NZ v Pakistan 2022/23
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If you look at the list of people to play test cricket for NZ over the last 2 years (e.g. how cricinfo list their 'current players' in there stats sections). 21 players.
Only 2 of them are currently under 30.
28 year old Jamieson and 23 year old Ravindra.(Glenn Phillips has fallen off this list, over 2 years since he played his one test).
Will Young has also just ticked over 30, like Sodhi.
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And the layer under that.
Here is the NZ A team that toured India 4 months ago.
Looking at the ages of the players in the team for the first 'A' test. in batting order
30
23 (Ravindra)
30
28 (Chapman)
28
29 (C Fletcher)
30
31
32
30
28 (Duffy)https://archive.nzc.nz/Scorecards/1222/1222523.html
(They onnly took 2 youngsters on the tour. Both 23 years olds. Ravindra and young ND fast bowler Matthew Fisher (who, encouragingly, ripped it up over there)
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Sheesh Conway juggles it but clinches it.
We’ve taken 2 quick wickets here but Shakeel is still there.
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We’ve dropped a few chances albeit some very difficult ones that would’ve been classic catches for sure, but they were there.
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Ish on a hatrick.
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I hate to kick a guy while he’s down but could Bracewell be ANY more ineffective in this match ??????
Drop him and get KW to turn the arm over here and there now the burden of captaincy isn’t there.
He also has better first class figures than Bracewell ( 86 wickets in 157 matches at 43 vs 33 wickets in 99 matches at 47 )
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Having a think about cricket and how it really is a game that’s favoured towards batsmen.
When was the last time KW actually had a bowl ? Our premier batsman, absolutely NO doubt about that and until recently our captain. You’d still think every now and again he would have turned the arm over a bit ? ( I remember three wickets he got to nearly beat England about ten years ago so he has some talent, certainly compares favourably to some of our “specialist” spinners )
Stephen Fleming played 111 tests and NEVER had a bowl. Not once. Not a SINGLE over ( Even Brendon McCullum has a test wicket to his name ) so he must have been terrible to not have a go at least once to give the front liners a rest.
Contrast that with untold examples over the years of bowlers slogging their guts out only to put their feet up briefly while the top order failed and they were required out in the middle to save the game or get respectability. The amount of times Dan Vettori had to do that ( often partnered by McCullum after a big stint with the gloves ) was eye opening ( especially with some of the brittle top orders we had in the early to mid 2000s )
Batsmen are lazy fucks.
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@MN5 IIRC Kane got into some strife for chucking, and hasn't bowled very much since then. Assume he just decided to focus on his batting instead of trying to reinvent his bowling action. Agree though he was a very handy part timer.
@No-Quarter He got into trouble twice so clearly has decided to give it away on basis that he remodelled his action and still got called
