Bracewell gets two more years

[Athlai]

Bowling figures of 1 for 16 from 7 overs spring to mind against SA in the World Cup, I remember him and Bond opening the bowling beautifully in that match, I was sitting there (middle of the night mind you) smiling and just thinking THIS is what we want Franklin.

He batted beautifully in the World Cup I think, actually finished with an average of 95 4 Not Outs in 5 innings, he sticks around with the lower order and scores runs, I remember Patel and him against Sri Lanka when all hope was lost just going for it, putting on a 59 run partnership for the last wicket.

 

[TT Boy]

Give it time I think Franklin has some real steel in him, he'll be a powerful part of our time in years to come. When he plays well, hes unhittable, and hes no slouch with the bat, underrated with the bat really, you hear the commentators always going on about it but they still sell him short, he can hit it better than Vettori in my books.

Only on a greentop. Franklin is practically redundant as ODI bowler if there is nothing in the pitch/in the air, coupled with that his also a crap death bowler. Decent batsman though.

 

[Athlai]

Only on a greentop. Franklin is practically redundant as ODI bowler if there is nothing in the pitch/in the air, coupled with that his also a crap death bowler. Decent batsman though.

Good line, good length and a little bit of swing goes down as what you need to be unhittable in my opinion, just being able to hold the nerve to do that is what has many otherwise unspectacular bowlers great.

In fact oddly enough that same match I just mentioned SRL vs NZ, Bond fell apart at the start bowling pies for one and all, and Franklin was the one who went for next to nothing, (Jayawardane came and scored off of him later on) but still, a total class bowler like Bond failing while the much criticised Franklin perceives I think indicates that the critics are a bit harsh on him.

(I have this odd feeling that Bond failing and Franklin bowling beautifully has happened more than once to be honest, its like a booster to him to see his figures better than Bonds.)


Hes got steel.
Hes no Bond but.

 

[Flem274*]

Good line, good length and a little bit of swing goes down as what you need to be unhittable in my opinion, just being able to hold the nerve to do that is what has many otherwise unspectacular bowlers great.

In fact oddly enough that same match I just mentioned SRL vs NZ, Bond fell apart at the start bowling pies for one and all, and Franklin was the one who went for next to nothing, (Jayawardane came and scored off of him later on) but still, a total class bowler like Bond failing while the much criticised Franklin perceives I think indicates that the critics are a bit harsh on him.

(I have this odd feeling that Bond failing and Franklin bowling beautifully has happened more than once to be honest, its like a booster to him to see his figures better than Bonds.)


Hes got steel.
Hes no Bond but.

Hmm now that Oram is an even slower bowler thanks to injury, should Franklin step up as our test alrounder? Batting at 7?

 

[Athlai]

Hmm now that Oram is an even slower bowler thanks to injury, should Franklin step up as our test alrounder? Batting at 7?

I think Orams probably going to mould himself similar to Styris, it'll be interesting to see how that changes his game, I always thought he was a good wicket taking bowler (Oram), the bounce he could get due to his height was a great asset to the teams attack, but we haven't see that much lately and I would actually like to see a large revamp of our test team.

I want Patel more in our test and ODI squads, if the pitch turns then both Vettori and Patel must be used, but even in some that don't I think the lack of quality seamers may just bring him in anyway (Vettori being a must in the squad due to it being very unlikely he'll get dropped from here till retirement). In ODI I think a Bond, Franklin, Mills, Patel, Vettori, Oram, Styris bowling line up could work.

Whats your pick for the side?
xTBD
xTBD
xTBD
xTBD
Styris
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Franklin
Mills
Patel (find me a NZ seamer who would do better )

 

[Pup Clarke]

The NZ OD X1 must be imo (with everyone fit)...

Stephen Fleming
Lou Vincent
Ross Taylor
Scott Styris
Peter Fulton
Jacob Oram
Brendon McCullum
James Franklin/Jeetan Patel (depending on pitch)
Daniel Vettori
Kyle Mills
Shane Bond

 

[Pup Clarke]

Patel (find me a NZ seamer who would do better )

Bond...

 

[Athlai]

The NZ OD X1 must be imo (with everyone fit)...

Stephen Fleming
Lou Vincent
Ross Taylor
Scott Styris
Peter Fulton
Jacob Oram
Brendon McCullum
James Franklin/Jeetan Patel (depending on pitch)
Daniel Vettori
Kyle Mills
Shane Bond

Looks good to me. I can just never make up my mind as to where to put Fulton in the order. 3rd 4th or 5th, he was criticised for not scoring runs at a high enough strike rate, then he did exactly that.

 

[Athlai]

Bond...

Oh my goodness I left out Bond. How foolish.
Patel Mills Franklin Bond Vettori.

Ye gads our batting couldn't support 5 bowlers. Back to the drawing boards.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Test team should look like this...

