*Official* New Zealand in Zimbabwe 2025 (Tests)

[Smudge]

NZ (or at least us on CW) are getting all 'England obsessing over the ashes' about this tour to Australia.

If it is Bkackcsps HQ with this attitude/tunnel vision, then it is to our detriment.

The team needs to be constantly ticking over and re-newing. Not aiming for some mythical climax that will actually end up in an England v Mitchell Johnson massacre as 7 has-beens all get shown their beans in the same series.

Walter is proving to be the biggest ***** in cricket history. What man with any balls would be too scared to let Blundell 'share' the non -WTC series with Hay. Etc. Even if it is the coach's first series.

An insecure *****, exacerbating Stead's mistakes, in fact rolling back the tiny progress Stead had made (Nicholls).

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Gonna be a few changes for the 2nd test I guess. Who comes in for Bracewell, O’Rourke and Smith? Maybe young guns Vettori, Doull and Hadlee?

 

[Mike5181]

1. Devon Conway
2. Tom Latham
3. Will Young
4. Rachin Ravindra
5. Daryl Mitchell
6. Tom Blundell
7. Mitchell Santner
8. Matt Henry
9. Ajaz Patel
10. Jacob Duffy
11. Matt Fisher

Something like that I guess.

 

[Mike5181]

Remember less than a year ago when Tim Southee played 2 tests against Sri Lanka while Matt Henry sat on the bench? lol.

 

[SteveNZ]

Remember less than a year ago when Tim Southee played 2 tests against Sri Lanka while Matt Henry sat on the bench? lol.

Geezus. The nadir of the Stead era, really, was the Tim Southee farewell tour.

 

[SteveNZ]

NZ (or at least us on CW) are getting all 'England obsessing over the ashes' about this tour to Australia.

If it is Bkackcsps HQ with this attitude/tunnel vision, then it is to our detriment.

The team needs to be constantly ticking over and re-newing. Not aiming for some mythical climax that will actually end up in an England v Mitchell Johnson massacre as 7 has-beens all get shown their beans in the same series.

Walter is proving to be the biggest ***** in cricket history. What man with any balls would be too scared to let Blundell 'share' the non -WTC series with Hay. Etc. Even if it is the coach's first series.

An insecure *****, exacerbating Stead's mistakes, in fact rolling back the tiny progress Stead had made (Nicholls).

I get what you're saying but I have no regrets about circling this one on the calendar. Having won in India, we've now done all there is to achieve in Test cricket apart in the last decade apart from be competitive with Australia, anywhere. I don't even care if we don't win the series, respect and challenging them across the series is as important as anything that will happen to this side in the next decade (again, in my opinion)

I don't like it either. Then again, I've always been uncomfortable about hyping up that series in general.

A 4-Test series vs Australia sounds exciting on the surface, but then once you figure out it's the first in nearly 100 years of NZ being a Test team it's just another example of Australia's snobbish & condescending attitude towards New Zealand.

Get Australia off the pedestal, for goodness sake. I don't care how good they are or how crap our history is against them.

Well maybe if we put a rocket up them in their own conditions, their snobbish and condescending attitude might wane a bit? They have every right to be. What is it, one Test win in the last 33 or something ridiculous like that? And 8 in a row? Pretty solid grounds for condescension.

Australia will be on the pedestal until we find a way to be competitive. They should be on a pedestal, it adds an extra element of interest. A lot of fans outside CW will feel exactly the same.

 

[SteveNZ]

I'm just catching up with the highlights, I get that the ball was going through the surface a bit etc (although Young's dismissal looked soft as butter) but some of those shots. What the hell is Henry Nicholls doing, in a Test he should never be in, getting caught slashing to gully from a foot and a half outside leg? Blundell pulling up with a man back?

At least for all the talk about him being on the decline, Mitchell was prepared to play a Test innings even if it 'is Zimbabwe'. Same for Conway

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Geezus. The nadir of the Stead era, really, was the Tim Southee farewell tour.

****ing oath.

Sikander Raza and Blundell went to the same school of amateur pull shots and inability to read the field settings tbf.

 

[NZTailender]

I get what you're saying but I have no regrets about circling this one on the calendar. Having won in India, we've now done all there is to achieve in Test cricket apart in the last decade apart from be competitive with Australia, anywhere. I don't even care if we don't win the series, respect and challenging them across the series is as important as anything that will happen to this side in the next decade (again, in my opinion)



Well maybe if we put a rocket up them in their own conditions, their snobbish and condescending attitude might wane a bit? They have every right to be. What is it, one Test win in the last 33 or something ridiculous like that? And 8 in a row? Pretty solid grounds for condescension.

Australia will be on the pedestal until we find a way to be competitive. They should be on a pedestal, it adds an extra element of interest. A lot of fans outside CW will feel exactly the same.

Tbf I'd love to see a series win in Australia in my lifetime but we've still never done it ever in South Africa. Big gap on a lot of our players records as well. Keen for that.

