posted May 13, 2008

Oliver Brett - a fair point, but, no offense to New Zealand, England will be the favourites from the start, and really have no excuses for a loss or draw

Having said that, as New Zealand proved in the first test a few months ago, it would be foolish to under-estimate then, as they are more than capable of grinding out results


I hope this test series will be as fun and exciting as the last test series between these 2 teams

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posted May 13, 2008

Rob, before you get too carried away with your predicted team, perhaps check if Matthew Bell and Matthew Sinclair have been selected or are even in the country...

The NZ team will be:

Redmond
How
Marshall
Taylor
Flynn
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Southee
Mills
Martin

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posted May 13, 2008

Waikato_fc - I have not seen the New Zealand team selection, so I have just guessed at some players, such as M Bell and M Sinclair

I will update the teams when the New Zealand team is announced

The NZ team you have posted, is that your predicted team, or the actual squad

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posted May 13, 2008

Rob, it's both

Bell and Sinclair were left at home, and Fulton, Elliot, Patel, Gillespie, Hopkins, O'Brien or Mason would never be considered unless there was a last minute injury.

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posted May 13, 2008

Oliver, for the most part I have to bow to your greater knowledge, but in this case I have to ask ... What the???

Have you SEEN Mason or O'Brien? ... My beloved Kiwi boys are often denigrated, and usually I get upset - but i'm the first to say that those two guys would struggle to get a game for Middlesex Seconds... Gillespie is a much better prospect, and has 11 wickets in 1 1/2 tests, but for some reasons the selectors have decided he's not up to it ...

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posted May 13, 2008

http://www.ecb.co.uk/england/npower-tests/new-zealand-player-profiles,1350,BP.html

Here is the New Zealand team, Im guess as it is from the ECB that it is accurate


I cannot see McCullum batting any higher, he batted at 7 in the previous test series, and I dont imagine he will be moved up the order. I would think Taylor or Oram, or even Vettori would be the players to higher up the batting order

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posted May 13, 2008

Mccullum was pushed up to 5 for the Lions game though. And I think there have been rumblings from the NZ camp that that is the position they prefer for him.

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posted May 13, 2008

There were also rumours from Bracewell that they saw McCullum as a possibility as test opener ... no pressure then mate, just open the batting at Lord's, keep wicket and be Vice Captain as well ...

The only possible movement I can see in the order is McCullum swapping places with Oram or Flynn and batting at 6.

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posted May 13, 2008

RedRedRobin - a good point, but bare in mind that the New Zealand team that played the England Lions had a few inexperienced players, such as Flynn, so maybe McCullum was moved up to 5 to take the pressure off Flynn

Im not sure where he will bat though

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posted May 13, 2008

I cannot understand why Gillespie is not in the squad, surely he is the best New Zealand seamer after Mills, Martin and Southee

Im sure he is a lot better than Mason or O'brien, it seems like a really strange decision from the New Zealand selectors


So what are we think of for the New Zealand batting line up then

something like this -

5)Oram
6)Flynn
7)McCullum

or

5)Oram
6)McCullum
7)Flynn

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posted May 13, 2008

"There were also rumours from Bracewell that they saw McCullum as a possibility as test opener ... no pressure then mate, just open the batting at Lord's, keep wicket and be Vice Captain as well ..."

When they announced the squad for this tour Bracewell said that Mccullum would be back -up to the openers spot, in case of injury, but would not be asked to keep wicket at the same time.

Depressingly, this was linked explicitly to problems with paying an extra reserve player to cover the openers spot.

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posted May 13, 2008

Rob - Flynn was selected as a specialist batsman (god knows why!), whereas Oram and McCullum are allrounders, so I would imagine that Flynn will bat above Oram and McCullum, but it's probably pretty fluid and may change according to the circumstances of the match.

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posted May 13, 2008

"I cannot understand why Gillespie is not in the squad, surely he is the best New Zealand seamer after Mills, Martin and Southee erm"

And Bond of course.

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posted May 13, 2008

England for an easy win. With Kp, vaughan and the crew, New Zealand will go dwn with a bang- gud times for the lions!!!

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posted May 13, 2008

waikato - but if McCullum moves up the order, surely he will overtake Flynn, I cannot imagine McCullum batting ahead of Oram personally

RedRedRobin - Bond is a huge, huge loss to New Zealand, I bet many, if not all, New Zealand fans would welcome Bond back with open arms

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posted May 13, 2008

RRR, Bondy's gone, move on - we've had to!

And yes, you are quite correct about Bracewell saying McCullum would only open if he wasn't keeping, my mistake ... and that really doesn't bear thinking about, as his replacement, Gareth Hopkins, is both a poor keeper and a poor batsman! - He's played 9 ODI matches for NZ, most as a specialist bat, and averages exactly 3 ... His 20/20 record is slightly better, with an average of 6.0 ...genius!

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posted May 13, 2008

What about Grant Elliott, he started the 3rd test against England, but now looks to be behind Marshall, Redmond and Flynn

do you agree with that

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posted May 13, 2008

"Bondy's gone"

He has indeed. And yet, all it would take is a bit of common sense to have him back...

On McCullum, I think he will bat at 7, like in New Zealand.

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posted May 13, 2008

"RRR, Bondy's gone, move on - we've had to!"

Sorry, but it just seems insane that he isn't in the squad.

Quite why there isn't more fuss in the media about one board influencing the selection policies of another I have no idea.

Right. I'll try to make that my last rant on the subject.

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posted May 13, 2008

Why is Bond not available? I've never quite understood this - if NZC wanted to select him would he be allowed to play? Is this just NZC trying to throw their weight about to stop any more defections of top players to rebel leagues?

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posted May 13, 2008

Rob, as far as I am concerned, Elliott should also be behind Papps, Cumming, Bell, Sinclair, Hopkins, Fulton, Greg Hay, B J Watling, Flynn, My Mum, My Aunt, My Sister, My Dad and Me ... he's rubbish ... NZ may be getting pretty desperate in terms of playing depth, but a 30 year old South African journeyman who can't bat or bowl really has no business being anywhere near a NZ squad... He will quite rightly end his test 'career' with a batting average of 5 and a bowling average of 85 ...

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