NZC Chief: 'A typical tour will be two Test matches', WI test dropped.

[The Hutt Rec]

NZ Cricket and David White seem to have a very shallow understanding of how cricket works, and how to grow and increase its popularity.

Examples are the first few years of the Super Smash ... played at night in big stadiums, right at the start of the season in freezing cold weather. It's like they saw the Big Bash and thought - Hey let's do that here! and tried an exact copy with no thought at all.

Now I think it's the same with the day night test in Auckland. Sure, it's worked overseas, but in a two match series and at the end of the season (again cold and probably weather affected) I don't quite see how it's going to do what Crummy thinks it will in the press release.

I see the same thinking with the proliferation of ODIs and T20Is ... these may pull in more crowds in a balanced schedule, but if it's all we get then I see the side's form and ultimately popularity of the formats diminishing.

They're making some big decisions at the moment and I don't really feel there's someone there linking up all the dots.

Definitely some good points above about the U19s and A sides.

 

[hendrix]

Well tbf the concern about the Plunket Shield identifying a Peter Fulton or Jesse Ryder as still roughly the best in the business, or identifying the likes of Hamish Rutherford as being Test ready only to discover they're actually far from Test standard, is more than just a commercial man's idea of a problem. Someone like me would agree it's a problem.

Likewise how wet behind the ears our NZ U19's have started to look when they come up against the likes of Nepal or Afghanistan in foreign conditions. Whether NZC would benefit from allocating a lot more money to getting its best youngsters looking more worldly by the time they hit 20 (the way modern golf or tennis talent tends to be looking at that age) is certainly up for debate.

Or just making sure that domestic pitches have somewhat of a range of conditions and that different balls can be used at different venues...

 

[_Ed_]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...for-release-from-new-zealand-cricket-contract

Hmmm.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Can't blame him ... seemed to get overlooked an awful lot for players with inferior records ... not sure if he was injured at the Champions Trophy, but I found it very strange he didn't get a game (although to be fair, bowling wasn't our greatest issue in that tournament ... but a few wickets in the final match against Bangladesh would have helped).

But anyway, with NZ Cricket's extreme focus on 20-20s, it's hilarious that we can't even hold onto our best player in the format.

 

[straw man]

McClenaghan doing that is tbh fair enough to both parties i.e. himself and NZC - borderline limited overs squad member with only a few years of fast bowling left in his career. Still technically available for NZ though with plenty of other limited-overs bowling options I don't know if he'll be picked.

Don't want to see other younger or first-team players following suit though, obviously.

 

[SteveNZ]

Probably not going to surprise too many people by jumping to Mitch's defence.

He's 31, with a body he can't fully rely on, is picked in one format at best, is in demand for franchise sides and further to that is a co-director of a business. It's a bit of a no-brainer. He's also still available for selection, although we know that won't happen. So it's not mercenary stuff. It's what Grant Elliott has done for the last two years, and he's (rightly) a god in NZ cricket fans' eyes.

For a guy who had 3 hip surgeries in his 20s, he's fashioned a very good international career with a lot of highlights.

 

[straw man]

White clothing a core component - Kane Williamson

 

[vic_orthdox]

Relying too much on A-Tours ends up promoting selfish, individual cricket where people care about promoting their own personal chances above team prospects.

 

[Kippax]

White clothing a core component - Kane Williamson

"In England you see young guys, maybe 26 years of age, who might've played 100 first-class games. They have marked 'centre' that many times and have so many failures and successes that it helps them learn and mature quicker."

Westley and Jennings aren't really backing up KW's point too strongly here.

You know, if he's claiming that New Zealand fans in an ideal world would get Hamish Rutherford smacking Doug Bracewell around for 16 rounds of four-day cricket, at which point they would start to become crafty and awesome players.