Cricket Thread

[Darwin]

Rohit Sharma will be dangerous when he eventually gets his chance. If you look at the IPL there are some explosive and quality players there.

Agree on Sharma - he should be in the test team already. He hasn't really established himself as a star at ODI level (he is ok, just not great), but he does have a phenomenal first class record (and average of 63.54!). I wish NZ had players averaging over 60 in first-class cricket that weren't deemed quite good enough to break into the test team!

 

[Robert Prosser]

India's bowlers were crap v England last year and several batters seem to be past it (Laxman), Sachin still no 100 100's???

48 ODI and 51 Test so hes still stuck on 99 100s

 

[Darwin]

India's bowlers were crap v England last year and several batters seem to be past it (Laxman), Sachin still no 100 100's???

Tendulker is still stuck on 99 hundreds.

With the exception of Zaheer Khan, India's pace bowlers are pretty poor. The problem that India has is that they have three top test batsmen all due to retire almost at once - two of them (Tendulker and Dravid) who will go down as greats of the world game. They have enough talented batsmen to replace them, but these batsmen just lack experience at test level, so I expect India may struggle for a couple of years while these batsmen get themselves established (when I say struggle, I don't mean struggle ala NZ and West Indies, I just think they may just drop a few more spots in the test rankings to 4th/5th, or even 6th...).

 

[Robert Prosser]

Tendulker is still stuck on 99 hundreds.

With the exception of Zaheer Khan, India's pace bowlers are pretty poor. The problem that India has is that they have three top test batsmen all due to retire almost at once - two of them (Tendulker and Dravid) who will go down as greats of the world game. They have enough talented batsmen to replace them, but these batsmen just lack experience at test level, so I expect India may struggle for a couple of years while these batsmen get themselves established (when I say struggle, I don't mean struggle ala NZ and West Indies, I just think they may just drop a few more spots in the test rankings to 4th/5th, or even 6th...).

I dont think they will struggle too much tho as they have the young Kholi along with Sehwag and Dhoni some big hitters there all the need to do is sort their bowling out.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Has anyone seen Guptill's catch on the boudary this morning to dismiss Faf Du Plessis??

can't find it yet on youtube, but that was brilliant!!

 

[Darwin]

Has anyone seen Guptill's catch on the boudary this morning to dismiss Faf Du Plessis??

can't find it yet on youtube, but that was brilliant!!

It was a good catch - he made it look very easy. Not near as good as this catch though....
Amla has looked class for South Africa so far - though he should have been out in Nethula's last over, if Andrew Ellis had not dropped a sitter

 

[TRF_heineken]

It was a good catch - he made it look very easy. Not near as good as this catch though....
Amla has looked class for South Africa so far - though he should have been out in Nethula's last over, if Andrew Ellis had not dropped a sitter

Yeah well, you know the old saying, Catches Win Matches...

But I've been very disappointed with NZ in this past couple of matches, aside from Guptill and Mccullum and the odd innings from Ryder, there seems to be no depth at all in their batting line-up... And their bowlers are too slow!!

 

[Darwin]

Yeah well, you know the old saying, Catches Win Matches...

But I've been very disappointed with NZ in this past couple of matches, aside from Guptill and Mccullum and the odd innings from Ryder, there seems to be no depth at all in their batting line-up... And their bowlers are too slow!!

Now Ryder has dropped a simple catch off Nethula

I haven't been that disappointed with NZ's performances - the fact is we are just not that good at cricket! We have very little depth, therefore missing a single player (Ross Taylor) makes our batting lineup substantially weaker. I don't think there is actually that much of an issue with the speed of the NZ bowlers - we actually have more pace than we usually do! Tsotsobe bowls at 130km/h (at most) but is very effective in ODI cricket. Southee/McKay/Bracewell all bowl late 130s/early 140s (Mills more low/mid 130s) which is good enough for ODI cricket in my opinion (admittedly it is not as quick as Steyn / Morne Morkel). Test level is another story though. I'm far more worried about how we will do once the tests come round - as our weaknesses get more exposed as the form of cricket gets longer.....

At last - Nethula has to take the catch himself to get the wicket!

EDIT: Nethula is still causing Amla some problems... I wonder whether NZ will consider playing him in the tests...

 

[TRF_heineken]

Now Ryder has dropped a simple catch off Nethula

I haven't been that disappointed with NZ's performances - the fact is we are just not that good at cricket! We have very little depth, therefore missing a single player (Ross Taylor) makes our batting lineup substantially weaker. I don't think there is actually that much of an issue with the speed of the NZ bowlers - we actually have more pace than we usually do! Tsotsobe bowls at 130km/h (at most) but is very effective in ODI cricket. Southee/McKay/Bracewell all bowl late 130s/early 140s (Mills more low/mid 130s) which is good enough for ODI cricket in my opinion (admittedly it is not as quick as Steyn / Morne Morkel). Test level is another story though. I'm far more worried about how we will do once the tests come round - as our weaknesses get more exposed as the form of cricket gets longer.....

