*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

[vandem]

... Abbas was quite disappointing in Bangladesh.

Depends if you see contracts as selection rewards, or as most-use in next 12 months. I suppose. Guess that first impression puts me in a 'selection reward' camp.

...

No doubt I rate Abbas. Should/could he a 3 format player fur a decade for us. Just earn it a bit more.

Clarkson also disappointed for the NZ A team in Bangladesh, except for a few wickets in FC game with short pitched bowling.

And Clarkson didn't make much of a mark last domestic season, except one flat track FC century alongside Bruce's 300, one good FC century against Otago.

Abbas had a strong Ford Trophy (340 runs @ 42) with Clarkson only 153 runs @ 21, so perhaps honours even at domestic level last season.

But Abbas made such a good start to NZ ODI career (52 (26) late innings flurry, 41 (66) middle order rebuilding innings) that to me has is clearly ahead of Clarkson in "#6 batter who bowls some seamers" role.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

But Abbas made such a good start to NZ ODI career (52 (26) late innings flurry, 41 (66) middle order rebuilding innings) that to me has is clearly ahead of Clarkson in "#6 batter who bowls some seamers" role.

And also those seamers are left-arm for variety

 

[straw man]

Mariu has been a little short of runs since that pre Xmas purple patch, I wonder if Heaphy is a chance to supplant him as first young test opener on the Zimbabwe tour.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Stead gooooorrnn!

Gary Stead steps down as Black Caps coach

Stead's seven years in charge of the men's national cricket side is over.

www.rnz.co.nz

 

[Skyliner]

Stead agreed to step down on the proviso that Nicholls received another central contract.

 

[Skyliner]

 

[Bahnz]

The most succesful and reviled NZ coach of all time. Thanks for memories Steady.

 

[ataraxia]

That NZ could perform so well while Stead made numerous idiotic and biased decisions does show that his steady-as-she-goes approach worked well with this cohort.

 

[NZTailender]

It's interesting because it's he oversaw arguably the most successful side in NZ cricket history in terms of things like finals made and the clean sweep, and a win/loss record that was in the positive, but with us being the harsh critics we are, the general sentiment seems to be he inherited what Hesson and McCullum built and then underachieved compared to what we expected. Were we too harsh overall? I think what made it a really weird tenure is that we would do something like the whitewash or win the WTC, and then fold meekly soon after against worse oppositions. Like there never seemed to be a lot of rhyme nor reason to our failures under Stead. The highs were balanced by some of the worst lows ever experienced as an NZ cricket fan of the last 20 or 30 years, which we thought were over once we got out of the mid to late 2000s malaise.

The incoming coach is basically coming into a side that's under transition: a general core the wrong side of 30, it's mainstay seamer since the late 2000s is gone and it's starting batsman has no central contract. There's 4 new kids on the block so it's an exciting time but you can't help but feel its a bit of a hospital pass with respect to long term planning of sharing players. But, the last 12 months did see a good flurry of debutants to work with.

 

[Bahnz]

That NZ could perform so well while Stead made numerous idiotic and biased decisions does show that his steady-as-she-goes approach worked well with this cohort.

Reading Wagner's book, it came through really clear that regardless of his flaws the one thing that Stead did very well was creating a supportive, unified dressing room where players could feel free to focus on 'the process' without having to worry about in-fighting and cliques.

 

[Bahnz]

The highs were balanced by some of the worst lows ever experienced as an NZ cricket fan of the last 20 or 30 years, which we thought were over once we got out of the mid to late 2000s malaise.



View attachment 47774

Or as the Native Americans call it: Maize

 

[Bahnz]

He made some real blunders planning wise: not having any warm-up games for the 2019 Aus tour, nor for the T20 World Cup last year. But he also had some organizational triumphs: everything about the clean sweep, and even this year's Champion's Trophy run.

I tend to think that if he could have his time again he'd handle the Boult situation differently. There's a real chance he might've been able to maintain an unbeaten home record in tests during his tenure if he'd been a bit more flexible on that.

