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@Chris-B said in West Indies tour of NZ:
According to me:
Duffy has a test bowling average of 12.3 and Foulkes is averaging 8.9.
Matt Henry needs to pull finger!
Posted this a couple of weeks back.
Message back from Matt Henry:
"I don't have to do a goddamned thing - 'çept sit on my ass and wait!" 
@MN5 said in West Indies tour of NZ:
@Chris said in West Indies tour of NZ:
The decision to re select Blundell over Hay as I have said before is a poor one.
Compare the reckless shot Blundell played in his score of 4 to the 61 Hay scored when NZ was in trouble in the previous tests, shows who will contribute more.
Blundell dropped a catchable one down the leg side, and anyone who says it was hard sure, but if you get a decent glove on it you should catch it at test level, he just moved too late at 35 that is going to happen.
Hay is the best WK in NZ as he anticipates very well and gets in to catching positions very easily compared to other keepers, and stays down longer which gets him in to good positions to take the ball and keeps his head and eyes more in line with the ball.
It is always easier to catch a ball staying low and coming up than coming up too soon and having to re adjust.Blundell has been an admirable trooper for NZ and a handy successor to Watling but the fact he walked straight back in after Hay made every single post a winner ( some excellent keeping from what I saw to go with a very handy score ) is a bit troubling for me. His batting continues to be far more misses than hits too.
The coaching staff are very loyal though, they can point to Conways efforts in this series as justification for this I suppose but Hay looks a seriously good long term talent who should get his chance now especially in an ageing team ( Ravindra the only other top six batsman under 30 )
I think something we realised after the bad old days of the 1990s, when selection was a merry-go-round of pick, discard and re-pick is that you don't want guys to feel like they're playing for their place every time they go out to bat. And avoiding that perception means you've got to back people through their slumps - not just for them - but, to give everyone else confidence too.
The balancing act is recognizing when a change has got to happen. In part, that might need help from the player themselves recognizing their time is up, before the selectors have to. Conversations - which is probably a more mature way of running a team compared to having selectorial "gods".
We didn't quite get that right with Tim Southee. I think they should have given Hay this test as well as part of what looks to me to be a necessary transition. Blundell has been deteriorating for a while now - in his last 20 tests he's averaged 18, with one century and one fifty. Hay's matched the latter in his first test innings.
@KiwiPie said in Ashes 2025/6:
Point for discussion. Are there no top quality test players under 30? Starc, Head, Carey, Archer, Root, Stokes have been the standout players so far and all over 30. Is the focus on T20 producing a generation that can't bat or bowl for long? Answers on a postcard
With Australia, it's hard to tell.
They've got 15 guys in their squad and only Green is under 30.
Coney and Smith have both been scathing of the NZ bowling on the radio. I've been listening rather than watching the Windies innings.
Looked like there was something there for the Windies bowlers today, so I thought those who thought our bowlers might knock them over cheaply could be right.
To be fair, we're missing about half a dozen of our best bowlers, so we might be expecting a bit much.
Henry, Jamieson, O'Rourke, Satnav, Sears, Tickner - I think all would make this team - probably Fisher, as well.
NZ will want to bowl for about an hour tonight so that the bowlers can really steam in without wasting much energy, but also retaining some shine on the ball tomorrow.
You also don't want to bat on and on to only bat once - because you want to have the option to bat a couple of sessions later - just to give your bowlers a bit of time to recharge between innings.
5.5 sessions is pretty much ideal in my view - with the option to bat two more later in the game = 7.5 sessions and that's half the time in the game.
@bayimports Will give them a tiny window to win - a somewhat better chance of a draw.
Both still pretty slim chances in my book. With Lyon vs Jacks and bowling last, Oz appear to have the trump card.
@Donsteppa said in Ashes 2025/6:
Archer over Boland probably - but neither are displacing a fit Hazlewood...
Matt Henry competitive with Boland for us, but not Hazlewood.
...and from England, Root takes Marnus' spot, Brook takes Inglis'spot - and I'd take Stokes over Green. Maybe Duckett over Weatherald? Pretty much the same as NZ - our best batsmen supplant their worst.
You might briefly look at Archer vs Hazlewood, but nah...
