Its Summer! - the Fever Cricket Thread. (Part 2)

Pakistan did....

Confirmed Ferguson can't bowl rest of the test.

So how about when he bats he fakes a concussion (or deliberately duck into a bouncer...), and we are allowed a sub who can bowl 2nd innings?... The cricket equivalent of diving if you will.

First session is pretty massive in the context of the match, a few wickets and we are still in the game... 100 runs for no wickets and we are in big trouble.

Losing Ferguson is massively unlucky. Going to be incredibly difficult from here.

Glad to hear these commentators determine that Raval is not as good at leg spin as Warne or MacGill.  FMD.

Yeah that was pretty funny; Ravel getting criticism his arc isn't as good as Warnes... 

He actually looks pretty good, hardly dropped one short in 8 overs... Compare that to Sohdi who can't go an over without a long hop. If he had a googly would be much more threatening though. 

Proud of our dig so far.

It's a hard job being a nz cricket fan. At least I have the Phoenix. 

Looks like it is ' good night Nurse '  from here .

They'll need a nurse after this hammering

The problem is that as much as Ravals confidence is shot, everyone with the exception of Ross Taylor was bad, so you really can't drop him when the rest were equally as bad
Boult comes in but I do get a sense that because we lack real pace to scare them (remember they face Starc in the nets) then it will could be much of the same.

Well that didn't go well.

Fair effort from the bowlers, in fact a bloody heroic effort, but that was mid 90's level ineptitude from our batsman. The only game for us in the 2nd innings was keeping their two quick's out there for a decently long period to put miles in their legs before Melbourne. Couldn't even do that.

Oh well, hopefully they can mentally write that off as an aberration in a unique set of circumstances and move onto Melbourne remembering that we are a good cricket team.

Blundell for Raval, move Nicholls to opener and Boult back in for Boxing Day please.

Raval has been shark for some time. The rest of the batsmen have credit in the bank. You can definitely drop Raval.

Was so disappointed in the result. But despite the hiding, I actually thought we bowled well. 

Australia were just too clinical, they knew what they were doing, bat first and bat long (sorta like what we did to England in the 1st test) then come in hostile with the pink ball, get it to swing, get it rearing up at 145 clicks and put us on the backfoot. Pretty much worked to perfection and we had no answers.

Kyle Jamieson has been summoned as a replacement for the rest of the series for the injured Lockie Ferguson which I think is a good move. Not a like for like replacement in terms of speed, but he's a big lad and should give an added dimension to our bowling attack as he should get some steep bounce even off a good length over there. I reckon give him a shot, what have we got to lose on a track that is unlikely to break up and unlikely to take on much turn? Added strengths and attributes he'll bring to the bowling crease and a touch of the unknown, could be just what we need to bounce back in the series. 

We all know we're struggling for another proper opener for a while now too, but what about Glenn Phillips? I'm pretty sure he's opened at first class level in season's gone by even though he's been coming in at #3 this season. Scored a 100 for NZA against England last month, and averages over 40 at first class level too... Not too sure why he hasn't even rated a mention so far. 

I'd go Watling to open, Blundell in to keep and bat at 6 or 7. Also, Satner is massively over-rated. 

Santner is rubbish. Unfortunately when the poms caved to him at the Mount it bought him another 10 matches, so now we're stuck with the cod.

Santner is not a test quality spinner.

Santner is not a test quality batsman.

Santner is not a test quality all-rounder.

So what photos does he have?

I think the problem is primarily that the cricketing experts seem to believe Santner is the 2nd coming of Vettori, sadly he is not. Also it is not like we have any top quality spinners challenging him at any level - Sodhi is hit and miss and is an 11 batsman not a 7, Astle is a better spinner but nothing with the bat either.

what happened to Sommerville?

he was a one off I suspect, only brought in when the pitches were really turning, similar to ajaz patel - not really a long term spin option.

