Tim McIntosh will make his New Zealand debut at 29 © Getty Images

In the New Zealand Herald Mark Richardson believes McIntosh will have an advantage making his debut at 29.

The advantage of making one's debut a little later in life, and I speak from experience here, is you are most likely to be pretty set in your ways. You know your game by that stage and have a sound set of basics you know work for you. You would have experienced form fluctuations and should be able to minimise the troughs by referring to the past. You know you are about to take your game to the next level but understand that it is the only game you have and just have to rely on it.

In the same paper, Paul Lewis reviews John Bracewell's tenure as New Zealand coach and writes that his biggest failure was not to instill in his team the same fighting qualities he possessed as a player.

Craig McMillan is surprised at Southee's absence and wonders what sort of a message it will send to the young player. He also disagrees with the selection of McIntosh in his Sunday News column.

I would still have gone with Matthew Bell for his experience over Tim McIntosh coming in for Aaron Redmond. Aaron was probably our best test performer in Adelaide, so many might consider him unlucky. But after seven tests I'm not convinced he's got the technique to be a long-term test opener.

The Waikato Times' Ian Anderson has devised a 12-step recovery programme for New Zealand which includes asking coach Andy Moles to solve the team's inability to get big scores, find a bowler to spearhead the attack and find players who have shown they are willing to fight hard enough to win Tests.

In the Sunday Star Times Richard Boock writes that though Bracewell didn't have the results to show, no one could doubt his commitment.

But his colleague John Dybvig disagrees. In the same paper, Dybvig criticises Bracewell's methods and writes that filling out forms, evaluating your peers and touchy-feely discussions about how your inner self is doing will not erase the one simple fact about sport: hard work and fundamentals never die.

What the Black Caps need is Mark Richardson. The other night on The Crowd Goes Wild Richardson poured withering scorn on the batting efforts of the Black Caps in their second test against Australia ... he actually used the medium (pictures) to explain several points on batting technique he showed what they did correctly and then showed footage of incredibly crap technique (his words) and plainly shouted with passion that it wasn't good enough because it was "batting 101" and that the Black Caps were in reality just slack.

December 5, 2008

Bracewell admits he failed to realise goals

Posted on 12/05/2008 in New Zealand cricket

He says he gave it an "honest shot" but John Bracewell admits his stats as New Zealand coach are far from impressive in an interview to Jonathan Millmow in the Dominion Post.

"I feel as though I've given it a honest shot but in terms of pure statistics or results New Zealand Cricket wanted us to be No1 in world cricket in both forms of the game and we didn't reach that, so if you look at it like that I've been a failure."

December 4, 2008

Calling the Black Caps to account

Posted on 12/04/2008 in New Zealand cricket

That New Zealand have lost an enormous amount of experience over a short period of time is obvious after their latest Test series against Australia. Former players have breathed a sigh of relief that John Bracewell’s controversial tenure as coach is over, as the general consensus is that the failures of Bracewell and his support staff, in terms of developing the Test team, helped New Zealand to their current ranking.

Hamish McDoual, in his blog, Googlies and Grass Stains, looks back at Bracewell's last Test as coach and says it is time for an audit. Using an appropriate “accountant” scale, McDoual starts to assess.

December 2, 2008

The good, the bad and the ugly

Posted on 12/02/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Paul Holden in his blog Sideline Slogger sums up the second Test between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide and is very relieved it wasn't a three-match series.

New Zealand embarrassed by child’s play

Posted on 12/02/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Jonathan Millmow, writing on stuff.co.nz, watches a child on the Adelaide Oval provide the best batting of the fourth morning of the second Test, which New Zealand lost by an innings.

The wee bloke played every shot in the book over the space of five minutes but he kept the ball on the carpet, ran like the wind and had his socks pulled up. He looked every bit a cricketer, something no one in the New Zealand top order did yesterday. Even accounting for their inexperience and the quality of opposition, New Zealand's specialist batsmen were an embarrassment to their country.

November 29, 2008

Give Moles a chance to earn stripes

Posted on 11/29/2008 in New Zealand cricket

It's unfair to judge Andy Moles negatively simply because many fans and media were plumping for other, more high-profile possibilities. Judge him after he's had enough time in the job to have an effect, writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.

The reality is New Zealand Cricket cannot afford high profile, proven international coaching personnel. As we are a less-than-stellar cricket nation we are unlikely to attract them even before the pay packet is disclosed. However, that does not necessarily mean we cannot expect Moles to be an excellent coach. Former great players do not necessarily make great coaches. Coaches with a history of international success with one team may not immediately translate to success with another.

New Zealand Cricket could never be accused of missing the point. Only a matter of days after assembling a search and rescue team including Andy Moles, John Wright and Glenn Turner, the batsmen have once again been forced to activate their emergency locator beacons, this time from central Adelaide, writes Richard Boock in the Sunday Star Times.

John Bracewell failed. There's no point sugar-coating the pill: he was brought in to do a job and, at best, he only did half of it - the easy half, writes Dylan Cleaver in the Herald on Sunday.

But as he crams his kit into his New Zealand Cricket luggage for the final time this week, the more pertinent question is not whether he failed, but why, and how much of that failure is attributable to himself and the environment he either created, or had to work within? The New Zealand team he presided over for his last series looked more like an Emerging Players XI than a Test side. There are players learning how to bat while playing Test cricket. That this has been allowed to happen is in small part attributable to bad luck and in large part to bad management.

I'll leave the niceties to others, but for me John Bracewell is the man who has presided over New Zealand's swan dive towards the empty swimming pool which is the bottom of cricket's Test world rankings, writes Michael Donaldson in the Sunday Star Times.

In the same paper, Donaldson also says, "Certainly the current crop of batsmen are all relatively young in terms of test cricket; the problem is that it seems like it has been this way for the past five years with a succession of unsuccessful opening partnerships".

November 28, 2008

Softness of mind undoes Kiwis

Posted on 11/28/2008 in New Zealand cricket

After winning the toss on another dull-witted Adelaide track, New Zealand sorely needed a batsman resolute enough to settle in for the day. Here was a priceless chance to construct a sizeable total. Application and skill were required, that is all. Unfortunately they were in short supply, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Bracewell was an ODI success but a Test failure

Posted on 11/28/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Two John Bracewells leave New Zealand cricket next week. One, the ODI coach, should be regarded as a success. Under him, New Zealand maintained a strong reputation as capable of mixing it with the very best teams. The other Bracewell, the Test coach, must be rated a failure, writes Adam Parore in the New Zealand Herald.

Having played with Bracewell in the latter stages of his New Zealand career, I've found his transition to coach intriguing. Bracewell the player was all fire and brimstone, a hard nut, down to earth, who didn't pull any punches and didn't care what anyone else thought of him. Bracewell the coach was full of theories and while he still retained that spiky edge at times, he was positively mellow compared with the player of 20 years ago. I'd rather have seen more of the old Braces because I feel players relate better to a coach they feel is in sync with their thinking, who speaks their language, who thinks like they do.

No review of Bracewell's coaching era, which spanned five years from late 2003 to 2008, can fail to acknowledge his intensity to extract the best from the team and the seemingly endless amount of energy and enthusiasm he poured into that task. It was just that at times the way he went about it was like a misdirected missile exploding in numerous directions, writes Geoff Longley in the Press.

Bye bye Bracewell

Posted on 11/28/2008 in New Zealand cricket

John Bracewell's reign of just under five years draws to a close after the second Test against Australia, with enough bizarre goings-on and anecdotes to fill a book. And that was just off the field. Mark Geenty in Stuff.co.nz takes a look at his tenure.

It was in coloured clothing where his players thrived as Bracewell relished the chance to manipulate tactics within a structured 50-over framework.

Fielding was his strength, and it only took one viewing of his legendary match eve fielding practices to appreciate that.

But while he was a master of spin in his playing days, his coaching public relations was decidedly average. And he didn't seem to lose sleep over it.

November 27, 2008

Exclusively Moles

Posted on 11/27/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Paul Holden in his blog Sideline Slogger reveals 10 things you never knew about New Zealand's recently-appointed coach, Andy Moles - including his English diet and legendary hospitality.

November 24, 2008

Iain O’Brien, the Mule

Posted on 11/24/2008 in New Zealand cricket

New Zealand's Iain O'Brien is not a devastating wrecker with the ball, but he is an increasingly important player in the New Zealand Test team and one of its more interesting characters. “OB”, as he is known in Derbyshire cricket circles, is one of the more popular players on the local circuit and regularly makes contributions to the county's website. Paul Holden, in his blog Sideline Slogger, profiles him in stuff.co.nz.

As an interviewee, his answers are quirky. He was recently asked on Radio Sport where he thought the heads of the top six New Zealand batsmen were at: “The top six? They’re at lunch most probably. No, really, they are actually having lunch.”

Also read O'Brien's take on the Gabba crowd.

The crowds here are pretty good, ruined by a few, actually quite a few, idiots who think a day out at the cricket is just to abuse the guys playing any way how. You get called anything and everything. Embarrassing for these guys really, as a lot of the others around them are cringing. I don’t know how many times I’ve was called a ‘faggot’ this afternoon.

November 23, 2008

New Zealand could learn from late bloomers

Posted on 11/23/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Simon Katich's successful comeback after two and a half years out of Test cricket should be noted by New Zealand's brains trust, writes Richard Boock in the Sunday Star Times.

The 33-year-old's success as a late bloomer follows that of Matthew Hayden, dropped in 1997, recalled in 2000, Damien Martyn, dropped in 1994, returned in 2000. And Justin Langer axed in 1993, recalled in 1998. Some of their brightest batting stars of the past five years were deemed to have failed at their first attempt.

