*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

[Flem274*]

Unsure. Boult's availability depends on his franchise commitments and no word on Jamieson's recovery. Henry is in line, Wagner looks done, the selectors love dropping Ajaz, Sodhi has a good performance to his name and the selectors love Macewell.

My guess is they will pick Southee, Jamieson, Henry, Sodhi, Mitchell.

 

[FBU]

Unsure. Boult's availability depends on his franchise commitments and no word on Jamieson's recovery. Henry is in line, Wagner looks done, the selectors love dropping Ajaz, Sodhi has a good performance to his name and the selectors love Macewell.

My guess is they will pick Southee, Jamieson, Henry, Sodhi, Mitchell.

Don't say that about Wagner.. he is still in the top 10 in the ICC Rankings.
Southee needs to use him at the right times.

 

[Flem274*]

From another thread;

The rumour is, and obviously that’s all it is at the moment is that Tim Southee asked to be released from his contract and go the same route as Boult and co. By offering him the test captaincy he picks up an extra 50k

If this is true, they should have called his bluff. He's not an A grade t20 bowler like Boult.

Tbh I don't mind him as skipper though. As long as he doesn't yeet the referrals he seems a steady choice. Maybe an inspired choice.

 

[Meridio]

I doubt it's true. I've spent so much time around cricket types and the amount of utter rubbish that gets talked is quite something. Speculation about all kinds of stuff, selections, batting orders, fielding positions, use of bowlers...people make up excuses, invent personal conflicts, repeat things their mate's cousin said about a game...I dunno. Doesn't exactly read true that a guy who's been on a New Zealand contract since about the age of 19, who would be doing very comfortably, would chuck it in unless he got an extra 50k - I don't see that he has the reputation in T20 cricket that Boult has where he could go to any league he wanted around the world for a big payout to be used as leverage.

If we're going on baseless theories one my own is that it's a combination of Australia making Cummins captain, therefore it's now officially okay to have a fast bowler as captain, and Southee being our closest approximation to Bazball in terms of attitude. Stead, Larsen and David White strike me as the types who still look to England and Australia for all their cricketing ways and they've seen those things and are trying to ape them.

 

[SteveNZ]

Dunno about that Southee rumour, it's potentially someone putting 2 and 2 together to make 5. He's a better captaincy option than Tom Latham, all things told. And isn't that in demand by franchises.

HOWEVER...what Howsie isn't factoring in, when he says elite male cricketers are rage quitting over equal pay, is that three of the four guys who have - Boult, CdG, Guptill - are 33, 36 + 36 with young kids. Southee is also in that boat. So would he be considering his future, wanting to be at home more? Certainly. These are the things NZC needs to be very proactive with now - trying to hold onto guys in their 30s who have been on the circuit for many years, have young families, and don't want to spend Xmas in Pakistan and be on the road 10 months of the year.

 

[Flem274*]

Dunno about that Southee rumour, it's potentially someone putting 2 and 2 together to make 5. He's a better captaincy option than Tom Latham, all things told. And isn't that in demand by franchises.

HOWEVER...what Howsie isn't factoring in, when he says elite male cricketers are rage quitting over equal pay, is that three of the four guys who have - Boult, CdG, Guptill - are 33, 36 + 36 with young kids. Southee is also in that boat. So would he be considering his future, wanting to be at home more? Certainly. These are the things NZC needs to be very proactive with now - trying to hold onto guys in their 30s who have been on the circuit for many years, have young families, and don't want to spend Xmas in Pakistan and be on the road 10 months of the year.

It got memed at the time because we were coming off a humiliation but Stead took annual leave during an Indian ODI series and NZC explained they have a compulsory number of home days policy which I thought was good.

When you can't compete with India financially you gotta provide something else so tbh a very generous annual leave policy will help. Great test sides are built on squad depth, so we don't need guys to attend every jamt20 series. We've gone in full strength to random who cares series a disproportionate number of times.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I reckon Southee was jealous of the big money that Sophie Devine gets for captaincy and wanted some of that.

 

[honestbharani]

NZC are probably the most pragmatic board when it comes to IPL commitments too. Which is why I was surprised by the Boult decision. I suppose maybe he realized his body wont stand up to multi day cricket going forward.

 

[Bahnz]

For Boult I think it’s more about balancing his understandable desire to make hay while the evening sun still shines, and also wanting to spend more time at home with his wife and kids.

 

[Flem274*]

According to cricinfo, our team for the first test was the oldest in test history since 1921.

The wealth of experience is good, we're missing KJ and having an old team is very Australia 00s but it also highlights our lack of depth building across all formats, especially since 3 of that XI (and 4 of this one) are in/out players (Macewell, Sodhi, Ajaz, Henry).

Looking ahead to the home series, I would like us to continue playing a spinner now that Wagner looks incapable of continuing the dual player role. That probably means we need a genuinely good quick bowling allrounder to bat #7. Step on up Nathan Smith?

Or we could give Ravindra a recall and play four quicks (they will pick Macewell or Santner and play 4 quicks) but that still leaves us open to a Mt Maunganui situation.

 

[straw man]

According to cricinfo, our team for the first test was the oldest in test history since 1921.

