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*Official* Sri Lanka in New Zealand 2022/23

The Hutt Rec

The Hutt Rec

International Vice-Captain
NZTailender said:
Kind of odd to say no one's banging the door down to replace them when Bracewell in particular had the door opened for him with no domestic form warranting his long form selection. We can only speculate how Young or Ravindra would've gone had they been given the same amount of chances as Nicholls and Bracewell.
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That's the thing, we have players in the test team that are out of form, or selected based on weird/dodgy criteria and thinking. And these players are given all the opportunities in the world. Players who actually have the numbers and form behind them are given an odd test here and there, and immediately discarded. Why can't we invest in the players who have earned a shot instead of those that are just chosen on a whim or woefully out of form?

Young, Phillips, Sodhi, Ajaz, Ravindra ... all very harshly treated imo. The selector's player loyalty only applies to select players.
 
James

James

Cricket Web Owner
Fuller Pilch said:
Can't agree.
I don't know what more Glenn Phillips could do, and Ish Sodhi was arguably our best player in Pakistan. Even Santner took a 5-fer and scored a 100 in Plunket Shield a couple of weeks ago.
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NZTailender said:
Kind of odd to say no one's banging the door down to replace them when Bracewell in particular had the door opened for him with no domestic form warranting his long form selection. We can only speculate how Young or Ravindra would've gone had they been given the same amount of chances as Nicholls and Bracewell.
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Weren't the selectors looking for a batting/holding spinner for NZ conditions in a similar way to how Santner was used previously? Santner is more of a bowler compared to Bracewell, but no doubt they feel Bracewell offers more in NZ conditions compared to Sodhi, Ajaz and his batting is needed in the all-rounders spot. I imagine if Jamieson hadn't had his injury and his batting had come along further, he may have batted 7 as an all-rounder and it may have opened the door to a specialist spinner such as Sodhi, Ajaz. Bracewell is averaging a reasonable 33 with the ball this NZ summer also which is pretty reasonable I think. His batting has been the disappointment but he's proven in the ODI/T20s he has it in him.

When we look at Young, Phillips, Ravindra - who are we dropping ? For me, the top 6/7 is almost locked in. There's no room for them.

Latham - locked
Conway - locked
Williamson - locked
Nicholls - questionable but now has his double ton, and has proven himself at Test record.
Mitchell - locked
Blundell - locked
M Bracewell - locked in NZ conditions with current selections.
 
F

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
James said:
Weren't the selectors looking for a batting/holding spinner for NZ conditions in a similar way to how Santner was used previously? Santner is more of a bowler compared to Bracewell, but no doubt they feel Bracewell offers more in NZ conditions compared to Sodhi, Ajaz and his batting is needed in the all-rounders spot. I imagine if Jamieson hadn't had his injury and his batting had come along further, he may have batted 7 as an all-rounder and it may have opened the door to a specialist spinner such as Sodhi, Ajaz. Bracewell is averaging a reasonable 33 with the ball this NZ summer also which is pretty reasonable I think. His batting has been the disappointment but he's proven in the ODI/T20s he has it in him.

When we look at Young, Phillips, Ravindra - who are we dropping ? For me, the top 6/7 is almost locked in. There's no room for them.

Latham - locked
Conway - locked
Williamson - locked
Nicholls - questionable but now has his double ton
Mitchell - locked
Blundell - locked
M Bracewell - locked in NZ conditions with current selections.
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M Bracewell averages 19 with the bat in tests. Sodhi averages 22. I expect a fit Nathan Smith (or Shipley) would average more than 19.
Even if Sodhi is not seen as an option in NZ conditions and Nicholls is safe for now, I'd far rather have G Phillips or Foxcroft (especially as they seem the most likely next long term test captains) at 6 as batting allrounders with Blundell at 7 and 4 seamers.

Another option is Ravindra opening, and Conway at 4 with Nicholls at 5 (for now).

We have the oldest test cricket team in history with either 10 or 11 30+ players in each of our 6 tests this season and we need to regenerate and plan for the future.
 
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thierry henry

thierry henry

International Coach
I know it’s not necessarily a big deal, but all our bowlers seem to be bowling a consistent 128kph despite the ostensible differences between them. You’d like to see Henry and Tickner bowling a bit quicker surely
 
Athlai

Athlai

Not Terrible
Young has absolutely had a proper chance. It comes with caveats and his career shouldn't be over but the hand wringing to explain his failure is ridiculous.
 
The Hutt Rec

The Hutt Rec

International Vice-Captain
Surely with the way pitches in NZ seem to be taking turn this season we can start looking at an actual specialist spinner in future? I'd take Sodhi's batting over Macewell's in a test match any day, anyway. Touring teams always seem to get good results with their spin options in NZ, I don't know why we satisfy ourselves with part timers who try to tie up an end - which Macewell fails miserably at anyway, he's currently got the sixth worst economy rate of all time for bowlers with over 1000 balls in test cricket: https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/e...;qualval1=balls;template=results;type=bowling
 
V

vandem

International 12th Man
The Hutt Rec said:
... Young, Phillips, Sodhi, Ajaz, Ravindra ... all very harshly treated imo. The selector's player loyalty only applies to select players.
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Disagree with some of this.

Young disagree. I think unlucky twice (to miss out on test selection when both he and Nicholls were NZ A middle order players, to get test chances as a replacement but mostly in out-of-position openers spot). But if he had made more test runs in the past two seasons (especially vs Eng 2nd test when batting middle order) he might have snatched Nicholls' spot this series.

Phillips disagree. He only got a test match after multiple injury / sickness. Hasn't been dominant enough in Plunket Shield to push ahead of Nicholls / Young then Mitchell.

Sodhi disagree. He had plenty of loyalty during early test career. After recall success in Pakistan I assume is now #1 spinner in sub-continent. Was the only specialist in home test XIII when pitch looked dry (Mount Maunganui), but until there is a batting all-rounder seamer who can take more wickets than Mitchell he is unlikely to make the playing XI at home.

Ajaz agree if thinking about tour to England. Kane not giving him more than 2 overs at Lord's just because Stokes tonked a few 6s. Picking Macewell as 4th bowler at Headingley (where the English SLA took 10 wickets!). Harshly treated.

Ravindra perhaps if thinking about tour to England, where Macewell was called into squad to replace injured de Grandhomme. But perhaps bad luck with timing of white ball world cups in India, and selectors hunt for a spinner all-rounder who turns the ball the other way from Santner, and selectors happy to weaken the test side to give the new white ball spinner all-rounder more time with the Black Caps group.
 
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