Pleased yes, not for him, its tough, but to force something to change

batting was pi$$ poor at the end. This is Bangers what happens if its ENG or IND?

tdgeek:

 

batting was pi$$ poor at the end. This is Bangers what happens if its ENG or IND?

 

yeah I agree, I thought we should have hit 350+

One thing I did learn, Tom Latham is a much more aggressive captain than Kane Williamson, when Southee was looking like he would end their innings in 3 overs he had 3 slips hit, foot on throat, something that bothers me a lot about Williamson.

Also great to see Southee back to swinging the ball at 140+, he unplayable at that speed as his second wicket was the perfect in swinger through the gate to take the stumps. 3 dropped catches, he deserved much better. Also Boult looks better with Southee. I think its good to rest Southee like this but I think it should have been Pak and Sri Lanka we tested our players, and rested Southee then and played against Ind, I think we can beat them.

All commentators except Smith said Munro should be chosen simply as there is no other choice, but they are wrong, Will Young was on Smiths list, and Doull said he too 3 weeks ago had him in the batting squad, but he expected him to be tested so he could not choose him without seeing him Debut, he will be our next Williamson I think.

On the bowling nothing controversial, all went with Sodhi over Astle. 

All rounders again nothing too controversial aside from Mark Richardson swapping COlin DG for Scott Kuggerlein your fav :-).

I think they will pick Simon Doulls team but I too would have like to have seen the young gun get his debut as Ian Smith said Munro has not earnt his spot. But as Doull agrees he also has said YOUng is an unknown internationally.

I think I will be happy with the team but I still think they should swap Munro and Latham around and its bizarre why they havnt even tried it.

Oh yes, all 3 put Seifert in the team as I have been screaming about, stating it would be madness to go to a WC without a real wicket keeper when Latham himself is really only a backup. Guptil, Latham, Taylor, Williamson, Munro, Neesham, Colin DG, Seifert, Santner, Southee, Boult is the perfects balance of a VERY deep batting line up like India and Eng along with the danger of Southee and Boult, then Santner putting the breaks on to frustrate bowlers to take on the other all rounders. We have Williamson, Munro, Neesham, Colin, Santner, Southee, Boult in that line up who have reasonable international records bowling, that's 7 bowlers and batting to 10. Yes I should be selector, Larsen you DBag :-)

I expect more from Bangers in these tests than the ODIs to be honest. The debut of the youngn is a good move by them.

Must be an easy track, while they are scoring high, the bowling isnt troubling them

tdgeek:

 

Must be an easy track, while they are scoring high, the bowling isnt troubling them

 

Yeah Seddon is flat but true so consistent but a little tacky so slow, but no surprises.

Geeze the Windies vs Eng ODI was unreal Jos Butler and Chris Gayle were unreal with 6s. I think it was 500 runs in boundaries alone. Eng just managed to squeak the win which they needed.

Smith and Warner will be playing the World Cup as an FYI, but expect a lot of Boos I think.

IMO if Gayle continues this form the Windies will be the REALLY wild card. Good batting line up and 2 good bowlers, they arent the words best again but they are definitely back off the bottom.

Geeze they are picking on Southee, but Boult isnt doing any better with the runs.

Time for Waggers to hit some helmets.

Williamson being stubborn sticking to his set field and over bowling the 2 openers who got a hiding.

Interesting Astle is listed on cricinfo as a Batsman not all rounder, weird. I think they are testing him again for the ODI squad. But Sodhi should be bowling on a spinners pitch.

Well I suppose we can hope for a better second session.....

While on the World Cup and England, here is a montage of Englands 418 last night and their World Record of 6's in an Innings, along with Chris Gayles glorious 6's, WI chased hard but fell just short.

If the WI are this good, make par score for the WC 350 and needing batting depth to number 10 which my squad achieves.

Note Englands batting depth, possibly the best Batting squad in ODI history imo. Also note Rashid and why Sodhi will be so important to the WC with his ability to bowl the googly, the wrongin and regular wrist spin, can turn it away from left or right handers and can fool both with the wrongin to take LBWs, very similar bowler to Rashid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-dXY4RxE4I

Bah those Watling records with bat and gloves tells me forget seifert. Watling should be in our ODI squad to replace Nicholls.

