Black Caps vs Bangles
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So far so good navigating the Bangles sans Rosco. From what I gather they were expected to go OK on this tour and we've given them a sound spanking in all aspects. Good to see, given we face Aus and SA next.
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I had no idea this game was even on today which in many respects sums up their tour. Things aren't looking too promising for them come test time that's for sure. I just hope the BCs don't get too overconfident, S.A. and Oz are a different stratosphere to anything these guys can put up.
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Bangladesh have been very good, really. Competitive in basically every game and in most of them were winning at some point. It's kind of tough because if they had snagged a game you would be worried about how we were traveling. Bangladesh have made large strides forward - just can't win in New Zealand conditions at this point.
Of the 25 series we have hosted against Asian opponents since 2008 we have only lost 4 of them. We lost twice against India in 08/09 and twice against Pakistan in 10/11. Bangladesh have done about as well as Sri Lanka/Pakistan have in recent tours in the shorter stuff. I expect them to get done in the tests but in Bangladesh it would be another story.
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This is what Sri Lanka served up this time last year:
- ODI losses with 29 and 41.3 overs to spare. In one of them Guptill hit 90 off 30 balls after Sri Lanka was bowled out for 120.
- A T20 loss where we chased down 146 with 10 overs remaining. We probably would have 260 batting first.
They did actually end up winning one game (an ODI) but lost everything else.
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On the subject of cricket it looks like Stuff are doing what we on here did last year and overall I guess they do ok but theres a few "WTF" moments ( standard, it is Stuff after all )
Nathan Astle played one of the best innings I've ever seen "live" ( well, ball by ball on TV ) but whilst he walks into an ODI selection theres no way he gets in a test team ahead of Ross Taylor, Stephen Fleming or Andrew Jones ( anyone who doesn't have a 3/4/5 of Williamson, Taylor, Crowe has rocks in their head )
More love on there for Cairnsy and Fleming than there was on the fern ( rightfully so in my opinion )
Bruce Taylor as a third bowler ? very, very bold call.
Usual suspects Turner, KW, Crowe, BMac, Paddles, Vettori and Bond make everyones top team, rightfully so.
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The pedant in me liked Ben Strang saying -
Brendon McCullum: McCullum is New Zealand’s finest wicketkeeper batsman, even if his back didn’t like it, scoring 12 hundreds at 38.64.
No Ben, he didn't. Not while keeping, which is what you are picking him as. But what would a stuff journalist be without getting his basic facts horribly wrong. I can only assume Ben is on the Millie Elder beat & occasionally watches the IPL so he got to contribute.
Plus he sort of wins by not saying Baz was our first keeper to hit a triple...
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@gollum said in Black Caps vs Bangles:
The pedant in me liked Ben Strang saying -
Brendon McCullum: McCullum is New Zealand’s finest wicketkeeper batsman, even if his back didn’t like it, scoring 12 hundreds at 38.64.
No Ben, he didn't. Not while keeping, which is what you are picking him as. But what would a stuff journalist be without getting his basic facts horribly wrong. I can only assume Ben is on the Millie Elder beat & occasionally watches the IPL so he got to contribute.
Plus he sort of wins by not saying Baz was our first keeper to hit a triple...
Yep.
BMac has 5 tons (15x 50s) as keeper at an average of 34.18
BJ Watling is a bit under the radar. He also has 5 tons (11x 50s), and an average of 41.62 as keeper. -
@MN5 Yeah - It's a toss up between a guy we all know really well and someone who didn't play much but was acknowledged as one of the worlds best at a time when their was a legion of great batsmen.
Rosco's been a great servant of NZ cricket but no one has suggested he is one of the top batsmen in the world even in an age of inflated averages.
Anderson's was the only selection not to include absolute shockers like Rigger, Astle or Cairns though so he shades it by default.
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@dogmeat said in Black Caps vs Bangles:
@MN5 Yeah - It's a toss up between a guy we all know really well and someone who didn't play much but was acknowledged as one of the worlds best at a time when their was a legion of great batsmen.
