The Silver Fern

@canes4life said in Black Caps vs Bangladesh:

@labcat since the beginning of the year he’s come off a lot more than he hasn’t though. A massive talent for such a young player.

I think we’ve missed a trick not picking him in the WC squad.

I think so too. They've gone with neither him nor Munro, so not that absolute 'from ball one go for it' option at the top.

I also think by the time the WC starts, those UAE wickets are going to be worn out and spinning sideways. (the second half of IPL, plus the T20WC prelimnary rounds will be played on them for a month before we play out first games).

So, in hindsight, Ajaz not in the squad is probably also a missed trick. I say in hindsight, as this wasn't an outrageous or particularly controversial decision 10 days ago. But on other hand ... these Bangladesh wickets have made spinners look good, so should be weary of reading too much into it.

NZ do have 3 spinners in that squad (and 2 half/part time spinners), so I'm not criticising the balance for that squad. But we have 2 leggies selected. I just have a hunch that the pitches may get so ragged that we could get even more bang for our buck with 2 specialist finger spinners plus just the one leggie.

I also think Jamieson ahead of Milne is a mistake.

@godder said in Chris Cairns on life support:

With Chris Cairns, no standard was met, including libel which is to the balance of probabilities, so his lawyers showed in court that it was more likely than not that he didn't fix matches.

I think there were specific instructions to rely on two witnesses. McCullum, Vincent and Vincent's wife offered direct evidence they were induced to fix matches by Cairns.

Vincent and wife looked flaky. McCullum seemed pretty straightforward. However, the jury acquitted.

So, on the evidence available it may have been correct in law - but frankly, the accusations by McCullum and Vincent were pretty damning. Personally, I prefer their version to Cairns (who denies everything), but I'm a random keyboard warrior.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/30/chris-cairns-cricket-perjury-trial-how-case-unfolded

@mn5 I couldn't remember his surname so checked. Stuart Carlisle (Zim).

Devon Conway gets a 2-ball duck for the New Zealand XI on his return against Bangladesh.

@nzzp said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:

@majorrage said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:

TBF though, I can't blame Aussies for treating the result with a bi of disdain given how much we shit the bed when we toured there last.

at least we could beat the Indians at home, eh 🙂

seriously, give us a proper warmup and a better selection policy and we may have been competitive.

We have Kylo and Devon as well now. Much better team

The risk of batting with Inzamam Ul Haq

@rapido No doubt. "Best of the rest" i.e non cartel, should get us some improvements in tours and opposition, hopefully. Not that that would be hard to improve on.

Those three are going to have a circle jerk anyway. Got to wonder if they are going to overdo it and lose appeal to the their audience due to repetition.

@mn5 said in T20 Internationals. Nz v Aus:

@kiwipie said in T20 Internationals. Nz v Aus:

I don't get the calls to drop Kane from the T20s. I agree if he is feeling fatigued but he has been one of the key players until the last 3 games, not to mention his performances in the IPL where he is one of the few Kiwi batsmen to have success.

But then the Fern has always been the place to call for people's heads due to only being able to remember the previous game.

Well not in his case. He’s universally adored.....but to reiterate my point if he forgoes 20/20 to help his career in the other two formats then so be it.

Yep, you're right, with the integral part being it's his decision alone. I'm up for anything he wants to do. Hell he could insist on batting in black face, wearing a diamond tiara and striding out to " nice tits, shame about the face" at full bore, and I'd back him to the hilt!

I just want to watch him bat as much as possible. Even his golden ducks are classy🙂

@Snowy said in ANZAC Test Cricket XI:

@barbarian Very funny.

If you guys would condescend and actually come and visit us for a test series that might look a little different. Last time was 2015?

You are also using @ACT-Crusader 's selection policy. Nice that the world number one batsman snuck in though.

It’s a tried and true policy.

@siam that graphic above is the current test rankings.

You are right the World Test Championship Points table is slightly different (though the top 5 remain in the same order).

@siam said in Classic Cricket moments:

There’s a lot to be said about this, stonewashed jeans….smoking looking cool…..mullets on players and fans alike……one of my favourite cricketers smacking a beautiful old school six..….( using old bats so much harder in those days )….

But the thing that gets me most is what the hell is holding that chicks bikini top in place at the start cos it certainly isn’t any tits that’s for sure.

For me, as this is a test side and bowlers are there to get wickets, I'll leave out Vettori in favour of Wagner - We have never produced a spinner who actually could run through a side and Vettori is notable more for his longevity than his penetration (at Test level).
As for batsmen, I can't go past Crowe, Kane and Rosco for our middle order but before Kane arrived on the scene, I would have had Donnelly in the mix and would have batted Sutcliffe at 6 as post the 53 boxing day test he was never the same against pace by his own admission.
GMT still gets in but I do rate Latham - very few batsmen perform well everywhere so one series in Aus I can treat as an outlier. Stewie Dempster gets serious consideration and given he played as an opener in the days of uncovered domestic wickets, that explains to me a FC average of 45. I'll be honest, I could put Donnelly and Dempster in my side without blinking even now. Even if it meant replacing Hogan with Donnelly - which for those of you who know me, is a huge admission

Not sure how right this guy is ...

And am assuming his % probabilities are assuming each of the 2,700 odd outcomes have equal chance of occurring, when of course one team is likely to be more favoured over another in any given game, mesding wuth his actual probabilities ...

Or he MAY be full of shit ...

I am backing the scorchers and hoping they deliver. Go Munro and Mitch Marsh! But Dan Christian is a trophy magnet and the sixers are very talented. Looking forward to it

@dogmeat Cheers mate,I did recall he was a pace bowler? God only knows why that has hung around in a corner of my brain for so bloody long, but I happy someone has given me that extra bit of info that was obviously jammed in one corner!!

@MN5 said in Australia v India:

@Snowy said in Australia v India:

@MN5 said in Australia v India:

I hate overrated All Rounders like Watson and Ben Stokes.

How do you feel about Chris Cairns?

I said overrated not underrated

We could just go with rated then.

@dogmeat said in Five Greatest Black Caps of the Past 50 years:

Far from my favourite player but I think it has to be Turner. Average of 47 when there were no muppets.

Absolutely. I was watching an interview with John Wright on Sky earlier in the week and he says Turner and Crowe were far and away the best NZ batsmen he played with.

@African-Monkey Yes to Clive Rice. His first class stats at Notts are phenomenal.

@No-Quarter said in New Zealand v West Indies:

@NTA a true custodian of the game, no Aussie will ever compete

To be fair if there was a Spirit of Cricket award for the previous decade I'm sure Gilchrist would have won it. Top blok.

He could have put the plaque up in the pool room next to the elephant head he shot with McGrath in Africa.

Somehow I'm mates (spent a bit of time) with several high profile coaches in Oz, including the Oz assistant.

The attitude of " how good of a player were you" doesn't seem relevant to their work with the players. Bear in mind that these players have had scores of coaches throughout all their lives so the assessment of said coaches doesn't really rely on their past as players beyond the first week of contact.

Darren Berry one day explained to me the offer he was pursuing from the Auckland Aces. Low low money and with covid standing in the way of getting family to nz for a bit suggests that pretty much nz coaching staff must come from within, I'd suggest

But good luck Luke, like rapido says, he was a selfless player (mostly opened for WA) and our fielding was exemplary when he had the gloves - there's something in that.

Feel sorry for the son, at least it seems he had a good relationship with his dad.