NZ's best ever ODI batsman

[Fuller Pilch]

I always thought this was a 3-way battle between Turner, Crowe and Astle ( could argue any way on these three), but now Ross Taylor might have usurped all three. Comments?

 

[Athlai]

Astle>Taylor>Crowe in my eyes.

Turner is from a completely different "era" of ODIs, I'd probably put Twose and Fleming above him.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Astle>Taylor>Crowe in my eyes.

Turner is from a completely different "era" of ODIs, I'd probably put Twose and Fleming above him.

I don't think I'd put Fleming in the top 10 NZ ODI batsmen. I'd rate him behind the likes of Turner, Twose, Jones, Williamson, Styris, Guptil, Edgar etc

 

[Athlai]

I don't think I'd put Fleming in the top 10 NZ ODI batsmen. I'd rate him behind the likes of Turner, Twose, Jones, Williamson, Styris, Guptil, Edgar etc

Turner and Edgar's era of ODIs was just too different from the modern game IMO so I wouldn't include either of them on an alltime list.

I'd probably have Fleming and Astle as my All-time NZ opening pair. I like the Guptill call but even as a massive fan of the guy I wouldn't have him there yet.

 

[BeeGee]

Astle>Taylor>Crowe in my eyes.

Turner is from a completely different "era" of ODIs, I'd probably put Twose and Fleming above him.

Astle was a great ODI batsman, but he's not better than Taylor and Crowe.

Crowe>Taylor>Astle for me.

And Turner was a genius. Hard to compare with modern players, but he was way ahead of his time.

 

[Binkley]

I voted for Andrew Jones out of pure nostalgia. I am almost positive that his strike rate was less than 60 and that he would struggle in today's version of the game. But boy I used to love to watch him bat.

 

[Athlai]

I'd probably have my all-time NZ XI as...

Fleming
Astle
Crowe
Taylor
Twose
Cairns
McCullum (+)
Hadlee
Vettori
Mills
Bond

and in my squad of 15 Styris, Southee and Jones (or Guptill, hey he is our best 12th man)

 

[Athlai]

Astle was a great ODI batsman, but he's not better than Taylor and Crowe.

Crowe>Taylor>Astle for me.

Astle is a player like Jayasuriya or Gayle. He is bigger in this format of the game than his stats imply. While I have previously said that in ODIs, you aren't as reliant on individual success to completely take the game away from the opposition. I'd say that Astle and those others are exactly the opposite of that opinon. Batsman who win games on their performance alone.

When Astle fired, we won.

 

[hendrix]

Slim pickings, isn't it? Probably Crowe, tbh.

 

[Red]

McCullum should be an option.

 

[hendrix]

McCullum should be an option.

yeah I've been thinking that. I realise there's plenty of reasons for him not to be on the list but the guy has had a really disjointed career and through it all he's been a match winner in a number of positions. Certainly not consistent but I do think he's always been one of our best players.

To be one of the best players in your team for the length of a career as long as McCullum's is quite an achievement, IMO.

 

[Mike5181]

I'm liking the Astle love, Athlai. He was my favourite player when I was younger so I always had a bit of a cry when he got out early.

Not sure I'd have him ahead of Taylor though. Maybe as a overall player when you throw in his useful bowling, and awesome fielding.

 

[vandem]

Astle. Because he changed the way we played the ODI game, and if he succeeded we won matches.

I recall doing some stats on mid 90s ODI players, if Astle scored higher than his average we usually won, if Parore scored higher than his average we usually lost!

Turner comes close, his early 80s performances also changed the way we played, deliberately playing the ball in the air, but short of the boundary fielder. But too much of his late career, when became a good 1 day player, was for Worcs.

Crowe comes close, but think he had more impact at test level. Surprisingly Twose comes close, perhaps retired too early, but in 99-2000 had a consistent run of form (1999: 823 runs @ 48, 200: 1067 runs @ 56), showed how you didn't need to be the classiest player to be a ODI match winner, instead you could push and nurdle through the middle overs, then selectively hit boundaries from over 35+. Always seemed to have a get out option to rotate the strike (unlike Jones and Taylor), always seemed to have control over the run rate required when chasing. Have always wondered what would have happened if there had been a split test / ODI captaincy to take some pressure of Fleming, may have lengthened the career of both.

 

[Zinzan]

I'd probably have my all-time NZ XI as...

Fleming
Astle
Crowe
Taylor
Twose
Cairns
McCullum (+)
Hadlee
Vettori
Mills
Bond

and in my squad of 15 Styris, Southee and Jones (or Guptill, hey he is our best 12th man)

Lol, Fleming is nowhere near making our top ODI XI. Laughable to have him above Turner or Guptill (or even Ryder) for that matter.

 

[Athlai]

Lol, Fleming is nowhere near making our top ODI XI. Laughable to have him above Turner or Guptill (or even Ryder) for that matter.

Wouldn't have Turner as I've mentioned. Guptill and Ryder being better than Fleming is massively disputable. Ryder should be nowhere near the team IMO.

 

[Zinzan]

Wouldn't have Turner as I've mentioned. Guptill and Ryder being better than Fleming is massively disputable. Ryder should be nowhere near the team IMO.

I agree Ryder shouldn't be, but he's ahead of Fleming in terms of the openers ranks. The rest of your side was pretty much bag-on though.

 

[Athlai]

I agree Ryder shouldn't be, but he's ahead of Fleming in terms of the openers ranks. The rest of your side was pretty much bag-on though.

It wouldn't be a NZ side if it didn't have a hole in the opening pair.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

My side:

Turner
Astle
Crowe
Taylor
Twose
McCullum (wk)
Harris#
Hadlee
Vettori
Bond
Allott##

# World-class fielder and far more economical than Cairns with the ball - gives the attack more balance. Is still enough batting without Cairns
## Very hard to pick between Chatfield, Pringle, Allott, Larsen and Mills so picked the left-armer

 

[Flem274*]

McCullum should be an option.

No way. Very underutilised finisher and wicket keeper bat but that's half the problem - he's spent half his career being relatively wasted either opening or at #5 which should be the domain of the nurdler.

Wouldn't have Turner as I've mentioned. Guptill and Ryder being better than Fleming is massively disputable. Ryder should be nowhere near the team IMO.

Excluding Turner for being an olden day player then having a bloke called Hadlee who played half his career in the 70s is just silly.

Turner and Astle have the ODI opener berths locked down.

 

[viriya]

Cairns deserves to be on the list.. I picked Taylor but you could pick anyone from Taylor, Cairns, Crowe, Fleming, Styris, McCullum and Astle imo. There is no clear winner but Taylor has a chance to be the clear choice by the end of his career.