New Zealand A Tour of India and Sri Lanka

[Bahnz]

I feel so sorry for Neil Broom. With Ryder out until next year and Brownlie and Guptill fighting a feracious battle for the title of "world's ****test middle order bat" he's got a real chance to push for a place. And what happens? ****knuckle selectors make him an opener on the NZA tour...just 'coz. That top 6 is a disgrace and whoever selected the squad for this tour should get sacked (if they haven't been already).

 

[hendrix]

apart from the Broom opening thing, the side makes sense from a development perspective. Obviously if they were going for a win there's no way Astle and Sodhi would be in the same team. Hell, that was probably forced by Milne and Henry's unavailability anyway.

I think it's pretty clear that Latham is being groomed for the opener's spot and they want to give Rutherford an extended go. Is there another opener in NZ who's calling for it?

Obvious obvious answer is Flynn and I really don't know what he's done to piss someone off.

 

[Flem274*]

The line-up for the match will be (in batting order):

Tom Latham(c) – Canterbury Wizards
Neil Broom – Otago Volts
Carl Cachopa – Central Stags
Daryl Mitchell – Northern Knights
Luke Ronchi – Wellington Firebirds
James Neesham – Otago Volts
Derek de Boorder (wk) - Otago Volts
Todd Astle – Canterbury Wizards
Doug Bracewell – Central Stags
Ish Sodhi – Northern Knights
Mark Gillespie – Wellington Firebirds

Anton Devcich (12th man) – Northern Knights

Matt Henry will sit out the match with a slight side injury, while Corey Anderson is sidelined with a haematoma on his quad. Adam Milne is the other player not to feature, having only just joined the team in India. All three players are expected to be available for the next match starting 2 September.

Plunket Shield bowling attacks would be lining up to bowl at that batting line up, let alone international A sides. The players themselves are decent but the squad balance is truly disgraceful.

I feel so sorry for Neil Broom. With Ryder out until next year and Brownlie and Guptill fighting a feracious battle for the title of "world's ****test middle order bat" he's got a real chance to push for a place. And what happens? ****knuckle selectors make him an opener on the NZA tour...just 'coz. That top 6 is a disgrace and whoever selected the squad for this tour should get sacked (if they haven't been already).

Nah ****, Brownlie is gun. I like Guptill as a dude but he isn't currently capable of scoring hundreds like the one Brownlie scored in SA.

 

[Flem274*]

apart from the Broom opening thing, the side makes sense from a development perspective. Obviously if they were going for a win there's no way Astle and Sodhi would be in the same team. Hell, that was probably forced by Milne and Henry's unavailability anyway.

I think it's pretty clear that Latham is being groomed for the opener's spot and they want to give Rutherford an extended go. Is there another opener in NZ who's calling for it?

Obvious obvious answer is Flynn and I really don't know what he's done to piss someone off.

They should be going for the win because that's how you develop. You can't expect to develop players without winning games anyway. This is what I hate about the NZ A programme: they've admitted in the past it's all about development.

Flynn and/or Raval should be over there. We need two openers at a bare minimum, and instead we have three wicketkeepers and 25 allrounders.

 

[Bahnz]

apart from the Broom opening thing, the side makes sense from a development perspective.

I think it's pretty clear that Latham is being groomed for the opener's spot and they want to give Rutherford an extended go. Is there another opener in NZ who's calling for it?

Obvious obvious answer is Flynn and I really don't know what he's done to piss someone off.

If they're going for the development option than it's hard to see why Jeet Raval's been snubbed, given his efforts in the last couple of seasons (put more runs on the board than Rutherford last year iirc). And unlike Latham he, y'know, actually opens for his province. Why the selectors seem determined on manufacturing an opener out of Latham, just because he's done it a few times in List A cricket isn't exactly clear to me.

And yes, then there's Flynn's absence, the fact that Neesham usually bats at number 8 for Otago, that playing both Ronchi and de Boorder is a waste of a middle order spot, and the small issue that Cachopa ****s himself whenever confronted by anything shorter than a half volley.

fmd.

 

[Mike5181]

I guess it was always going to look terrible without Henry, Milne and Anderson. Raval should be the first opener picked on these tours. He has a good record and is still young. We already know what Flynn can do. Broom should be ahead of Guptill as the reserve middle-order batsman in the test side so why they're ****ing around with him as an opener on an A tour have no idea.

 

[Bahnz]

I don't have a big problem with the bowling. Ideally, I'd like to see one of Milne or Henry in the team, but it always made sense to have a bowl off between the two leggies at some stage, and it's a tour of the sub-continent anyway so why not?

 

[Flem274*]

Why the **** Guptill, supposedly our reserve opener, isn't over there bewilders me. He can't play spin so isn't this the ideal opportunity for him to play against it?

 

[Bahnz]

C'mon Flem, he hit 2 hundreds in a row against England earlier this year! He's gotta be one of the best openers we've ever had!

