7th Match: New Zealand v Sri Lanka

[Howsie]

With Jacob Oram out with injury James Franklin should come into the team, this should give us better balance within the team.

Sri Lanka: (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Thilina Kandamby, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Thilan Thushara/Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Ajantha Mendis.


New Zealand: (probable) 1 Jesse Ryder, 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 Neil Broom, 7 James Franklin, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Daryl Tuffey, 11 Shane Bond.

Cricinfo

 

[aussie1st]

As usual its not a bad NZ lineup just a case of them clicking. The bowling looks good with Franklin as the 5th option, will be good to see how his batting goes. Vettori and Mills can help out Franklin with the bat if needed.

 

[Ari]

So frustrating their is nothing wrong with our team on paper but we just keep messing up. Hopefully we can change that tonight.

 

[CG123]

Weakness for us New Zealand's is the fragility of our batting line up. Ryder, McCullum and Guptill as well as Broom and Franklin are just all so inconsistent that one game they may click, but on another day they will get rolled cheaply.

I don't see our bowling line up as a problem as we got 7 more than capable options.

I think out line up should look like this:

Ryder, Guptill, Taylor, Broom, Elliot, McCullum, Vettori, Franklin, Mills, Tuffey, Bond

Drop McCullum down as he is more useful down the order. Guptill should open as he comes in the first couple of over's anyway as one of Ryder or McCullum normally get out early. Taylor move to three, Broom four as he needs time to settle before he hits, Elliot has looked solid at number five for us. Also reasonbly strong lower order with lots of hitting power. Vettori one of the most under rated batsmen in the world should be higher up for us. He is not a hitter so when he is stuck with the lower order can't get quick runs. If he is further up he will be able to work ones and twos as well as hit the occasional boundary.

We must take the powerplay when we have two settled batsmen at the wicket, it is not just about slogging. If we can get maybe 40-50 off it, it would be good which just involves 1-2 boundaries an over. We need to try not to loss wickets in the first 1-3 over's of it as well.

Another key will be how we play Murali, Malinga and Mendis. They have all destroyed us in the past so hopefully they have worked on how to play them.

I do give us a change. If we bat first it will be all about batting the first 30 at about 4-5 an over with at least 7 wickets in hand. We need a platform like we had the other day and actually be able to use it.

If we bowl first it will be all down to Bond and Tuffey as they will need to strike early. If we can get them on the backfoot if they are chasing and they get behinf the run rate they lack hitting power down the order so we may be able to win it.

We need runs on the board OR reduce them to a chase able total.

 

[Ari]

Vettori above Franklin? you didn't follow domestic cricket at all last year did you? Vettori's one day record is nothing to write home about hes probably on a similar level to Mills. It is kinda odd how different Vettori's record is between tests and one day games.

I agree with the rest of that though.

 

[Dutch]

Must win game for both these teams but more so the Black Caps. They have so much potential. Why doesn't it come through? They should be world beaters at this form of the game with the amount of raw talent available. I am sorry to say that I don't think they have the consistency to pull this one off though.

 

[CG123]

Vettori above Franklin? you didn't follow domestic cricket at all last year did you? Vettori's one day record is nothing to write home about hes probably on a similar level to Mills. It is kinda odd how different Vettori's record is between tests and one day games.

I agree with the rest of that though.

Yeah I did follow it, it's just my personal opinion.

The reason his one day record is so poor is becuase he comes in with only bowlers below him, he try's to hit out and gets out. Exactly what happened last match where he was left not out in single figures.

If we have wickets in hand in the last 10 I would would bring Franklin in as he is a hitter. Vettori has more ability to occupy the crease by working it around so I would bring him in earlier if we are in trouble them if we get into the last few overs with only a few wickets in hand Franklin can come out and hit a few boundaries, which Vettori would not be able to do. Vettori can also hit boundaries but he needs to get his eye in first.

 

[Ari]

For me I would have Franklin ahead in just about any situation unless we are going to open with Vettori again (probably not as stupid as it sounds right now). However I don't like Mills batting ahead of Vettori like he has been.

The biggest weakness with Vettori's batting I feel is he has never forced the pace that well he tends to go out when he does that and it is why he probably bats himself far down the order. Franklin on the other hand can nudge it around just as well as Vettori but when the time comes he can hit the ball a long way.

More importantly though he needs to play well to keep Oram out of the side.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

sri lanka have to ignore the fact they have mendis and murali as spinners and play thushara. the wanderers pitch is a fast bowling track and it's stupid to play two specialist spinners there.

personally I'd opt to drop murali, but how likely it is they have the guts to do that I don't know.

 

[Howsie]

The probable team for New Zealand look's really strong with Franklin batting at seven, Vettori and Mills also make our batting line-up look fairly strong by batting at eight and nine.

Wouldn't mind seeing Franklin open the bowling if their's a chance the ball might swing. Alway's thought he bowled well with Bond.

 

[SciD]

Whichever team I support loose these days. I will support Lankans for this one.

 

[Howsie]

Whichever team I support loose these days. I will support Lankans for this one.

Haha good work Sid

 

[CG123]

Whichever team I support loose these days. I will support Lankans for this one.

Hopefully that trend continues.

 

[Insomniac]

Whichever team I support is winning, so go New Zealand (so we can beat you in the semi finals like we always do)

 

[nz0003]

I'm confident we'll win tbh. Hope McCullum goes down the order though, he just doesn't look like he knows doing when he opens. Batting at 6 or 7 it's fairly obvious, you're either there to stick around, or to go nuts.