*Official* South Africa A v New Zealand A 2025

[Kippax]

Yeah, I understand Kippax's lingering skepticism about Mariu's tendency to cash-in on flat, slow tracks, but quantity has a quality all of its own and ~1900FC runs at 60+ is damn impressive.

Yeah, people wondering why Mariu is getting ODIs when his Ford Trophy record doesn't really warrant promotion in that format, I think the bigwigs may share my suspicion that there is something of a Papps element to his cutting and pulling off the front foot, one quick short ball per over will provide them the insight they need. Particularly as picking Mariu for Tests will involve a pretty rough axing and further alienation of Conway, whom they kind of pressed into Test opening when it didn't suit his crab-like style of batting at all, in order to shield and pedestalise the homegrown pièce de résistance that is Ravindra.

Tiann van Vuuren was slowly but surely getting there with what I wanted to see them bowling to Mariu last night:

LIVE STREAM: South Africa 'A' vs New Zealand 'A' - 2nd Unofficial Test | Day 4

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[Mike5181]

Yeah, I understand Kippax's lingering skepticism about Mariu's tendency to cash-in on flat, slow tracks, but quantity has a quality all of its own and ~1900FC runs at 60+ is damn impressive.

Is there even precedent for this? 1900 runs @ 63 as an opener is insane.

 

[Kippax]

No, Peter Ingram had a roughly 20-game spell in 2008-2011 where he scored about 2000 first-class runs @ 60+.

 

[Mike5181]

That would've been several years into his career yeah. I can't think of an opener starting like this in NZ.

 

[Kippax]

The best before Mariu was probably an inauspicious name like Hamish Rutherford or something though, averaging 44 after his first 23 games.

Clearly it's not an absolutely red-hot crucible of technical excellence that we should all kneel down before and worship, NZ four-day cricket stats. It's often the effluent that's rising to the top.

 

[Mike5181]

I will say he probably doesn't have to face the best NZ bowlers like Jamieson, Henry, O'Rourke, Foulkes, etc because he plays for Canterbury.

 

[Skyliner]

I suppose if the brief is to score heaps of runs then that's all the player can do, and that's what Mariu went out and did. Blokes like Abbas and Hay were facing the same bowlers on the same track against an older ball, so what are we to make of their inability to dominate and post some really big numbers?
Foulkes has been a little bit shown up by this tour, and the awfulness of that Zimbabwe team has been brought into sharper focus.

 

[vandem]

The best before Mariu was probably an inauspicious name like Hamish Rutherford or something though, averaging 44 after his first 23 games....

Bert Sutcliffe had a flying start in a mix of middle order and opening spots, first 18 games 2053 runs @ 70 at end of 47-48 season, but less FC games per season so the 18 games was spread across 5 seasons.

 

[ataraxia]

Bert Sutcliffe had a flying start in a mix of middle order and opening spots, first 18 games 2053 runs @ 70 at end of 47-48 season, but less FC games per season so the 18 games was spread across 5 seasons.

On that note, looks like Verdun Scott's first 16 games (over nearly a decade due to WW2) produced 1300 runs @ 76.5. Not sure how much of that (if any) was opening.

 

[Mike5181]

I suppose if the brief is to score heaps of runs then that's all the player can do, and that's what Mariu went out and did. Blokes like Abbas and Hay were facing the same bowlers on the same track against an older ball, so what are we to make of their inability to dominate and post some really big numbers?
Foulkes has been a little bit shown up by this tour, and the awfulness of that Zimbabwe team has been brought into sharper focus.

I don't know if that's necessarily fair to Hay. 71*, 19, 56, 2*. He only had two full innings and he was 71* in the first game, maybe he would've gone on.

 

[Skyliner]

I don't know if that's necessarily fair to Hay. 71*, 19, 56, 2*. He only had two full innings and he was 71* in the first game, maybe he would've gone on.

Fair point.

 

[Gnske]

Just pick him. Williamson despises test cricket, Young can't convert. Latham is a fraud. Invest now.

 

[Neil Young]

Yeah, people wondering why Mariu is getting ODIs when his Ford Trophy record doesn't really warrant promotion in that format, I think the bigwigs may share my suspicion that there is something of a Papps element to his cutting and pulling off the front foot, one quick short ball per over will provide them the insight they need.

Not sure I agree with this. Younger players often get tested at ODI/T20I level before being shifted on to the test team. Not many batsmen make their international debits at test level any more.

 

[Kippax]

Yes good point tbh, I think Mariu's LO record was abnormally light before the call-up, but who was the last batsman to debut in the NZ Test side with no shorter format caps at all. A decent trivia question.

 

[Kippax]

Young, I guess.

 

[Immenso]

I was going to say Raval.

 

[ashley bach]

Mariu almost demanding a look in now. Would love to see us take a punt every now and then on a younger player at test level.
Three home tests V West Indies would be a perfect opp for him imo