**Official** New Zealand in Australia

[KiWiNiNjA]

Jeez, they are certainly bringing in the young guys in early.
Southee, Guptil, and now Boult.
Williamson and Anderson into the ODI team by 2010?

I would still rather see them hold off a year or 2 longer, like we saw with Ross Taylor, and to a lesser extent Jesse Ryder (as he came with baggage, and still does for that matter).

Now looking at the squad, I will just be happy if we can win 2 games out of 5. Normally I would say we had a chance of winning the series.

The whole McCullum opening thing, I'm still a bit iffy with,
Yeah, if he stays in for 20 overs then NZ will be well on their way to a good total, but if he keeps on throwing away his wicket then I would rather have him down the order, especially when chasing. Having said that, it is better to get your runs at the top than the bottom so....

Maybe the solution could be moving Ryder down to sure up the middle order, since Guptil has shown he is more than up to the task opening. That was Fulton can fit into the 3 position, and is not wasted batting down at 5/6.

Guptil
McCullum
Fulton
Taylor
Ryder
Broom
Elliott
Vettori
Mills
Southee
O'Brien/ Boult

Or we could just continue with the status quo of Ryder-McCullum-Guptil, but I feel if you might as well not play Fulton if he isn't at 3 or 4, and considering Taylor is our number 4 then its at 3.

 

[Corbin]

epic LU cross-pollination atm

Corbin is here as well!

 

[Julian87]

Fulton averages 47 against Australia, from 8 matches. He isn't all inexperienced.

While I think Fulton should definitely be there. I think he will be in for a very rough time against the likes of Johnson, Tait and Siddle. He looked very out of touch in his test match over here.

 

[Redbacks]

Well hopefully Symonds will be back for Australia. He is playing a club cricket game this weekend and then into some FC cricket for the Bulls.

Interesting little press conference he just gave, talking about how he is nearing the decision to retire, wants to go on his own terms etc. More likely, he doesn't want to put up with **** from the media any more and is desperate to play IPL and earn the money offered.

To come out and say there are only so many games left in the tank is an interesting comment to make, potentially dangerous given the style of Australian selction policies. If he isn't going to make it to 2011 WC, he might not be selected for Australia anymore? Perhaps his marketing worth will keep him in the team.

 

[Julian87]

I think he should be playing a lot less cricket anyway, because he shouldn't be near the test squad.

 

[Polo23]

While I think Fulton should definitely be there. I think he will be in for a very rough time against the likes of Johnson, Tait and Siddle. He looked very out of touch in his test match over here.

 

[Zinzan]

Now looking at the squad, I will just be happy if we can win 2 games out of 5. Normally I would say we had a chance of winning the series.
.

Same here to be honest. With Styris & Oram in the middle order (and of course bowling maybe 15 overs between them) I'd give us a chance, but with this team, I fear we're in for a toweling

 

[Polo23]

It seems i'm the only one that thinks NZ has a good chance in this series. I like the youth coming through (Guptill, Ryder, Southee, Broom, Boult) and our key players all have a lot of experience under their belts (McCullum, Vettori, Mills and Taylor to an extent). I think O'Blogger has a lot to prove, and I reckon he has it in him to do well. Elliott has also shown grit and determination to get us out of sticky situations in the past.

Also what should be noted is that all the players selected have been in great form.

 

[Nutter]

Also think we'll do well. Don't really think Styris' absence makes much difference, Fulton > Styris IMO, and his record is good against Aussie. And Oram only tends to perform when we lose, or are losing.

 

[James]

I'd take Tait and Siddle over any of our seamers except Mills.

Think people like Sinclair and especially Thompson can count themselves very unlucky with Diamanti and O'Brien getting picked. Thompson has an outstanding season to date, is a left-armer, handy lower order batsman, and has many years of proven domestic experience with an outsanding record.

This list says it all really - New Zealand Cricket - MVP Points

 

[Polo23]

I'd take Tait and Siddle over any of our seamers except Mills. [/URL]

I wouldnt take Tait or Siddle over Southee. Southee is the far greater prospect IMO. But to say Tait - a guy Fulton has smashed in the past, and Siddle - a guy who hasnt even made his ODI debut, will trouble Fulton is a bit optimistic. Not saying it won't happen, but past performances seem to suggest it's not likely.

 

[James]

I wouldnt take Tait or Siddle over Southee. Southee is the far greater prospect IMO. But to say Tait - a guy Fulton has smashed in the past, and Siddle - a guy who hasnt even made his ODI debut, will trouble Fulton is a bit optimistic. Not saying it won't happen, but past performances seem to suggest it's not likely.

The key to your comment IMO is "prospect". Yes he is, but right now the better bowlers are Tait and Siddle I'd say.

 

[Julian87]

Remember the last time NZ took on Tait in a Twenty20?

 

[Polo23]

The key to your comment IMO is "prospect". Yes he is, but right now the better bowlers are Tait and Siddle I'd say.

Perhaps..but still very debatable. Siddle is yet to make his ODI debut, so for me atleast, he is an unknown quantity, and I don't rate Tait. It will be interesting to see how these bowlers go actually.

 

[Polo23]

Remember the last time NZ took on Tait in a Twenty20?

That says everything.

 

[James]

Perhaps..but still very debatable. Siddle is yet to make his ODI debut, so for me atleast, he is an unknown quantity, and I don't rate Tait. It will be interesting to see how these bowlers go actually.

Tait averages 24.6 against us
Akhtar averages 19.8 against us
Flintoff averages 25.8 against us
Lee averages 20.8 against us

What that tells me is that we always struggle against extreme pace, and I expect we'll struggle to cope with Tait in this series too.

Siddle is also late 140s, early 150s. He was bowling that in the Tests against SA anyway. So I'm picking on pitches he knows well that we'll struggle to cope with him too.

 

[Polo23]

I know who has done well against us and I know we've struggled against pace in the past. But if you take a look at Tait's stats against us and look at some of the game scorecards you will see he has gone around the park the majority of the time and has cleaned up the tail a bit also (from memory, don't quote me on this).

I think Tait will trouble us for 2-3 overs max. After that his pace severely drops off and he doesnt look half the bowler he did in his first over.

Siddle bowling relatively quickly doesnt mean he is just going to rip through our lineup, Akhtar (atleast when he played us), Lee and Flintoff were probably the best bowlers going around in their prime. Siddle is no where near in that class as of yet.

 

[James]

I know who has done well against us and I know we've struggled against pace in the past. But if you take a look at Tait's stats against us and look at some of the game scorecards you will see he has gone around the park the majority of the time and has cleaned up the tail a bit also (from memory, don't quote me on this).

I think Tait will trouble us for 2-3 overs max. After that his pace severely drops off and he doesnt look half the bowler he did in his first over.

Siddle bowling relatively quickly doesnt mean he is just going to rip through our lineup, Akhtar (atleast when he played us), Lee and Flintoff were probably the best bowlers going around in their prime. Siddle is no where near in that class as of yet.

Yeah I'm with you in what you were saying, and wouldn't disagree with what you've said.

I was just questioning that you'd pick Southee, O'Brien, Boult over them who I tend to think aren't/won't be as effective as Tait or Siddle in ODI cricket right now in Australian conditions.

 

[Polo23]

I never said i'd pick them ahead of anyone. I just laughed when he said he would trouble Fulton, as if it was a foregone conclusion.

 

[James]

I never said i'd pick them ahead of anyone. I just laughed when he said he would trouble Fulton, as if it was a foregone conclusion.

Ahh ok, my mistake