***Official*** Pakistan in New Zealand 2015

[anil1405]

If he had his head in the right place, this Pakistani batting line-up would've revolved around the exciting Umar Akmal. But as it stands, he is just another batsman in the team.

 

[smash84]

I don't think the selectors picked the best squad they could.. but the batting being **** isn't something better selection would have solved. Pakistan's batting stocks are just poor right now, particularly for games in Oceania.

That makes matters infinitely worse though. Picking fawad alam and azhar ali for stability woyld have been significantly better than what they have done. in facefact now that i think about it hafeez should have been the first one dropped with younis. HE is even worse than shafiq

 

[OverratedSanity]

That makes matters infinitely worse though. Picking fawad alam and azhar ali for stability woyld have been significantly better than what they have done. in facefact now that i think about it hafeez should have been the first one dropped with younis. HE is even worse than shafiq

Hafeez is a big asset if he's allowed to bowl.

 

[smash84]

yeah but that's the key IF he is allowed to bowl. He isn't allowed to bowl, he is banned from bowling. His batting is complete and utter ****e. One thing i hate about Misbah is that (quite like Dhoni) he brings in his lap dogs quite a bit. And hafeez is one of them

 

[Niall]

If he had his head in the right place, this Pakistani batting line-up would've revolved around the exciting Umar Akmal. But as it stands, he is just another batsman in the team.

They gave him chances to bat up the order but he never seized them unfortunately. I think if Hafeez is banned from bowling he or Sohail will be dropped to get Afridi in the top seven as it is madness to expect 10 overs from Sohail in Australia.

Something like the below.

Shezhad
Hafeez
Younis
Misbah
Haris/Umar
Safaraz
Afridi

-------------
Eshan
Riaz
Junaid
Irfan



Its a side that could get rolled over quite cheaply once or twice I reckon,

 

[Flem274*]

One sleeping issue is Shehzad. He looked very unsuited to Oceania.

 

[Howsie]

Six bowlers to watch in the World Cup | cricket.com.au

New Zealand – Trent Boult

He might have played just a dozen ODIs for the Black Caps but I reckon Trent Boult’s a good bowler everywhere, though particularly so in the New Zealand conditions where his team will play all their group matches. Those pitches will be slower and will likely swing and seam a bit as well.

Boult is a clever, gifted swing bowler. His record in Test cricket is quite amazing – 110 wickets from just 30 matches – and I don’t think his lack of ODI experience will be a factor. He’ll just bowl his normal Test line and length down the Boult Boulevard of Bewilderment with the new ball - full and swinging - and he can generally swing the ball both ways to right and left-handers and that’s an under-rated skill.

With New Zealand having all their preliminary games at home, I can see Boult being the go-to guy who takes the first over. He’ll set the tone though I think the test for him will be how he closes out the innings. The New Zealanders seem to mix up those late overs a bit with Tim Southee and Corey Anderson and others playing a role, but I think Boult is going to be one of the leading wicket-takers in the World Cup.

And the fact that they could feasibly get through without having to play a match in Australia until the March 29 final – if they make it – is a huge advantage. As is the fact their group match against Australia is in Auckland which has me slightly worried, given what happened in the 1992 World Cup.

I wonder if Mitchell Starc, James Anderson or Dale Steyn will struggle to make their teams playing XI....

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Six bowlers to watch out for but Mohammd Irfan isn't mentioned.

 

[Flem274*]

So you've found some guy whose justification includes the mythical slow green NZ pitches and "well because"?

Just get over it Howsie. The raised eyebrows at and criticism of Boult's selection doesn't mean we all think of him the way Blocky thinks of Guptill. Your Old Man River/Dem Boult Haters campaign is boring.

 

[Niall]

One sleeping issue is Shehzad. He looked very unsuited to Oceania.

He done ok last time in NZ just before the 2011 world cup, got a century as well.

However yeah, he didn't look great yesterday, its a concern as the guy eats up dot balls, and isn't great at rotating the strike, if he does get in he can go big, but it is a big if. It doesn't help that his partner Hafeez can be a slow starter also while number 3 Younis and number 4 Misbah also suffer from the same problems with lowish strike rates. Its why Its a massive shame that Umar can't be trusted to bat in the top 4 as he unlike those 4 is very good at rotating strike and is a quick enough starter.

 

[Howsie]

So you've found some guy whose justification includes the mythical slow green NZ pitches and "well because"?

Just get over it Howsie. The raised eyebrows at and criticism of Boult's selection doesn't mean we all think of him the way Blocky thinks of Guptill. Your Old Man River/Dem Boult Haters campaign is boring.

Some guy.....

 

[Flem274*]

Yeah fine you got me - I clicked on the article to read the full thing after posting.

So Damien Fleming says XYZ. If he said Ishant Sharma was a threat would you buy that too? Damien Fleming knows his stuff but he isn't Word of God here. Ian Chappell is one of the great captains and everything he says is moronic (before you ask I have a lot of time for Damien Fleming).

Trent Boult doesn't have a weight ODI performances behind him and his series against Sri Lanka was average. If we didn't have the depth we have I wouldn't mind backing him, but we have the depth.

He's going to destroy worlds in 2019 in England(?), but right now I suspect it's one world cup too early. He might well explode on the ODI scene in the next two months and prove us all wrong, but right now I see a hittable bowler when the ball isn't swinging and a bowler who isn't taking new ball wickets anyway, which are ironically your biggest whinges about Mills.