Whatever happens at the Gabba today, New Zealand coach John Bracewell and his tour selectors Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum could do worse than think about that as they ponder their line-up for the second test in Adelaide. Peter Fulton, on the outer since the end of last summer's home series against England, must be brought back. To persist with the status quo would be madness.

Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday considers the inclusion of Tim Southee ahead of Kyle Mills as a positive move.

November 22, 2008

Ryder a flag-bearer for the big guys

Posted on 11/22/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Jesse Ryder has already won a prominent fan this season. Kerry O'Keeffe writes in the Sunday Telegraph that the game needs "big guys" and he reflects on some of the other characters who made it despite being of a less-than-athletic frame, including Greg Ritchie and Arjuna Ranatunga.

I don't care if Jesse Ryder is seen as being five pick handles across the backside. Jesse is a flag bearer. He gives hope to pears. He has proven that should clipboard-wielding nerds be forced to measure your skin folds with barbeque tongs then that's okay! Runs and wickets should be the only measuring stick, not callipers.

O'Keeffe also defends Ryder for his off-field behaviour - after all, it could happen to anyone.

After Jesse put his hand through a glass window at 4am in February, he had to endure a spell on the sidelines. Anyone can put their hand through a glass window at that time. It's normally pretty dark.

Sporting pitch keeps game going

Posted on 11/22/2008 in New Zealand cricket

What a shame New Zealand's batsmen could not carry on where their bowlers left off yesterday. Even so, by stumps last night the first test was wide open. But anyone assuming the pitch at the Gabba has been bad news for the test, think again, writes Adam Parore in the New Zealand Herald.

There's nothing wrong with the pitch. Indeed, you can mount a strong argument that these sort of pitches should be encouraged. They keep the game moving. When the sun comes out, the Gabba is invariably a treat to bat on, but on the first day, or if there's a bit of rain about, and the green tinges come through, the seam bowlers lick their lips. It has had consistent bounce and while it has certainly been challenging to bat on, it has not been dangerous or physically threatening.

For those with eyes on the future of New Zealand cricket, the first full round of the national championship this week offered an interesting glimpse of what might lie ahead, writes David Leggat also in the New Zealand Herald.

At the Under-19 World Cup, [Tim] Southee was the player of the tournament, taking 17 wickets at a remarkable 6.64 runs apiece. Not far behind him was Northern Districts left-armer Trent Boult, with 11 wickets at 10.9. Boult was one of five other members of that squad playing in the State Championship's first full round this week, and he made an immediate impact on his State Championship debut, grabbing five for 58 against Otago.

November 21, 2008

A true test of ticker

Posted on 11/21/2008 in New Zealand cricket

The Australian series should help resolve important points about this New Zealand team. There's no doubt hard questions will be asked of Dan Vettori's men. How New Zealand respond could provide an insight into what lies ahead later in the summer," writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald.

Does the middle order have a future?

On the face of it, the quartet of Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum and Daniel Flynn at Nos 3, 4, 5 and 6 has two things going for it - age and entertainment value ...

The case of Tim Southee.

Southee has plenty of developing to do. Considering the pile of cricket, in all three forms, that potentially lies ahead of the young man, it's important that New Zealand Cricket manage him smartly.

Praise for the knight's apprentice

Posted on 11/21/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Tim Southee has won high praise from Richard Hadlee and in the Australian, Mike Coward is equally impressed with Southee following his efforts in Brisbane.

It is much too easy for red-blooded young pacemen to get carried away when they sight a grassy Gabba deck after days of heavy rain. But not Southee. He showed admirable poise and bowled with commonsense on a consistent line and an immaculate length. He moved the ball enough to disconcert and did not try to take a wicket with every delivery. And when he let loose his well-concealed quicker delivery the extra bounce brought Australia's top-order batsmen undone.

Not since Daniel Vettori has a teenager carried such weighty responsibility in New Zealand cricket. But while there are great hopes for Southee, unlike Vettori he has never been considered a prodigy. This will be to his advantage as he makes his way in the cricket world.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that everything went right for Daniel Vettori on the first day at the Gabba.

Vettori's masterstroke came on the stroke of tea. Hitherto Jesse Ryder has made his name mostly as a hard-hitting batsmen built along the lines favoured by John Daly, whose social habits lacked the discretion shown by the eventful golfer. Now he emerged as a burly medium-pacer capable of delivering the sort of temptations that started the rot in the Garden of Eden.

November 16, 2008

Contempt for an unlovable Australia

Posted on 11/16/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Dylan Cleaver writes in the Herald on Sunday that Ricky Ponting should get used to the term schadenfreude.

The cricket world is taking perverse pleasure in the apparent crumbling of a cricket empire - everybody loves seeing the playground bully's glass jaw exposed. The reason is simply this: where once there was grudging, yet tremendous admiration for the Australian juggernaut, now there is contempt.

Where Australia was bold and innovative under Mark Taylor and, to a lesser extent, Steve Waugh, they're now crass and stubborn. Take the level head of Michael Hussey out of this team and they're close to unlovable.

In the same paper, Mark Richardson argues that Daniel Vettori must be brave and send Australia in if he wins the toss at the Gabba.

Southee, Kyle Mills, and Chris Martin are swing bowlers and Ian O'Brien will get seam movement in the right conditions. Unless rain is forecast those conditions will only exist on day one. Then pray. It's a gamble bowling first in Australia. Nasser Hussain asked Australia to bat first on the greenish looking Gabba only for the locals to pound out 600 plus.

The Bond script cricket needs

Posted on 11/16/2008 in New Zealand cricket

The ongoing absence of Shane Bond from the New Zealand team due to his ICL career is still a bugbear for some New Zealanders, as John Dybvig writes in the Sunday Star Times.

Bond is a stand-up guy who wanted to secure his financial future for his family by playing for the Delhi Giants. Wow, what a bastard he turned out to be - well, that's the view of New Zealand Cricket, who threw him under the bus. Oh sure, they came up with all sorts of justifiable excuses to hide behind their cowardice: it's the rules, they said, it's the ICC regulations.

Don't make me laugh, it's all about control, power, greed: the foundations of international cricket these days - the players are merely the meat in the money sandwich. And I just love this courageous stand from Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori: "While we would love to have him, the team's probably moved on from that. It has been a long time now."

Since when have the mighty Black Caps "moved on" from having quality players on their team?

November 5, 2008

The Oram prophecies

Posted on 11/05/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Oram's continues to be dogged by injury worreis, the latest being the back injury picked up on tour to Bangladesh. David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald believes Oram may soon put the bowling boots away for good and play as a specialist batsman.

"Oram" and "injury" are no strangers to being in the same sentence, and the player is increasingly frustrated at being unable to stay healthy for a reasonable length of time. He calls his frequent injury layoffs "a bit of a joke", except no one's laughing.

November 2, 2008

Oram the enigma in 13-piece puzzle

Posted on 11/02/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Jacob Oram's forced return home from the tour of Bangladesh due to injury may well lead to him foregoing his role as an allrounder and play as a batsman alone, at least for the tour of Australia coming up, writes Dylan Cleaver in the New Zealand Herald.

The team to tour Australia will be picked this week and Oram's status and the return of Chris Martin are the only sticking points in what should otherwise be a straightforward exercise. With no cricket, aside from typically soggy spring club forays, being played, there is nowhere for the selectors to turn except for the players who, barring one or two notable exceptions, underperformed so badly in Bangladesh.

October 23, 2008

Captain fantastic

Posted on 10/23/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Leading from the front: Daniel Vettori © AFP

If the pressure of captaincy is telling on the 29-year-old it is not showing, says Adrian Seconi after Daniel Vettori's top-class all-round display in Chittagong. Seconi writes in the Otago Daily Times:

There is nothing quite like leading from the front and his decision to come in as nightwatchman when Jesse Ryder was dismissed shortly before the end of day four was inspired.

....................

It seems inevitable he will join Imran Khan, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Shaun Pollock, Shane Warne and Hadlee as the only players who have taken at least 300 wickets and scored at least 3000 runs.

Read more on Vettori's unique feat in the Chittagong Test.

October 22, 2008

Call it Vettori's Test

Posted on 10/22/2008 in New Zealand cricket

It'll be called many other things besides but New Zealand's hard-fought win in Chittagong will be remembered as Daniel Vettori's match, writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald.

He put himself in at No. 4 in the second innings shortly before stumps on the fourth day. Perhaps it was not so much to be the nightwatchman, more a case of wanting to show his batsmen how the job should be approached, and what he'd thought of their first innings effort. His was a conscientious, admirable five days' work. Forget that this was "only" Bangladesh. New Zealand came within a short distance of a hugely embarrassing first loss to them in seven matches.

October 19, 2008

What's with the dots?

Posted on 10/19/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Of the 900 legal deliveries bowled to them in the three ODIs against Bangladesh, the New Zealand batsmen managed to score off just 339. Dylan Cleaver in the Herald on Sunday expresses concern about the failure of the pair of Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder at the top and none of the batsman seemed to recreate the urgency of putting away the bad balls.

New Zealand's problem scoring against Bangladesh was most stark at the top of the order where the first 10 overs passed by in a befuddled haze of dot balls, wickets and the occasional boundary. In the first international at Mirpur, just 19 deliveries were scored off in the opening 10 overs; in the second that number decreased to 16; and at the better paced Chittagong wicket it sunk to an embarrassing 12.

In an another article, he believes the 'Black Caps' brand may be actually under threat, considering the new uniform worn by the players may actually be a deep shade of blue.

October 17, 2008

A tailormade opportunity for Ross

Posted on 10/17/2008 in New Zealand cricket

David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald believes this could the season when New Zealand discover their new middle-order rock.

In April what chance that New Zealand fans will be reflecting on the summer which moved Ross Taylor from a hugely promising talent to a genuine international star?

