***Official*** New Zealand in Zimbabwe & Zimbabwe/New Zealand/India ODI Tri-Series

[Tim]

A report in the Herald today quoted Bond as saying that he's only bowling low 140's so his accuracy is good. He reckons he can crank it up if he wants to but at this stage he just wants to get his rhythm & accuracy right which is fair enough..its only Zimbabwe.

 

[shaka]

Everyone is happy if he keeps it at this level until he feels the confidence in knowing he will not break down again. 6 wickets is a sign that there is no need to speed up the pace.

 

[Tim]

48/2 is a bit disappointing.

I'll be more than annoyed if our opening partnership for the S.A series is still Vincent & Marshall. I really hope this is just to get NZ by against Zim.

 

[Blaze]

48/2 is a bit disappointing.

I'll be more than annoyed if our opening partnership for the S.A series is still Vincent & Marshall. I really hope this is just to get NZ by against Zim.

James Marshall is not up to it. Papps and How have greater potential for the future. Two failures against ZIM don't look great.

 

[Sir Redman]

The main focus has been on how fast Bond has been bowling...but has anyone noticed how accurate he's been? Barely a ball down leg side and not too much short and wide...he's also bowling good bouncers. I would have liked to see a few more yorkers at Taibu and Dabengwa though, particularly on that hat-trick ball.

Franklin had a bit of a mixed bag with some good balls and other rubbish ones...Vettori bowled superbly before lunch in particular, and while I didn't see much of Martin bowling I gather that he was the most expensive.

Disappointed with our score at stumps. To tell the truth I would have liked McCullum to open and Vincent to slot down the order this test. If Vincent carries on tomorrow I can see him opening against the South African's and that's going to be a recipe for disaster.

 

[AndrewM]

Disappointed with our score at stumps. To tell the truth I would have liked McCullum to open and Vincent to slot down the order this test. If Vincent carries on tomorrow I can see him opening against the South African's and that's going to be a recipe for disaster.

Vincent is on a hiding to nothing.

If he performs, then good on him. It will further soldify his place down the order once Cumming/ Papps return.

If he fails, then possible demotion despite being a number 4 or 6. There's no logic by the selectors.

I agree Sir Redman, McCullum would not have been the worst option. IMO Vincent will not open against South Africa. They might as well call up Matthew Sinclair to do it again.

(Phone rings)

Sinclair: "Hello?"

Bracewell: "Hey Matt, how's things?"

Sinclair: "Who are you? (after a moments recollection) Oh I'm allright. I'm sitting at home playing PS2 all day, since i have no job in the winter. Why do you ask?"

"There is a situations vacant in either opening position that has become available. I was wondering if you would care to take this opportunity. If you perform, we might just select you on back-to-back tours."

"Don't stuff me around, Johnny boy. Good-bye."

"But-"

 

[meatspx]

Why is Styris bowling the 10th over in the morning session, on the first day?
This would be highly unacceptable against any other opposition.

 

[Prince EWS]

Hes being picked as an allrounder - hes bowling second change. Bowling early is going to occur..

 

[anzac]

haven't seen any cricket of late - mainly due to the new job & 5am starts - hence my prolonged absence from here as well..............

getting rather tired of these pointless tours & matches - does nothing for the Hosts as there are no crowds, and the poor level of opposition does nothing to prepare the touring team for the subsequent matches in RSA................

I see Bond's 6 wickets has taken him past 50 Tests scalps - in doing so did he break Martin's record as the fastest to reach the milestone for NZL?????

Once again the top order looks dodgey - what's the story with Cummings' injury????
It seems like we can not put a series together without the openers coming to grief in one way or another...............

Vincent is going to be stuffed around again and used as a utility batsman - much the same story as has happened to Sinclair - seems to me the selectors aren't happy unless they have some poor batsman on the fringes to stuff their career..............

