Black Caps 08/09

Right... So the NRL is over so we can start focusing on the cricket. Some of you may have forgotten or not care but today is the first game between NZ and Bangladesh.

So what do ya reckon? Tight series?

It's a hit out for the boys before they head to Aussie for 2 tests but we do have to be wary of an ambush. Banga have beaten some highly fancied opponents at home. Yes they have lost a lot of players to the ICl but this actually works out to them only losing two players from the squad that came to NZ. Of the 11 deserters, only the promising batsman Aftab Ahmed will be missed.

Will be cool to watch the game today just to get back into the cricket swing of things anyway. Starts 4pm.

Oh and I forgot. This is the first time we will see the new powerplay overs rules come into effect.

The PP rules are just fucked now

If we sweep the bangles we go to number 2 in the ICC rankings

A lot of NZ vs Australia and SA vs Australia cricket coming up

Going to be awesome

NZ 201/9!

Mind you, batting is their weakness, so we should be able to defend that

well I guess not... 173/2 bangas... crap start to the season

lulz.

At least we beat them in the important matches, eg the world cup

Fucking pathetic. Sack them all.

Did that make you feel better?

I dont mind apaer from we have lost our record as one of only 2 teams to have not lost to them (i think the other one is England)

Boys had no warm ups, havent played forever....and its just like NZ cricket to lose this series then give Aus a run for their money


/me posts with no substance just blind hope

The boys looked unfit and out of match practise and we definitely got the worst of the conditions yesterday. In the morning that ball was zipping about all pver the place! Then the spinners came on and the ball was ripping half a pitch length! Then the sun came out and the outfield quickened, the pitch settled down and our boys roasted in the humidity and heat. I couldn't believe the amount of variation over that day. The Bangas couldn't have picked it any better.

But damn... Talk about inviting it with that lol comment in my first post.

If the boys bounce back then we'll be sweet, if we lose the series however... Well...

Would someone get rid of Braces already??

heh, that should be half a pitch width. Seriously, it was like Warney turn out there from some part time left arm orthodox fulla!

Either way we have blown becoming the Numbr 2 team in the world

Nah, we'll sweep the aussies and take #1

not too worried about this loss so long as we win the rest of the games... last thing we want to do is give bangladesh their first real test win.

surely we wont lose this? Jake and Millsey to the rescue! Was the pitch zipping about again?

90/5 bangas, needing over 7 an over...

surely conditions must be a big factor in these games

Ol' Millsy :>

Predictions? I wouldn't be entirely surprised if we lost it... especially if we have to bat first... conditions are pretty dodgy

But I think we'll most likely hold our nerve and play a lot better in this game... some top order runs would be nice

Rusty > Getting better > Thrasing on the cards today!

wtf? We'll pound the little Bangly bastards


Had a LOL that we could have been out for 160 odd in the 2nd game except Bangles didnt appeal for a run out with Jeetan well short of his crease, anyone see it what on earth....

WHAT THE FUCK???

NZ are great at chasing, what's the point of running the risk of losing a series to Bangladesh by going and batting first again on purpose?

well without being there Im not gonna get all mad about it yet, although as I understand it this track is a lot flatter....perhaps its just a case of trying to get the best of the batting conditions + playing two spinners

Not lookign too flash at 13-2 but How appaears to be finallty hitting some non dawdly form ...92-2 from 22

You're bang on* Mastey. The track will only deteriorate and get lower & slower as the day goes on. Plus we ended up thrashing them (well, our bowling attack) when we batted 1st in the last 1-dayer... AND this pitch is supposed to be flatter than that one!

How could you do anything but bat 1st














*no pun intended

Oh and biggups to How and Taylor FINALLY getting their shit together. How especially copped a ribbing from the media being labelled the weakest link and bringing the rest of the team down with him due to his slow scoring rate and lack of runs.

I see he's 82 from 68...

Edit:

Yeah, How gets a lot of flak from the media for some reason... he's one of our more promising batmsen in recent years... he has some bad runs of form, but that'll come right eventually

Predetermining your decision of whether to bat first or not without seeing the pitch is tantamount to suicide.

This pitch is a more typical sub continent pitch, full of cracks. It'll fall apart by the end of the day.

Millsy, millsy millsy

Commentators keep on going on about how it's such a good batting pitch this game. Seems to be playing much better than the previous games. Batsmen have pretty much just thrown away wickets etc.

