back to back finals baby. nobody factored in the pitch, or NZs bowling depth now my man Fergy is on fire, and the fielding quality. Guptil 2nd highest fielder in saving runs, gets a 20m shot at 1.5 stumps and ended it.

I hope Eng make it through and some how NZ beat Eng in Eng. It will be at Lords which is very much a swing pitch if the conditions remain as they are.

Need to put blundel in and put our test opener Latham in opener with guppy, Blundell is an excelent t20 keeper, then put Munro at 5, that gives NZ a shed load of scoring power in the middle order all the way to 8 in Santner.

I dont like the team they have selected. 

Well done boys, I believe. That should pop us back to #3 ahead of Au who just passed us.

Yep!

I told mares if we get 240/250 and get Sharma and Kohli out there is a chance, but off course a tough ask but our bowlers are world class. As it happened, it worked out. Guppy helped out late, good to see for him. 

I enjoyed watching that on Live Cricket TV on my android phone

In all honesty it was such a cool game over 2 days to come down to Guppy aiming at 1,5 stumps. Neeshams catch was nearly as good as Guptils last game.

If we just use a proper keeper like every top 6 team in the world and put Munro at 5, we will have amazing strike power in the middle order for those final 15 overs. I dont know why they dont play blundell, he gets one test and scores a century, dropped. He plays a warm up here and scores a century and they still dont use him. Its nuts, why does Latham who is our second best opener and our Test opener not play 2? We could be so much more powerful with a high SR keeper and Munro replacing Colin DGH and using Neesham soley as the 5th but use him in 3 over stints so nobody gets hold of him, so he not bowling in the final 10. 

TeaLeaf:

 

In all honesty it was such a cool game over 2 days to come down to Guppy aiming at 1,5 stumps. Neeshams catch was nearly as good as Guptils last game.

If we just use a proper keeper like every top 6 team in the world and put Munro at 5, we will have amazing strike power in the middle order for those final 15 overs. I dont know why they dont play blundell, he gets one test and scores a century, dropped. He plays a warm up here and scores a century and they still dont use him. Its nuts, why does Latham who is our second best opener and our Test opener not play 2? We could be so much more powerful with a high SR keeper and Munro replacing Colin DGH and using Neesham soley as the 5th but use him in 3 over stints so nobody gets hold of him, so he not bowling in the final 10. 

 

Agree although I'd move Guppy back as well as right now he cannot manage these international bowlers. Place him after the new ball and new bowlers and he can let rip. Munro in for the final, also batting after new ball. While it was a great win, and it shows our bowlers/fielders are top notch, our batting keeps us a distant 4th. If not 5th. If we bat a bit better, jjust ok we lose, so we do need Guppy and Munro to fire, they wont fire if they open

Wow! Just Wow! Our bowlers did the job last night and then some. It's just a pity that our top order is so inconsistent. I agree with comment about pushing Munro down the order as he just isn't seeing the ball all that well opening the batting and push someone like Latham into the openers role with Guppy. Not so sure on the Nicolls experiment either. He's a better 5/6 IMO but that creates a logjam of middle order batsmen and allrounders. Who to leave out is the real question.

Anyway onwards to the final. Who would you prefer to see us face? I'm leaning towards England only because I think Australia have a psychological hold over the Black Caps and I'm not sure NZ can get over that. In saying that, beating Australia in the final would be sweet.

maoriboy:

 

Wow! Just Wow! Our bowlers did the job last night and then some. It's just a pity that our top order is so inconsistent. I agree with comment about pushing Munro down the order as he just isn't seeing the ball all that well opening the batting and push someone like Latham into the openers role with Guppy. Not so sure on the Nicolls experiment either. He's a better 5/6 IMO but that creates a logjam of middle order batsmen and allrounders. Who to leave out is the real question.

 

Anyway onwards to the final. Who would you prefer to see us face? I'm leaning towards England only because I think Australia have a psychological hold over the Black Caps and I'm not sure NZ can get over that. In saying that, beating Australia in the final would be sweet.

 

Replace Nichols with Munro, open with Kane and Latham, then Taylor then Guppy. Munro when it suits us.

Have AUS lost a couple of players? ENG is favourite for the semi, so maybe AUS for us. Like to avoid Starc though

Well that shut me up. 

But in a way, it sort of proves the point. We've been extremely reliant on sharp fielding and still haven't developed a credible top order, nor do we have selectors who are prepared to move people around/out to find what fits. We're making life harder than it needs to be.

Anyway, if we're playing Australia, I want a deep middle order that can graft an innings well down the list.

If we're playing England, I'd want my explosive hitting up top and would contemplating dropping Guptil back to 4th just to steady things if needed. Otherwise he can pinch-hit without pressure.

GV27:

 

Well that shut me up. 

 

But in a way, it sort of proves the point. We've been extremely reliant on sharp fielding and still haven't developed a credible top order, nor do we have selectors who are prepared to move people around/out to find what fits. We're making life harder than it needs to be.

 

Anyway, if we're playing Australia, I want a deep middle order that can graft an innings well down the list.

 

If we're playing England, I'd want my explosive hitting up top and would contemplating dropping Guptil back to 4th just to steady things if needed. Otherwise he can pinch-hit without pressure.

 

No, doesn't shut you up or me, nothing has changed. Openers are abysmal as usual. Ross and Kane save the day as usual. We batted 100 light on that track, and getting the big stars out cheap helps negate that, and in whats probably a 1 in 10 game chance of doing that, we did. As Ive often stated our bowling is up there with the best, as is fielding. Guppy and Nichols offset by Sharma and Kohli and Rahul for good measure, and we got home (just)

This wont happen every game but the openers fail every game, nothing as changed. Kane and Latham to open 

psychrn:

I enjoyed watching that on Live Cricket TV on my android phone

I'm a bit worried now that we just played our final, similar to the last world cup.
Didn't play well at all in that final after a tough, close semifinal win.

CYaBro:

 

I'm a bit worried now that we just played our final, similar to the last world cup.
Didn't play well at all in that final after a tough, close semifinal win.

 

I am not a cricket fan to the extent many here are, but I felt our big hindrance at the last final, was McCullum being unwilling to play any game but the big swinging game he loved so much. Aussie knew he would do this and put bowlers and specifically targeted him for that and got him out early. Once he went out it felt a little like the rest of the teams shoulders dropped and they couldn't rally.

I watch a lot of sport, but not a lot of cricket, and that semi against SA last CWC was one of the best moments in sport I can recall, along with the last try scored by BB in the RWC2015 and being live and watching us recycle the ball over and over at the RWC 2011 to win. There certainly have been others.

I had completely written off the Black Caps this round after they stumbled a few times and didn't seem like they were going to post a strong total. So had my cricket fan staff. I was pretty happy to be utterly wrong. Even if we don't win, we will still be second, some kind of achievement given our population and the fact it's not our national sport the way it is for so many other nations in the top 10. I love how well we do in sport in NZ, it's just so excellent. Even our top squash players are approaching top 5!

jonathan18:

psychrn:

 

I enjoyed watching that on Live Cricket TV on my android phone

 

@psychrn: which particular app is this? It’s just there are at least two in the Play store named this. (I’m assuming it’s an app, given the specific mention of Android phone, or is it just a website?) Thanks...

Sorted for you, thanks to Sky

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/black-caps/114151342/cricket-world-cup-2019-prime-tv-will-air-the-black-caps-in-lords-final