Cricket is being broadcast live on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@SportsCentralOfficial

What an innings from Glenn Phillips! Hope you saw that one TeaLeaf, I know you're a big supporter of the man. Also a great knock from Mitchell. Latham out for zero, they need to get another keeper blooded in the short format sides, be it Hay or Cleaver or Fletcher. Think it's time the test captain concentrated on tests.

thermonuclear:

 

What an innings from Glenn Phillips! Hope you saw that one TeaLeaf, I know you're a big supporter of the man. 

 

Yes indeed, likely one of our best one day tons of all time at #6, 106 @SR143.

I still think he is wasted at #6, Latham could easily play 6 if hes playing WK. I think it annoys me more in the Test matches where GP is asked to play 7 behind Blunders. That is when he has been asked to save the team with next to no support from the tail.

It feels like we had no cricket at home this season, well not none, but very small amount.

TeaLeaf:

 

It feels like we had no cricket at home this season, well not none, but very small amount.

 

After the Champion's Trophy concludes, Pakistan come to NZ for a five match T20 series and a three match ODI series. The T20 series starts on the 16th March in Christchurch with games also in Dunedin, Auckland, Mt Maunganui and Wellington. This is followed by the ODI's in Napier, Hamilton and the Mount again. The tour finishes on April 5th.

Given how poor the summer has been for decent hot weather, it will be interesting to see how many games might end up rain-affected. Perhaps the better weather will finally arrive in March and early April. But, yeah, been a pretty slim summer for cricket this season. The lack of test cricket has been particularly disappointing. On the positive side, might see Jamieson feature in the T20's at least if he can maintain his fitness.

Match 2 of the tri-series, NZ vs South Africa, starting at 5:30pm today. Sounds like Ravindra is out after getting sconed in the head.

Would like to see two changes in the XI for this match, Conway in for Ravindra and let's see if he's got anything to offer. My second change would be Chapman in for Williamson, same reason, let's see what Chapman can do. Sure Williamson scored a fifty in the previous game but his strike rate was only 65, the lowest of any of the NZ batsmen by some way.

It took the heroics of Phillips and Mitchell in the back end to get NZ to a respectable score last time out. Williamson taking 10 balls to get off the mark is not good given he's the best batsman ever to don the Silver Fern. The top sides in the Champion's Trophy won't be so ponderous during the first 15 overs. Even Pakistan were 26 runs ahead of NZ at the same stage after 15 overs the other night.

thermonuclear:

 

Match 2 of the tri-series, NZ vs South Africa, starting at 5:30pm today. Sounds like Ravindra is out after getting sconed in the head.

 

Would like to see two changes in the XI for this match, Conway in for Ravindra and let's see if he's got anything to offer. My second change would be Chapman in for Williamson, same reason, let's see what Chapman can do. Sure Williamson scored a fifty in the previous game but his strike rate was only 65, the lowest of any of the NZ batsmen by some way.

 

It took the heroics of Phillips and Mitchell in the back end to get NZ to a respectable score last time out. Williamson taking 10 balls to get off the mark is not good given he's the best batsman ever to don the Silver Fern. The top sides in the Champion's Trophy won't be so ponderous during the first 15 overs. Even Pakistan were 26 runs ahead of NZ at the same stage after 15 overs the other night.

 

Still think they should drop Williamson now? 😁

A great century for Williams, an unlucky 97 for Conway made this a relatively comfortable run chase in the end. A couple of cheap wickets near the end (a duck for Latham!!) but overall the batting looked good on what was a good batting wicket. With Ravindra hopefully back for the next game, where does he fit in if they find a way to fit Conway in? Young was ok but needed to kick on. Does he get moved on?

CYaBro:

 

Still think they should drop Williamson now? 😁

 

Short Answer - Yes.

Long Answer - I'm not sure that's quite what I said. This series is a warm-up for the Champion's Trophy and NZ should be trying out players to see what the options are. Williamson was slow in the first outing and left runs on the table through his inability to gap the ball, particularly during the first fifteen overs. It should also not be forgotten that Chapman played at first drop against Sri Lanka in three ODI's just on 30 days ago. His scores were

29* runs @ 80.55 SR
62   runs @ 119.23 SR
81   runs @ 100.00 SR

On that basis Chapman deserved an opportunity to press his claim for a spot in the starting XI. As NZ had won the first game with a healthy enough margin to likely see them make the final even if they had lost to South Africa last night, it was a good chance to see who else is in form. I would have also advocated for Ferguson to be played if he wasn't injured.

