New Zealand Black Caps Thread

[sirjeremy11]

Good luck boys

[Blaze]

Will it be another 'play well in one game and then very poorly in the next?'

[33/3from3.3]

I have a gut feeling NZ will do very well in this WC
perhaps even win it!
Just a gut feeling no theory behind it watsoever

[_Ed_]

We've got a chance. But we always say that, especially after playing well in the first round.

[sirjeremy11]

I just hope the chopping and changing stops and they settle on a line up who can get some sort of team dynamic together.

[BlackCap_Fan]

I think we can do well in this WC, but I doubt we could win it. If Bond, Astle, Fleming, Styris etc fire we could do quite well..

[Sir Redman]

I think that a whole lot of people around the world are underrating our ODI team at the moment. I have now come to expect a win against any team that we play against except Australia, and then I'm eternally hopeful that the anything-can-happen-on-the-day thing of ODIs will get us through.

On a completely different note, is the layout of this forum (the WC one, not CW in general) going to stay as it is now during the World Cup? Wouldn't it be better to have one thread for each group, rather than having individual nations threads?

[Perm]

I hope that the selectors confirm a lineup and stick with it for the ODI series we play between now and the 2007 World Cup. Chopping and changing willy-nilly like we did through the Sri Lanka and West Indies series needs to stop so a team can get some momentum and confidence in each other.

Bond is the key for 2007. Pretty obvious but if he is injured, then basically our chances of doing well are nil. Patel could also play a role through the middle and end of an innings. Fleming needs to get some runs and form under his belt, he only keeps his place because he is the captain, he needs to stop scoring 5-25 runs for about 6 games and then get a 70 to say he is in form.

[sirjeremy11]

We used to give Fleming the nick name "Stephen 30's are enough Fleming"

[16 tins of Spam]

Originally Posted by Perm

Bond is the key for 2007. Pretty obvious but if he is injured, then basically our chances of doing well are nil.

Surely not nil? Obviously we would be severely weakened, but in the last test our second stringers did an admirable job of filling the breach.

Note to Blaze: your avatar freaks me out

[James]

I agree with Perm, Bond holds the key, if he is injured, we simply don't have a world-class wicket taker in our lineup who's capable of taking say 4-25 from 10 overs, so how could be possibly think of winning it?

If he is fit, along with Vettori, a more experienced Mills, and Oram/Styris/Astle we have a prety good attack for WIndies conditions. Jeetan Patel also seems to be starting to prove himself at international level.

That bowling attack also makes our batting very strong. I would see our team being something like this:

Fleming
Vincent
Astle
Styris
Taylor
Marshall
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Mills
Bond

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by James

Fleming
Vincent
Astle
Styris
Taylor
Marshall
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Mills
Bond

That is a bowler light IMO... With only Bond Mills and Vettori being front line bowlers. I would have Patel in there for Marshall.

[James]

Oram was a frontline bowler before he got injured though wasn't he?

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by James

Oram was a frontline bowler before he got injured though wasn't he?

He was coming on second change... I guess you would expect him to bowl 10 overs but he has hardly been that reliable since his comeback from his last injury.

With your side Oram, Styris and Astle have to bowl 20 overs between them.

I would say Styris is good for 6-8, Oram 8-10 and so that leaves Astle with 2-6 overs.

That's fine, but what if one of those guys gets hit out of the attack? Who do we turn to then?

[NZTailender]

Originally Posted by James

Fleming
Vincent
Astle
Styris
Taylor
Marshall
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Mills
Bond

Nice, but if I may

Vincent
Astle
Fleming
Fulton
Styris
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Mills
Bond
Mason

Patel
How
Marshall
Taylor