Certainly New Zealand's batting order could do with someone stepping up to the plate as the main man. Martin Crowe was that player for years; Stephen Fleming became the batsman on whom New Zealand hopes primarily rested for the last 10 years.

The situation is, excuse the pun, tailormade for someone to step in and fill the vacancy.

October 12, 2008

Macca gets things off his chest

Posted on 10/12/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Dylan Cleaver has picked up a copy of Craig McMillan's explosive new book, Out of the Park, and shares his views on it in today's New Zealand Herald. This is McMillan's book, he says, and his chance to get a few things off his chest. Needless to say, the dreaded peer review system looms large. McMillan often failed to see eye to eye with John Bracewell, and McMillan feels the New Zealand coach was at his worst on the 2004 tour to England.

October 11, 2008

McMillan's account of the Karachi blast

Posted on 10/11/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Craig McMillan's book Out of the Park was released last week and the New Zealand's Sunday News published an extract from the chapter on the bombings outside the team hotel in Karachi in 2002.

My build-up to the first day of the second test, on May 8, 2002, started no differently from any other. We were staying at the Pearl Intercontinental Hotel, one of two hotels in central Karachi which were frequented largely by westerners. We had two buses that would take us to the ground, an early bus and a later bus. The early bus was always for Mark Richardson, who liked to go to the ground and have 1000 throw-downs before anyone turned up at the match venue. The rest of us, who liked to have more sleep, waited around for the later bus. The early bus was originally scheduled to leave at 7.45am and the second bus was set to leave at 8.15am.

It was about 7.45am and I was lying in bed thinking I would have to get out of bed soon and that getting ready was going to be a bit of a rush. I was struggling to get up that morning for some reason.

Five minutes later I was blown out of bed. I had been lying in bed and all of a sudden I was on the floor, with glass all around me. My first thought was that someone had let off a grenade on one of the floors of the hotel. I was lucky that I had my curtains pulled across the window. The blast, which was outside my window, blew all the glass in, which was then stopped by the curtains. It gave me a shield. My door was blown off its hinges and there was a haze of smoke hanging around.

October 10, 2008

Under-prepared and over-confident NZ

Posted on 10/10/2008 in New Zealand cricket

New Zealand went into their opening match of what will be a lengthy summer under-prepared, over-confident and got done by Bangladesh, writes Adam Parore in the New Zealand Herald.

I still believe New Zealand deserve to be ranked second or third based on what we've seen in the past few seasons, but even if they win the series 2-1, which they should do with this rough start out of the way, it won't do the trick on the rankings list ... they'd be embarrassed at turning in a half-arsed performance when they'd have wanted to hit the ground running. They'll know there will be teams around the world chuckling at their slip-up, and that will sting.

September 30, 2008

A match made in financial heaven

Posted on 09/30/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Scott Styris and Chris Martin model New Zealand's newest kit © Getty Images

In his blog Sideline Slogger, Paul Holden marvels at the deal between New Zealand Cricket and Dheeraj and East Coast LLC (DEC), the new clothing sponsors of the national team. The company may have had a zero presence in New Zealand, but the new relationship is a sign of the times as Indian eyeballs all around the world are watching the team play and it is that viewership that gives rise to some less than obvious commercial possibilities. Read on in stuff.co.nz

Perhaps the deal was stitched up through the contacts of Brendon McCullum. How? HDIL, another company in the Wadhawan stable, is one of the six headline sponsors of the coolest team in the Indian Premier League, the Kolkata Knight Riders. Baz has put his 10 cents in on the coach so why not throw out some names and cellphone numbers for potential sponsors of the front of the shirt as well?

September 28, 2008

'It's a horrible thing for anyone to go through'

Posted on 09/28/2008 in Indian Cricket League

	Lou Vincent's experience with depression is now behind him © Getty Images

Lou Vincent, the former New Zealand batsman, in an interview with Gulf News, speaks about his experience with depression and how he overcame it.

For me, it was a combination of events both on and off the field. I guess it's hereditary as well. It took time to realise something wasn't right and I finally realised it was time to quit cricket and move on. Every now and then we come across people in our lives who are suffering from some sort of stress. It's a horrible thing for anyone to go through. I'm on top of it at the moment ... It's important to write down some goals. The world we live in has so many things thrown at us and I think, if you've got goals, you can overcome that.

Being set up for a fall

Posted on 09/28/2008 in New Zealand cricket

The last time New Zealand toured Australia was 2004. The build-up to the tour was a two-Test jaunt to Bangladesh where they whipped the home side in two horribly lop-sided tests. New Zealand were then thrashed in Australia," writes in the Herald on Sunday.

Fast forward four years and New Zealand are again preparing to play Tests at the Gabba - the toughest venue in Australia since the WACA lost its sting - and the Adelaide Oval on the back of a two-test series in Bangladesh. Not just any old series but, as a bonus, a watered-down one featuring a Bangladesh team decimated by the recent ICL raid. There's a term for this and it reads something like "being set up for a fall".

September 21, 2008

30 seconds with Dave Nosworthy

Posted on 09/21/2008 in South African cricket

Luke Alfred of the Times catches up with Dave Nosworthy, the new coach of the Lions franchise in South Africa. Nosworthy talks about his experience in New Zealand, where he coached Canterbury for three seasons.

The cultural diversity — the Chinese, Japanese, Polynesians and Maoris — and the ease of doing business in a First World country. There’s no red tape there — things happen. That stood out. And then there’s the natural beauty of the country — it’s magnificent. But the African blood remains. I really wanted to come back. With all these people emigrating to New Zealand it amazes me how they become All Black supporters overnight — I got into a couple of animated conversations over that topic!

September 20, 2008

What, no Bert?

Posted on 09/20/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Figures alone do not convey an adequate picture of the capabilities of this well-built, good-looking, golden-haired batsman © Photosport

Brent Edwards, the former sports editor of the Otago Daily Times, is a little miffed that Wellington-based author Joseph Romanos has omitted Bert Sutcliffe from his top test team in his just-released book, Cricket Portraits, A Century of New Zealand's Best. In fact, he thinks it counts as heresy.

Romanos profiles 100 of New Zealand's best cricketers and, while he is effusive in his praise of Sutcliffe, he does not select him in his top test side. He chooses Glenn Turner and Stewie Dempster as his opening batsmen and Andrew Jones as his No 3. The other specialist batsmen are Martin Crowe, Martin Donnelly and John Reid.

The averages of Dempster, Turner and Jones are better than Sutcliffe's, marginally in the case of Turner and Jones, but it should be remembered Sutcliffe propped up a weak New Zealand batting order for much of his career. And what can't be measured in statistics is the charm and grace with which Sutcliffe thrilled crowds throughout the cricket world.

I would have opened with Turner and Dempster, batted Crowe at No 3 and Sutcliffe at No 4.

September 14, 2008

New Zealand's middle path

Posted on 09/14/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Peter Fulton and James Marshall may feel a little hard done by with the announcement of the New Zealand squad for the tour of Bangladesh. Dylan Cleaver in New Zealand's Herald on Sunday believes Daniel Flynn and Jesse Ryder may get the chance to cement their positions in the middle order.

A middle order containing Fulton and Marshall is not going to frighten anybody, whereas one that contains Ryder, Ross Taylor, Flynn, Brendon McCullum and Jacob Oram might ... one day ... maybe?

September 9, 2008

Cairns keeps hitting the road

Posted on 09/09/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Chris Cairns is still walking in his effort to raise rail safety awareness, registering more than 30km a day. Britton Broun, writing in the Dominion Post, catches up with Cairns, whose sister Louise died in a train accident in 1993.

Since then, safety has become a "personal crusade" for Cairns, who established a foundation to teach school pupils of the dangers at New Zealand's often-unmarked rail crossings. The charity walk began in Auckland three weeks ago and Cairns has been walking every day, clocking up 635km so far. He faces a further 366km walk to the site of his sister's death.

August 20, 2008

Cairns walks and walks for train safety

Posted on 08/20/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Over 34 days Chris Cairns will cover 1001km in memory of his sister Louise, who died in a train crash in 1993. The New Zealand Herald reports Cairns, who now plays in the Indian Cricket League, is doing the trip to promote rail safety awareness in the country.

You can follow Cairns’ walk here.

July 27, 2008

Danger is everywhere

Posted on 07/27/2008 in Champions Trophy

A day after Pakistan's newspapers said players considering boycotting the Champions trophy were applying double standards, Richard Boock, writing in the Sunday Star Times, has the same message for New Zealand's cricketers.

It was apparently fine that New Zealand arrived in England for this year's winter tour at a time when terrorist attacks were deemed by the Home Office to be "highly likely"; just as it was when Australia continued to play in London as the bombs were going off in 2005.

The same paper has an extract from Boock's biography of Daniel Vettori. Check out the New Zealand captain's views on the increasing politics of cricket, and his take on whether New Zealand should have toured Zimbabwe in 2005.

Cricket has brought Zimbabwe to the New Zealand public's attention - it created a window through which we could watch and debate the topic, and make it relevant for us. It gave us a chance to take cameras and reporters, and with that the eyes of the world, into a place that's pretty well cut off in terms of scrutiny.

Is this such a bad thing? Certainly not. Is contact worth abandoning on the very subjective grounds that to do otherwise is to support Mugabe? Again, I doubt it somehow.

In the Herald on Sunday, Dylan Cleaver says the Champions Trophy is unlikely to be anything other than a "complete wash-out".

In the Sunday Times, Rod Liddle ponders how money changes the attitudes of professional sportsmen.

We are indulgent towards our professional sportsmen, expecting them to be wholly selfish and amoral. Urged to consider the morality of taking part in sporting events in Soviet Russia, or Zimbabwe, or China, they whine that these are political matters and that, possessing no capacity for reason, they should be excused the responsibility to consider them. Show them a huge sack of moolah, however, and they have, over the years, demonstrated a remarkable sense of purpose and conviction, which allowed them to play - for example - in apartheid South Africa.

