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

Lonegunmen - still waiting for you to back up your claim? I realise that isn't your style but just for once I would love to see you back up a claim you make with some evidence.

Pretty disappointing effort there. We have always struggled against spin, but I thought we had a couple of guys in there (Kane, Ross) who could play it a little bit. As it turns out we're just as much fish out of water over there as they are here on our green wickets.

Kane has scored runs on turning wickets before, West Indies this year as an example and runs in India. I think best to judge them at the end of the series after they've had a bit of a chance to acclimatise.

Fair enough. And in response to the earlier comments there doesn't seem to be a lot of arrogance in McCullum's comments in the paper this morning. Acknowledges that we got completely outplayed.

Despite what a lot of people think about Baz, he is certainly not arrogant.

J. Ryder - out of the NZA tour. And so it goes on...

Jesse Ryder: Being a Twit since Ages Ago...

The only reason he left CD initially was because he was too much hassle and when Wellington gave him a shot a majority of the incumbents disliked his attitude and the way they perceived him to be throwing away a world class talent some of them would have killed for.

He just can't help himself and should now be left to be a cricket mercenary. NZ should wash their hands and move on, focus on the players who are committed, who want to be there and chalk it up to experience. 

does anybody actually know why he left the tour? Seems like he is being judged before people actually know why. 

Stuff reporting it as personal reasons.....anyone can take aim

Surely if it was anything less than controversial, they'd simply say what it was?

Strange to be keeping quiet given the history attached...or maybe he still has no agent. Last two dropped him. 

or maybe it's personal.

The boy has form, not a justification but why i assume the worst.

When Conrad Smith rushes home from an ABs tour for personal reasons, you think "It must be serious, let's leave him alone".

With it being Jesse, the first reaction is "What's he done now?"

I can't even remember his last 'incident' it seems like it was all so long ago. Yet he still gets "troubled cricketer" before his name in every article. And no, some dickhead bashing his brains in outside of a bar does not count - but even that was a while ago. 

He seems to be the guy the media and public like to pick on. 

Edit: I think I recall he got into a little trouble recently for being out with Bracewell past his bedtime. 

2014 alone...

• 8th of January returns to hotel drunk, witnessed by other guests, after a night drinking with Ben Hurley
• Late Jan he was intoxicated outside a bar with Jimmy Neesham and had to be helped into a taxi by Jeetan Patel
• Feb this year, Jesse seen drinking with Bracewell the night before a test

These tame incidents?

• The incident with Bracewell was the night before a Test Match that Jesse had been selected for (replacing Taylor who had the birth of his child to attend).
• In regards to what Ben Hurley says, as part of a wider squad, expectation of all players stay the same despite them being likely starters or not. Plenty of incidents of players breaking down in warm ups and needing to be replaced on the day.

I would suggest that there is a consistent factor in all of these situations and it is alcohol. To hear he was drinking at a team event in the build up to his late withdrawal naturally raises suspicions.

Apparently he has split with his girlfriend.

that is a very well put together 100 from young Latham

Yeah back to the cricket...
Great knock by Latham. A shame to see the more experienced guys get out after starts though. Still, a huge improvement and an important toss win by baz.

52/3.  Great session Young Guns.

did you expect more?

How many have gone out trying a T20 type shot in the last four or five tests? Just curious. Still good decision to bat first.

And what constitutes a T20 shot?

I think that you can now see McCullum's reason for opening. Attack, attack, attack before the spinners come on IMO!!

337 for 6 is quite good. They reckon the pitch will turn in the 2nd day. Latham did well. 

T20 shot? Some form of lash out or reverse sweep type shot.

This test could be a lot more interesting depending on how our bowlers fare.

In the last three tests aus and us have both not been able to bowl them out once I believe.
I don't see this going any different but would love to be proved wrong.

Good to get a couple of scalps early. They sound like good wicket taking deliveries as well as opposed to poor shots. Good signs.

Scoreboard pressure is such a massive thing, Pakistan haven't face it across their 3 tests yet this season so hopefully we can put them under some and see how they cope with it.

If we can nab two or three before lunch tonight, I can see them capitulating.

Having said that, we're more than capable of doing the same.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/63319883/Lath...

Two good innings and now he is Mark Richardson........

Once he gets a ton on a pacey, seaming wicket with Aussie or Protea thunderbolts, then we can talk about it. It's certainly exciting to see a player who can actually play spin very well (actually in practice, not in theory like with Williamson) and hopefully as he develops and matures he can share his technique with others if this continues.

Nailed it Leighbo

I just hope he's given more support than a slap on the back. There needs to be more of a push by player agents to get these players contracts to play first class cricket (not just T20 cash-outs) in the off season in England and even playing club cricket in Netherlands, Lancashire League etc if they can't get county cricket. It's tough with a year rounds cricket calendar but that kind of exposure to regular conditions different from NZ is massively important.

I'd also like to see some kind of NZ team in Sheffield Shield, maybe a North Island or South Island team (or both) or our NZ A team.

Hamish Rutherford played a season of county cricket, possibly played two now. Not sure it did him much good. Jeetan Patel is constantly in the best 5 performers in County Cricket (was THE best this year) yet that hasn't translated to his game at the International level. Guptill turned down a T20 season to play County Cricket in a bid to improve his red ball game but that didn't work. County Cricket isn't the wonderland it once was.

Equally Brendon McCullum's and Ross Taylors test fortunes have improved dramatically in the past two seasons. Yet they play plenty of T20 cricket. So I'm not 100% sure the correlation exists.

Kane Williamson - 7 test centuries. 5 of those in Ahmedabad, Bridegtown, Colombo, Chittagong and Kingston.But hey, let's not let facts get in the way of a good story....

time for some wickets!!

Interesting last couple of days ahead. Even if we go through the tail pretty quick tomorrow we will have to risk defeat to give ourselves a really good shot at winning. Way I see it, there are two scenarios going into Day 4 and 5.

1) Roll them in the morning and bat aggressively for two and a half sessions leaving Pakistan somewhere around 300 to chase on Day 5. In doing so risk getting rolled for 150 and giving them a very winnable 200 or so to chase.

2) Roll them in the morning, or not, and then bat conservatively for three or more sessions to put ourselves in a position where we can't lose. But also where it is very unlikely we can win.

Will tell us a lot about McCullums mindset.

The point is that he's sold as some kind of Michael Clarke figure, able to play spin with fleet of foot but he's no better than many others in the team (Taylor, McCullum). Ohja has dismissed him more than any other bowler in test cricket. Latham on the other hand has not looked hurried in his shots to the spinners, watching him against a spinner he seems comfortable and ready to dig in and also to have all the time in the world to make the right shot selection. None of the games you mention had the same spin factor as these two tests.

• In regards to County cricket, Patel has not had much of a chance with the Blackcaps since his resurgence in the English first class game. 
• Rutherford first signed for Essex in May of last year, he played a total of 21 matches across all formats. Hardly a massive amount of county experience.
• Taylor and McCullum improvement down to maturity and understanding their roles.

Not saying the County Cricket is a fix for all cricket careers but i think the nature of the games and amount of cricket can only be good for a young player. 

Ryder a late removal from the Otago T20 squad with a bad back.