IMO Styris had the most to prove in the middle order - much like Macca in previous series, yet as a current Test player they get to walk back into their preferred slots whereas the 'fill - ins' who have out performed them in recent series are made to chop & change & then get cast aside.........

further to this a fit Oram will see NZL revert to a 5-1-4 selection & a further shortening of the batting lineup, despite the examples set by AUS in NZL & then the subsequent success v SRL................

so far as the openers go I question why there has been no replacement sent for Cummings if his injury has kept him out of both Tests v ZIM - he's hardly likely to walk back into the opening slot v RSA with no current form.................unless they throw him in for the ODIs - which does not suit his game......

forget Papps as an opening option at this level until he starts scoring bid tons domestically and his record in Tests is no better than that of either Cummings or J Marshall's,

and How said last season that he wasn't ready for the likes of AUS & RSA..........

consequently my preferred option would have been for Fleming to open with J Marshall (who has only had a handful of matches), and to have Vincent down the order with Astle & Styris for some real head to head competition...............

apologies if these comments have already been covered in this thread - just haven't the time to go back & read it all...............

 

[crickhowell]

flemming is a poor opener IMO

 

[anzac]

flemming is a poor opener IMO

but probably a better option with his vast experience at this level than any other options.........unless you go for a real do or die mentality.................hey lets throw Macca a lifline!!!!!!

 

[_Ed_]

Zimbabwe have only picked up two wickets today...one of them was a superb diving catch by Taibu though, what a good keeper he is.

NZ are 287/4, will be looking to score enough runs to have a chance of only having to bat once. 450 would be an absolute minimum for that.

 

[NZTailender]

Well done Nathan Astle! Very nice century indeed.

 

[AndrewM]

Well done Nathan Astle! Very nice century indeed.

He certainly has no problem getting over the line.

11/21 is a superb conversation ratio.

To go with his 14 one-day centuries, he is one of our most prolific century-scorers.

Good on ya, Nathan.

 

[shaka]

450 would be an absolute minimum for that.

That mark has been passed and its only been two days of cricket, lead of more than 200.

 

[Blaze]

TBH Steve Flemings conversion rate is beyond a joke. 8/41 i think it is. That is unacceptable.

 

[Macka]

TBH Steve Flemings conversion rate is beyond a joke. 8/41 i think it is. That is unacceptable.

I wasn't even surprised when he got out; I expected as much. No doubt Stephen wasn't particularly surprised, either.

 

[AndrewM]

I wasn't even surprised when he got out; I expected as much. No doubt Stephen wasn't particularly surprised, either.

It will be 8/40 after this match. Against this sort of bowling attack, you really should cash in once passing the fifty mark.

Although Fleming's sorry conversion rate has been well publicised, to give him credit he has improved that slightly since 2000. In the 2000 Australian series at home, Fleming had 2 centuries to go with 24 fifties.

He has since scored 16 more fifties and 6 centuries.

An improvement - yes. Against Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Pakistan, England and Bangladesh. Apart from Bangladesh, that is fair opposition.

We could open up a "Fleming and his poor conversion rate" thread, but that would be to the detriment of New Zealand fans and the rest of the forum.

Sad to see Lou get out just short of his hundred.

James Marshall has been found out twice technically. He plays too openly through the gully (therefore too much back-foot) and his leaving is suspect. He doesn't exactly cover his stumps in a positive manner (eg Ponting).

Cumming is the man to partner Papps...

..when Papps stops having short-term memory losses that is.

 

[Blaze]

I wasn't even surprised when he got out; I expected as much. No doubt Stephen wasn't particularly surprised, either.

Haha I was surprised that he didn't make it to the 80's or 90's and then chuck it away.

 

[Blaze]

I think Papps and How are our future. Cumming and Marshall are both not up to it technically and so now I think it's time to see if Papps has fixed his back foot problem and to see how How goes. We have got nothing to lose because ATM the two openers we have got are not up to it.