The main problem some of us have with Boult being in the squad isn't that he's there per se, but that he's there ahead of Matt Henry and possibly in the first eleven when he's done nothing to show he should be. If he had beaten Adam Milne (the next least proven bowler) into the squad then fair enough.

Let's be honest here though, you're just pissy because of the shirt colour Boult wears and you've always had an irrational hatred of anyone over 30 years old who bowls at 125-130kph. That's what this is all about. I'll never say you don't know your cricket because you do but you do have your blind spots, just like I have a massive one about Milne and Steve about anyone who comes from a certain Auckland club.

Shall we agree to disagree and move on?

 

[Greenlite]

Cricket: Back-up now a bona fide No 5 *
Cricket: Back-up now a bona fide No 5 - Cricket - NZ Herald News. *

"I get to enjoy cricket because I know I've got a life outside it," he said. "As opposed to every innings being your last, I enjoy it for what it is. Hitting a leather ball in front of a crowd is great fun." **

Very peaceful man

 

[Zinzan]

Six bowlers to watch in the World Cup | cricket.com.au



I wonder if Mitchell Starc, James Anderson or Dale Steyn will struggle to make their teams playing XI....

I wonder if Starc, Anderson & Steyn have played more than 15 ODIs and are actually proven successful ODI bowlers....

Oh wait, it's Damien "world authority" Fleming who wrote the piece, who thinks NZ pitches are still the same as they were in '92...

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

The soul of Blocky can never truly die, it is merely transferred to other forumers.

 

[Greenlite]

I wonder if Starc, Anderson & Steyn have played more than 15 ODIs and are actually proven successful ODI bowlers....

Oh wait, it's Damien "world authority" Fleming who wrote the piece, who thinks NZ pitches are still the same as they were in '92...

Yah I didn't get it neither, so I did some digging.

Mitchell Starc
ODIs 32*games,*61 wickets, best*6/43, Ave*20.62 Eco*4.98 4Wicket game - 5, 5W*game*4

Mitchell Johnson
ODIs 144 games, *221 wickets, best*6/31 Ave*25.72*Eco*4.82 4W*game -*8, 5 W game -*3

James Anderson
ODIs 187 games,*262 wickets, best*5/23, Ave*28.92 Eco*4.91, 4W game - 11,*5W game -*2

Dale Steyn
ODIs 96 games, 151 wickets, best 6/35, Ave 25.14, Eco 4.80, 4W game 4, 5 W game - 3


Apparently this guy is in the same class right now as the above,

Trent Boult
ODIs 15 games,*17 wickets, best*4/44, Ave*34.94, Eco*4.73, 4 W game - 1, 5 W game -*0

Apparently this guy is overrated and can **** off

Kyle Mills (2 years senior to Johnson, 3 to Anderson)
ODIs 170 game,*240 wickets, best*5/25, Ave*27.02, Eco*4.72, 4 W game - 8, 5 W game -*1

This guy proves anyone can struggle to make the first XI

Matt Henry
ODIs 8 games,*21 wickets, best 5/30, Ave*15.42, Eco*4.93, 4 W game -*2, 5 W game - 1

Disclaimer - I love all of the above kiwi bowlers and wish them all the best, and work hard together in this long long tournament to destroy the opposition and win the WC for us.

 

[Howsie]

He might well explode on the ODI scene in the next two months and prove us all wrong, but right now I see a hittable bowler when the ball isn't swinging and a bowler who isn't taking new ball wickets anyway, which are ironically your biggest whinges about Mills.

Huh, how exactly is Boult a very hittable bowler? His ODI career econmoy is 4.73, which is outstanding in this day and age. You seem to have this predetermined idea that Boult being a skiddy sort of bowler was going to be hit around as soon as the ball stopped moving around, something that has proved not to be the case but just continued to run with it anyway. He hasn't taken the wickets I believe he's capble of upfront, which is a valid criticism, but something I think he'll correct fairly quickly.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

I'm not too worried about Boult not taking wickets at the top of the order yet. For one thing, there's a lot of luck in wicket taking - some days a good bowler takes five, others none. Secondly it seems to me that Boult is still bowling Test match style, as evidenced by the large number of wides he's still putting down. I reckon he'll tighten up and his stats will rapidly improve.

 

[Zinzan]

Huh, how exactly is Boult a very hittable bowler? His ODI career econmoy is 4.73, which is outstanding in this day and age. You seem to have this predetermined idea that Boult being a skiddy sort of bowler was going to be hit around as soon as the ball stopped moving around, something that has proved not to be the case but just continued to run with it anyway. He hasn't taken the wickets I believe he's capble of upfront, which is a valid criticism, but something I think he'll correct fairly quickly.

I assume the fact you seem to continuously ignore/fail to respond to approx. 90% of the points/arguments made against this warped theory that kiwi posters hate Boult along with the whole MIlls vs. Boult debate is actually a concession on most of the points then.

This is no way to debate. Learn to argue/respond all the points, not just the easy ones. It's so much more credible.

Example. You didn't even bother to comment on the Mills spell against ND in the NZ domestic thread, in spite of 2-3 posters making references to it & the fact you were viewing the thread. Yet within moments of Boult bowling one good spell, you reply with "Where are all the Boult haters now?"

Cheap debating tactics of the highest order.

 

[Athlai]

Yeah all icing.