Michael Papps
Craig Cumming
Ross Taylor/Matthew Sinclair
Stephen Fleming
Scott Styris
Jacob Oram
Brendon McCullum
James Franklin
Daniel Vettori
Shane Bond
Chris Martin

 

[Pup Clarke]

Oh my goodness I left out Bond. How foolish.
Patel Mills Franklin Bond Vettori.

Ye gads our batting couldn't support 5 bowlers. Back to the drawing boards.

How's about...Bond, Mills, Oram, Vettori, Patel, Styris

 

[Athlai]

Test team should look like this...

Michael Papps
Craig Cumming
Ross Taylor/Matthew Sinclair
Stephen Fleming
Scott Styris
Jacob Oram
Brendon McCullum
James Franklin
Daniel Vettori
Shane Bond
Chris Martin

I'd axe Sinclair to be honest, first call if there was an injury to any batsman but I'd want the younger player in there. Would you have Patel in there for Martin if it turned?

 

[Richard]

I think Orams probably going to mould himself similar to Styris, it'll be interesting to see how that changes his game, I always thought he was a good wicket taking bowler (Oram), the bounce he could get due to his height was a great asset to the teams attack, but we haven't see that much lately

TBH I always rated and still do Oram's ability to get wickets on a seaming pitch. He hits the seam well, gets good bounce so as edges carry, and bowls mostly in the right areas so as to get the most out of any seam-movement on offer.

However, on a flatter pitch he offers little in the way of wicket-taking and never has, really. He doesn't possess the tricks of a, for instance, Chaminda Vaas and is reduced to the role of a keep-one-end-tight bowler who can do a job as a stock-bowler.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Would you have Patel in there for Martin if it turned?

Would be releuctant to go into a test match with two finger spinners tbh even if it was a spinning pitch.

 

[Athlai]

How's about...Bond, Mills, Oram, Vettori, Patel, Styris

I would really like to see Franklin get the chance to develop more, but I would probably go with that line up TBH.

 

[Athlai]

TBH I always rated and still do Oram's ability to get wickets on a seaming pitch. He hits the seam well, gets good bounce so as edges carry, and bowls mostly in the right areas so as to get the most out of any seam-movement on offer.

However, on a flatter pitch he offers little in the way of wicket-taking and never has, really. He doesn't possess the tricks of a, for instance, Chaminda Vaas and is reduced to the role of a keep-one-end-tight bowler who can do a job as a stock-bowler.

I don't know, I still feel Oram has a trick or two, but nothing to the standard of Vaas but I mostly agree with you there. He can get hard bounce on almost anything when he's trying for it.

 

[Athlai]

Would be releuctant to go into a test match with two finger spinners tbh even if it was a spinning pitch.

I'm reluctant to go into a test match with Martin as a leading part of the attack TBH. He's alright but really nothing to special. But I suppose two spinners for a test match might be a bridge to far without them being wicket taking monster spinners. What about one of the younger quicks coming up? Would any of them be worth considering in the immediate future?

 

[Pup Clarke]

Daryll Tuffey,Mark Gillespie and Iain O'Brien will defenitely be contenders. Maybe the likes of James McMillan, Bradley Scott will be in the mix as well.

 

[Richard]

Would be releuctant to go into a test match with two finger spinners tbh even if it was a spinning pitch.

If the spinners are capable of taking advantage of said pitch, I'm quite happy to go in with three, myself, TBH.

Those sorts of bowlers don't occur too often in NZ, though, and we don't know yet whether Patel's one of them.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

As I - sort of - just said, the same applies to Duncan Fletcher (though the other way around in game-forms). But he remains England's best ever coach, because despite the fact that he made errors (James Anderson's confidence being ruined by keeping him out of the domestic game for instance... picking Owais Shah repeatedly in ODIs was dumb) he also did much good. As REdmunds' article recently(ish) demonstrated, Bracewell is sometimes subjected to over-harsh criticism.

I'm afraid, Richard, you know very little about this subject if this is what you think - and just because someone writes an article about the subject doesn't make it true.

Bracewell has a very unfortunate habit of rubbing people up the wrong way. He does this in several ways - dropping players for no reason and not informing them until they hear the team selection on the radio (Lou Vincent), selecting players who are woefully out of form just because he doesn't want to be seen to be wrong about one of 'his' selections (Hamish Marshall). He has no idea how to manage talented, arrogant, young players (Jesse Ryder). He's a stubborn, cantankerous oaf who is dragging New Zealand Cricket backwards in order to follow his own whimsical selection path so that if something goes right, he can take all of the credit away from the players. I would have thought that given the numerous failures over the past two years that even a new CEO could have seen through the layers of **** perpetuated by Bracewell to appoint someone slightly less abrasive, supercilious and egotistical.

The parallel with Duncan Fletcher isn't too far off... Just Duncan wasn't picking players in order to massage his own ego and he knew when to jump after successive failures. I just cannot see the justification for continuing to have someone so objectionable in such a key role.