July 20, 2008

NZ government must ban Zimbabwe tour

Posted on 07/20/2008 in New Zealand cricket

New Zealand's decision to tour Zimbabwe in 2005 was a farce and any decision to tour in 2009 will be tragedy indeed, writes Paul Lewis in the Herald on Sunday. He lambasts the ineffective decision-making last time around and call on the government to ban the tour instead of sending letters to New Zealand Cricket outlining reasons why the cricketers should not go to Zimbabwe.

July 12, 2008

Reeve heads to Napier

Posted on 07/12/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Dermot Reeve has been appointed the Central Districts coach and talks to Dominion Post's Sam Worthington about the challenges ahead, as he relocates to New Zealand without his family.

Reeve brings to Central a reputation for improvisation that is likely to endear him to the likes of the flamboyant Ross Taylor, though he claimed that was a tag thrust upon him by others. "Innovative is something that someone else puts on you and I just weighed up the pros and the cons of where to put men in the field and what degree of risk you might take with a certain shot. I was lucky to have played and captained at a time at Warwickshire where myself and Bob Woolmer, we did analyse the game and give it the attention I believe it deserves. To me, playing the reverse sweep when the field is set a certain way is just the right thing to do. Other people would describe the shot as innovative, but if you practice it, it's just like playing any other shot."

July 7, 2008

The tour that nobody wants

Posted on 07/07/2008 in New Zealand cricket

"As it stands, if NZC were to withdraw from next year's tour of Zimbabwe for reasons other than security or safety issues, they would be liable for an automatic fine of US$2m, plus all liabilities suffered by the host board (television rights included) as a result. Their ICC membership status could also be questioned," writes Richard Boock in Sunday Star Times. "However, there is an escape clause in the agreement that waives all penalties should a team be barred from touring by government decree."

The Australian government used it last year to help their national cricket team avoid a tour of Zimbabwe and the British government followed suit last month; issuing a ministerial communiqué that allowed the ECB to back out of their commitments. Far from proving controversial, both decisions received widespread support at home and abroad.Despite this, the New Zealand government continues to baulk at taking such action, arguing that interfering with ci tizens' freedom of movement was an extreme and draconian measure, and that it wasn't prepared to withhold passports in order to reinforce its feelings on Zimbabwe.

July 6, 2008

The delicate balance of a newspaper columnist

Posted on 07/06/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Scott Styris fired a salvo of harsh text messages at Mark Richardson, a former New Zealand opener turned journalist, because of what the allrounder thought to be a negative article written by Richardson. Read Richardson's response in the Herald on Sunday.

I've no doubt this attack came about due to the delicate balance an ex-team member faces when they step out of the dressing room and straight into the media. I believe the player involved would not have been motivated to approach the likes of a professional journalist in the same way they did me when they were angered by what was written. Within the group you see things similarly and, even when disagreements arise, the dynamics on the inside are vastly different than dealing with disagreements that arise between the team and outside media. When you leave that pack, I believe it is easier for the person leaving the group to sever ties than for those who remain to cut that person loose.

June 26, 2008

Messing with the spirit of the game

Posted on 06/26/2008 in English cricket

	Paul Collingwood took the easy option © Getty Images

The England-New Zealand ODI at The Oval was marred by controversy as Paul Collingwood decided not to recall Grant Elliot who had been run out after colliding mid-pitch with Ryan Sidebottom. Richard Hobson writes in the Times that Collingwood took the easy option:

England pride themselves on being a tough side, but there is a huge difference between making themselves hard to beat and messing with the spirit of the game. Collingwood sought victory at any price, little realising that its value would be diminished.

According to Mike Atherton, writing in the same paper, England lost the match, but, more important, a good deal of self-respect in that moment.

Imagine, though, if England had won. It is difficult to imagine how Collingwood could have apologised with a straight face; difficult, too, to envisage how the New Zealanders might have felt able to accept it. When Graeme Swann’s errant throw missed the stumps and evaded four England fielders, the cricketing gods rendered a judgment of their own.

Simon Hughes writes in the Telegraph that when a man as decent as Paul Collingwood gets drawn into temporarily seeking a win at all costs, it is just further confirmation that cricket has sacrificed any right to the moral high ground.

Meanwhile Mark Richardson, the former New Zealand opener, said the collision was "harmless". He said to stuff.co.nz:

Richardson said New Zealand should be careful about "throwing stones" and being hypocritical. He said the incident was similar to when Sri Lanka's Muralitharan was run out during last year's tour to New Zealand. Muralitharan had walked down the pitch to celebrate his partner Sangakkara's century, while the ball was being returned to the wicketkeeper, and he was dismissed. "We were happy to take that decision," he said.

Paul Holden, the Sideline Slogger, feels there are differences in the two incidents.

I agree that it was a very aggressive move for New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming not to recall Murali, and was arguably a contravention of the spirit of cricket. However, let’s also remember that it was also pretty dumb. In this morning’s case, unlike Murali, Elliott was not at fault. He was not being stupid or naive, he was injured and had been flattened, and unlike the Sri Lankan he could not and unlike the Sri Lankan he could not be accused of failing to value his wicket sufficiently.

The New Zealand Herald has a collection of English press reactions from the incident.

June 23, 2008

How John Bracewell threw away the script

Posted on 06/23/2008 in New Zealand cricket

In the New Zealand Herald Dylan Cleaver lets rip against the recent New Zealand debacles.

New Zealand are now in the process of writing a grim tale: How to turn a sport from boom to bust in five easy steps.

1. Make the players look like money-hungry frauds

Whichever way you slice it up, the Indian Premier League ended up being an almost unprecedented PR disaster for New Zealand Cricket.

2. Have a coach who doesn't know when to talk or when to shut up

June 15, 2008

Bracewell must go

Posted on 06/15/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Has John Bracewell reached the end of his tether? © Getty Images

Listening to John Bracewell's pronouncements this week made it clear New Zealand Cricket should get their skates on and hasten the appointment of his replacement as national coach, writes Adam Parore in the New Zealand herald.

Matt Richens, writing in the Waikato Times, thinks the blame for New Zealand's loss should all be directed at Mr Inept himself, John Bracewell.

With Bracewell at the helm, we will be lucky to keep our current seventh spot, but fret not, we will win some one-day games because that's where all Bracewell's eggs have been firmly placed.

In the Sunday Star Times John Matheson interviews Martin Crowe on the coach's role in the modern game.

Coaching at the top level is about man management. My forte as a captain wasn't man management it was tactical and leading from the front. My combination with Warren Lees worked because he was a man-manager. You need someone who can manage men and John Wright is outstanding at that. Clearly the lesson from the last five years is that the man-management of the side has been disastrous.

June 13, 2008

Best XI's and best innings

Posted on 06/13/2008 in New Zealand cricket

The one-day series between England and New Zealand begins on Sunday and Paul Holden has come up with each team's best-performed XI based purely on averages over the past two years. He writes in his blog the Sideline Slogger.

Meanwhile Hamish McDouall goes to the Tests and comes up with his three favourite New innings by New Zealand batsmen down the years:

Mark Burgess batting at Dacca in 1970. Ugly conditions, rabid crowd, but Burgess worked with the tail to secure the draw, and our only series win in Pakistan.

Nathan Astle scoring a century and then a fifty in 2003 against India. He arrived at the crease with the Black Caps 17 for 3 in the first innings, and hit a century to avoid the follow-on.

And the greatest defensive innings of all time. Mark Greatbatch, eleven hours, four Australian legends with the ball, the WACA.

June 9, 2008

NZ beaten down and battered

Posted on 06/09/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Dylan Cleaver gives a diary account of what he describes as a sad sad day for New Zealand cricket, after surrendering another series to England. Read on in the New Zealand Herald.

All the optimism of Hamilton in March has been stripped away and was it any wonder that when he shuffled off Trent Bridge just now he looked a broken man.

June 1, 2008

A painful loss

Posted on 06/01/2008 in New Zealand cricket

New Zealand lost the second Test against England after having the upper hand and Mark Richardson believes Daniel Vettori should be mulling over the lost opportunity more than most because he blew the opportunity to do something he has not done for 11 years/78 Test matches - take five wickets or more in a test innings in a game that New Zealand has gone on to win (excluding Bangladesh). He writes in the New Zealand Herald:

It's wrong to respond to this revelation by simply saying Vettori is not accomplishing his core responsibility of bowling his country to victory because there is so much more to Vettori's contribution to New Zealand cricket than simply taking wickets on the last day of a Test match, important though that is. There is no question of Vettori's quality, versatility and consistency as a Test bowler.

What should hurt the most for Vettori right now is that, regardless of the third innings batting calamity, 296 was plenty of runs to play with on that Old Trafford pitch and it was all set up for him to win the match with his primary skill.

May 31, 2008

New Zealand have a lot of learning to do

Posted on 05/31/2008 in New Zealand cricket

"A glance at the scoreboard from this week's second Test loss to England would suggest New Zealand's wretched batting performance in the third innings alone decided the outcome," says Adam Parore in the New Zealand Herald. "But it is not that simple ..."

We have become used to these collapses, which tend to be put down to bad sessions. One each at the Basin Reserve and Napier cost New Zealand dearly in their two Test defeats to England earlier in the year. But I believe they have come about as a result of New Zealand actually having to play extremely well to stay with England. At some point they have slipped up, and the results have been disastrous. Even as they have been competing well, there have been signs that all is not hunky dory.

