Black Caps v South Africa
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@Bovidae On Ronchi - have to be definitely wouldn't it?
Guptill will come in to open and I reckon they'll bring Ronchi in for Broom. One of the spinners will come in for Ferguson, as well.
Guptill, Brownlie, Williamson, Taylor, Neesham, de Grandhomme, Ronchi, Santner, Sodhi, Southee, Boult.
Aside from Guppy being rusty that's got to be an improvement given Tommy's recent form.
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I think they'll have an eye on the champions trophy in England and wamt to get close to combinations for that.
Patel in English conditions is worth thinking about and one last hurrah for Ronchi as you don't want another Latham experiment (which Blundell would be) in the big money tournament - Lathams glovework was fine but that ain't so much the point -
A bit disappointing that someone (Sky?!!) can't coordinate things a bit better so that the rugby and cricket get spread across the weekend rather than everything being on Saturday and nothing, well aside from Womens' cricket, is on Sunday. Too obvious?
In any case, I just turned the TV on to see whether there's going to be anything on today worth watching and saw the NZ Ladies wicket keeper pull a Greg Dyer shocker. Ball bounced six inches in front of her and she claimed the catch.
Not good Rachel Priest!
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Since Ronchi scored that century against Sri Lanka (almost two years ago) he averages something like 12 in ODIs. I just don't see why he would be brought back in. You can just compare that to Watling who was dropped after three games in Australia when the whole team was shit. If Ronchi plays at all then he should be batting no higher than number eight.
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@MN5 Hard to say - he's certainly competent as is BJ and Tom Latham has generally been good behind the stumps in his short stint there.
For the role in which they're picking him, I reckon he's the best short term option i.e. through to the Champions Trophy. Even though he's not done much in the short forms of the game in recent times, he's definitely got more hitting power than BJ or Tom. And that's what's needed - someone who can come in and play several sorts of innings including capacity to bludgeon 30 off 12 balls. Not easy.
None of the young guys have the experience to be thrown into the role with any hope of success against world class bowlers, so I just discount them as options at this stage. n.b. I also watched Phillips in the T20 and Blundell in the final of the List A comp - whatever it's called and neither impressed me as being better than Ronchi. Small sample, but...
Dunno whether I'd optimally be using Luke at five - I don't see a rationale to bat him ahead of Neesham or even CdGh, except to give him time to actually play a big innings.
With Anderson unavailable, I reckon Neesham, de Grandhomme, Ronchi is the way to go at present. Colin as the fifth bowler, with Kane and Jimmy ready to bowl two or three if necessary.
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Call me reckless. But I'd be prepared to go balls out and play a young guy and hope he can average more than 12, and catch.
The Champions Trophy, while giving some good focus to aim for - is no where near important enough to be this scared to give a younger guy a chance and shuffle Ronchi on.
Shit happens, this tournament prep is now officially fucked up.
A tournament in England is a sensible thing to target, but .....,, while It's seemingly important enough to keep rolling out 'weekend at bernies' behind the stumps, yet not so important that we are producing anti-English decks for this series because Saffa seamers are thooooo thcary for poor widdle kiwi batsmen.
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Guptill to score a duck Ronchi a hard hitting 10 and Patel to get carted all over the park, Williamson to give a bowler who has just been hit for 14 in an over just one more all resulting in another comprehensive loss.
Hopefully they make me eat these words.
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@Rapido From the little I saw of Phillips, I'm not sure he can (average more than 12). Looked pretty limited in his brief T20 cameo. Keep the ball full and fast - no width and ask the question.
Blundell looked a bit better when I saw him, but he was overshadowed by Hamish Marshall and Peter Fulton, which isn't a great recommendation.
Small samples...
I'm pretty reactionary when it comes to selections, so I don't mind sticking with Ronchi. I thought his batting in India indicated that he's not completely gone in the "Geoff Howarth" sort of way. I think he's the most likely to succeed, so I'd pick him (with Latham clearly needing a break).
I also quite like targeting this Champions Trophy because it's one we could win "on our day". Basically you need to win four games out of five - one of which is vs Bangladesh and another of which is England.
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Ronchi was sound in India, but I'm not sure he has (or ever really had) the ability to hit from ball one. He's failed way more then he's succeeded in that role. In India his best innings were when he had time to get himself set before accelerating, which is probably why there's been talk of him at 5.