Incredible stat.

And yeah it is worth remembering this dynamic is mostly a good result of continual success in the team and having a good group of core players. But there is such a thing as taking this too far, locking talented young players out of the side and stunting their development. And setting yourself up for a big fall when all your core players retire or fall away at the same time, which is what's starting to happen with our pace bowling.

There are lots of permutations with that spinner role - suspect they'll give Macewell more chances first, unless the Great White Tiger Snake shark takes another bagful (and continues to score more runs than Macewell too). Think they'll ignore Ajaz. Rachin is around, though opening batsman spots are taken now Conway's moved back there. I'm not actually sure which way I would go right now on home spinner, if I was selector.

But on pace bowling I can say that, while I'm keen on Nathan Smith, I'm leery of NZ having a very samey right arm medium bowling attack for the next few years. We're not going to have any left-armers for a while. There is some point-of-difference with Jamieson's height (when he's fit) and I hope Henry can keep operating in the 135-140km/h range. But real pace is the real point of difference. Since they don't want to pick Ferguson, to me that means Sears should make a home debut this summer. He's not the finished product but he's nearly 25, has 49 FC wickets at 24.85, it's a good time for him to take the next step.

 

[thierry henry]

According to cricinfo, our team for the first test was the oldest in test history since 1921.

Yeah and we’ve now replicated the ‘whole team 30+’ thing in tests and ODIs. I’m yet to be able to find a stat confirming this but I’d imagine there’s a good chance it’s never happened before.

 

[Flem274*]

Incredible stat.

And yeah it is worth remembering this dynamic is mostly a good result of continual success in the team and having a good group of core players. But there is such a thing as taking this too far, locking talented young players out of the side and stunting their development. And setting yourself up for a big fall when all your core players retire or fall away at the same time, which is what's starting to happen with our pace bowling.

There are lots of permutations with that spinner role - suspect they'll give Macewell more chances first, unless the Great White Tiger Snake shark takes another bagful (and continues to score more runs than Macewell too). Think they'll ignore Ajaz. Rachin is around, though opening batsman spots are taken now Conway's moved back there. I'm not actually sure which way I would go right now on home spinner, if I was selector.

But on pace bowling I can say that, while I'm keen on Nathan Smith, I'm leery of NZ having a very samey right arm medium bowling attack for the next few years. We're not going to have any left-armers for a while. There is some point-of-difference with Jamieson's height (when he's fit) and I hope Henry can keep operating in the 135-140km/h range. But real pace is the real point of difference. Since they don't want to pick Ferguson, to me that means Sears should make a home debut this summer. He's not the finished product but he's nearly 25, has 49 FC wickets at 24.85, it's a good time for him to take the next step.

I want genuine pace too but I'd pick Smith as the 5th bowler who is genuinely good to help nurse the spinner, especially if it's Sodhi.

Everyone's injured, somewhere else or declined so there's a lot less competition for spots. If KJ is still out when England arrive we could easily go Southee, Henry, Speedster, Spinner, Smith. We won't tho because our selectors love kicking the can down the road.

 

[straw man]

Yeah we all know if there's a spare spot they'll pick Tickner anyway. Southee+Henry+Tickner+spinner.

In the lineup you posted 'Spinner' would also need to be able to bat (Speedsters can't). Smith might be good enough to bat 7 eventually, but at the moment he's averaging 27 with the bat at FC level so shouldn't debut higher than 8 for NZ. Shipley in a very similar boat - good prospect but right arm 130km/h who can bat 8 (FC batting average 25).

I do look forward to seeing a new name on the team sheet come February anyway.

 

[ataraxia]

Smith has been injured; not played an FC match this season. There should really be a couple of Plunket rounds before the tests...

 

[Athlai]

Should just do the List A in Oct Nov, FC Nov Dec, T20 Dec Jan, FC late Jan to Mar

 

[straw man]

Smith has been injured; not played an FC match this season. There should really be a couple of Plunket rounds before the tests...

Yeah same with Jamieson, even if he was back for Super Smash now I doubt they'd play him in the February tests without an FC match under his belt. That said it does make sense that they schedule the Super Smash during the holiday season.

 

[NZTailender]

So what's the bet Nicholls gets the home tests to save his career by Steady as she goes and he'll pull out a 70 (180) to save a game and he'll get another year or two in the side.

Scored a 100 ten innings ago and hasn't crossed 50 since. Go back to the 10 innings before that to add another 50 plus score. Averages 26 overseas. Surely Young deserves a decent trot at 4.

 

[Zinzan]

Don't think even overly loyal Stead will stick with Nicholls at this point. He's too far gone, and with Phillips and Young next cabs off the rank it's not like we don't have options.

 

[Binkley]

That shot Nicholls played to get out last night - at a time when New Zealand was in real danger - should see him go. Especially with Phillips and Young both in the wings. It is a pity though, ‘cos Nicholls has played some fantastic innings in the (now distant) past.

I am hoping the Bracewell experiment is also going to come to an end. Occasional flashes of looking like a decent cricketer are not enough. I would love to see Ravindra open, so my ideal top 7 might be:

Ravindra
Latham
Williamson
Conway
Phillips
Mitchell
Blundell