Rosco's been a great servant of NZ cricket but no one has suggested he is one of the top batsmen in the world even in an age of inflated averages.
Anderson's was the only selection not to include absolute shockers like Rigger, Astle or Cairns though so he shades it by default.
Donnelly played seven tests. Seven......
I agree Taylor benefits to some extent from the 'inflated averages' era but how many other BCs have the longevity and record he has?
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@gollum said in Black Caps vs Bangles:
The pedant in me liked Ben Strang saying -
Brendon McCullum: McCullum is New Zealand’s finest wicketkeeper batsman, even if his back didn’t like it, scoring 12 hundreds at 38.64.
No Ben, he didn't. Not while keeping, which is what you are picking him as. But what would a stuff journalist be without getting his basic facts horribly wrong. I can only assume Ben is on the Millie Elder beat & occasionally watches the IPL so he got to contribute.
Plus he sort of wins by not saying Baz was our first keeper to hit a triple...
Seriously? You are taking that stance when picking a tea,m form across decades... to play together.... err ok
Many people pick these squads based on peak fitness. In peak fitness McCullum would be playing as a keeper.
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@Baron-Silas-Greenback said in Black Caps vs Bangles:
@gollum said in Black Caps vs Bangles:
The pedant in me liked Ben Strang saying -
Brendon McCullum: McCullum is New Zealand’s finest wicketkeeper batsman, even if his back didn’t like it, scoring 12 hundreds at 38.64.
No Ben, he didn't. Not while keeping, which is what you are picking him as. But what would a stuff journalist be without getting his basic facts horribly wrong. I can only assume Ben is on the Millie Elder beat & occasionally watches the IPL so he got to contribute.
Plus he sort of wins by not saying Baz was our first keeper to hit a triple...
Seriously? You are taking that stance when picking a tea,m form across decades... to play together.... err ok
Many people pick these squads based on peak fitness. In peak fitness McCullum would be playing as a keeper.
It's always gonna be a bit tough guaging BMac as the batting average want up after he hung up the gloves but a definite case can be made for BJ Watling. Both are might years ahead of Smithy, Parore and any others I can think of when their batting is taken into account.
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I think McCullum was our best ever keeper, ridiculously agile and awesome reflexes. At his peak he was the best keeper in the world.
It gets muddied when you start talking about a Keeper-Batsmen though. He hung up the gloves due to back problems, and around that time his average started to increase. Pretty hard to say if it was a direct result of hanging up the gloves, or whether he matured as a batsmen as many people do and piled on the runs later in his career.
BJ has the best batting record as a keeper, so it's between him and McCullum really. When you consider everything else McCullum brings to the team in terms of leadership then it's hard to go past him. But as @gollum says his stats are a little misleading as he only kept for half his career.
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No, I'd lean towards Baz in as a keeper batsman and he was excellent as a keeper who occasionally slogged some runs.
But the "selector" made a point of listing his overall batting, ignoring that the highlights were as a specialist batsman aftyer giving up the gloves. So if you are picking him as a keper you need to assess his record as a keeper. Which Ben didn't. And the "record" he cited was not Baz as a keeper.
Its me expecting specialist cricket journlists to actually know what they are talking about... but it was Stuff...
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We are bowling. Southee with an early wicket.
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@Baron-Silas-Greenback said in Black Caps vs Bangles:
Many people pick these squads based on peak fitness. In peak fitness McCullum would be playing as a keeper.
I think the point is McCullum wouldn't be at peak fitness batting, because he would need to keep before batting.
If you take the "peak" of McCullum's career as a keeper, say anywhere between his 5 or 10 best tests with the gloves his record is every bit as underwhelming as his competition.
I didn't see enough of Smith, but adjusting for era his statistics are comparable to McCullum. Watling trumps them both.
Watling, Parore, Smith and McCullum all only had 2 test centuries against non Zimbot/Bangle opposition.
Wouldn't criticize any of those selections - but would certainly argue against McCullum being a slam dunk as we was treated in that article.
