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*Official* 2022 New Zealand Tour of England, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Think I'm ready for my next big sook...the application, or lack thereof, of our lower order. And seemingly, the acceptance of that fact in our environment.

We have an 8-11 (Wagner sometimes excepted) who refuse to bat to the match situation. And I include Bracewell in that after the 3rd Test. Throughout this series, we have seen some ****ing ghastly shots from our tail, in situations where they had a senior batsman at the other end, or the match situation would have been much better suited to playing proper cricket shots.

Ajaz at Lord's, a horrendous swipe across the line with a lead building. Henry first ball at Nottingham, with Mitchell nearing 200. Bracewell with another horrible swipe in the 2nd dig there, with Mitchell again set. Bracewell again at Leeds, even worse swipe with Blundell set. Then the one I reckon got me the most, Boult in the 2nd dig at Leeds with Blundell on 88, tries to hoe one off middle stump.

Yeah we're whingers, we're cynical etc. But this stuff absolutely ****s me off, and has for years. If there's Baz Ball, this is Southee Ball. Where no matter what the situation, who's at the other end, you hack as hard as you can because 'that's the way you play'. He does it, Henry does it, Bracewell did it, Jamieson does it, and Boult does it. Every single one of those guys is better than that, or could be. If I was Blundell the other day, or Mitchell through the series, I'd tear ****ing strips off these guys. I work hard out here for hours, and you get to be all care and no responsibility because 'it's the way you play'? **** that. Cricket is your job. Take it seriously, be the best you can be.

Even in a Brendon McCullum side, you won't see that. You won't see Jack Leach, or Jimmy Anderson, or Matthew Potts, bat that way. They'll bat for the situation. And none of those guys have the ability of our guys. Leach won a Test for his country opening the batting. He became a hero in an Ashes Test alongside Ben Stokes. If that was a NZ top order player, Stokes would never have had the chance (Wagner possibly excepted). Ugh. I hate it.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I've been criticising Southee's batting approach for years, but mainly how he would bat ahead of people who were willing to show greater application - particularly Wagner but also Henry. Contrast some of this frantic, headless batting with the runs that Pat Cummins or even Mitchell Starc can contribute. Cummins, for example, has played fewer than 50% of the matches Southee has. Cummins has faced 2,114 balls. Southee... 2,240 (58 innings vs. 126 innings for the record). It's utter contempt for their batting partners.
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Southees batting application has been **** for years and I've advocated for Boult to bat ahead of him but tbf he added valuable runs in this series, ironically.

Used to be our tailenders could hold up an end and Vettori would shepherd extra runs before Martin was in and eventually be out soon after. But not it's just slog for the stars.

I mean jeeze, remember when Wagner, Sodhi and iirc Astle saved tests for us with the bat?
 

Moss

International Vice-Captain
Jamieson is the biggest disappointment of the lot for mine, because he actually has very decent abilities which he showed in his first few international outings (the rest of them aren't that equipped defence-wise TBF). He's been brought down to earth (both as bowler and batter) since his dream start to internationals, hopefully he learns from it and works on setting some standards and maintaining them.
 
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Moss

International Vice-Captain
Bairstow's series strike rate is something

No application on the winning side either

just vibes
Feel free to laugh at the comparison, but in terms of the impact it had both on his team and the opposition (on a smaller scale of course) I think of Bairstow's series effort as a sort of batting equivalent of Mitchell Johnson's 2013-14 Ashes. You have a protagonist previously written off as an also-ran, inflicting a blitzkrieg and the experienced opposition is shell-shocked into submission. Remains to be seen how NZ recover from it, but it could conceivably be the end for Wagner, and Southee will know that opposition batsmen will follow YJB's lead in trying to hit him off his length.
 
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Groundking

International Debutant
For all the talk about NZ's spinner problems, which I agree with, the elephant in the room here is Southee's bowling, no team is going to win in England with one of the seam bowlers averaging 59 in a 4 man attack. Awful. Struggling to think of a worse bowling performance here in recent years.
 

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
Not really a elephant in the room though is it? I'd say Southee has (rightly) been the most slammed NZ bowler.
 

Skyliner

International 12th Man
On the one hand, the day-night test at Bay Oval is something to look forward - there is always a result at the ground, and the matches go 5 days.
On the other hand, not looking forward to Bay Oval being heavily criticised for not being Hagley Oval.
 

Moss

International Vice-Captain
What a match. What a series. And YJB, What a player. Terrific fun to watch. And dont worry Kiwi fans, us Indian fans will join you in the doom gloom next week. :(
I think England would be a lot more wary of using that approach against Bumrah and Ashwin, though they may well target someone like Shami. Also helps if you have bowlers who can pick up the slack with the old ball. Would expect the likes of Siraj, Shardul and Jadeja not to completely freeze in the face of an onslaught, though we'll soon find out.

Southee is rightly being bagged here, but with the second line of attack/defence either out injured at crucial points (CdG, Jamieson) or too predictable and hittable (Henry, Wagner, Bracewell), let's face it, he was bowled to the ground as well; when he was getting hit around, KW/Latham couldn't (or refused to) take him off when he normally might have. Of course, they chose to believe Ajaz and Mitchell didn't exist so there's that.
 
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straw man

Hall of Fame Member
Even in a Brendon McCullum side, you won't see that. You won't see Jack Leach, or Jimmy Anderson, or Matthew Potts, bat that way. They'll bat for the situation. And none of those guys have the ability of our guys. Leach won a Test for his country opening the batting. He became a hero in an Ashes Test alongside Ben Stokes. If that was a NZ top order player, Stokes would never have had the chance (Wagner possibly excepted). Ugh. I hate it.
Good rant, though it's hard to see England's tail not going down the same path when it was Bazball that really bedded in our tail's dgaf attitude in the first place.
 

jcas0167

International Debutant
Why did Brendon Mcullum turn down the New Zealand job.
The NZ job isn't available. Stead is contracted for at least another year. Even if it was I'm not sure McCullum would have wanted it. The England role is a much bigger deal in every sense. He wants to boost test cricket and he has more opportunity to do that with England.
 
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Flem274*

123/5
The NZ job isn't available.
It's available when the board want it to be available.

NZC are infuriating but they do like their money. Surely their lawyers have a performance clause in the contract? That and NZC are totally stingy enough to spend **** all on team management and support staff, which is the only logical reason we've carted Shane Jurgensen around on a world tour while our bowlers slowly decline under his eye because "these guys coach themselves" according to Doully in his own evisceration of Jurgensen 12 months ago.
 

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