The team I'd pick (with who's in the squad and available) to play the BDT:

1. Latham

2. Watling

3. Williamson (c)

4. Taylor

5. Nicholls

6. De Grandhomme

7. Blundell (wk)

8. Southee

9. Astle

10. Wagner

11. Boult

The team that'll be selected to play the BDT:

1. Latham

2. Raval

3. Williamson (c)

4. Taylor

5. Nicholls

6. De Grandhomme

7. Watling (wk)

8. Santner

9. Southee

10. Wagner

11. Boult

FFS.

Yet not hearing overwhelming belief in anyone else either...

not sure that Raval will get the nod.

Kane wins the toss and decides to bowl first

Fairly even after the first session. Feels like we didn't make the most of the early wicket and ball movement tho.

Argh Santner is really not test quality.

Would rather have Sommerville, Astle, Sodhi, Patel... In that order, ahead of Santner. He gets in the team due to his batting but against good attacks on fast pitches his batting is rubbish anyway so it shouldn't matter... My biggest criticism of Williamson is he uses spinners negatively as a way to keep the runs down rather than as wicket takers. 

Santner has absolutely killed us here. All the seamers have been disciplined and kept it tight then he comes on and chucks some pies up which go the distance.

Bring them home. Embarrassing. 

Go that boy Blundell. What an innings

how good was that support

Sadly, its been a long time since we have been so comprehensively outplayed by someone. Wagner and Blundell ... tick.

This team has been on a slide in Test cricket for a year now. Conservative team selection followed by blooding players vs Australia, instead of taking advantage of the England series to try guys out in a Test match environment that doesn't carry over points to the new Test Championship.

Our seam attack is all older than 30, Rosco getting on now.....Santner has never taken more than 3 wickets in a First Class innings yet is deemed to be our best Test option? Possibly because we don't trust our batsmen.....

Seems like a good time to try guys vs India at home? Good opposition who, traditionally, don't travel well. Look at Young, Bruce, and Hay from CD......Duffy at Otago......give Fergusson and Jamieson a run.....spin options are slim but both Ajaz Patel and Sommerville better than Santner in red ball cricket. Glenn Phillips at Auckland with the gloves.

We have won 7, drawn 2 and lost 4 in the past year. 4 series wins, 1 series draw and 1 series loss.

We have won 4 tests in that time by an innings, and one by 400+ runs.

We beat Pakistan 2-1 in the UAE, largely due to bold selections where we dropped important seamers for spinners who would perform more favorably in those conditions. For comparison, Pakistan did not lose a single series to a team from outside the subcontinent in the past 10 years they have spent in the UAE.

We are not on a slide because of a couple of tests where we batted poorly and were outplayed by a team, and bowling unit, in superb form.

With a couple changes (one forced) for Sydney, we can only hope for a far more positive performance there. Then we come home and face a really tough India, but not an impossible task in our own conditions.

I wonder how the narrative will change if we pick up some decent results in those upcoming tests....

Also Williamson. No runs from him.

The same Pakistan series that was over a year ago?

We beat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at home, because we always do.

We drew away to a Sri Lankan team in disarray.

We did well to beat England, but remember they sent a newish team with the aim of building for the future.

We have been blown away by Australia.

Our 18-24 months prior to 2019 were really good. Conservative selections, fairly passive tactics by Kane and Gary Stead, and over reliance on the same old-same old.....

I looked at the age of our Test team vs the Australian team, and it's comparable. I thought that we'd be a lot older. However, our FC teams are markedly older than Australian FC teams. We have a lot of aging plodders clogging up the First Class system, blocking young talent who get discouraged and give up. To help counter that, perhaps we could move to 8 FC teams - add in North Harbour and A. N. Other. I know Aussie has 6 teams, but their level of domestic cricket is far more intense than ours which prevents the myriad of mid-30 year old players in our domestic scene. (In fact, we could have 7 - there's no law saying thou must have an even number of teams).

I also wonder about how white our First Class teams are, especially given how many Indian players play in the Auckland/Counties-Manukau regions.

Great fight to win the day today and end on 63/0. Backs to the wall and we have battled superbly.

Unfortunately not in the same class.

Hate to say I told you so, but...