy has plenty of grit, but he's just not a natural stroke-maker.

At this point, and with all the cake we have in Guptill, KW, Taylor & Latham, I'd be happy with 25 off 20 from Munro, if that means we're typically 50/1 after 8 overs, rather that than Nicholls potentially scraping along to 36 off 55.

 

[Howsie]

The coaching set up, selectors etc screwed up by not giving anyone else a decent crack. Yeah Nicolls might not be a great option but he's a hell of a lot better batsman then Colin Munro. I'm pretty sure if he's told to play that way Nicholls is more than capble of coming out and playing some strokes.

 

[Burgey]

NZ going about its business quietly and racking up the points early.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Neesham is only the 5th NZer to get a 5 wicket bag in a World Cup. Hadlee got one in 83, Bond got his 6-fer vs the Sissies in 2003 (before Bevan, Bichel, and Binga beat us), Southee's 7 against the Poms in Wellington in 2015, and Boult in the Eden Park game v Australia.

Predictive text changed "Aussies" to "Sissies" so why change it back?

 

[stephen]

NZ lift their game against Australia don't they?

 

[BeeGee]

Rightly or wrongly, they seem committed to Munro, at least for now. Can't see them suddenly bringing Nicholls in against tougher opposition when they could have selected him today.

I'm more concerned about Guptill's form. Apart from his knock against SL he's looked poor in the warm ups and the last two games. I don't expect much from Munro or Nicholls the opener, but we're going to need a firing Guptill against the top teams.

 

[morgieb]

Aus/NZ match threads get eerily quiet towards the second half. No one working nights out there?

I'm sure it's possible, but the vast majority of us would be asleep in the second half. In fact most Kiwis probably missed this game as it didn't start until after midnight their time.

 

[cnerd123]

Rashid's dismissal looked nasty. Hope he's fine.

Aftab Alam is a fun cricketer. Wickets, celebrations, headband, wild slogs. Entertaining performance

 

[_Ed_]

Obviously some Kiwis were up and about...
https://twitter.com/Sportsfreakconz/status/1137494567823929345

 

[Jezroy]

Just watching the replay. Don’t think Latham is looking in great form which is a bit of a worry. It’s pretty much got to be the Kane and Ross show unless someone’s got some form they aren’t showing us.

Bowling looks okay at least (considering the hiding the Windies gave us in the warm up). And at least we didn’t slip up in our banana skin matches.

Thinking that our game against India might be rained out. A point out of that one’ll be quite handy. Not saying we couldn’t beat them on our day, but they’d be favourites.

Quite a few games coming up which look like the weather’s going to affect them. Which for me really takes away from the tournament.

 

[Flem274*]

NZ lift their game against Australia don't they?

hmm nah, if anything we have a mental block. i don't expect nz to go to australia and win because australia is probably the hardest tour on the calendar no matter the quality of the australian team (i.e. it could be bad), but this particular squad has really disappointed me.

i still haven't forgiven southee and boult for sending down long hops and legside filth in brisbane. if they'd stayed in the corridor of uncertainty like normal and just been not good enough, fine, but that was sad. i think the 2011 side out-applied the 2015 one (and won a test) and that's a pretty bad look for the far better 2015 team.

 

[Moss]

Our lack of a class opener to partner Guptill is a weakness, yes, but can we stop pretending Nicholls has shown anything to suggest he'd do well in that openers slot against the new ball. The guy has plenty of grit, but he's just not a natural stroke-maker.

At this point, and with all the cake we have in Guptill, KW, Taylor & Latham, I'd be happy with 25 off 20 from Munro, if that means we're typically 50/1 after 8 overs, rather that than Nicholls potentially scraping along to 36 off 55.

From now on NZ will be up against some pretty serious bowling lineups. Munro would do well to make 25 off 20 in those games IMO, also those sides seem to have figured out what he's all about. Nicholls is still something of a lesser known quantity and is more likely to put in some middling scores and give the next few bats a platform . Of course that won't be much use when chasing 360.

 

[stephen]

hmm nah, if anything we have a mental block. i don't expect nz to go to australia and win because australia is probably the hardest tour on the calendar no matter the quality of the australian team (i.e. it could be bad), but this particular squad has really disappointed me.

i still haven't forgiven southee and boult for sending down long hops and legside filth in brisbane. if they'd stayed in the corridor of uncertainty like normal and just been not good enough, fine, but that was sad. i think the 2011 side out-applied the 2015 one (and won a test) and that's a pretty bad look for the far better 2015 team.

Tests are a different story. In ODIs NZ have always outperformed against Australia. Shane Bond basically built a career out of playing Australia and then getting injured.

 

[Flem274*]

Tests are a different story. In ODIs NZ have always outperformed against Australia. Shane Bond basically built a career out of playing Australia and then getting injured.

shane bond was an atg odi bowler often surrounded by very good bowlers like vettori, cairns and mills (but not often enough). the bowling doing well then the batting falling in a heap to mcgrath was expected, as were the times bond bowled well then someone like james franklin got tonked at the other.

 

[NZTailender]

Looks like Henry May have bowled himself out of the team for at least the next game and Neeshams likely secured his spot for the rest of the World Cup. A good day for me then

If the guy averaging 18 with 7 wickets has "bowled himself out of the team", the guy with 3 wickets at 40 is probably sweating a bit.

 

[Athlai]

If the guy averaging 18 with 7 wickets has "bowled himself out of the team", the guy with 3 wickets at 40 is probably sweating a bit.

And yet we've seen actual coaches from the team suggesting Southee is coming in for Henry. Funny that

 

[NZTailender]

And yet we've seen actual coaches from the team suggesting Southee is coming in for Henry. Funny that

The selectors are idiots.

 

[Bahnz]

Yup, would be silly in the extreme to move back from Henry given the start to the tournament he's had. I do agree that there's zero chance of Munro getting dropped for the next couple of games though (sigh).

NZ probably need to take a horses for courses approach for the rest of the tournament. So, if the pitch looks like it has some grass and some life, it's worth giving Colin a go because his seamers are likely to pick up one or two valuable wickets. If it's a flat deck, CdG is unlikely to be of much use with the ball, so bring Nicholls into the XI to provide some proper batting, and make up any necessary overs with Munro and KW.

 

[Howe_zat]

It'd be annoying if Southee plays against the top ranked sides and then gets dunked on here for not taking wickets like Henry took against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.