The Silver Fern

Hope's time restrictions will be over now, I wonder if he's not available to bat? Not able to watch at the moment, so only checking score periodically.

With everybody fit it's probably Ravindra, Philips, O'Rourke and maybe one of Smith or Sears.

On top of that we have Fisher, Hay and Mariu who are on the outskirts of the squad, Foulkes who's currently in the squad but I don't think has done enough to displace the guys currently injured. Curtis Heaphy also showing promise at domestic level.

An all under 30 side:
Mariu
Heaphy
Matt Boyle?
Ravindra
Tim Robinson
Hay
Phillips
Smith
Foulkes
Sears
O'Rourke

Bowling is okay, struggled a bit for batting. I don't see anyone who looks ready to bat at 3. Finn Allen obviously a factor in white ball, but took Robinson ahead of him for tests since Robinson is actually playing plunket shield and doing well.

I'm so glad we recalled Blundell

@Godder said in West Indies tour of NZ:

@Cyclops said in West Indies tour of NZ:

Good to see Latham back in the runs too. How often has an NZ batter got 2 tons in a series?

33 if the filter has been set up correctly - this being the 33rd time.

4th time just for Latham too. More common than I'd thought.

@KiwiPie said in West Indies tour of NZ:

Think of poor little Kane being padded up all day.

He gave up part way through the third session and made Ravindra do it instead.

Is it bad that part of me is glad the Turner/Jarvis partnership wasn't broken? For all his faults, Turner is one of our greatest batters and I think it's fitting that he has a place in our record books.

Fantastic day. Conway locks in his place for the England tour. I hope Mariu still makes the squad though. Good to see Latham back in the runs too. How often has an NZ batter got 2 tons in a series?

Colin Munro opened for the Heat against the Renegades and only managed a 50. In the other game last night, Finn Allen opened for the scorchers in typical fashion, managing 16 off 8 including 2 6s.

Lockie Ferguson in the squad for Sydney thunder in tonight's game. Not sure if he's likely to get a start or not.

@KiwiMurph said in West Indies tour of NZ:

@Cyclops said in West Indies tour of NZ:

At the time we hired Walter I thought Shane Bond was the better option and nothing he's done so far has convinced me otherwise.

Was Bond ever a possibility?

Yep: https://www.thepost.co.nz/sport/360699298/black-caps-coach-shane-bond-rob-walter-shane-jurgensen-luke-ronchi-mix-interviews-begin

I hadn't heard that story before. That's a great line..

Edit: Looked it up and Gavaskar scored a double ton in that innings! Got the last laugh there.

Kelce is a shell of his prime. Retirement probably a good bet, especially if Mahomes misses a chunk of the season (haven't seen how serious it is, but if it's bad he'll struggle to be ready for the start of next season).

Not sure about Reid. Does he want to get to 300 regular season wins? Probably needs another 2-3 seasons to get there.

Young has been a massive disappointment in tests. He was very promising coming through and had a decent run in ODIs but has really struggled in tents. The recent Indian series was his best performance - player of the series I believe - and I hoped that was a turning point but it seems more like A blip.

Nicholls is probably getting close to a recall, he's piled on the runs lately. At this point the biggest knock is probably his age - just turned 34. You're not bringing him in with an eye to the future.

Mariu must be the next in line though, especially if we're replacing an opener. His latest ton took him past 2000 runs in 40 innings at an average over 50.

All a bit academic, since our next test is in May, a one off vs Ireland, followed by a tour of England. We'll have had the second half of plunket shield by then and who knows who will be in form by then.

It's official, Blundell and Ajaz in. Duffy remains in the squad and Jamieson not called up. Kristian Clarke the 4th seamer.

The decision of Jamieson has to sit with the medical/conditioning team but Blundell's recall is gutless. I'm not even sure Blundell is our second keeper with Max Chu improving rapidly for Otago.

I believe this would be a 4th home test for Ajaz who is yet to take a home wicket.

At the time we hired Walter I thought Shane Bond was the better option and nothing he's done so far has convinced me otherwise.

Kristian Clarke the next man up if Jamieson not ready to go. Dunno who they call into the squad next if Jamieson isn't available - a quick look at this season's plunket shield has Josh Clarkson as the top seamer through the first couple of rounds, but based on what I've seen of his bowling he's probably a bit too much of a dibbly-dobbler to be effective in tests.

I believe it's up to the keeper to adjudicate on whether part timers bowled enough overs to make the cut. I remember Kane get included a couple of years back after bowling about 4 or 5 overs - ND team mate BJ Watling was the keeper then. With Hay and Mitch being Canterbury team mates might have been a factor.

That's a great catch, although made to look much harder by dropping the first attempt. (The first attempt still tricky though, that was absolutely hammered).

I think he saved two - although some nice sportsmanship from the Windies to not keep running as they probably could have run 4 by the time the closest player got to check on Tickner (maybe they thought it had gone for 4?)

5 done, still 3 behind. Game might be over by lunch time.

32/2 an stumps, but one a nightwatcher. I always love it when the nightwatcher gets out before stumps.

Almost identical first sessions on day 1 and 2. About 100 runs, 2 wickets, bowlers spraying it but also looking dangerous when they get it right.

Pretty much a perfect day after putting the Windies in, apart from the injury to Tickner. Hopefully we can bat for a couple of days.

Tickner with 4 now, really making the most of this opportunity to claim his spot.

I also saw that our leading wicket takers in this team are Glenn Phillips and Kane Williamson. This reminds of the days when Vettori would have more centuries than the top 5 combined.

On the playing role profile things, Latham and Conway are both classified as wicketkeeper batters by Cricinfo too. So we have 3 keepers, 4 all-rounders and 3 bowlers, with little Kane to carry the load as the sole batsmen.