***Official New Zealand Domestic Season 2021/22***

[Immenso]

It seemed odd that Georgeson was dropped when he was. Is there a chance that he’d signalled that he was opting for an Ireland contract earlier which led to Wellington dropping him (or contributing to that decision)? Or was it simply mismanagement as you suggest?

I don't think so. He had a red ball stinker of a season. Averaged 14.50. And kept getting dismissed the same way.

Got replaced by someone (younger) banging the door down. That is not mis-management.

Second season syndrome, maybe? We'll never know now.

 

[Immenso]

To me, Georgeson 'looks' like he will be better than Vishvaka. I'm talking red ball. Vishvaka looks surprisingly 'interesting'.

But, got to take chances when available.

End of last season I was pencilling Georgeson in as a potential (distant future) test opener, would have liked to see him in NZ A if he had a good follow up season. But, it was a really bad follow up season.

He did OK in the ListA stuff this season, that seems to be the limit of Ireland's ambitions.

 

[Kippax]

Yes, sometimes people make out that there are no longer supposed to be any nasty knock-backs for competitive Wellington sportspeople. The ones who've had so much inhibition and effortful control drummed into them, that they can barely hit the ball off the square anymore.

 

[Flem274*]

Georgeson is 22. I think he's jumping the gun a bit if he did want to play for NZ. Being a young opener is probably the second hardest job behind being a young spinner in the modern Shield. He had time on his side and I don't expect a 22 year old to flourish opening the batting in NZ domestic cricket with the decline of the pitches and the dukaburra.

I suppose he figures Latham and his team mate Ravindra will block his route to opening the batting for NZ for at least 5 years. I still think he has jumped the gun. 9 FC matches is pretty early to look elsewhere and being an allrounder he has an advantage over his rivals if he had pushed that batting average to 40+ over the coming seasons.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Yes, sometimes people make out that there are no longer supposed to be any nasty knock-backs for competitive Wellington sportspeople. The ones who've had so much inhibition and effortful control drummed into them, that they can barely hit the ball off the square anymore.

Really? Who are these people? If you're implying that I don't think there should be any nasty knock-backs, that's bollocks. Tbf, I haven't watched much Plunket Shield this year as I'd normally go along to games, but had attendance disrupted by COVID etc. I didn't know Georgeson had such a poor season. But then Bhula was only dropped for the last game of the season and his performance was atrocious. And was Georgeson deployed well - should he have been opening? I wasn't sure about that. Hard to compare the statistics these days without access to Cricket Archive.

 

[Flem274*]

Really? Who are these people? If you're implying that I don't think there should be any nasty knock-backs, that's bollocks. Tbf, I haven't watched much Plunket Shield this year as I'd normally go along to games, but had attendance disrupted by COVID etc. I didn't know Georgeson had such a poor season. But then Bhula was only dropped for the last game of the season and his performance was atrocious. And was Georgeson deployed well - should he have been opening? I wasn't sure about that. Hard to compare the statistics these days without access to Cricket Archive.

You can get into cricket archive through the player database on NZC website. "list of matches and detailed statistics" gets you right in.

 

[Kippax]

Really? Who are these people? If you're implying that I don't think there should be any nasty knock-backs, that's bollocks.

Well tbh it's the Indian and Sri Lankan kids themselves who are telling me I should maybe butt heads with leftist white guys in positions of influence in Wellington a bit more. They're chiefly the ones who'd like to get the Wellington cricket scene filled with a bit more of that Devon Conway and Elon Musk optimism, rather than running with lefty Jimmy Neesham and Iain O'Brien stuff all the time.

 

[Kippax]

 

[nzfan]

It seemed odd that Georgeson was dropped when he was. Is there a chance that he’d signalled that he was opting for an Ireland contract earlier which led to Wellington dropping him (or contributing to that decision)? Or was it simply mismanagement as you suggest?

Purely my opinion, yes you have players that are scoring runs and taking wickets then there are players that are a sure shot to play for good number of years and also go on to play for higher honours. In my opinion Luke Georgeson was one of those players. He showed he has pretty good technique and a long time player to invest in. Like I have said so many times, batting at the top of the order at Basin hard to expect players to average 50+ I don't think they should have looked at numbers as for picking Luke, should have given him a good run.

His bowling isn't all that bad, he can bowl reasonably good channel and consistently. Should have been persisted with consistently across all formats.

 

[nzfan]

don't you already have enough?

High chance they are all going to leave this season.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Definitely want some more of the Elon Musk energy so the entire team is full of lazy dumbass frauds.

 

[nzfan]

Really? Who are these people? If you're implying that I don't think there should be any nasty knock-backs, that's bollocks. Tbf, I haven't watched much Plunket Shield this year as I'd normally go along to games, but had attendance disrupted by COVID etc. I didn't know Georgeson had such a poor season. But then Bhula was only dropped for the last game of the season and his performance was atrocious. And was Georgeson deployed well - should he have been opening? I wasn't sure about that. Hard to compare the statistics these days without access to Cricket Archive.