At last - Nethula has to take the catch himself to get the wicket!

EDIT: Nethula is still causing Amla some problems... I wonder whether NZ will consider playing him in the tests...

Well you did beat us in the play-offs in the World Cup last year, so you're not that bad... But this series has been a very heated one with many words flying around and people saying sorry for previous rants... I like it... has a bit of that Rugby hatred between SA and NZ. Luckily no-one has hit another guy with the bat across the spine...

 

[Darwin]

Well you did beat us in the play-offs in the World Cup last year, so you're not that bad... But this series has been a very heated one with many words flying around and people saying sorry for previous rants... I like it... has a bit of that Rugby hatred between SA and NZ. Luckily no-one has hit another guy with the bat across the spine...

NZ almost always make the semis in the Cricket World Cup (which we always lose). South Africa on the other hand never seem to perform to their best during the Cricket World Cup (we beat you in 2007 and 2003 too). New Zealand are also really missing Vettori this series (one of the top ODI bowlers in the world), and as I mentioned before because of our lack of depth losing one player (especially a world class player like Vettori) is pretty hard for us.

Can't wait for the tests to start (the 'real' cricket). There is a test in Dunedin next week which I get will probably spend a few days at (probably the first few days, as it probably wont last 5 days!).

 

[Seaton]

Aus vs Sri Lanka has been a belter so far.

Sri Lanka were 50 runs down on Duckworth-Lewis at one stage, need 23 off 18 to win now.

Gotta love the Aussie commentators when they are moaning or aren't biased to the point of comptent

 

[Robert Prosser]

Aus vs Sri Lanka has been a belter so far.

Sri Lanka were 50 runs down on Duckworth-Lewis at one stage, need 23 off 18 to win now.

Gotta love the Aussie commentators when they are moaning or aren't biased to the point of comptent

Cracking ODI first game of tri series final with Sri Lanka and Australia great batting effort from Sri Lanka needing 322 they were struggling with 6 for 144 at one point unlucky to lose all out 306 what a cracking come back by Sri Lanka

 

[Amobokoboko]

Saw the first innings of the first test NZ-SA. NZ bowled really well.
Already looking forward to tomorrow.

 

[TRF_heineken]

It's all even stevens in this test match... I don't expect Martin and Boult to last very long on day 3... hoepfully our batsmen can put up a good score for our bowlers to do some damage on day 4 or 5...

Tahir already getting a lot of spin out of the pitch

 

[TRF_heineken]

So I just read that England has revised their policy on foreigners becoming eligible to play for England Cricket...

If a guy is older than 18 he has to go through a residency for 7 years not 4 anymore. But younger than 18 remains on 4 years... So will this affect the policies of other sports codes in England?

 

[SelimNiai]

Looks like its either Taylor or Bairstow to bat at 6 starting Thursday. I'd pick Bairstow if it were up to me.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Looks like its either Taylor or Bairstow to bat at 6 starting Thursday. I'd pick Bairstow if it were up to me.

I'd pick Taylor purely because he's just scored a 100 against them but then again would he score heavily against them in short space of time. Bairstow deserves a shot also. Real tough one to call.

 

[Cave Dweller]

So I just read that England has revised their policy on foreigners becoming eligible to play for England Cricket...

If a guy is older than 18 he has to go through a residency for 7 years not 4 anymore. But younger than 18 remains on 4 years... So will this affect the policies of other sports codes in England?

That is a massive blow to England cricket...... maybe rugby too

 

[SelimNiai]

I'd pick Taylor purely because he's just scored a 100 against them but then again would he score heavily against them in short space of time. Bairstow deserves a shot also. Real tough one to call.

Bairstow and Onions join the usual suspects in the 13. Onions will only play if there is an injury to the bowlers as during May in England we won't need 4 seamers plus Swann. Not against the Windies anyway, no offence to them. So it's Bairstow at 6, good young player, good luck to the lad.

 

[psychic duck]

So I just read that England has revised their policy on foreigners becoming eligible to play for England Cricket...

If a guy is older than 18 he has to go through a residency for 7 years not 4 anymore. But younger than 18 remains on 4 years... So will this affect the policies of other sports codes in England?

under that ruling, would it have meant that Pietersen wouldn't have been able to play in the 2005 Ashes? or Trott in the 2009 Ashes?