May 18, 2008

McCullum blooms as a batsman

Posted on 05/18/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	McCullum's now batting at five which makes him more a batsman-wicketkeeper and very soon will be unquestionably the best - so long as Kumar Sangakkara keeps the gloves off © Getty Images

"He made the number eight spot in one-day internationals his own, very quickly becoming the best ODI closer in the world. Over time, and after a few failures, he finally made the opener's role his own in the Black Caps' ODI team and, as Adam Gilchrist fades with age, he'll soon be the best at that game too," writes Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.

I was not overly keen to see McCullum elevated in ODIs because I believe in the importance of bite in the tail and not just strike power at the top. However, what he has shown of late at the top of the order you simply cannot downplay. I've not the same reservations when it comes to his elevation to five in test matches. The difference between batting five or seven in test match cricket is nowhere near as drastic as the difference between opening in ODIs or batting in the lower middle order.

Also check out Dylan Cleaver's piece on Lord's in the Herald on Sunday.

The cameras love to pan to the Pavilion where bacon-and-egg blazered members make the most of their good fortune, sometimes choosing an afternoon nap over the opportunity to see Jacob Oram poke around for 146 minutes and countless thick edges. But that is their prerogative. It takes approximately 18 years between application and acceptance to become a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club - is it any wonder, then, that they look so smug when they finally earn the right to wear the blazer and tie?

May 17, 2008

Brendon should keep the gloves

Posted on 05/17/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Brendon McCullum's elevation to No.5 in the order was an immediate success as he hit 97 on the opening day at Lord's to haul New Zealand out of trouble. Mark Richardson, his former team-mate, says in the Herald on Sunday that it was the right move, but it shouldn't mean that he needs to give up the gloves any time soon.

His 97 in the first innings of this current test was a fine example of Brendon McCullum in total equilibrium and an innings from which he should grow more comfortable, confident and clear in his test game. Where I do have reservations is in the possible discharging of the wicketkeeping duties simply because he is batting in the top six. Having your keeper in the top six provides for options in balance.

Meanwhile, Dylan Cleaver gives a New Zealand viewpoint on the Lord's experience and notices that the exchange rate isn't very friendly.

Its famed Nursery is transformed into a veritable theme park of food stalls, liquor outlets and merchandising caravans. It is here the Lord's proletariat gather, dressed in their newly purchased MCC polo shirts - a snip at just $63, down from $140 - munching $17 burgers and quaffing Foster's ($9 per pint), Pimms ($11 per glass), or, if you're in the mood, a little Veuve Clicquot.

May 16, 2008

All sorts at Lord's

Posted on 05/16/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Lord's a citadel of cricket? © Getty Images

Blogger Paul Holden enjoys the first Test of the season at Lord's even with all the rain. He writes in Sideline Slogger:

Lord’s is truly a citadel of cricket. Every single one of you must come here before you die. Cricket oozes from these pores in St John’s Wood – there is nowhere better to be watching cricket. But while it is a magnet for cricket-lovers from around the world, the weird and wonderful eccentrics of London also gravitate toward it. For example, as I waited at the MCC reception, I heard grunting and groaning and a chap emerged with a weird looking racquet, in top to toe white towelling. He’d been unleashing on another bloke similarly attired, as they played what must be one of the most ridiculous sports ever invented: real tennis. Just what the point of a court promoting another sport is doing at the home of cricket is not clear to me, but there you go. And sitting in front of us in The Mound Stand was a match made in heaven: a husband and wife listening to the BBC’s Test Match Special via one cheeky earphone each. A beautiful thing.

Hamish McDouall is less enamoured by the ground. He writes in Googlies & Grass Stains.

Lord’s has long been called Headquarters, but I reject that. I don’t want to let this lozenge-shaped part of St John’s Wood dominate world cricket. I prefer the spongy banks of the Basin Reserve, or the urban grubbiness of the Oval, or the hedonistic chaos of Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain. I also prefer cricket at Liardet Park, or Glover Park, or Sunnyvale. Or on a beach where the lick of the waves at square leg means six and out. Cricket does not need busts of W.G. Grace, rolled up copies of The Times and the whiff of Pimms to buoy it. It is a better game than that. It is a game that has made as many coalminers as accountants famous, a game that embraces Indian princes, and Taranaki farmers. It is also a game that doesn’t need, or even desire, umbrellas. Of any hue.

May 15, 2008

What's happened to the Bleak Caps?

Posted on 05/15/2008 in New Zealand cricket

In the Dominion Post, Jeremy Coney runs his eye over the current New Zealand team - he calls them the Bleak Caps - and finds plenty of reasons for concern.

In an ideal world, Jamie How and Ross Taylor would be two of our young stars poised for development. An England tour is an ideal place for them to progress. However, compared to their top- order teammates, they are senior statesmen. And Taylor himself was dropped as recently as the Bangladesh series. Is this the way to develop long-term players?

Despite circumstances, the squad looks unbalanced. Five seam bowlers (an aging population of 29-33) and Jacob Oram. It does appear heavily weighted – six into four (test requirements) when the batting looks so inexperienced and unknown is a luxury. The top five batsmen register 19 tests between them. Similar batting positions for the Bangladesh side that played New Zealand recently held 115 tests and their current opposition 221. All England whiff crumbly collapso.

May 11, 2008

Taylor-made for success

Posted on 05/11/2008 in New Zealand cricket

New Zealand aren't blessed with an array of world-class cricketers and begin the series against England as distinct second favourites. However, in Ross Taylor they have a batsman capable of forging an successful career and the top level. He already has a Test century against England, 120 in Hamilton, and produced some powerful hitting in the Indian Premier League.

In The Sunday Telegraph, Scyld Berry profiles Taylor and why he goes against the mould of many New Zealanders.

Blessed with a role model in Taylor, New Zealand can now spread cricket far more quickly among the one-third of their population which is not of European ancestry. To date, out of the handful of non-white Test cricketers they have had, only the wicketkeeper on their last tour of England, Adam Parore, can be said to have had a fair go.

The silent assasin's warning

Posted on 05/11/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand's greatest player, tells the Observer's's Will Buckley that Test cricket should never be compromised by the shorter versions. He also talks about New Zealand's forthcoming series against England.

'The players we have are more suited to one-day cricket. We have made five World Cup semi-finals and the Twenty20 semi-finals. Tactically we are pretty good in the one-day game. We believe we can go and win. But in Test cricket we are inconsistent. You have to bat time, not overs, in Test cricket, whereas in the one-day game you bat overs, not time. We might score well in the first innings, but then be bowled out for a paltry score in the second innings. We may surprise, but England are hot favourites.

Mark Richardson, writing in the Herald on Sunday, is also not very optimistic about New Zealand’s prospects against England and thinks their best chance of winning a Test is at Lord’s.

John Bracewell has repeatedly called the current tour the second part of a six-match series and right now I can't see anything other than 5-1.
…

One thing the team can draw strength from is that England doesn't have a particularly dominant record at the venue for the first test, Lord's. That can be put down to the motivating effect the occasion has on touring teams.

May 5, 2008

An afternoon in dullsville

Posted on 05/05/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Stephen Brenkley in the Independent assesses New Zealand’s chances in England, with a side bolstered by the return of their five players who were competing in the IPL.

Now they are fully assembled, it is still not a prospect to float many boats. No doubt this is grossly unfair - and it may also play straight into the tourists' hands - but to think of New Zealand cricket is to think of an afternoon in dullsville.

May 4, 2008

When McCullum kept out a future rugby legend

Posted on 05/04/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Brendon McCullum played fly-half for his schoolboy representative side © Getty Images

Steve James, writing in the Telegraph, reveals how Brendon McCullum, before making his name in cricket, once got selected over a future rugby legend while in school. Click here for the full interview.

We knew Brendon McCullum was talented. And now we discover he once kept Dan Carter out of a schoolboy rugby representative side. For the South Island secondary schools team McCullum played fly-half (or first five-eighth as New Zealanders prefer) and Carter came off the bench to appear on the wing.

In case you aren't aware, Carter, the All Black fly-half, is God's representative on a rugby field. He is that good, and McCullum was once deemed better. Wow.

James contends that McCullum is now in the big league…

He is the story right now. One felt sorry for Daniel Vettori at New Zealand's press conference in deepest Essex last week. After the bog-standard top table stuff where Vettori spoke with customary common-sense, the New Zealand captain was then left waiting alone in a corner, fiddling with his mobile phone while journalists surrounded McCullum, hanging on his every word. McCullum had better get used to it. There will never be another Adam Gilchrist but McCullum is now a pretty exciting alternative

The series against New Zealand will be Peter Moores' second home season as coach of England. He talks to Mike Selvey on the year gone by and the IPL. Read on in the Guardian.

You can imagine Peter Moores on The Apprentice. In fact you can imagine him winning The Apprentice. He is personable (not that that appears a necessary quality), diligent, wonderfully well-organised, enthusiastic, intelligent, innovative, ruthless where necessary, speaks management lingo as a first language and is such a dyed-in-the-wool optimist that he could find a positive at the bottom end of a Duracell.

April 27, 2008

Pakistan not safe - Richardson

Posted on 04/27/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Former New Zealand batsman Mark Richardson does not want New Zealand to head to Pakistan for their three-ODI series. In the New Zealand Herald he writes:

If Pakistan is to host the ICC Champions Trophy, then a three-match, one-day international series between New Zealand and Pakistan in Pakistan just prior to the tournament makes perfect sense - except for the fact that Pakistan should not be hosting the Champions Trophy and New Zealand should not tour there right now.

April 13, 2008

Martin omission a strange move

Posted on 04/13/2008 in New Zealand cricket

As New Zealand search desperately for international-standard players, the omission of Chris Martin from the one-day squad to tour England is odd, writes Dylan Cleaver in the Herald on Sunday.