However ...... all that said, and with the benefit of your 20/20 hindsight, Williamson played a blinder last night no question. Perhaps the wicket was better, perhaps he realised he needed to pull finger after Game 1, but he looked great throughout the innings. He almost doubled his strike rate from the first match, up from 65.16 to 117.69. Best of all IMHO, he looked to be properly injury-free and moving freely between the wickets. He even kept up with Phillips when he came in, no mean feat in itself given the amount of work he'd already put in at that stage.

Conway was also a revelation. Perhaps it was playing against his former country, perhaps it was the benefit of seeing someone else playing in his spot while he sat on the bench, but he had a rare good day out. Makes for a nice problem to have when Ravindra is back to full fitness. Is it time to consider dropping Latham out of the side and let Conway keep wicket to make room for him?

Will be very interesting to see who makes the XI for the final in Karachi now. Apparently the wicket is quite different and NZ has no games in Lahore during the Champion's Trophy unless they make the final four. 

29* runs @ 80.55 SR
62   runs @ 119.23 SR
81   runs @ 100.00 SR

On that basis Chapman deserved an opportunity to press his claim for a spot in the starting XI.

Not really, that was the first series he has ever scored runs against a quality (ie not UAE or Scotland) oppostion. It still doesn't really measure up against any of the established top 5 batters except Latham who keeps

Young Ave 44 @ SR 87

Conway 46 @ 89

Williamson 50 @ 82 (100 @ 90 last three seasons)

Mitchell 50 @ 97

Ravindra 40 @ 109

There comes a point where if you are age 30, have played 27 odd internationals and scored 585 runs (incl 100 vs scotland) at an ave of 30, you are probably only ever going to be fringe.

NZ vs India Champions Trophy Final on tonight. NZ need to win the toss and bat first or game over. From ESPNCricInfo it’s a bat first pitch and spin will come into play so it will be harder to bat in the second innings. They will be using the pitch that was used in the Pakistan vs India match so it hasn’t been used for around 2 weeks or so. Having Phillips and Bracewell batting at 6 and 7 with a batting average of near 40 and can also bowl spin well will be vital. Matt Henry should be fit for this match after fielding in the last match after injuring his shoulder. Was bowling and fielding practice on match day. 

I think NZ will choose the same team as the previous match. They will not play around with the playing 11 unless someone is injured. No room for Conway to come in.

 

1. Ravindra
2. Young
3. Williamson
4. Mitchell
5. Latham (wk)
6. Phillips
7. Bracewell
8. Santner
9. Henry
10. Jamieson
11. O’Rourke

I got it wrong. Henry is out and Nathan Smith is in. I was expecting Duffy to come in as he is a like for like replacement for Henry. Maybe they wanted to go for an allrounder instead of a pacer due to spin being more likely to get wickets and getting runs being more important so having an extra batter who can also bowl might be key to NZ winning the match.

This pitch is just baked clay....

I wish we were bowling first. But set a big 300 score and should have scoreboard pressure.

Well a typical NZ effort, get to the end and flop.

Had some 300+ scores in the series, the big one when GP scored 100+ at SR140. 

Put Latham into open and Hay into WK, ie their non part time jobs. 

Then put Rachin in at 3 at Young back to 4 where he has always belonged. Oh well too late now haha.

Needed to get at least 300 on this pitch. The previous game Aus got to 264 and lost. I think it was pretty good that India won with one over to spare so not bad for NZ efforts but missing Henry, dropping catches off Sharma, Gill and Iyer; and losing Young, Ravindra and Williamson in quick succession killed NZ batting momentum and the game overall.

I believe this tournament was the last chance for NZ to earn an ICC Trophy for limited overs cricket. I don’t think we will see NZ winning a limited overs cricket trophy anytime soon. I think it’s over for the time being. Might be 5-10 years or more until we see NZ win an ICC limited overs tournament. 

5 finals lost has got to be a world record for Cricket ICC tournaments. I don’t think any other team as lost this amount of ICC tournament finals before.

Dochart:

 

5 finals lost has got to be a world record for Cricket ICC tournaments. I don’t think any other team as lost this amount of ICC tournament finals before.

 

That is the humble pie bit. Honestly id like to see Rachin some how have a partnership with GP of some length. They are our enforcers. One relies on technique and getting too or waiting for the right ball, GP makes it upon the crease with his incredible hand eye coordination and very fast hand speed.

Id not be upset if Wiliamson were to give up ODI's, play the T20 circuits but try to commit to Tests where he can. 

Again, Latham needs to be at opening if he doesnt retire soon. But overall that is a very qood squad imo, with KJ batting at 10, its a long batting lineup for once. But somebody needed to get going from those starts.

I dont know how to search this, but I would like to see the AVG's with SR across the tournament, who is not producing runs in tournament situations.