Also, given Neil Wagner is on par with Richard Hadlee's wicket taking timeline in test matches, why the F is he not good enough for ODIs?

I know we need to have test players and ODI players. But I think they have some of the players wrong.

We dont have a proper wicket Keeper in ODIs and maybe Seifert is a better option given his SR than Watling, but WatlinTeg is no mug with the bat and an excellent feeder and closer, which is what they want from Neesham, so Watling with Neesham should be the ultimate combo in ODIs. Dropping Nicholls for Watling you are not losing anything but gaining NZs best Keeper of all time (sorry Smithy) and an excellent batsman who can close a game well.

Nicholls is a great batsman but most definitely more technical and has a more Test match style of batting. Latham was the same, but I feel he now has the capability to hit the singles but when push comes to shove he can smack 6s as good as most.

And like I said Wagners methods might be condusive to 6s but they are equally conducive to catches and caught behind, along with sneaking in in swingers to be lbw/bowled. Id drop Matt Henry for Wagner.

Good to see Southee come back on this match after an awful first 6 overs. Hopefully Waggers gets the last for a 5fr.

Edit: 1 ball from my call and Waggers takes the 5th. Good job.

Latham dropped. a dolly to third slip. He better convert the second chance. 1 from 16 balls now :-). Hes a catch up player in tests.

Raval looking super, awesome pull shot, 3x4s in the over for him.

He has 7 50s from 16 tests. I feel his century is coming this series. He is such a good opener, not about the runs, his ability to see off the shine and make things super easy for Williamson is more important.

Geeze hes being aggressive but technically very good, near 100SR or 6RPO is awesome from an opener in a test, looking in control. Even against the Bangers.

Lovely 50 from Raval. go on son and get your century you deserve.

Neil Wagner has a better strike rate than Boult and a similar average, meaning he goes for about the same amount of runs per wicket but he gets wickets in slightly less balls on average (2 less). So why is he not in our ODI team........

And now the commentary are copying me, saying Watling should be in the ODI squad as you need quality glove work (ie standing up to the wickets to 130kph and lower. And he is one of our better batsman and definitely capable of closing and leading an ODI chase. We will regret taking no specialist keeper who can bat when we have 3 who are great.

Great start, NZ should bat until Tea on day 3 (5 more sessions), which should be about 550runs, declare and have 2 days and 1 session to bowl Bangers out, should be peace of cake.

WE ARE #2 IN THE WORLD OF TEST CRICKET. Amazing accomplishment. Strongest test team in history.

Brilliant Jeet Raval 😂, very proud of you. New Zealand would not be #2 in the World in test cricket without you opening. Definitely NZ's best first class opening batsman.

Raval was avg'n 35 before this test, he is now close to 39, thats how much he can keep increasing his avg with 50+ scores. Nobody can deny his ability prior to see off the new ball and more, but he just needed that 100 to confirm in his own mind how very good he is. I expect him to go on and become NZ's best opener in history despite his age. An opinion only. John Wright is the best right now, averages mean little for openers, its how many balls you can face to get to the 30 over mark and then the runs should FLOW until 50 more overs (60 in Wrights era) until the new ball.

I should say in the more modern era late 80s to now.

Glen Turner is clearly the best opener for NZ all time, with an average off 44 odd, from 73 innings, 7 centuries, 15 odd 50s, and impressively a SR of around 75. I remember just the end of his career and he was very stoic at the crease.

Wags showing why he should be in the ODI team, another 5fa bowling and now batting at 160SR~ smacking 3 6s in an over. 47 from 32 balls.

Mean time Will Young scores another century in domestic making a mockery of the NZ selectors for the WC, idiots Larsen and his Boss.

Guppy getting another century in Whangarei.

George Worker also going good.

I REALLY think Nichols needs to be considered a Test and first class batsman, like Guptil is considered a white ball batsman.

Also if they dont take a Watling or Seifert in the Squad as a specialist glovesman who can bat we are showing how idiotic we truely are at picking an ODI squad.

IMO this test team only needs 2 replacements to make the ODI #1 squad. Neesman to replace Nichols but bat ahead of Watling, so if he fails to bring us home Watling his a specialist at it. Astle to be replaced by Ferguson, Sodhi or Santner depending on the pitch.