No, he can't bat, and you wouldn't stake your life on him under a steepler, but he's a better fielder than Gillespie and not far behind Mason. Neither of those two are threatening allrounder status with the bat either, though Gillespie will always be remembered after fluking some runs in that epic Chappell-Hadlee run chase last year.

Martin's dumping is a nonsense; it's just a shame it is only his team-mates and not the selectors who recognise that.

April 5, 2008

Domestic runs not a recipe for New Zealand success

Posted on 04/05/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Mark Richardson, writing in the Herald on Sunday, says the dumping of Matthew Bell and Mathew Sinclair from the England tour shows runs at domestic level are not enough to earn Test selection.

In fairness, Sinclair was given every opportunity to regain his early international form but showed he is not the player he was in 1999. So the selectors were able to ignore his good return for Central Districts again and his quite outstanding domestic record.

Bell, on the other hand, would have stimulated more debate. In 1998, Bell was selected on potential then dropped. In 2000 he earned his place back on sheer volume of runs and was dropped again. At the start of this year, he again showed top domestic form and gained re-selection then ended the year being dropped.

In the same paper Paul Lewis looks at Aaron Redmond, New Zealand’s latest addition. Redmond’s father Rodney posted a hundred and a half-century on debut and never played again.

April 2, 2008

New Zealand running out of options

Posted on 04/02/2008 in New Zealand cricket

On Monday New Zealand will name their squad to tour England and in the Waikato Times, Ian Anderson looks at how few options the selectors have.

This season's programme has shown us we don't have 15 players who can automatically make claims for Test squad selection. We have ten then it's a scramble for the remaining spots. Batting is the major achilles heel – there's still no definitive opening combination and the top six has more obvious holes than a hastily-invented alibi.

March 26, 2008

New Zealand search for England saviours

Posted on 03/26/2008 in New Zealand cricket

It's headache time for New Zealand's selectors as they look for batsmen who will prosper in England next month, David Leggat writes in the New Zealand Herald. After losing 2-1 to England on Wednesday, New Zealand have some quick decisions to make before the return bout.

Top of the priorities will be sorting out a collection of batsmen who can not only survive but succeed in demanding early-season conditions in England. Stephen Fleming won't be there to nursemaid players along. Mathew Sinclair is unlikely to make it after having five tests to cement his place and failing to take it.

Chris Barclay, writing for NZPA, believes Ross Taylor offers a glimmer of hope for the post-Fleming era.

Tim Southee, who smashed 77 not out off 40 balls to end the third Test, is the subject of the Herald’s cartoonist Rod Emmerson.

March 25, 2008

A touch too soon

Posted on 03/25/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Why is he retiring? © Getty Images

A fine farewell didn't mask the fact that Stephen Fleming still has plenty to offer New Zealand, despite retiring from international cricket,says Vic Marks in his blog on the Guardian website.

Why is he retiring? There have been some explanations: he would have preferred to remain as captain of the Test team; the move to Daniel Vettori may have hastened his departure. He has burgeoning business ambitions, a two-year-old daughter, a baby on the way, and a contract with the IPL. Yet he goes leaving us puzzled. He is not past his peak and in this era no Englishman, Aussie or Indian retires before their powers are manifestly in decline.

...

Fleming, Shane Bond, Scott Styris, Lou Vincent have already opted for Twenty20 riches, whether in the approved IPL or the "rogue" ICL, all of whom might have been touring England in May but have chosen not to. There is also the complication of Daniel Vettori, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills and Ross Taylor going to play in India before the tour of England. An ugly compromise will be hatched between New Zealand's board and their leading cricketers over when they arrive in the UK.

March 23, 2008

Get over the batting average

Posted on 03/23/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	It is his elegance and grace with the bat that should, hopefully, be long remembered with extreme fondness © Getty Images

Stephen Fleming could leave the ball with more style than most batsmen muster with a strike, says Chris Rattue in the New Zealand Herald. He's particularly unimpressed by the buzz surrounding Fleming's quest to average over 40 in Test cricket.

It's been obvious for years that Fleming's career would fall short of expectations if it needed to be judged by numbers, that his above-average talent would not be reflected in the averages column.

The last batsman to go out with so much emphasis on his average was Don Bradman, and that WAS important. In contrast, 40 is virtually a non-event as a benchmark in world cricket, even if Fleming's departure has seen it drummed up as mildly significant here.

Fleming's game was about far more than numbers or even captaincy, over which he is lauded by some and politely clapped by others.

It is his elegance and grace with the bat that should, hopefully, be long remembered with extreme fondness. It might be a long time before we produce another player to relish watching on this score.

March 22, 2008

A greater legacy than Fleming's?

Posted on 03/22/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Stephen Fleming: A giant imprint on New Zealand cricket? © Getty Images

Stephen Fleming wasn't a prolific compiler of big scores, he wasn't a great converter of starts, he wasn't able to thrust himself from the ranks of very good batsmen to the greats, but has any other New Zealand player left a greater legacy? For answers, read Dylan Cleaver's article in the Herald on Sunday.

Fleming's imprint on cricket in this country has been massive. Forget the fact he has been New Zealand's best, if under-achieving, batsman for a decade and think bigger picture. He took on the captaincy of a team at 23, a team rife with cliques, factions and ordinary cricketers.

In the same newspaper, Mark Richardson is excited after watching Tim Southee bowl on day one of the Napier Test.

Don Cameron pays tribute to Merv Wallace, who died aged 91 on Friday.

March 16, 2008

The finger points at NZ Cricket

Posted on 03/16/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	James Anderson: England first, Auckland next © Getty Images

Don't blame Auckland Cricket and Auckland coach Mark O'Donnell for James Anderson's bowling heroics on day two of the current test match, writes Mark Richardson in the New Zealand Herald.

If you want to blame someone, blame New Zealand Cricket- if you want to absolve the NZ top order of any responsibility. To leave O'Donnell carrying the can is too simplistic. What recent events have shown is a lack of cohesion between NZC and the provinces.

There will be a game within a game when New Zealand meets England this week in Napier in what is shaping as the series decider, writes Dylan Cleaver in the same newspaper.

The IPL continues to be a point of discussion. Paul Lewis, in the same paper, says, in terms of sporting endeavour and prestige, the IPL is to cricket what diarrhoea is to dodgy curry houses - an unfortunate by-product.

Richard Boock has some thoughts in the Sunday Star Times. "First it was burnout - deemed the crime of the century until the players saw the colour of India's money," he writes. "Now it's test match preparation. Overrated apparently. Not needed at all, if you listen to the New Zealand captain. If it wasn't so nauseatingly transparent it would be funny.

March 14, 2008

To bat or not to bat?

Posted on 03/14/2008 in New Zealand cricket

A cluster of post-lunch wickets in Wellington suggested WG Grace was wrong when he famously advised against ever bowling first, says Vic Marks, in the Guardian, on the first day's play between England and New Zealand in Wellington.

Five down and here we go again. Yet England don't always bow to the inevitable, either. And it was a new, fresh face that arrested the decline. Tim Ambrose came out and played without paranoia, as he did for Sussex, as he does for Warwickshire. He had the effrontery to hit Oram for two boundaries, doubling the number the big man has conceded in the series. The pitch was sleeping again. Was Vettori right to bowl? What's a good score? Er ... I'll tell you in two or three days' time.

"Short men are handy cutters and pullers sometimes as well, and [Tim] Ambrose is no exception. Little chance was missed to slash square or chop down to third-man. An occasional one went over the slips," says Mike Selvey on Ambrose's 97 which helped stem England's top-order collapse.

March 12, 2008

The post-Shane Bond era

Posted on 03/12/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Kyle Mills, along with Chris Martin, forms New Zealand's new-ball attack now that Shane Bond has signed for the ICL © Getty Images

Some predictions for the second Test in Wellington from Sideline Slogger Paul Holden:

Stuart Broad coming in for Steve Harmison who fails a medical examination: his heart appears to be missing. Broad will be cited for verbal abuse at some point as well, despite being something of a babyface.

Ian Bell to score 100 and lift his Test match shirt to reveal an “I’m 100% Ginger And Proud Of It” tattoo on his belly, having visited a Cuba St parlour the night before. New Zealand’s only ever red-headed international cricketer erupts from the Basin bank to congratulate him. Who is it?

In the New Zealand Herald Chris Barclay writes that the post-Shane Bond era has started smoothly with New Zealand's new-ball attack - Chris Martin and Kyle Mills - revelling in their new found Test cricket responsibilities.

Dominion Post's Jonathan Millmow believes Jamie How's second crack at international cricket is proving more successful than his first and were they to call for nominations today for the country's most improved batsman he would be top of everyone's list.

England must combat the Wellington wind

Posted on 03/12/2008 in New Zealand cricket

"Whether it is a wind of change, helping England's team to blow hot rather than cold, or just a 60 miles per hour buster screaming through the Cook Straits, a cricket match in Wellington tends to test a team's aerodynamics as much as their mettle," writes Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph.

Richard Hadlee also says that the strong wind will be a factor in the second Test.

It is difficult for batsmen, bowlers and fielders to combat, and the constant wind gusts are very off-putting for bowlers in their delivery stride, batsmen picking up their bats in the back lift, and fielders trying to catch a swirling ball. There may be the odd still day but one thing is for sure, somehow the wind will play its part during the game as the ground is unprotected. The cold, southerly wind from the sea blows hard from mid-off to fine leg. The northerly wind, although usually warmer, blows from mid-on to third man. Swing bowlers often prosper, but someone has to bowl into it possibly for 20 overs in a day, which in itself is very energy-sapping exercise.

March 11, 2008

Happy happy joy joy

Posted on 03/11/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Mike Selvey: 'Should Harmison be dropped, what should be done with him? Unless injuries crept into the squad, it would signal the end of his tour, and perhaps at the age of just 29 the end of his Test career.' © Getty Images

"There have been a lot of amazing wins in between - The Oval 1999, Brisbane
1986 to name two - but the thing that connects Sunday’s amazing scenes with Headingley was that this was a team effort," writes Hamish McDouall about New Zealand's victory in Hamilton on Stuff.co.nz.