Bold call making Green the highest paid ever overseas IPL player. Doesn't immediately spring to mind as an alltime MVP.
@nzzp said in Ashes 2025/6:
@Catogrande preach.
And I am not pointing fingers. Australia does funny things to boards and coaches. Remember when we picked Ferguson, for debut, in Aus, where he would be needed to bowl long spells ... and he broke down early? I do.
This is where the feeder comps are so important. Every Aus player has to battle to get to the top. Shit fielding doesn't get tolerated and deficiencies generally get exposed. Compare with most national sides - some people get a ride without really having to deliver at the lower levels - so figuring out your game at the top level can happen.
Aus have done this recently and it has not gone well for them. Their comps seem a shadow of what they were - and we see this come out in Super too (to threadjack to Rugby)
Yeah - it's very hard to beat Oz, because they can usually field eleven strong test players and four or five world class players. Their batting line-up at the moment is a little bit suspect, but it goes so deep that until you get rid of Starc, there's always someone there who can shepherd them to a solid score - and people like Smith and Carey are fucking hard to get rid of. With their bowling line-up a solid score is usually going to be enough.
You look at our team and Little Kane would take Inglis' spot. Mitch Jr. might be competitive for another batting spot (Marnus'- if Kane bats three), but far from guaranteed. Does one of our openers edge Weatherald? No-one else from our team makes the best Australian XI.
Disappointing that England hasn't been able to put up a better fight, but they came here last summer and beat us 2-1 - which doesn't bode well for our four tests in Oz next year, despite that 2-1 was aided and abetted by the Tim Southee Farewell Tour.
That snicko cock-up is a bit of a shocker.
They're saying the operator must have loaded audio from the wrong stump mike. If that's the case - I would have thought the spike would have been after the nick rather than before - because wouldn't the sound have to travel the length of the pitch before it created the spike?
238/5 and Australia getting on top now. Khawaja and Carey have done most of the damage.
Can't believe The Waj didn't make a hundred - what was his scriptwriter up to? Gone to the bar for a beer?!!!
And as I type, Tongue bowls Inglis. Desperately needed wicket. They've got to mop up the tail tonight and quickly.
Given the firepower at Oz' disposal 300 will likely be a challenging score.
@No-Quarter said in Ashes 2025/6:
Dropped catches at crucial times is killing England this series
Should've had the Waj for 5 and 51/3 - which would have had England well on top on what's likely going to be a pretty benign pitch for much of the match.
@Virgil said in West Indies tour of NZ:
@Chris-B said in West Indies tour of NZ:
@Virgil said in West Indies tour of NZ:
fun fact about Glenn Phillips, with a minimum of 25 wickets (yes i know thats low) he has the 6th best strike rate of any NZ bowler in test cricket.
only Bond, O'Rourke, Jamieson, Cowie and Paddles have better strike rates.One I found recently - Jeremy Coney has the best test economy rate of any NZ bowler.
He's eighth in ODIs.
Looked very hittable!
little nuggets like that are what makes cricket so fascinating.
Didnt Coney suffer for a while trying to get his first test 100? Had a run of back to back 90's at one point before he finally managed it.
And of course had that big falling out with Paddles while captain, famously leading to periods where they wouldnt speak during a test so tactics and field placements were relayed between other players..Edit: just had a look at Coneys stats, i got the 100 reference back to front
he had an amazing series vs Australia in 1986 at home.
His scores were 101*, 98, and 93 (his 3 only innings that series)he made his first test 100 a couple years earlier vs the Poms in his 26th test.
I was driving to ChCh and was around Leithfield Beach when he scored his first hundred. Marty Crowe had got one a bit earlier. A bit like where were you when JFK or John Lennon got shot.
He got picked early and had a poor series vs Oz - and then didn't make the team for about five years.
Wickets tumbling now.
@Virgil said in West Indies tour of NZ:
fun fact about Glenn Phillips, with a minimum of 25 wickets (yes i know thats low) he has the 6th best strike rate of any NZ bowler in test cricket.
only Bond, O'Rourke, Jamieson, Cowie and Paddles have better strike rates.
One I found recently - Jeremy Coney has the best test economy rate of any NZ bowler.
He's eighth in ODIs.
Looked very hittable!