The Silver Fern

So Santner is now officially the white ball captain. Maybe I'm missing someone but feels like about the only realistic contender once you rule out Kane and Latham, since I'm not sure there's anyone else who is both a guaranteed selection and ready to be captain.

So that's the test summer wrapped up now. Next test a tour of Zimbabwe in July.

2026 will be better though - from November 2025 to March 2027 we play about 15 tests, including another boxing day test in 2026.

Santner denied the chance for the 5fer/50 double by Stokes refusing to bat.

So does someone retire so Southee can have a go or do we just keep batting until we lead by 1000?

If we follow the same order as first innings, Southee is batting 11. Anyone at the game or nearby? What's the light like? In theory we could get another 2 hours or so, but I saw they had the lights on earlier.

Captain obvious alert, but having failed to get a wicket in the first innings, it's now official that Southee won't get to 400 test wickets. Best he can do is 399, but the way he's bowling he'll be lucky to get 390.

O'Rourke is looking like a real monster in the making. Hopefully he continues to improve. I assume he'll be the new ball partner for Henry but who knows what Stead is thinking.

Rhys Mariu!

Question is whether coaching NZ is a bucket list thing for Fleming. Bond would be another guy I'd love to have back involved, but again competing with IPL.

Whose coaching domestically? Canterbury have been doing pretty well under Peter Fulton who has been in the setup before. Wellington have also looked decent under Jurgenson who was also previously in the black caps setup. Not sure who's at the other sides.

Meanwhile, the black caps are 93/0 at lunch after being put in. First session of the series to not have o wicket fall.

Saw a theory that this season is basically where you're seeing the cost of the Lance bust. Because they were a good team getting good QB play from Purdy they'd been able to wear the damage but this is the point where they'd probably have another couple of contributors (from the traded away firsts) starting to establish themselves as part of the core, but instead you've got the same guys trying to do it year after year.

@Rapido said in Black Caps vs England Series:

On a positive note. While it is Southee's last test, it is also almost definitely Stead's last test.

I'm very curious about how he'll be remembered in say 20 years. His highlights are incredible - 3-0 is India, WTC champions and an ODI and T20 final. I can definitely see plenty of people calling him the greatest Black Caps coach ever on those achievements. We remember the absolute dross from almost every other series though (is there any other series that we've been reolly impressive in? My memory is that we've either made series we were favourites in look closer than they should have been or lost, but I might be forgetting some other solid performances. I think we won a series in England before the WTC which I think is only our second away win in England?).

I suspect that that dross will be forgotten and his legacy will only improve, and be a source of much debate fans.

I guess it depends on how much you weight the back third or so of his career. He spent a lot of time figuring out his game, but in that last third his average was up into the mid 40s, he scored multiple doubles, the triple, the fastest test ton and became the first kiwi to score 1000 runs in a calendar year (Kane the only other batter to do it). It's beyond just a hot streak, he really turned himself around. On the other side, he spent almost twice as long as a guy who probably benefitted from a weaker depth pool. Late career McCullum walks into the current test team. Early career McCullum probably doesn't even make the squad.

Nah I don't buy that. Getting all 10 just means that the rest of the bowlers were rubbish. Its a neat statistical anomaly, but doesn't change the course of a match like a triple century does. Technically the batting equivalent would be get 100% of the runs but that's vastly harder to do. Maybe make the cut off 2/3rds of the runs and you then get 2 instances in test history.

The equivalent to a triple century is a hattrick. No one is pushing for Jimmy Franklin or Peter Petherick to be included though.

I think McCullum is a fair inclusion though when you consider the whole body of work. If he'd had a career like Andy Sandham or Karun Nair I'd get it. But the second half of so of his career he was phenomenal on the pitch and a fantastic captain. The triple and the fastest ton push him over the top.

Decision taken out of Stead's hands as Corway withdraws from the squad for the birth of his first child. So I guess Young slots straight in as an opener? Chapman the squad replacement, but short an injury will just be running drinks.

Oh perfect, Southee can come out and smoke 77 in a hopeless defeat, thus completing the circle of his career. Just a shame he didn't manage a 5fer as well. No need to select him in Hamilton.

Huh, that's the first time a seamer has been hit for a six in the first over a test. Ever! Southee loves sixes.

For an aggregate run total not outs in theory hurt you because you could have got more runs if you didn't run out of partners. In particular, I think Chanderpaul is probably affected by this, since from memory he batted at 5 a lot in some pretty average west Indian sides so probably ran out of partners a lot.

NV Interactive (https://www.nvinteractive.com)

Super Smash goes back to the future!

The Dream11 Super Smash is heading back to the future this summer with all 12 teams set to don retro kits.

Retro jerseys for the super smash this year. They actually look pretty cool I think. I don't think I've ever seen someone wearing a domestic cricket jersey (unless they're actually in the squad), wonder if this will change anything.

The Post

The post pick their 11. Apparently the split is 7 men 4 women in the first cohort. I'm actually really looking forward to finding out who the 11 are.

@MN5 said in Black Caps vs England Series:

@Cyclops said in Black Caps vs England Series:

With the benefit of time to cool down, that loss feels less about the quality of the side and more about execution on the day. Having Hay keeping wicket or Young opening probably doesn't change the result - Philips and Latham dropped most of the catches.

If we catch better, they're 70/5 trailing by 280 with one more wicket exposing the tail. Totally different game, and probably one we win easily.

I agree with dropping Blundell, pushing Phillips up to 6 and bringing in Young. Not as convinced on bringing in Santner.. I think Phillips is ready to be the frontline spinner, with Rachis providing some part time overs. Stead's conservatism frustrates me, both in terms of selection and in terms of how we're using the players we do select.

Anyway, I'm quietly confident going into the basin, but maybe we've just given their top order a chance to get into form anh confident and will get blown away, but I feel like a small improved in catching (for all the drops, none of them were really tough chances, so a small improvement would see most if not all of them caught) and I think we're ahead.

Our chances in the WTC were basically cooked already, but we in theory had a path if other results went our way, but that's gone now.

I thought we were a chance if we won 2-1, is that not the case ?

Huh, you're right. We can even finish top of the table still if we win 2-1 and everything else falls our way.