"We [England] are only 15 Tests away from an Ashes series and we don't even look like competing with Australia, never mind beating them," writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Daily Telegraph. "We seem to have learnt nothing from last winter's Australia debacle where we lacked preparation and commitment for the battle."

"Most pressing when the talking heads gather will be the fate of Steve Harmison, who has cut a forlorn figure and not just with the ball in his hand," says Mike Selvey in the Guardian. "Fundamentally Harmison is a decent, honest man, so it is genuinely saddening to see what is happening to him. No one can doubt that he tries and yet nothing is happening. He is finding fast bowling like wading through treacle."

After all the discussions, they may want to keep Harmison in the team on the premise that historically he does tend to get better as a series progresses. That, however, is no basis for his retention, although the decision might be easier if there were players hammering on the door and demanding inclusion. As it is, James Anderson came out of his match for Auckland with an innings defeat and not many wickets, and Stuart Broad is working hard on fundamental flaws in his action, which is hardly a resounding testament for his inclusion. Those who think he has pace like fire are misguided too: he is deceptively slow.

Angus Fraser writes in the Independent that "England cannot go into tomorrow night's second Test in Wellington with the same team as that comprehensively beaten by New Zealand on Sunday."

March 10, 2008

'The worst NZ side in 40 years'

Posted on 03/10/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Overjoyed by the victory of 'the worst team in 40 years' over England, Paul Holden analyses the Hamilton Test in his blog the Sideline Slogger.

Let’s reflect on what brought England to its knees at Hamilton. I think it was a combination of momentum, clear leadership and sheer determination. We thundered into this Test match on the back of a one-day series win, with a captain leading the way and at the top of his game.

By contrast, England has a mish-mash of captaincy options. Collingwood steps aside for Vaughan while the ever-present chirper Kevin Pietersen is hard to ignore. He thought he was the captain in the one-dayers so presumably he throws his rand’s worth around in the Test match dressing room as well. KP may not be the asset to his captains that KP thinks he is.

Also listen to the Beige Brigade's podcast on 'Thumping Poms in the Tron'.

New Zealand Herald's Chris Rattue writes that what was supposed to be a very good English team with Ashes-winning strains have been embarrassed by a melting pot of promise stirred by a couple of clever veterans in Daniel Vettori and Stephen Fleming.

The Seddon Park groundsman is celebrating as hard as the New Zealand team. "I am rapt," he tells the Waikato Times.

March 8, 2008

Cracks appearing in the pitch

Posted on 03/08/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	© Getty Images

While England and Australia are sufficiently rich to keep their players at home, New Zealand and the West Indies can't hope to match the sums bandied about by the Indians, writes Geoff Cumming in the New Zealand Herald.

Until the Indian leagues came along, smash-and-bash cricket was dismissed as a garish hybrid to be used sparingly - a couple of games to whet fans' appetites at the start of a tour. Suddenly, it threatens one-day (50-over) cricket's role as the sport's money-spinner. Conceivably, cricket could go the way of sports like soccer and, increasingly, rugby - dominated by club/franchise competitions with few opportunities for meaningful international competition outside a world cup every four years.

March 7, 2008

Welcome back to the real game

Posted on 03/07/2008 in New Zealand cricket

"The music is a giveaway," writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald. "You replace the rock/grunge/pop at decibels designed to prevent conversation with the more sedate soft folk/gentle pop/string quartet sounds which lend themselves to reclining on the grass bank, indulging in the odd nap."

Between December 2006 and January 4 this year, New Zealand did not have a single Test at home. The focus was strictly on the ODI game in preparation for last year's World Cup in the Caribbean. It got New Zealand their customary semi-final finish. With due respect to Bangladesh: England are here, the ODIs are done and the real game is back with us. There's a proportion of the cricket public who'll yawn and get back to life's realities. For others this is what they've been waiting, well, years for: a true test of a cricketer's worth.

England played 11 Tests last year, including seven at home and Simon Wilde, the Times correspondent, is counting down the days to the end of this slow Test. He believes with Twenty20 taking control of everyone's thinking, it is hard to recallibrate the mind to the subtleties and tempo of a five-day marathon.

The Guardian's Vic Marks thinks if Lalit Modi, the chairman of Indian Premier League, had been at the Hamilton Test, he would have kept his cheque-book in his pocket.

February 27, 2008

High-risk strategy works and fails

Posted on 02/27/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	© Getty Images

Mike Selvey in his blog on The Guardian website ponders Jesse Ryder, a man locals describe as an accident waiting to happen.

Ryder, the fat boy made good in a sport where the levels of fitness required are now considerable, became an instant hero. A Test place beckoned for he played the ball late, technically better than a mere beefy biffer. A bit like Marcus Trescothick thought some. Then, in the Stock Exchange bar in Christchurch, he blew it.

On Monday, Ryder was paraded for the media, arm heavily in a sling, and the sight of his sad, bloated face mumbling out his prepared statement of contrition was genuinely one of pathos. Clearly he was embarrassed, although it was hard to tell if this was because of the deed or the public exposure.

Ryder drinks heavily after games but does so beforehand too. I asked one player about a report I'd heard that he was knocking back tequila slammers in the early hours before a Twenty20 international, and was told that this was the tip of the iceberg and by no means a one-off.

As might any young person who feels the need to drink to excess, often alone, into the small hours, Ryder needs help more than condemnation. This is not to suggest that efforts have not been made, because the cricket authorities of both Central Districts and Wellington have sought to help him, but he has not responded

February 16, 2008

A new job for Parore

Posted on 02/16/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Worried over the lack of worldbeaters in New Zealand? Well, Paul Lewis has a solution in the Herald on Sunday: Get Adam Parore to have a go at them, like he did at Jesse Ryder over his excess kilos, a move which apparently worked wonders. Parore has also congratulated the man whose selection he had questioned.

In the same paper, Mark Richardson deliberates over New Zealand's selection of Daniel Flynn in place of Paul Hitchcock.

February 15, 2008

Fleming's achievement was to fuse difficult personalities

Posted on 02/15/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Adam Parore offers his tributes to his former team-mate and skipper Stephen Fleming.

"There was a hard core of players in the New Zealand team, strong-minded individuals who needed some handling. Think of Chris Cairns, Dion Nash, Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle, Chris Harris and yours truly ... The couple of years preceding his appointment were turbulent. Things had been difficult when Glenn Turner was coach, but Fleming won the respect of the players."

Parore, who had earlier criticized the selection of Jesse Ryder, saying that international cricket has no place for fat men, offered his congratulations to the young man. " I tip my hat to Jesse Ryder. He copped plenty of flak from me, and others, when he was chosen to play England, but he came in and did exceptionally well in Hamilton. He took the criticism, kept his mouth shut and let his bat do his talking. It's not easy to go out and play in that manner in an ODI. Ryder gave a pretty strong response to those who'd doubted whether he was ready. Good luck to him."

February 11, 2008

Elite sport and its battles with depression

Posted on 02/11/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Lou Vincent's battle with depression in modern sport is not just a one-off case in New Zealand, says Judi Clements, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation. Clements reveals that an estimated 15% of elite athletes suffered from the condition. On the bright side, she adds that athletes are now more willing to talk about their problems rather than bottling it up inside. Read more in Sunday Star Times.

Clements said there was no doubt elite male athletes suffering from depression could find their testosterone-fuelled industry even more difficult to deal with, especially if they believed they needed to adhere to a certain role.

Vettori delivers but Cake Tin disappoints

Posted on 02/11/2008 in New Zealand cricket

With all due congratulations to Daniel Vettori and New Zealand after rolling over England in Wellington, the match failed to stimulate the senses thanks to the lifeless drop-in pitch, writes Chris Rattue in the New Zealand Herald.

It is tempting to take the gloss off Saturday night's win by pointing to a pitch that was to cricket entertainment what William Shatner was to opera singing. It's also the sort of track that Kiwi trundlers of the Gavin Larsen ilk prosper on.

The banners were out at the Westpac Stadium, with Jesse Ryder's mates making the mickey out of him. But the man sportingly laughed it off. Read more in stuff.co.nz

Ryder, 23, is keen to shed the party-boy tag and be recognised for his cricket but you get the impression nothing would keep him awake at night, especially not his mates from over the hill pulling his leg.

February 10, 2008

Fleming to quit Tests soon?

Posted on 02/10/2008 in New Zealand cricket

The Herald on Sunday has reported that Stephen Fleming will call time on his international career next month, after the third Test against England in Napier.

Fleming's wife, Kelly, is expecting their second child in June, and there is also bound to be some lingering resentment at the way he was shunted out of the Test captaincy.

February 9, 2008

The future's not so bright

Posted on 02/09/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Chris Martin: Why hasn't he played more for New Zealand? © Getty Images

Despite New Zealand's resounding win in the first ODI against England, Mark Richardson attributes it to the visitors misreading the pitch and voices his concern over the future, especially in the wake of the IPL and ICL. He writes in the Herald on Sunday:

England look a very useful side but they completely misread the pitch and did not play well at all. The Black Caps won't think this was a bad pitch - they'll love it to death - but it is a portable or "drop-in" pitch and it clearly hadn't been in long enough to be termed a quality pitch.

...

Young players like Tim Southee and Jesse Ryder coming through are great. They really are a glimpse of the future, but you wouldn't want to be playing any more than one or two of them in a side if you can help it.

Yet if more senior players are going to go to India, our lack of depth will be exposed again. We have to find a way to retain our senior and quality players.

