ANTiLAG
First Grade
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- 8,014
Okay - so in February BMac retires from all international cricket.
Kane is the favourite to be the test captain. Basically if he wants the job, its his according to Bryan Waddle. He will be the T20 WC captain. Only other test captain contenders are BJ (test only and keeper), Tim Southee and Tom Latham.
If Kane wants to focus on his batting solely and not captian in tests but only limited overs, safe to say that Tom Latham will one day captain NZ, what the context is, that is unknown, but at 23, he is the current short leg. Just a tad too young to step up right now. Tim Southee is not in my opinion a realistic captaincy option at the moment. He is rather carefee. BJ is a realistic test captain option, but often wicket keepers do not like the extra workload of captaincy on top of their responsibilities with the bat and the gloves in the field.
Assuming that the above is dead issue and that KW takes the captaincy and maintains his batting form, who bats 5?
There are calls for Jesse Ryder being given a go at 5 in test and to open in ODI. This has the bonus that Santner, Anderson and Neesham can be discarded in test and replaced with a proper batsman should the selectors so wish. Ryder is a genuine 5th bowling option, as well as genuinely in the 6 best batsmen in the county.
But Jesse remains on the outer with NZC for now.
The favourites for the test team middle order in the NZC rumour mill are;
Henry Niccolls (who will play ODI's this summer); and
Will Young from CD.
I question this. Why are we still treating opening batsmen at domestic as unable to bat in the middle order of a test team. I am fairly sure Australia and other nations have brought in domestic top order batsmen to start in the middle order (5 and 6) in the international teams.
If Ben Smith and Jeet Raval are better run scorers than Young and Niccols with the red ball, why not bat them lower to begin with? Its possibly only a matter of time before Guptill has his head on the chopping block again and they can be pushed up the order.
Dean Brownlie is different, because like Alec Stewart, his problems with spin make it a better option for him to open.
Another option being discussed. Luke Ronchi playing in the test team and BJ taking the glvoes off and batting 5. I think this idea is stupid. Ronchi, a fan favourite for his ODI exploits has barely got a run since his 170 against SL in ODI cricket in the year since. His test debut was impressive with 88, and BJ got a ton, but Ronchi will be 35 by the time he comes into the team and his hand eye reliant batting style is possibly starting to wane. I hope its not. And he has domestic FC run this year, but its one thing to hit domestic cricketers on Eden Park #2 and McLean Park out of the ground than it is to face Steyn, Morkel, Ashwin and Jadeja in their own test backyard.
BJ has demonstrated that he can be a world class keeper bat. I would look for a better batsmen than Ronchi.
ODI Openers:
Nicchols is being spoken about as an ODI opener. George Worker has been blooded a little. Latham went to Africa and opened in the ODIs this year (still batted too slowly for my liking despite getting runs).
I am a Jesse fan. So I am a dreamer. But he can score swiftly in ODI opening and is a classy test batsmen in the middle order. Who do you want to see given a go in the ODI opener and test #5? I question Latham's suitability to opening in ODI cricket right now. Powerplay overs need to be maximised by batsmen in my view. Gayle, Warner, De Kock, Finch, Hales, McCullum and Dilshan are the norm - not the exception.
Kane is the favourite to be the test captain. Basically if he wants the job, its his according to Bryan Waddle. He will be the T20 WC captain. Only other test captain contenders are BJ (test only and keeper), Tim Southee and Tom Latham.
If Kane wants to focus on his batting solely and not captian in tests but only limited overs, safe to say that Tom Latham will one day captain NZ, what the context is, that is unknown, but at 23, he is the current short leg. Just a tad too young to step up right now. Tim Southee is not in my opinion a realistic captaincy option at the moment. He is rather carefee. BJ is a realistic test captain option, but often wicket keepers do not like the extra workload of captaincy on top of their responsibilities with the bat and the gloves in the field.
Assuming that the above is dead issue and that KW takes the captaincy and maintains his batting form, who bats 5?
There are calls for Jesse Ryder being given a go at 5 in test and to open in ODI. This has the bonus that Santner, Anderson and Neesham can be discarded in test and replaced with a proper batsman should the selectors so wish. Ryder is a genuine 5th bowling option, as well as genuinely in the 6 best batsmen in the county.
But Jesse remains on the outer with NZC for now.
The favourites for the test team middle order in the NZC rumour mill are;
Henry Niccolls (who will play ODI's this summer); and
Will Young from CD.
I question this. Why are we still treating opening batsmen at domestic as unable to bat in the middle order of a test team. I am fairly sure Australia and other nations have brought in domestic top order batsmen to start in the middle order (5 and 6) in the international teams.
If Ben Smith and Jeet Raval are better run scorers than Young and Niccols with the red ball, why not bat them lower to begin with? Its possibly only a matter of time before Guptill has his head on the chopping block again and they can be pushed up the order.
Dean Brownlie is different, because like Alec Stewart, his problems with spin make it a better option for him to open.
Another option being discussed. Luke Ronchi playing in the test team and BJ taking the glvoes off and batting 5. I think this idea is stupid. Ronchi, a fan favourite for his ODI exploits has barely got a run since his 170 against SL in ODI cricket in the year since. His test debut was impressive with 88, and BJ got a ton, but Ronchi will be 35 by the time he comes into the team and his hand eye reliant batting style is possibly starting to wane. I hope its not. And he has domestic FC run this year, but its one thing to hit domestic cricketers on Eden Park #2 and McLean Park out of the ground than it is to face Steyn, Morkel, Ashwin and Jadeja in their own test backyard.
BJ has demonstrated that he can be a world class keeper bat. I would look for a better batsmen than Ronchi.
ODI Openers:
Nicchols is being spoken about as an ODI opener. George Worker has been blooded a little. Latham went to Africa and opened in the ODIs this year (still batted too slowly for my liking despite getting runs).
I am a Jesse fan. So I am a dreamer. But he can score swiftly in ODI opening and is a classy test batsmen in the middle order. Who do you want to see given a go in the ODI opener and test #5? I question Latham's suitability to opening in ODI cricket right now. Powerplay overs need to be maximised by batsmen in my view. Gayle, Warner, De Kock, Finch, Hales, McCullum and Dilshan are the norm - not the exception.
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