Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final
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@crucial said in Black Caps tour to England:
@mn5 said in Black Caps tour to England:
I’m gonna say this carefully, and it breaks my heart to do so.......
But I’ve had a think and I reckon Rossco is in more danger than Nicholls. What has he done for us lately ? ( and again, this seems fucked up for a guy averaging just under 46 )
I was thinking through the contenders based on consistency rather than averages. Latham (and surprisingly CDG) have the highest rates of 50s/100s per match. Of course Kane and Ross are well up there as well.
Nicholls record looks OK but there are some worrying stats. I think that of the 17 times that he has scored more than 50 only 4 have been away.Is he a home tracker?
Taylor's consistency has fallen off a wee bit as he ages but if there is one guy that I would back to put a cherry on the top of his career and depart the scene with a big contribution it is him.You’re quoting some “what if’s” with Taylor. Mind you Conways whole test career is just that at this stage.....
I’m still a fan of a blokes average as being an extremely good indication of ability regardless of how much you rip it apart ( within reason ). Nicholls started with a bad technique and looked all at sea initially but 37 tests at just under 44 ? Which places him either 3rd or 4th best bat in the team depending how you view it ? Fuck yeah I’ll take that.
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@mn5 said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b said in Black Caps tour to England:
@mn5 They won't drop Rossco for a debutant.
He made 70 vs Pakistan in the Boxing Day test and February last year made 109* and 73* vs India in ODIs.
Those latter ones are a year ago, but recent enough in these covid days.
If everyone is fit, it will be Blundell or Conway - probably dependent on their results in the lead in tests.
The real trick will be not to waste that preparation.
Yeah its very unlikely I’ll give you that......can we turn Nicholls into a test opener ? Justin Langer did a fine job of this......
Looking back on that amazing Aussie team of that era I think they shoehorned him there to fit in all the other talent. They dropped a bloody good opener in Slats and Tubbs had retired......so it was a ballsy move but Langer became part of one of the greatest pairs of all time so fair to say it paid off.
I don't think Nicholls has the game to open in tests. He's a middle order stroke-maker.
But Conway, like Langer, is effectively a specialist No.3 who could be promoted to open, without needing major modifications to his game. Main question for me is whether he's good enough and experienced enough to roll the dice over Blundell.
Some other suggestions that we bat him at 6, BJ at 7 and don't play either CDG or Santner.
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@chris-b Conway is good enough, it's pretty obvious when you watch him he is a more talented bat than Blundell. Experience might be the problem at this stage.
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@chris-b said in Black Caps tour to England:
@mn5 said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b said in Black Caps tour to England:
@mn5 They won't drop Rossco for a debutant.
He made 70 vs Pakistan in the Boxing Day test and February last year made 109* and 73* vs India in ODIs.
Those latter ones are a year ago, but recent enough in these covid days.
If everyone is fit, it will be Blundell or Conway - probably dependent on their results in the lead in tests.
The real trick will be not to waste that preparation.
Yeah its very unlikely I’ll give you that......can we turn Nicholls into a test opener ? Justin Langer did a fine job of this......
Looking back on that amazing Aussie team of that era I think they shoehorned him there to fit in all the other talent. They dropped a bloody good opener in Slats and Tubbs had retired......so it was a ballsy move but Langer became part of one of the greatest pairs of all time so fair to say it paid off.
I don't think Nicholls has the game to open in tests. He's a middle order stroke-maker.
But Conway, like Langer, is effectively a specialist No.3 who could be promoted to open, without needing major modifications to his game. Main question for me is whether he's good enough and experienced enough to roll the dice over Blundell.
Some other suggestions that we bat him at 6, BJ at 7 and don't play either CDG or Santner.
I’d be keen on that although it places a bit of strain on the four bowlers considering there’s not many options from 1-6 ( KW I’m looking at you, its not enough to be captain and our best batsman ever, you need to roll the arm over too )
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@crazy-horse said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b Conway is good enough, it's pretty obvious when you watch him he is a more talented bat than Blundell. Experience might be the problem at this stage.
He's also better than Nicholls IMHO. There will probably be room for all of them when Rosco retires
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@crazy-horse Yeah - I worded that a bit inaccurately.
Whether the risk of a talented, slightly makeshift rookie test player in Conway outweighs the more limited, but more proven Blundell.
(In my mind, it probably does, because Blundell himself is a bit makeshift - and the Test Championship final is uncharted territory for everyone - including Kane, Rossco and Kohli!).
But, experience will trump lots of things, so I'm not onboard with playing Ravindra. I'd pick Santner (or maybe Ajaz) if we expect spinners to have some role, CdG if we can get away without a spinner.
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@canefan said in Black Caps tour to England:
@crazy-horse said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b Conway is good enough, it's pretty obvious when you watch him he is a more talented bat than Blundell. Experience might be the problem at this stage.
He's also better than Nicholls IMHO. There will probably be room for all of them when Rosco retires
No probables about it, just depends on the batting order and where everyone fits in. When I see some of the donkeys who’ve had longish test careers in other teams playing nowadays it’s a good problem to have. We don’t have that gutsy journeyman who averages in and around 30 like others do.