 

[vandem]

... I tend to think that if he could have his time again he'd handle the Boult situation differently. There's a real chance he might've been able to maintain an unbeaten home record in tests during his tenure if he'd been a bit more flexible on that.

Boult situation perhaps the 3rd time that NZC made a mis-step as players forged a new way of earning money from cricket. (1) Turner in mid 1970s. (2) Bond with rebel ICL. (3) Then Boult wanting more T20 league time.

At least for (1) and (3) NZC and players worked their way through to a new relationship with following players. Hadlee and Wright managed overseas pro careers in 80s while being available for most (but not all) NZ games (e.g. Hadlee playing tests in while also playing for Notts while NZ tour warm up FC games were on), and Williamson available / not available situation appears to be handled much better than Boult.

 

[jcas0167]

From that article. Praise from Kane.

Highlights

This record will probably never be bettered. Although the obvious lowlights were 3-0 losses in Australia and England. I think this current group have the ability to do better next time we tour Australia if O'Rourke and Jamieson can stay fit.

 

[SteveNZ]

Weirdly I think I've come to accept now that Stead is gone, that he did a pretty fine job and deserves praise for what he did with us.

Maybe those numbers above convince me of that.

Awful selector and not at all brave in promoting young talent, but clearly a hard-working guy who dedicated every hour he had to making this team work. A very even-keel guy who probably had every cone exactly in its place, and allowed a team with plenty of know-how in it to largely run itself while he operated somewhat on the outskirts and ensured he used his voice when required.

A lot that I struggled with during his tenure, and there were some results in there that were unacceptable, but you can't argue with 3-0 in India as a crowning glory and consistency in major tournaments. That can't happen under a dud coach or someone who has no influence on the environment.

I now don't buy in at all to the notion that the Hesson fingerprints were all over this for 5-6 years, nor that it was exactly humming on auto-pilot in top gear when Stead picked the side up.

 

[Skyliner]

I'm hopeful that the coaching overhaul is indicative of NZC wanting to freshen up the set-up and inject a dose of fresh energy ahead of the huge year of test cricket in 2026.
No matter how good the coach is, nobody's tenure is indefinite. Invariably fresh ideas and fresh voices need to be brought in otherwise the set-up becomes stale. Rixon and Hesson, as examples, helped past BC's sides achieve some great things but eventually their time was up and someone else stepped forward.
I think the next set-up will involve both Rob Walter and Shane Bond and I believe there is nothing to fear where they are concerned.

 

[Chubb]

Stead had a great run but I fear NZ will pay the price for his conservative selection policies over the coming years.

He was good at setting up the team for particular scenarios and conditions, albeit with some notable failures, but not at developing or trusting young talent.

For me the last straw was selecting Kuggeleijn over Nathan Smith because he'd "done his time in domestix".

 

[Athlai]

Stead inherited the strongest team we've had and managed to steward it fairly well but agree entirely that his conservative approach has and will continue to impact us for years to come.

 

[James]

Awful selector and not at all brave in promoting young talent

I wonder if this is something NZ sport does in general, the same can be said about the All Blacks.

 

[jcas0167]

Stead inherited the strongest team we've had and managed to steward it fairly well but agree entirely that his conservative approach has and will continue to impact us for years to come.

I think this kind of criticism was more on the mark a couple of years ago (or at latest in terms of persevering with Southee). If you look at the past two seasons O'Rourke, Sears, Foulkes, Smith have been introduced with reasonable success. Henry has stepped up to lead the attack now Southee, Boult, Wagner have moved on. Duffy has come back better than before. In the batting Robinson, Mariu, Abbas, Foxcroft, Clarkson have gained some white ball experience along with Mitch Hay. Ravindra has obviously stepped up replacing Nicholls and is one of the best in the world. Phillips has taken over Bracewell's all-rounder role. Santner seems to have improved but there is reasonable depth behind him in the spin ranks.