All in all, very boring crap. Nothing exciting to watch in the batting and Bangladesh refuse to even make an attempt at getting the runs after losing a few wickets.

If it was such a good batting pitch then they wouldn't have gone on about 250 being a good score.

You're right though. There was a lot of thrown wickets in this game.

Very disappointing to have them 94/7 and allow them to get to 170/8

Very, very worrying signs for the tests.

Dude, I thought you were smart

Yeah, Mills was terrible... he's supposed to be a strike bowler but he can't even clean up the tail... we need Bond back.

I don't get it? It might be slightly dramatic but it sure as hell is something to think about. Not being able to get the tail out in a ODI =

Bah I dont think its that relevant at all, tail enders just stone walling the medium pace guys in an ODI on a slow dead slab of rolled mud? Pace thorugh the air is needed to blast them out and its pretty well known NZ posesses a single pace bowler and his career has been cut short by the Indians

You guys are talking like its harder to get them out with a red ball than a white one and thats just bollix. The white ball is mush later on

There's still a chance Bond could come back for a bit:

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/story/373950.html

I think especially if the 2nd IPL season is successful, their posistion on the ICL will soften a lot.

Thanks for sparing me from posting pretty much this exact response Maesty. I owe you a beer.

You obviously understand as little about cricket as he does.

You are talking out of your fucken assssss about the white/red ball thing Maestro

He's right though. The red ball holds its shape and seam for much longer than the white. Hence why they change the white ball so much, it isn't just because of the colour!

The red ball swings for much longer.


In sayin all that. I do hear Vadz's concerns. They just have knocked over the tail enders. Its shows a lack of penetration when required. Hence why NZ have the gameplan of strangling batting line ups in limited overs cricket instead of knocking them over like Aussie, SA or Pakistan.

maybe i should speak more your language

mooo duuuh oooo white ball under 25 overs oooo daaah

urrrr aoooow red ball 80 plus overs ummmm dooooor

Understand?

Penetration is not required when the opposition needs 20 runs per over. Fuck, if they want to block the ball for 10overs in a one dayer, let them.

The objective is to win the game, not injure all your bowlers.

About at the same level as your cricket knowlage it would seem.

lol *Reaction*.

The point is real simple ..Front foot plodders with zero urgency plus old white ball plus we ALREADY KNOW NZ's bowling attack is pop gun in unhelpful conditions, so I was just questioning what the fuss was all about. Its ridiculous how we constantly look for issues with our team

How many teams can really boast a guy who can blast his way through such a situation anyway? Lee/Steyn/maybe Malinga? And Shane Bond

Barring hideously hot conditions on a complete road I sincerely doubt that Bangles will make more than 300 runs in any of their 4 test innings

I'll troll with something better next time, didn't really have much to work on.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4728559a1823.html

How cool would it be to have Bond back vs. the Aussies... their top order is a bit frail these days, would love to put some pressure on them... (not that we'd be able to score any runs in response).

OK, so pretty unlikley it'll happen that quickly, but it's nice to dream

Hayden, Watson, Clarke and Potning. That top order doesn't look to frail, specially now that Ponting is looking to be back in the runs.

heard an interview with Bond this morning. I dont see much hope, it was along the lines of "im pretty happy at the mo, playing four months of cricket every now and then, making good money, hanging with my family" etc. Pretty consistent with how i have always viewed him, a soft cock self centred pussy who cares nothing for his country. I now hate him (unless he somehow gets convinced to return, then i will hate him, but still cheer him on for the good of the Black Caps)

Two dropped catches already by NZ in only 4 overs.

pretty poor effort

still, not too much damage done in terms of runs, so a good chance to redeem ourselves tomorrow

Utterly pathetic performance. Sack them all

LMFAO!

I think that days play was nicely topped off by Patel's completely unnecessary shot in the last over of the day and throwing his wicket away.

Other than Vetorri, I pretty much agree. Oram and McCullum especially.. throwing away their wickets at a crucial time.

Still, we shouldn't forget this:

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/match/238171.html

Well we have managed to get ourselves in a right pickle here, this is a result pitch which is deterioating fast so we are going to have to fire bangles out for around 120 to regain control

Although surely even on a minefield the boys should be capable of getting ther shit together enough to run down 250 ish?