 

[hendrix]

Yeah I completely forgot about Raval. That non-selection is very strange.

Neesham batting 6 is rather hilarious, but again I don't have a problem with it from a developmental perspective.

 

[Immenso]

I don't see the 2 leggies in the team as a surprise, or as a bowl off.

It's India, of course they will play 2 spinners. The only spinners in the squad are leggies. In fact next cab off the rank for this squad would also be a leggie (Nethula, behaviour permitting).

The only decent finger spinners around the NZ FC scene are Vettori, Patel, Martin. Who are all well over 30, plenty of test experience etc

It does make that Neesham or Anderson role on this tour an important one.

Plenty of us have already discussed the awful balance of the tour selection. Seeing the batting order, and the wasted opportunity cost, just makes me want to punch a littlejohn or buchanan.

 

[hendrix]

Buchanan was the one who actually set up the tour, so no punching him.

 

[Blain]

Yeah agree here, no Raval and we have Devcich in the touring team :S WTF!! A 24yo opener with an average close to 40 in NZ is very rare. I hope he can push on upwards with Auckland this year and prove he is a genuine option.

Him and Rutherford should be opening on this tour imo. Rutherford has hardly proven he is the real deal yet. Very promising, but very one dimensional at this stage. Raval is more the grafter, which NZ has lacked since Richardson.

Cachopa is there as a reward for his start of last season, but from memorary was very average at the later stages. Mitchell is a good pick. I would have gone (with Anderson, Henry and Milne out;

Rutherford
Raval
Mitchell
Broom
Latham
Munro
Ronchi
Neesham
Sodhi
Bracewell
Gillespie

Bloody lawn bowlers.

 

[Flem274*]

Two leggies in the same team is a mistake. It's rare for opposition spinners to play a major role in victories in the subcontinent. The last duo to be effective was Swann/Panesar and Astle/Sodhi aren't close to the former combination.

Three quicks is the way to go, though with Neesham playing we have that already.

edit: wouldn't commit to calling Raval a grafter. Was first noticed for his strokeplay iirc.

 

[Maximas]

are you playing for team balance or are you playing for development? 2 leggies is fine, they'll probably have better luck than any finger spinner you have anyway

 

[Bahnz]

are you playing for team balance or are you playing for development? 2 leggies is fine, they'll probably have better luck than any finger spinner you have anyway

It's harder to develop and benefit from an A tour when you're being played massively out of your usual position as 4 of the current top 6 are.

 

[straw man]

I don't mind the policy of leaving out players like Rutherford and Brownlie as including them tells them they're on thin ice and are constantly on trial (Kippax made some post along these lines). Give them just a little comfort and space to develop in the NZ side without feeling the dogs yapping at their heels all the time.

Regarding Raval I wonder if he's made himself unavailable as otherwise it is very strange to omit him and instead select 0.5 openers in the squad. Whereas it's clear Flynn has been blacklisted after two extended runs of failure in the NZ side. We'll probably next see him recalled to play for NZ in the wrong format in 2018 at age 33 after a couple of years in the doldrums and a couple more bullying PS bowlers a la Jamie How and Craig Cumming. Sad face. Needs to open for ND this season and average 60 to force NZ selectors' hand. Then again that may be difficult while continually slashing the new ball to third slip.

 

[straw man]

And yes, then there's Flynn's absence, the fact that Neesham usually bats at number 8 for Otago, that playing both Ronchi and de Boorder is a waste of a middle order spot, and the small issue that Cachopa ****s himself whenever confronted by anything shorter than a half volley.

He may just be in luck this tour then, young Carl Rainachopa. Though what's he like against spin? My guess is the same as it is for any other domestic NZ batsman.

 

[Kippax]

Often seems a very poor player of spin to me Raval, just from some PS wickets I've seen. Only pressed on past 50 once last year as well. Might do a Witness the ****ness video on him sometime, although Cribb has robbed me of my delight in making those by claiming they're desperately unfair.

https://twitter.com/RCBTweets

Royal Challengers ‏@RCBTweets 4m
India A Playing XI: Jiwanjot, Chand, Zol, Juneja, CM Gautam (WK), A Nayar (C), Jalaj Saxena, Dhawal, R Dhurv, S Ladda, Aniket Choudhary.

Royal Challengers ‏@RCBTweets 7m
New Zealand A have won the toss and elected to bat first against India A!

Also at the ground -
https://twitter.com/captainshanky

 

[Flem274*]

I've thought about it some more and I don't see why it's so bad or difficult to select a balanced squad so they could field the below side, even excluding injured players (so bowlers) and allowing for their Latham experiment and Flynn blacklisting:

Tom Latham
Jeet Raval
Martin Guptill
Neil Broom
Daryl Mitchell
Carl Cachopa/Jimmy Neesham
Luke Ronchi
Doug Bracewell
Ish Sodhi
Mark Gillespie
Ben Wheeler

Much better team imo, and yes I am hiding Cachopa from any modicum of bounce.