The Silver Fern

@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.

@mikey07 said in West Indies tour of NZ:

@Cyclops Was it Taylor I remember grabbing a couple against them in 2016 if my patchy memory serves me correctly.

3 in 2013-14, but a very purple patch: https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/series/batting-most-runs-career/west-indies-in-new-zealand-test-series-2013-14-8475

An acceptable day at the office for NZ...

@MN5 said in Ashes 2025/6:

@Godder said in Ashes 2025/6:

Not to defend Bazball entirely but I always figured that if you can't bat time, you basically have to score runs quickly since you're effectively there for a good time, not a long time. That might be because of poor technique, or because the bowlers have the ascendance currently (for whatever reason e.g. bowler quality, pitch, weather conditions etc.). Lord knows how often I watched average NZ teams in the 90s and 00s try to bat time to avoid losing, and just not having a defendable target so it was all for nought and predictably nought at that...

Boycott has said more recently that given today's pitches and bowling techniques etc, he would probably score faster than he used to because batting time is harder than it was.

Definitely depends on the situation. But crikey, we're early on day 2 and England are batting again. Surely they reign it in a bit compared to the first innings.

DIsclaimer: Would not be surprised in the slightest if they have a heave.

You would think so, but if they don't think they will last, they may as well hit out - no difference in balls faced, but maybe a few more runs on the board instead of dot balls.

Not to defend Bazball entirely but I always figured that if you can't bat time, you basically have to score runs quickly since you're effectively there for a good time, not a long time. That might be because of poor technique, or because the bowlers have the ascendance currently (for whatever reason e.g. bowler quality, pitch, weather conditions etc.). Lord knows how often I watched average NZ teams in the 90s and 00s try to bat time to avoid losing, and just not having a defendable target so it was all for nought and predictably nought at that...

Boycott has said more recently that given today's pitches and bowling techniques etc, he would probably score faster than he used to because batting time is harder than it was.

@MN5 said in Other Cricket:

@mohikamo said in Other Cricket:

@MN5 said in Other Cricket:

Our greatest player ever only managed 22 wins in 86 tests which REALLY surprised me.

We were seriously shit at cricket for a very long time.
Winning any tests at all was a bit af a miracle.
Until the 86 tester arrived.

Gilchrist really did change the way test match cricket was played.

Paddles is our GOAT and I suspect he will still hold that mantle when KW retires albeit by a slim margin.

But given how many others have won off the top of my head I would have put his wins at 35-40 or so.

Again, Rose tinted glasses to some extent.

Feeling a bit late to this particular party but to be fair, 22/86 is better than 25% in a format where draws were common, especially in his era.

I can't see KW surpassing Sir Paddles as NZ's cricketing GOAT without a lot of runs. Hadlee is an option for an all-time text XI, where Kane is a bit short of that mark (as much as I'd like him to be up there).

@bayimports said in Black Caps vs England Series:

some interesting stats mentioned before, worst ever top 4 performance in an ODI series ever (min 3 games) ..not just England..ever. Bangladesh previously held the record for touring teams, but it is now Englands

That's an early Bangladeshi team at that, when, like all newcomers to tier 1 international cricket, they struggled.

Also, Daryl Mitchell averaged 178 for the series, which is fantastic. England's average score was 207, so not much better really.

We certainly tried to make that more of a contest than it should have been... At least we won, pre-Hesson, we'd have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Luckily, nothing's set in stone. Trial something different in tours, see if it works, and make decisions from there. If it works, great, if it's a total box office flop, can it and run something else.

Thanks to the Patreon email for pointing me here.

@Duluth said in Livescoring apps/website - not just rugby:

Anyone use FotMob?

Any niche ones specialise on a particular sport - Cricket, basketball, baseball etc?

I use Cricinfo (owned by ESPN these days) for cricket - I find it adequate for following live scores and they have decent text commentary.

Andy Flower was another excellent keeper batsman who is often forgotten. Playing for Zimbabwe doesn't help boost the stats obviously, so he's particularly impressive given that.

In terms of pure glove work in the past 50 years, besides Alan Knott and Healy as mentioned, Rod Marsh and Smith were also ahead of Gilchrist in my opinion. Dujon and Parore were also handy, as was Mark Boucher. Bob Taylor was even better than Knott with the gloves (Taylor has the FC record for most WK dismissals) but Knott was a somewhat better batsman.

All that said, hard to go past Gilchrist once you add the batting into it.

@Cyclops said in Black Caps v Pakistan:

220/6 off our 20. Weird innings, got totally bogged down through the 10-16 over mark. Not sure if that's good bowling, or Allen and Seifert playing well. Feels like we're either about 30 ahead of par or 30 behind.

Good win in the end, so I guess we were well ahead of par although I think some of that was scoreboard pressure.

Was excellent weather here in Christchurch the other day when we won comprehensively - 9 wickets in 10.1 overs. Naturally, had to have the drinks break at the end of the 10th over despite NZ only needing 2 runs... Obviously there will be advertising requirements etc, but it was a bit farcical.

Looks like we got off to a good start with the ball again today as well.

@Chris said in ICC Champions Trophy 2025:

@Chris-B said in ICC Champions Trophy 2025:

@No-Quarter Maybe not - but, I think that's where the change would come. Hard to see them leaving out Mitchell, who averages nearly 50 in ODIs.

22 runs from wides and 15 extra balls. That needs to be tidied up.

Anyone watching late in the Bangles innings? In O'Rourke's last over, Taskin was backing away and swiping wildly - and O'Rourke was digging it in and bowling into his body - which was economical because Taskin didn't have an answer - but I reckon it was crying out for a yorker and was a bit surprised Will didn't give him one.

Yeah I was watching probably he didn’t want to miss the Yorker and get punished.
It gets used less and less these days in white ball cricket.
You can’t beat a decent inswinging Yorker at a decent pace.

Can blame BMac for that apparently - his technique of cross-batting yorkers effectively removed them as anything other than an occasional weapon.

@Kiwiwomble said in Caleb Clarke:

@MN5 i will once again admit my previous ignorance, id always assumed a diversion could only be used for something like public intoxication or taking a leak in public, maybe nicking a road sign....nothing really dangerous

Diversion happens before charging as the police opt not to charge someone, most commonly a first offender and usually in return for some level of apology, admission of guilt and some minor community service.

This has reached court and a guilty plea, with Clarke seeking to be discharged without conviction - the court's decision on that will be part of sentencing in June. The financial impact of a conviction in terms of loss of potential earnings would be massive, so that's usually a major factor for the judge to consider.

300 up in the 49th over. Phillips with 50 off 34 balls and Latham gets his 100.

If I was picking another all-rounder, I'd use that as a tiebreaker, so Kallis instead of another batter, or Sir Paddles instead of another bowler, or Gilchrist instead of another 'keeper (could pick him as an all-time keeper on keeping skills anyway, but batting is a handy tiebreaker). Imran was tremendous with bat and ball, but IMO wasn't quite as good a bowler as Sir Paddles (not that he needed to be once Wasim and Waqar were in the team...).

Always a fun exercise!

I don't have a problem with Kallis being on a greatest ever list somewhere, even if not top 5 or 10 in batting or bowling - his numbers and achievements are phenomenal. I'd put Sobers above him as an allrounder, though. I also don't think Kallis would make the all-time XI.

MCC agreed, that's why the dismissal was moved to the Run Out law to make it clear that it was the same as any other run out.