At least Australia is under the cosh as well, and Hayden is struggling! WOOT. I hope the cunt gets dropped or retires before our series so I never have to see that asshat again.

whose this new fast bowler they have? P Siddle? ....he shall clearly have to be known as Piddle

I dont know why your constantly ing and LMFAOing....NZ is your 2nd team remember, I have even heard you refer to them as "we" IRL fella



and this game aint over yet!

What's the emoticon for "Fuck I feel sorry for the Black Caps supporters ITT".

This will have to do for now -->

:>

I'm somewhat conditioned to the constant disappointment by being a long time fan... No one will ever forget the "Young Guns" period... When we so desperately WANT to...


But this is pretty dire...


ps. Patel should be a permanent member of the team.

Painful.

When you support teams like RSA, Blackcaps and the Warriors its sometimes just easier to sit back and have a laugh at the situations they get themselves into. Being all upset and worried about it doesn't do my health any good.

I think the bangas have played pretty well, not that we haven't played badly, but give em credit where it's due, they have a couple of really good players in there team.

And that pitch suits them big time.

*Reaction* I dont buy that explaination sorry...as long as Ive known you youve gotten hopelessly upset over sporting results, several times announcing that you "hate sport" or deciding you wont venture out on a particular weekend because the Bulls/Proteas/Boks have had a shocker


I think you are just amping for an early season cricket squabble

You want a squabble I'll give you a squabble




ermmmmm. Watson? Mate when you posted that he didnt even have a test 50 to his name

Plus Hayden sux now (i hope)

I actually don't know why I had Watson in there He is not even a fucken top order batsman. Prob meant to say Hussey/Katich. not the best Aus have had but to think they are frail is a complete fucken joke.

In saying that they are being hammered right now and I fucken LOVE it

And onto Hayden, failing to score in two tests does not mean he sux. He scored 2 pretty awesome 100's vs India at the start of the year which was also his last tests.

as much as the players should be taking a long hard look at themselves, Vettori aside, i believe that Bracewell has completely failed to do his job here. The team we're massively under prepared, they looked tired and disinterested at the first ODI, the heads went down really early on the first day of the test, and tbh the Banglis gave us a lesson in domination by boring the fuck out of the other side. We put very little pressure on some average batsmen, and it seemed there was very little talk going on out in the middle. We had such a massive break after England, i dont see why we did'nt spend some time in Darwin to acclimatise, and get a bit of competition from the local state side state 2nds. Our batting looks technically deficient, and our mentality looks decidedly frail. It is the coaches job to inspire passion, and get the guys in to the groove, and wanting to perform well. Say as much as you want about NZ cricket depth, the players out on the park now are better than the performance's we are currently seeing. He needs to go before he ruins us any more, fuck letting him see out his contract.

I put it down to those putrid navy blue ODI unis initially...

Now I got nuthin.

They are pretty frail right now by Australian standards... you won't get a much weaker line-up playing for Aus. Watson's clearly not ready for #6, Katich is very average (by Aus standards), and Ponting, Hayden and Hussey seem to have lost their way a bit in recent times.

Of course they will probably get their shit together and suddenly start looking awesome, but right now, you'd much rather bowl at this top 6 than pretty much any other from the last 10+ years playing for Aus.

(I'm not even going to mention the *other* match).

Go India

Sharma was on fire last night!!















Oh, and f*ck I hate Danny Morrison

I'm not one to boast, but I made that last comment *before* their current collapse

How much do they miss Gilchrest?

I dont miss Gilchrist, watching him stick his leg nowhere near the ball and wog it over midwicket was boring the hell out of me.

Well HAHA to you filthy saffas that were circling this thread hoping to get their LOL on if NZ lost this test, captain Dan and a few others have shown some true grit to grind out not just a draw.... but a fine victory.

:BLower: we beat bangeldesh!! :BLOWER:






Also...tend to agree with dalai's analysis of Australias batting stocks and would like to add their bowling attack aint looking so flash either. No McGrath, Gillespe, McGill or Warne> not only that but (from what Ive seen anyway) Haddin looks a bit dicey behind the stumps

I see no reason why NZ cant draw their series with them and SA win. And it will make me very happy to see Ponting squirm and turn into that whiney cheating little bitch that he truly is when things dont go his way

Easy mate its not like you just won a test against India in India. It was good, but fuck did they have to work for it. More test like this to make the boys a little hard will be good but you need to look at what happend on the first 4 days. NZ is no where near the team that is needed to beat Aus doesn't matter how frail everyone might think they are. One test does not make a bad cricket team ... unless you are NZ, they always have bad tests.

