1st Test: New Zealand v Australia at Wellington on Feb 12-16, 2016

[ANTiLAG]

Williamson is where Smith was in England. In such a purple patch he is going for shots he would never go near. Smith in the second innings at Trent bridge smoked a ball straight to a fieldsmen that he would otherwise have left.

I'm sure Williamson will rein it in a bit but our plans against him are very good at the moment.

I'm not at all worried about KW.

He is class.

He could get a pair in the next. It is of no concern.

What is more concerning is he is about to get lumped with the captaincy burden of an attack without any plan, direction, and now one of the world's best swing bowlers who cannot swing it anymore.

Latham not kicking on after starts is a concern.

Guptill is always a concern.

Taylor comes in for Nicholls so we need not worry about a top order batsman in Henry who cannot play straight, but has a great sweep, cut and pull shot. But nothing good down the ground except a 5th and 6th stump line straight drive waft thingee down the ground which is nicked to the keeper and first slip.

Bmac at 5 is a major concern. No other team would have him.

Anderson at 6 is a major concern.

Bracewell is a passenger. If Boult cannot swing it, he is a passenger also.

KW is owed a few failures. There is meant to be a top 6 contributing, not just KW.

The hardest selection will be whether Wagner, deservedly gets his spot back, or whether Henry can now perform in tests - or whether he is teasing us again with stellar ODI performances to bowl crap in tests. Part of the problem is, if he plays tests, he may need to be an opening bowler with a new seam to be effective.

It is a tough call for the selectors to make. I do not envy them.

 

[JJ]

A NZ catchphrase is "despite the results the two sides are closer than they appear" even Bmac is busting out JJs catchphrase lol

We weren't close in that test - Australia did everything well, we were poor aside from the fielding

I guess there have been 4 tests, two big wins to you and two where they were close - we've done nothing to support the rhetoric, or my opinion the teams are close

We really need Taylor, if only to give you a second class bat to look at - hopefully if he's back they ditch Anderson and keep Nicholls - Craig or Santner as all rounder but batting 8

The call on Voges was huge, but he was lights out after that, what can you say - he dominated. Our bowlers were mediocre, I am very glad we're getting a new coach, I'd be banging on Bond's door and asking him what it would take, even if he didn't tour much I'd want him

 

[ANTiLAG]

and keep Nicholls -

He cannot play straight.

He has the best sweep and cut shot I've seen from a kiwi in recent times, better than Ross Taylor even.

He has a great pull shot. Not far below KW's.

But he is horrific to straightish balls. His first innings dismissal he played a straight half waft drive thing to a 5th or 6th stump line. In the second - he tried to drop kick over midwicket from a right hand bowler over the stumps on a straight line (no angle to work with and half a bat face to straight ball crying out to be hit down to mid off).

That is inexcusable.

He has been found out by disciplined bowlers like Hazelwood and Siddle.

They'll pepper him.

How can a top order batsman not be proficient driving and expect to succeed in test cricket? He is not going to play all his tests at the Gabba and Waca. Even then, if you don't need a mid on and mid off, he'd struggle to get as many runs square of the wicket.

 

[JJ]

People haven't given a lot of credit to how well Australia set plans this test. The way we have bowled to Williamson since Perth has been top notch.

I've said this several times - Hazelwood especially has been brilliant to him... they've been patient and bowled impeccable lines - he'll work it out, but Taylor's presence means some of Australia's attention would be diverted

And yeah, Khawaja probably MoM, or one of the bowlers - I know they didn't put up big numbers, but Hazelwood was terrific, and Marsh is a surprise, drop him to 8 in the order and you have someone good at their role

 

[JJ]

He cannot play straight.

He has the best sweep and cut shot I've seen from a kiwi in recent times, better than Ross Taylor even.

He has a great pull shot. Not far below KW's.

But he horrific to straight balls.

That is inexcusable.

He has been found out by disciplined bowlers like Hazelwood and Siddle.

They'll pepper him.

How can a top order batsman not be proficient driving and expect to succeed in test cricket? He is not going to play all his tests at the Gabba and Waca. Even then, if you don't need a mid on and mid off, he'd struggle to get as many runs square of the wicket.

Well regardless I do not want Anderson or Santner at #6 - even bring in Ronchi ad let Watling bat 6

 

[ANTiLAG]

Well regardless I do not want Anderson or Santner at #6 - even bring in Ronchi ad let Watling bat 6

I totally hear you on the #6 point, but Ronchi is ridiculously out of form, and a slogger needs to be seeing it like a pumpkin to succeed.

I think Ian Smith will start giving it to the selectors in the next test if the middle order does not succeed. The telling stat was when he realised KW debut'd at #6 in India (no less), and Nicchols was debuting at #4 in the gentle climate of NZ.

Made him wake up I suspect.

 

[JJ]

Yeah, but Ronchi's only ever one bat from a streaky knock.

Top 6 need to score - they don't do that, we can't compete - it cannot all be done by Kane

 

[Hutty1986]

Marsh has to drop down the order surely, bat 7 or even 8-he is still not up to it with the bat at test level and until he proves otherwise, shouldn't be in our top 6.

McCullum is an interesting one too, but (correct me if I'm wrong), but hasn't he been at 5 for his 'golden years,' aka the past three or so? Not much point in chopping and changing you'd think... then again, NZ will be pretty bloody keen to get this back to 1-1 against their biggest foe.

 

[ANTiLAG]

McCullum is an interesting one too, but (correct me if I'm wrong), but hasn't he been at 5 for his 'golden years,' aka the past three or so? Not much point in chopping and changing you'd think... then again,

He has been all over the shop.

