Its Summer! - the Fever Cricket Thread.

Just noticed Andy Ellis is back in the side.  WHHYYYYYY!??  He is so mediocre.  Surely we can do better.

Total shambles.

Hesson again refuses to endorse Ross Taylor as captain on an interview with Ian Smith this morning.  "Ross Taylor is the captain for the current tour to Sri Lanka" and something along the lines of 'we are working through issues etc...'.  

He really isn't helping Taylor's credibility as captain in the public by this waffling.  As long as he is not giving a straight answer like "Ross Taylor is the captain of the New Zealand Cricket team and has my full support and backing, aswell as that of Brendan McCullum and all the senior players", the captaincy will continue to be a media issue.

Edit:  Or if he wants McCullum to be captain that badly, he needs to go to the board and insist on it or resign, having a hint of a split between captain and coach isn't a tenable situation.

Why oh why did we let John Wright go to keep the Aussie who installed an Australian Lawn Bowler as head selector!?

Literally wrote three paragraphs in reply Mike when my clumsy flatmate tripped on my power cord which killed my comp. On top of being pretty pissed off I cbf going through all that effort again just now. Maybe have another crack later. 

Sad to hear Martin Crowe has been diagnosed with Lymphnoma.  Hope all goes well for the treatment Marty

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/7881841/Ryder-makes-comeback-century 

Straight back into the BlackCaps for the SA tour please.

Jesse has scored three centuries in three games.

How many chances does Ryder have to receive before people realise he's not worth the worry. And yes, the knock yesterday was impressive, but the other two weren't exactly legitimate, it would be like claiming club cricket centuries :-)

Get Jesse back in.

Ryder's last test match innings: 22, 22, 0, 0, 17, 6, 36, 0, 16. Not sure how he is an automatic selection given how many off the field issues he gets into

He's still the best batsmen we have based on ability. We need to give him a chance to sort his problems out and get himself right. Something 300 days off the booze says he's giving it a decent crack. Quite sick of people saying he's not worth another shot when you know damn well we need him.

Worth a crack. But only if he's got his head right. Maybe give him some more time in the domestic game before calling him up,maybe a winter tour,that's a bit more out of the spotlight? 

Nah... don't need him at all...

Sri Lanka v New Zealand
30 October 2012 (20-over match)

RJ Nicol    lbw b Eranga  1  27  12  0  0  8.33

TWM Latham  b Kulasekara  4  6  5  1  0  80.00

BB McCullum†  c Perera b Kulasekara  1  11  10  0  0  10.00 

LRPL Taylor*  c †Sangakkara b Perera  4  24  10  0  0  10.00

JEC Franklin  c †Sangakkara b Perera  2  7  7  0  0  28.57

BJ Watling  c Chandimal b Dananjaya  8  11  11  1  0  72.72

What about now?

So, how bout that tour of Sri Lanka during monsoon season.  Great idea!

At least gives us the chance to tie all the series.

3 points from tonights match:

1) Yay monsoon season, great time to tour.

2) Andrew Ellis is not an international level cricketer.

3) What is the point of playing Kane Williamson in limited overs cricket if

a) he can't bat at 3 if we lose an early wicket because he needs to be protected AND

b) he can't come in to bat after over 30 if we have wickets in hand and he is pushed down to around no.8 because he can't come in and score runs quickly.

It will count as a loss, but the game was fairly even, one more wicket and the pressure would have mounted.  Anything could have happened had the rain not arrived.

This tour is farcical really. Hard for either team to perform well given the circumstances. Keeping more of an eye on our domestic games. 

Aitkenmike - your points re Williamson are exactly what I came from yesterday thinking. Couldn't quite figure out how to articulate them though. You only need one of Waitling and Williamson in there for me (if Waitling isn't keeping, then you can get away with two. But why would you?)

And Ryder...

Explain? He wont come back and play for NZ or NZ dont want him back?

Well screw sky.  Had the game set up to record, but (I guess because of the rain delays and the like) the 2nd innings never recorded.  Great innings by Wattling, was very well done, and unlucky not to get a deserved century.

Again, D/L did not treat us well.  Only getting 8 extra runs seems a bit off despite having lost the overs late into the innings.

BJ is probably the best 50 over opener (maybe even batsman) that we have, his averages are phenomenal. Just had to wait for Nicol to stop running him out and for the selectors to actually start playing specialists. Perfect rotating-strike opener

I don't mind being called out for bias, but the stats back me up here. Easily averages 40 as an opener in domestic, and his last 5 innings are: 60, 72*, 40, 55 and now 96*. Definitely a no-brainer selection, keeper or not.

According to Richie Beanaud (after Smith pulls away because Hilfenhaus was charging in before Smith had looked up) the laws state that the batsman MUST be ready as soon as the bowler is ready to bowl.  Over 3 of the 1st morning of the 1st test of the summer and it starts already!

This Aussie team looks downright rubbish, I love it. How Rob Quiney turned himself into a test match batsman I'll never know, and the pacemen are all inconsisent.

Really hope South Africa give them a good thrashing.