England tour of New Zealand 2023

[Umair7]

BROADY! SO GOOD!

 

[wasteyouryouth]

 

[Aislabie]

So first, Stuart Broad was the Nighthawk. And now Ben Foakes becomes the shitehawk

 

[wasteyouryouth]

This England side is damn good

 

[Bevab]

I'm shocked that there hasn't been more attention given to how horrible the NZC has been with their selections and strategy. Larsen and Stead are stealing a living at the moment. Is it because the media isn't big enough to challenge the incumbents or the sport simply doesn't get enough attention in the country?

• They're continuing to persist with Nicholls and Wagner despite them looking so clearly past it.
• They've selected Tickner and Kuggeleijn despite them not even being the best bowlers in their domestic teams. Neither have the benefit of age on their side. Tickner's already exceeded expectations by being below average in his test debut.
• Kuggeleijn in particular is jarring. He's on the wrong side of thirty and is a rapist by his own admission who's lucky to escape prison. How the hell does it make sense to select him after preaching about being the good guys in cricket for a decade? What sort of message does it send out to the dressing room and the wider cricket circle in NZ if a bloke like him who hasn't shown any form of remorse for his vile deeds is backed over other equally good if not better younger prospects? I'm shocked that it hasn't blown up beyond a few articles in the NZ media because this is the sort of thing that usually causes sponsors to pull out and ex-players to hit out but instead in NZ we have this selection happening because the figures in senior management happened to have played cricket with this bloke's dad.

On the other hand England have been spectacular. Bazball being dismissed as a gimmick is even better for them when it's clearly more nuanced than that. Putting themselves in the perfect position to bowl at the NZ lineup with the new ball under lights twice is no coincidence and shows a clear strategy. Their bowling has also clearly gone up a notch under Stokes' captaincy, previously they'd rely on Jimmy controlling the economy and hope to get wickets if and when possible but now they're actively hunting for wickets.

 

[pillowprocter]

I'm shocked that there hasn't been more attention given to how horrible the NZC has been with their selections and strategy. Larsen and Stead are stealing a living at the moment. Is it because the media isn't big enough to challenge the incumbents or the sport simply doesn't get enough attention in the country?

• They're continuing to persist with Nicholls and Wagner despite them looking so clearly past it.
• They've selected Tickner and Kuggeleijn despite them not even being the best bowlers in their domestic teams. Neither have the benefit of age on their side. Tickner's already exceeded expectations by being below average in his test debut.
• Kuggeleijn in particular is jarring. He's on the wrong side of thirty and is a rapist by his own admission who's lucky to escape prison. How the hell does it make sense to select him after preaching about being the good guys in cricket for a decade? What sort of message does it send out to the dressing room and the wider cricket circle in NZ if a bloke like him who hasn't shown any form of remorse for his vile deeds is backed over other equally good if not better younger prospects? I'm shocked that it hasn't blown up beyond a few articles in the NZ media because this is the sort of thing that usually causes sponsors to pull out and ex-players to hit out but instead in NZ we have this selection happening because the figures in senior management happened to have played cricket with this bloke's dad.

If it were up to you, what would the NZ XI have been?

 

[Bevab]

If it were up to you, what would the NZ XI have been?

Now we're talking. If I was restricted to just the squad that NZ had available for the test I'd replace Kuggeleijn with Duffy and Nicholls with Young. That alone should improve the side as Duffy's the second highest wicket taker in the Plunket Shield this season with 22 wickets whilst Kuggeleijn has 4 wickets so far with half the overs bowled. Also helps to not have a rapist playing in the side. Nicholls has been marginally better than Young domestically this season but he's been horrible internationally while Young's own international form suffered because he was playing as an opener. I believe he'd be far better in at three or four with some backing and confidence boosters.

But where's the fun in that when NZC is a conservative organisation on the whole? If it were truly up to me this would be the XI I'd pick after selecting a squad with better options...

1. Latham
2. Conway
3. Young
4. Williamson
5. Mitchell
6. Phillips
7. Blundell
8. Sodhi
9. Ferguson/Shipley
10. Southee
11. Boult

• I've always been surprised at Kane being the only one of the Fab 4 to not bat at four. Made sense when Roscoe was around but with his retirement and Kane's own decline in batting form it's time to move him down the order so that he can still be effective.
• Young at three seems like a good compromise between his natural position and forced one. I know that he's mostly played as an opener in domestic cricket recently to try and win back a place but him as an opener needs to be put to bed. NZ need the version of Young that can look fluent against world class bowlers and that's not as an opener.
• Phillips scored a fifty on debut coming in cold against a rampant Australian side whilst playing for a mentally shot NZ team at that point. I'm shocked that he hasn't played since then. He's got the mentality to play well when the chips are down as he's already proved and that is sorely lacking in the current team. He's also the perfect player to fill the modern role of 'counter-attacking' middle-order batter that every side seems to want increasingly these days. His supposed lack of shot versatility will be less exposed in tests when he's extremely good with the shots that he does play.
• Sodhi over Bracewell because he's a much better spinner and I don't think Bracewell adds anything of value to the side in tests. He isn't that reliable with the bat and his bowling still has a long way to go before it becomes reliable. Sodhi on the other hand has visibly improved over the last year and Ajaz hasn't been in great form and has been the victim of mismanagement. In an ideal world Ajaz would have been the clear number one spinner in the side long before Sodhi re-emerged and would have been my pick but I'll roll with the circumstance provided here.
• Ferguson should be a stopgap in tests until Sears and/or Fisher get back to fitness. At least he should be playing the important ones and they could have still got him playing the practice game and a domestic match if possible to get him up to speed. If he did fail in his fitness I'd have gone with Shipley who's been decent this season. He lacks Ferguson's pace but does have Jamieson's height if not the pace to cause some trouble with the angle.
• Boult's not contracted but with the absence of Jamieson and Henry and injuries to other younger bowlers this would have been the perfect situation to bring him back into the fold for a game or two. NZC failing to bring back one of their greatest bowlers who happened to live a few blocks away from the stadium for the first game in the middle of an injury crisis is absolutely stupid. I don't buy the whole 'central contract' nonsense as they're obviously going to select Boult in the ODI World Cup despite him missing several ODIs in the run-up to it, where's the preference there?

And honestly there's a lot going for this side. Conway is perhaps the best test opener around right now, Blundell's close to being the best wicket-keeper batsman around at the moment, Kane is Kane, Southee and Boult are a world class pairing with the ball even if Southee's form hasn't been great in recent times. The rest of the side is also filled with blokes who can produce match-winning performances or crucial ones if the opportunity presents itself.

By the way it's nice to see a new face around here. Hope we see more of you!

 

[beechcroft]

Crawley crawls back to the pavilion…..again.

 

[beechcroft]

England 21-3. Ah the memories.

 

[beechcroft]

Harry Brook is a marvel!

 

[Bigby Wolf]

This England side is something.

Most exciting team to watch in Tests right now.

 

[Pinch hitter]

Harry Brook playing Cricket 22 in New Zealand Test...

 

[wasteyouryouth]

curse my sleep pattern for fixing itself tonight of all nights

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Brook has 46 career sixes in 99 innings. 20 of them in his nine test innings. England have unleashed a beast.

 

[pillowprocter]

What a scoreline to wake up to.