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@canefan said in Black Caps tour to England:
@crazy-horse said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b Conway is good enough, it's pretty obvious when you watch him he is a more talented bat than Blundell. Experience might be the problem at this stage.
He's also better than Nicholls IMHO. There will probably be room for all of them when Rosco retires
He appears to be.
You just have to be wary of Graeme Hick syndrome.
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@chris-b said in Black Caps tour to England:
@canefan said in Black Caps tour to England:
@crazy-horse said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b Conway is good enough, it's pretty obvious when you watch him he is a more talented bat than Blundell. Experience might be the problem at this stage.
He's also better than Nicholls IMHO. There will probably be room for all of them when Rosco retires
He appears to be.
You just have to be wary of Graeme Hick syndrome.
Yeah he certainly didn’t have the career that was expected of him, debuting alongside Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart and Robin Smith who were all far better test players despite not dominating at first class level to the extent Hick did.
I’m just wondering how long we can ride this wave as fans and when/if the next generation of Hows/Redmonds/Papps/Marshall ( either or )Fultons comes in.......
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@mn5 said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b said in Black Caps tour to England:
@canefan said in Black Caps tour to England:
@crazy-horse said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b Conway is good enough, it's pretty obvious when you watch him he is a more talented bat than Blundell. Experience might be the problem at this stage.
He's also better than Nicholls IMHO. There will probably be room for all of them when Rosco retires
He appears to be.
You just have to be wary of Graeme Hick syndrome.
Yeah he certainly didn’t have the career that was expected of him, debuting alongside Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart and Robin Smith who were all far better test players despite not dominating at first class level to the extent Hick did.
I’m just wondering how long we can ride this wave as fans and when/if the next generation of Hows/Redmonds/Papps/Marshall ( either or )Fultons comes in.......
...and David White's. Let's not forget David White, because I hold him largely responsible for this wave.
Not because he's a gun administrator, but because his administration (along with Spark Sport) is responsible for me not being able to watch it. Presumably, once I can watch again, we'll return to dross.
So let me just say - Fuck you, David.
You would have been doing me a favour if you'd blocked my viewing during your playing era, but rural NZ is missing the equivalent of Sir Paddles' hey day.
Someone has been playing with David's stats on Wikipedia. They're not as good on Cricinfo!
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@chris-b said in Black Caps tour to England:
@mn5 said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b said in Black Caps tour to England:
@canefan said in Black Caps tour to England:
@crazy-horse said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b Conway is good enough, it's pretty obvious when you watch him he is a more talented bat than Blundell. Experience might be the problem at this stage.
He's also better than Nicholls IMHO. There will probably be room for all of them when Rosco retires
He appears to be.
You just have to be wary of Graeme Hick syndrome.
Yeah he certainly didn’t have the career that was expected of him, debuting alongside Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart and Robin Smith who were all far better test players despite not dominating at first class level to the extent Hick did.
I’m just wondering how long we can ride this wave as fans and when/if the next generation of Hows/Redmonds/Papps/Marshall ( either or )Fultons comes in.......
...and David White's. Let's not forget David White, because I hold him largely responsible for this wave.
Not because he's a gun administrator, but because his administration (along with Spark Sport) is responsible for me not being able to watch it. Presumably, once I can watch again, we'll return to dross.
So let me just say - Fuck you, David.
You would have been doing me a favour if you'd blocked my viewing during your playing era, but rural NZ is missing the equivalent of Sir Paddles' hey day.
Someone has been playing with David's stats on Wikipedia. They're not as good on Cricinfo!
374 test matches in 9 days ? That’s a solid effort. He got some runs too.
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@chris-b said in Black Caps tour to England:
@canefan said in Black Caps tour to England:
@crazy-horse said in Black Caps tour to England:
@chris-b Conway is good enough, it's pretty obvious when you watch him he is a more talented bat than Blundell. Experience might be the problem at this stage.
He's also better than Nicholls IMHO. There will probably be room for all of them when Rosco retires
He appears to be.
You just have to be wary of Graeme Hick syndrome.
I don't remember Hick excelling in ODIs then floundering at test level....
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Stead was on the TV tonight sowing the seed for Conway to replace Blundell.
"It's one of the options that's being considered," Stead says of the Blundell-Conway swap. "Tom Blundell's been, I guess, the incumbent there - with Tom Latham - for a while now and has done a great job for us in that role. "I don't think that's his natural role, though, and I think Tom recognises that as well. We just have to work through that. "Everyone's seen the success that [Conway's] had and we know he's a fine player - it's just working out what that looks like."
World Test Championship: Tom Blundell to make way for Devon Conway, hints Gary Stead | Newshub
The opening batsman's place appears the most at risk.
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@mn5 said in Black Caps tour to England:
@canefan said in Black Caps tour to England:
@mn5 Devon will be looking to run up the scores. Have our batting stocks ever been this strong? I'd say no
Even if Martin Donnelly, Glenn Turner, Martin Crowe and Bert Sutcliffe all played in the same era I’d still say no.
I really don't follow cricket that much these days, but I can't recall a period when so many quality NZ players seemingly rolling off a conveyor belt.
Used to be big debates about over-working quality players and carefully nurturing possibly talent - now it seems to be about which quality player not to play.
Good place to be.
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David White (New Zealand cricketer) - Wikipedia