Yeah, I think predicting a Test victory over Aus is a bit much... our team is pretty weak at the moment... but I think this was a good game for us, we need some tough matches like that were we win

I do think Aus is much weaker than they have been in a long time though. It's not just this Test that's shown it.

I agree this is the worst team they have fielded for a good part of 10yrs. But you are not just going to brush them aside ...

What we get to look forward to now is to see how they will handle the next test. Old Aus would have come back hard and given India all hell, but like we have all said, its a weaker team ... I hope they get smashed.

Back to the thread topic. How crap was that decision in giving McCullum out last night? That umpire can fuck right off. Already been dumped once for incompetance. Surely he has to be dropped again before he makes decisions that wreck the outcome of a match.

Very boring run chase though. Acceptable that they won. Losing would have been a national embarrassment.

F*cking PHEW.

Dan Vettori is going to be one of our best ever captains imo, the man just consistently leads by example and has such a great cricketing brain. He deserves the tag of a genuine all-rounder too I reckon.

And always enjoyable seeing Aussie get man-shamed.......is India now the best team in the world in all forms of the game?

I never said we would beat Australia, thats South Africas job.....I said we can draw



Also...isnt it time Danny moved permanently up the order with his record over the past few years? I know that wicket was tailor made for his style, but his reputation as our best test batsman is not contrived, its fact

So he can bowl a bit ...so what, who says just cos you can bowl your in the mid-lower order at best? Kallis is a better bowler than Danny, statistically anyway, and you dont see the saffas shunt him down to number 8

Well, by draw, I assume you mean draw the series, which would mean winning 1 test (unlikley both will be draws unless it's a washout). I think that's pretty unlikely. In fact, I don't know if we'd beat anyone away from home at the moment, other than the Bangas... I think we'll be a decent team in 3-4 years, if Ryder, Taylor and Flynn come right, and we figure out an opener, and where to bat McCullum. Missing a strike bowler, but that could be Southee.

I'd love to see Vetorri up the order, I think he's a genuine #3 or 4. Since '05, he averages 43.5 with the bat (which would make him one of NZs best batsmen ever) and 27 with the ball. But I think if you throw the captaincy in, it's just too much to ask of him. I definitely wouldn't do it again Aus anyway.

I was just going on about this yesterday to someone here at work.

A tad too early to get that out there, Stephen Flemming has alot to do with how Dan is today.

That's the nature of making a prediction bro, lol.

Yep fair enough..

To be an allrounder

batting avg 30+
bowling avg 30-

Thats ridiculous vadz

To be an allrounder =

# Significant value to the team as a bowler (ie front line)

# Good value to the team as a batsman (or vice versa)

# Wicketkeepers are NOT all rounders


30+
30-

How many all rounders has world cricket actually produced by your statistical parameters

Not many

Imran
Botham
Kapil Dev (just)

Well doesnt that prove my point, or perhaps we need to redefine the definition of "bowlers" to have average of less tha 18.... and "batsmen" need to average more than 60 to be allowed to actually call themselves "batsmen"





u freegin weirdo Z

Well, I think the other flaw in that argument is a lot of players improve over time, so their career average isn't necessarily a good indication. Hadlee wasn't a great batsmen early in his career, but he's called an allrounder by most people.

um... you forgot

Pollock Bat 32 Bowl 23

also, is Pollock a better all round than say kallis

because Kallis doesn't qualify by your rules because he's bat 55 bowl 31.

but then again, I guess vettori doesn't even qualify as a bowler by your definition either because he's bowl 33

I've been saying this for years :>

Greatest allrounder of all time:

http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/19376.html

Just misses out test-wise, but would easily be in the top 5 all time

http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/22518.html

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the god awful new uniform for our ODI team??? It's terrible!!

Urgh What can you say though ... its horrible! Don't care to much about the ODI uniform but the test one is just fucken urgh

From a few days back Dalai

They aren't even black! We're the fucking Black Caps FFS!

Apologies. Yeah that was my first thought too. Kinda seems a bit dumb to undermine all the money and effort that went into marketing the Black Caps moniker.