Black Caps First Eleven for hall of fame.
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I think McCullum in an all time NZ Text XI is questionable as WK-batsman, but all time white ball XI isn't. Given this is an all format list, even ignoring T20Is (fair enough), McCullum is the best ever all format WK-batsman we've produced in that I think he's a lot better in ODIs than Watling, than Watling was better than McCullum in tests. If we had to send an all time XI to play tests and ODIs, say (so same XI for both), I think I'd pick McCullum over Watling as the all time keeper.
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Lots of griefing about McCullum, but not so much about Vettori. He was awesome for us - but as a core spinner he was ... kind of 'meh'. Would struggle to be in a World XI for tests (or 2nds); maybe for ODI. But that's not a massive claim to fame.
Like McCullum though he did more - the captaining, coaching, mentoring - he did damn near everything for NZC. Don't get me wrong - I loved him - but his place in a top XI must be questionable by their criteria.
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@nzzp said in Black Caps First Eleven for hall of fame.:
Lots of griefing about McCullum, but not so much about Vettori. He was awesome for us - but as a core spinner he was ... kind of 'meh'. Would struggle to be in a World XI for tests (or 2nds); maybe for ODI. But that's not a massive claim to fame.
Like McCullum though he did more - the captaining, coaching, mentoring - he did damn near everything for NZC. Don't get me wrong - I loved him - but his place in a top XI must be questionable by their criteria.
Yep Vettori would never get past Warne, Kumble or Murali at test level.
ODI is another story. He was very good there but someone’s test record tells more of a story than their limited overs one.
But everyone loved Dan. The way he carried the team ( let's not forget the massive improvement he made with his batting ) was pretty inspirational. I always thought it was a shame his career didn’t start and end ten years later so he got to play alongside the Test championship winning team.
…..he is far and away the best NZ spinner ever but as you say that’s a pretty shallow pool.
But yeah, universally loveable which is why got in and Chris Cairns didn’t despite being a better player
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@MN5 said in Black Caps First Eleven for hall of fame.:
But everyone loved Dan.
The CWC15 SF against SA, he came in at a clutch time, and just sauntered out like it was a sunday afternoon village game. TV coverage was in ads - but at the ground he cruised out, settled down the hairy javelin and then squeezed some crucial runs.
Dead. Set. Legend. But more like Ashleigh Giles than Shane Warne as a bowler.