Bhula was never technically prolific even from younger days but he was one of the best timer of the ball. Good hands and played his shots irrespective of the game situation. But then his technique changed day in and day out. I guess the young lads play a game or two and if they don't do well they start looking at tweaking grip, stance, pre delivery movement etc rather than understand the nature of the game is such that you do get out early mostly but when you are make sure to cash in. A year ago he had Kohli like stance and movement, this year he has adopted very open stance and sure enough that sort of open stance technique won't work as soon as the ball starts to move around quite a bit. I have seen him bat in the u19s few years ago and if he struck to that technique by now he'd be like Troy Johnson for firebirds.

 

[Flem274*]

Canterbury had a pretty funny collapse this morning. 260/2 to 325 all out. Guptill falls early to the ruthless Williams channel.

 

[ataraxia]

Delport with a second 7fa. Could've got eight if Will Williams hadn't been given out to an lbw to Somerville that was easily going over the stumps.

 

[Bahnz]

So, end of season wrap-up

Winners

Tom Bruce had an amazing season. Pity he waited till he was 30 to suddenly start doing a Conway. If he can maintain his momentum he'll make a good reserve option for the middle-order should Nicholls or Young go down.

Rob O'Donnell - second high scoring season in a row, probably now the front-running FC U30 batsman.

Dale Phillips - best performing U25, very good season, doubly so as he's had to bat at the top of the order in an underperforming Otago lineup.

Nathan Smith - bit of a breakthrough season. Brutalised opponents in the early spring/late autumn but went a bit quiet in the warmer months. Still looks good, swinging the ball both ways.

Brett Randell - first real extended run in the shield. Came through with flying colours and now has pretty spiffy looking FC career stats. Good one to keep an eye on.

Joe Walker - with Sommerville looking like he's done his dash, this was a good season for Walker to turn himself into a regular wicket taker. Not much to write home about for any of the FC spinners, but Walker might've done enough to get his name mentioned at a couple of selector's meetings.

Losers

Finn Allen - very little progress since last season, just doesn't have the defensive technique to last any time at the crease. But worried as after I watched him in the U19's I had him pegged as a future top 4 bat in the test side.

Tom Blundell - serious urgh of a season, with poor returns with the bat and sloppy work behind the stumps. Helped himself to a downhill skying 90 against SA, but otherwise this was a season to forget, and he's probably feeling greatly relieved that the runs dried up in the late season for Fletcher and Cleaver.

Leo Carter - was hoping he'd move with O'Donnell into the 'slightly younger gen of bats who might be in the frame in a couple of years' camp. Instead ended up joining the 'sliding toward selectorial irrelevance' club.

Doug Bracewell - speaking of players sliding towards selectorial irrelevance, Bracewell had a forgettable year with bat and ball. Don't think even Ian Smith could claim that he has an international future at this point.

Ajaz Patel - tis a tough life for a domestic spinner, especially one who plies his trade for CD. But his complete lack of bite during the Shield has to be a tad concerning for an NZ side that'll probably be without Wagner ball in 12 months time.

Jacob Duffy - wasn't a great season all round for KJ, but his "you'll only ever be a domestic trundler" jibe at Duffy is sadly looking right on the money.

Emerging players hon mentions

Really positive starts for Vishvaka and Robinson give Wellington a glimmer of hope for next season. Great to see Sears have a solid year, even if he missed the back end due to intl duties and I'm assuming a mix of injuries and other commitments. Also just want to send out a big apology to Simon Keene, who's only picked up 1 wicket since I added him to my lineup in the draft.

 

[Immenso]

^^ I think Henry Shipley was one of the biggest movers this season.

 

[Immenso]

Also. A bit belated comment. But was good to see Tickner come back from a blackcaps a stint and really dominate a round of the Plunket Shield. It was just one round, but, that is the sort of trend I'd like to see. He looked considerably quicker than the other 5 or 6 seamers playing in that match (which was the CD v Auckland round at Napier last week).

 

[Immenso]

Brett Randell - first real extended run in the shield. Came through with flying colours and now has pretty spiffy looking FC career stats. Good one to keep an eye on.

I had a look at Randell's stats. It is quite surprising that this is his first season with a decent stint at the FC stuff:



He had built up very decent numbers already in List A.
Middling to mediocre in T20.

 

[Immenso]

Also. Toole from CD.

Good follow up season. After a good breakout season last year.

Eye test, he actually looks quite useful, IMO.

 

[Neil Young]

High chance they are all going to leave this season.

What are the rumours? Smith already? Or more Neesham, Macewell and Allen?