Plus beating a proper South Africa and the Aussies at home would be nice too. And clean sweeping the smug English ***** next year

 

[Bahnz]

Any word on how serious O'Rourke's back injury is?

 

[James]

All the flack that Stead got for his selections and its seemingly more of the same with Walter.

Is there someone else behind the scenes or the senior players that are ultimately making the selections of the team?

 

[Skyliner]

Any time I hear an NZ quick has back stiffness which is precluding them from playing I get a feeling of dread. Usually they get sent for scans and the news is often awful. Very quickly our vulnerabilities are exposed with a cloud over O’Rourke, Sears lurching from injury to injury and Jamieson plagued by stress fractures in the past. Then reading about Fisher and his history of injuries and it seems he also struggles to stay fit and on the park.
It seems a near certainty that Duffy will now make his debut in the next test. It seemed at one stage that he’d just be an also-ran in domestic cricket but then he suddenly came on in leaps and bounds last year. It would be interesting to know what the catalyst was for this improvement. He looks physically stronger these days than he did through much of his career.

 

[Skyliner]

There is an article in the Post today running through various selection scenarios and replacements in light of the injuries and potential absences that may be of interest.

The Post

www.thepost.co.nz

 

[RMBolton]

I get what you're saying but I have no regrets about circling this one on the calendar. Having won in India, we've now done all there is to achieve in Test cricket apart in the last decade apart from be competitive with Australia, anywhere. I don't even care if we don't win the series, respect and challenging them across the series is as important as anything that will happen to this side in the next decade (again, in my opinion)



Well maybe if we put a rocket up them in their own conditions, their snobbish and condescending attitude might wane a bit? They have every right to be. What is it, one Test win in the last 33 or something ridiculous like that? And 8 in a row? Pretty solid grounds for condescension.

Australia will be on the pedestal until we find a way to be competitive. They should be on a pedestal, it adds an extra element of interest. A lot of fans outside CW will feel exactly the same.

I dunno. At this point, I think the boys could sweep Australia 4-0 à la India '24 & it wouldn't humble them or get rid of that attitude. The catharsis would be like nothing else, & it would shock the cricketing world, but I'm not sure if it would change their attitude.

Maybe it's just me. I've never been comfortable with putting Australia on a pedestal, & as much as I think I can understand why, I just can't get into it myself because I think putting them on a pedestal is part of the problem - I guess I just turn it into hatred of them instead.

Then again, I've never viewed what we have with Australia as a rivalry but as a neverending & quite unhealthy thirst for revenge.

 

[straw man]

Gonna be a few changes for the 2nd test I guess. Who comes in for Bracewell, O’Rourke and Smith? Maybe young guns Vettori, Doull and Hadlee?

Needs more Canterbury - what are Peter Fulton and Craig McMillan up to

 

[straw man]

Snarks aside, we did the job this match, even if largely just on the back of Henry's bowling. A little help from Smith too, who I do kinda see as Henry's understudy.

I love O' Rourke but it might be a full time job for a bowling coach to remind him to pitch the ball up once or twice an over. Hope his and Smith's injuries aren't too bad. Great chance for Duffy and Fisher next match.

Also pleased that Conway is playing and ground out a score - had thought he'd miss the series for T20 leagues. I'm not as keen to move on from him as some - think he still has something to offer as an opener.

Total travesty that Nicholls and Blundell are occupying spots though.

 

[Skyliner]

News is pretty slow to emerge from this set-up.

 

[NZTailender]

All the flack that Stead got for his selections and its seemingly more of the same with Walter.

Is there someone else behind the scenes or the senior players that are ultimately making the selections of the team?

I'm not a fan of the overly conservative selections this far but it's also literally his first series in charge as coach. I think while we nerds on a cricket forum would love a coach coming in with a scythe and culling all the dead weight, there's probably a senior player dynamic that you refer to that needs more careful management when you look back to things like when Stead dropped Southee in Sydney and the whole Moles saga. I think he gets a little benefit of the doubt for now. If Blundell and Nicholls are still around for the home series then I'd be pretty ****ing livid.

 

[Skyliner]

I’d expect Nicholls to drop out if Latham is fit for the next test, and then if Kane is available going forward that pretty much shuts the door on Nicholls.

 

[Mike5181]

I'm not a fan of the overly conservative selections this far but it's also literally his first series in charge as coach. I think while we nerds on a cricket forum would love a coach coming in with a scythe and culling all the dead weight, there's probably a senior player dynamic that you refer to that needs more careful management when you look back to things like when Stead dropped Southee in Sydney and the whole Moles saga. I think he gets a little benefit of the doubt for now. If Blundell and Nicholls are still around for the home series then I'd be pretty ****ing livid.

I think the more telling thing is that Nicholls' last test before this was December 2023. It's not like he was in the XI and the coach didn't want to upset the group by immediately dropping him as soon as he took over, he's actually gone out of his way to bring him back.