Opener, 5 and 6.

I always took 2014 with a grain of salt and was not slighted in the least as a NZC fan when the Aussies laid into his 2014 test record and other Kiwis felt aggreived. It was a fair criticism in my view.

The best attack he faced was in the UAE when he just came out and hit Zulfiqar and Yasir over the fence a dozen times. It was a strange match, but KW at the other end was completely outplaying him. KW got 190 odd I think - but looked like a million dollars. Brendon just looked like it was his day, ala Ben Stokes.

The Sri Lankan and Indian seam attacks were a joke on pitches with no assistance for their quality spinners. At least the tripple he had to dig in, but Zaheer was 3 years overdue for retirement. I cannot even remember the other seamers he faced for Sri Lanka and India.

Think he got Rahat Ali in UAE. He is nothing.

Edit - Lakmal, Eranga, Prasad, Mathews, Shami, Rahat Ali, Sharma, Mohammad Talha - no future hall of fame seamers there. 202, 195, 302 and224 seem like fair returns.

 

[Hutty1986]

He has been all over the shop.

Opener, 3, 4 and 5.

I always took 2014 with a grain of salt and was not offended when the Aussies laid into his 2014 test record and other Kiwis felt aggreived. It was a fair criticism in my view.

The best attack he faced was in the UAE when he just came out and hit Zulfiqar and Yasir over the fence a dozen times. It was a strange match, but KW at the other end was completely outplaying him. KW got 190 odd I think - but looked like a million dollars. Brendon just looked like it was his day, ala Ben Stokes.

The Sri Lankan and Indian seam attacks were a joke on pitches with no assistance for their quality spinners. At least the tripple he had to dig in, but Zaheer was 3 years overdue for retirement. I cannot even remember the other seamers.

Was that the match being played when Phil Hughes passed away?

He has played some stunning knocks, no doubt... but I can agree with you and others that say he doesn't really know when to rein it in.

Hope he makes a ton in the second test (in a team total of 130 and Australia win by an innings ;-))

 

[ANTiLAG]

Was that the match being played when Phil Hughes passed away?

Yeah.

KW made an announcement to the world in that innings that the commentators and experts missed. Because all the focus was on BMac clearing the fence a record number of times. A good number of those 6's he was off balance. At that point, despite his 195 against Sri Lanka to be made shortly afterwards, but made in equally sloggy manner, BMac appeared to have given up on test cricket batting.

One innings in England he reined it in a little, but even then, that was only in the face of criticism by the commentators on his previous knock in that match (and the match before if I am not mistaken).

 

[vvvrulz]

To be fair to Bmac, he wasn't abysmal in his shots to get out this time.
Just didn't handle good bowling well but didn't throw it away like Guptill, Anderson, Latham etc

 

[The Mad Hatter]

NZ needs to get a bit of merkin in them.

Boult and Southee are good bowlers but they seem too 'nice' (terrible word but I can't think of anything else at this juncture). Boult is always smiling. I reckon if he just looked stern and merkiny once in a bit, it'd do him wonders. Throw the ball back at the batsman; show them who is boss with the ball; some agro. Maybe even some zinc on the nose ;-)

 

[ANTiLAG]

To be fair to Bmac, he wasn't abysmal in his shots to get out this time.

But can he succeed against a useful attack without playing the lottery of slogging?

Is he only a better version of Southee, and the only way he can get a score on the board is to smash boundaries?

He has no confident defensive technique at all against seamers. His move across the stumps forward defensive shot regularly gets him bowled and lbw. He is just so often too late with the bat on the straight ball. I wonder whether he thinks his best chance to succeed is to hit it over the ropes a few times and have the bowler then bowl wider of the stumps with a third man in place. I'd wager in the last few years, despite all those catches he offers up slogging, he has been bowled and LBW to seamers more than most top batsman who nick off to the keeper and slips.

But I am only guessing. And Cumming and Doull appear to possibly share that view that he attacks because he is nervous, which means it could well be wrong.

That chase against Sri Lanka, when he started to play a vertical bat above his head. That more than concluded that it was it for him as a test cricketer I am afraid.

 

[ANTiLAG]

NZ needs to get a bit of merkin in them.

Boult and Southee are good bowlers but they seem too 'nice' (terrible word but I can't think of anything else at this juncture). Boult is always smiling. I reckon if he just looked stern and merkiny once in a bit, it'd do him wonders. Throw the ball back at the batsman; show them who is boss with the ball; some agro. Maybe even some zinc on the nose ;-)

Southee has a little aggro in him at times.

Boult is nice. But he is nothing without swing. His regular swing ability has gone, last seen in England 2015.

We don't want out players to act like Mitchell Starc and Brad Haddin on the field, with all respect. We do want them to play well, though.

 

[_snafu_]

Any word as to whether Taylor will be fit for the next Test?

 

[ANTiLAG]

Any word as to whether Taylor will be fit for the next Test?

Yeah, he's fit for the next test.

 

[2 weeks]

If the planets ever align just right, we might one day see a pace attack of Hazelwood, Starc, Pattinson & Cummins

 

[ANTiLAG]

If the planets ever align just right, we might one day see a pace attack of Hazelwood, Starc, Pattinson & Cummins

Cummins is overated. I'd probably still have Lyon over him at the Gabba or Waca.

Hazelwood, Patto and Lyon are gun, the former 2 could be the best bowlers with Rabada and Shah for the next decade. Starc is good but not as good as the aforementioned. Cummins is not special in the least.

 

[The Charlatan]

Cummins is overated. I'd probably still have Lyon over him at the Gabba or Waca.

Of course he's overrated, he can't stay on the field long enough to be considered for selection.