In the same newspaper, Dylan Cleaver analyses the ills plaguing New Zealand cricket and points out the factors that have put the game in a crisis in the country.

Cleaver wonders why Chris Martin hasn't played a whole lot of matches for New Zealand.

Okay, so he wouldn't be able to stake a claim as a specialist batsman in the Ratapiko thirds, and his fielding will never be compared favourably to Jonty Rhodes, or possibly even Wilfred Rhodes, but the boy can bowl.

Martin is 33 and yesterday was just his 16th ODI. Given New Zealand's lack of international class players that's a ridiculously low total.

He also says that Jesse Ryder is heading for cult status. Ryder's weight has been a point of debate of late, with a few having expressed doubts while others backed the player who made his ODI debut on Saturday.

Twenty20 vision of a bad new world

Posted on 02/09/2008 in Twenty20

Chris Rattue, writing in the New Zealand Herald, asks whether Twenty20 is all it is cracked up to be.

Is Twenty20 really a salvation for a game that is struggling in some old strongholds, offering a thrilling new road ahead. Or is it sporting candy, a rush of excitement that invites a subsequent and depressing lull?

Twenty20 is here to stay. But what about in two years' time, or five years, or 50 years? And might Twenty20 cricket devour the game which gave it life? Or could it be a flash in the pan, a glitzy newcomer whose charms quickly wear thin and leave a ghetto behind especially with the rich Indian leagues threatening to drag the world's best players to their extravaganzas?

Distance no obstacle for Ryder's fans

Posted on 02/09/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Two of Jesse Ryder's biggest supporters will be cheering on from afar as he opens another chapter in his rollercoaster life story, his one-day debut. One is Aaron Klee, chairman of Ryder's Naenae Old Boys club, and the other is his grandfather. Read more in stuff.co.nz

Says Klee:

"I was texting Jesse before and he was asking if I'll be watching, and I said I'd have to go and find a pub somewhere to watch it.

Meanwhile, Jesse Ryder, in an interview in the New Zealand Herald, responds to Adam Parore's statement that fat men have no place in the modern game.

I'm not fussed with what he had to say - he wasn't an angel himself was he? It was easy to ignore. I'm a chilled-out sort of guy and not much fazes me. I've heard it all before mate. I'm still working hard on the fitness. It is an issue. Getting fitter can't hurt my game.

February 6, 2008

Fat men can play

Posted on 02/06/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Jesse Ryder scored 22 and claimed a wicket on his Twenty20 debut © Getty Images

Jesse Ryder, the New Zealand batsman who was criticised by former international Adam Parore for being too fat, has found support from Hamish McDouall, who takes on Parore in his blog Googlies and Grass Stains.

When Ryder was selected a couple of weeks ago Adam Parore launched. Ryder had a bad attitude and was too fat. Parore invoked portly Jock Edwards and David Boon as examples of players who would not be selected in today’s fitness-conscious environment.

On the bad-attitude charge it was surely a case of the pot dropping a line to the kettle to indicate the kettle was of darker hue. In the first few years of his international career Parore was a disaster zone in pads - the kind of player who should have klaxons sounding when he walked into a dressing room.

As for Ryder being too corpulent, I say if you’re good enough you’re thin enough. Parore after all played alongside Craig McMillan, a fairly large chap, for half his career, and played against the likes of Inzamam and Merv Hughes, neither of whom regularly ignored a pie-warmer. Shane Warne was never trim the entirety of his career, and is the greatest player of our generation. Parore, at his peak, had a wonderfully sculpted body - I know, I saw it when he took off his shirt in a bar in the West Indies trying to impress some American medical students. Chat-up lines clearly weren’t his thing. But why come out swinging at Jesse Ryder? Why not let Ryder do the swinging?

The New Zealand Herald's David Leggat feels that Ryder answered his critics with a brisk 22 and a wicket on his Twenty20 debut against England

Meanwhile, Paul Holden, in his blog Sideline Slogger, pokes fun at England's Twenty20 squad in an article titled 'A slogger's guide to England'.

February 5, 2008

Oram can land knockout blow on England

Posted on 02/05/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Scott Styris' retirement from Tests may have weakened New Zealand's batting but England will do well to watch out for Jacob Oram, writes Scyld Berry in the Telegraph. Oram will remind England of Andrew Flintoff, a player in a similar mould, though unfortunately ruled out of the tour with persistant injury problems.

The pair have played against each other since Under-19 level, and Flintoff always had the edge because of his superior bowling - but not any more. Oram, you would think, is one of those New Zealanders who grew up in the countryside carrying a sheep under each arm and playing rugby.

February 2, 2008

No place for fat men

Posted on 02/02/2008 in New Zealand cricket

	Jesse Ryder's girth does not find favour with Adam Parore © Getty Images

Adam Parore, the former New Zealand gloveman, expresses his unhappiness over the selection of Jesse Ryder, the 23-year-old left-hand batsman, into the national ODI squad. His column in the New Zealand Herald has more.

For a start, the way Ryder presents himself is a bad sign.He's too fat. He's in no fit state to play for New Zealand and if I was still in the national side, I wouldn't want him in my dressing room.

He claims to have lost 10kg, in which case you can only wonder what shape he was in before that. This selection sends a poor message to other players. There is an implication that fitness parameters only apply to some players.

The days of picking Jock Edwards-types are over. Or David Boon, the tubby Tasmanian, for that matter. Boon was a fine batsman, and an exception to the rule. But those guys are the dinosaurs and have no place in the modern international game.

Then you consider Ryder's off-field track record, his problems with discipline and alcohol. He says they're in the past and good luck to him, but I wouldn't have him there until he'd tidied his act up physically for a start.

January 26, 2008

Silence could be golden for Bond

Posted on 01/26/2008 in New Zealand cricket

The Shane Bond-Indian Cricket League saga has gone quiet of late, which Adam Parore in the Weekend Herald sees as a positive sign that he might still play in the upcoming series against England.

Whether he plays will doubtless come down to the wording of his contract. From my experience his contract is unlikely to say "you can't sign" for an unsanctioned competition, more likely "you can't play in an unsanctioned event while contracted to New Zealand Cricket". Obviously he is not playing for an opposition league yet and until he turns up he will not be in breach of anything. To prevent him playing or even to leave him out of selection because he has signed to go elsewhere after his NZC contract has expired will be seen as a clear restraint of trade.

In the Press, Geoff Longley takes a look at the man with one of the toughest jobs in cricket at the moment - John Hansen, the New Zealand judge who will hear the appeal over Harbhajan Singh's three-Test ban.

January 16, 2008

Do Kiwis still care about New Zealand Test cricket?

Posted on 01/16/2008 in New Zealand cricket

"Wellington is supposed to be the sport's spiritual home in New Zealand," writes Tony Smith on stuff.co.nz. "We are constantly being told that the Basin Reserve is the consummate cricket venue. Yet how strong is the interest when only 4000 fans can be bothered going to the Basin on a sunny summer's Sunday to watch the rout of bumbling, fumbling Bangladesh? The Black Caps' mediocrity must take some of the blame."

January 6, 2008

New Zealand losing control

Posted on 01/06/2008 in New Zealand cricket

Dylan Cleaver writes in the Herald on Sunday that the Shane Bond-ICL saga is proving just how much sway the Indian board has over New Zealand Cricket.

For all intents and purposes, they are playing puppeteer while NZC jiggles. This, apparently, is the brave new world of New Zealand Cricket - where we become a subsidiary of the BCCI. That chiselling sound is the engravers at NZC's offices, changing the brass-plate from New Zealand Cricket to Board of Cricket Control India, New Zealand Division.

In the Sunday News, Craig McMillan chats about his experience in the ICL this year.

"Neither have actually been sanctioned by the ICC. It seems to be something that people have run with and not corrected. The IPL has only been sanctioned by the BCCI and the last time I looked they weren't the governing body of world cricket. While NZ Cricket is very eager to do as the Indian Cricket Board says, it should be careful it doesn't devalue the international game by putting out a weakened team."

NZC must also be careful how it handles its players, according to Mark Richardson, who writes in the Herald on Sunday that Scott Styris can rightly feel aggrieved to be dropped from the Test team.

December 30, 2007

Time to be bold and brave

Posted on 12/30/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	What the team Daniel Vettori leads out to face Bangladesh look like? © Getty Images

New Zealand’s team for their Test series against Bangladesh is announced on Monday and Dylan Cleaver in the New Zealand Herald believes the selectors will play it safe but urges them not to:

After a fraught selection meeting in Sydney during the midst of New Zealand's disastrous twin tours of South Africa and Australia the talk was of possible changes, of a new beginning in the five-day game. Now it appears a few cheap one-day runs and wickets against over-matched minnows will be enough to retain a status quo. The selectors will decide that it would be a mistake to make wholesale changes. However, with a test team that is so obviously failing every time it comes up against decent opposition, the biggest mistake is surely to sit back and do nothing.

In the same paper, Adam Parore has much the same view, but offers an interesting insight into how his first game back with the gloves after five years went. He also reports that Sky’s banning of New Zealand’s coach John Bracewell has delighted Bracewell “as he has better things to do with his time.” Parore has the solution.

Continue reading "Time to be bold and brave"

December 23, 2007

Adams too good to be excluded

Posted on 12/23/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	Coach John Bracewell has drawn criticism for New Zealand's string of poor performances © Getty Images

"Andre Adams is the dominant force in first-class cricket at the moment and, with Shane Bond injured, the best seamer in the country [New Zealand]," writes Dylan Cleaver in the Herald on Sunday.

"It is fair enough to express disappointment and concern from the last few months' proceedings but it is unfair to judge them [New Zealand] solely on the past couple of months," says Mark Richardson in the Herald on Sunday.

The losses in Australia were bad and we would all like to see a better showing against the best. That showing will only come about if the players are prepared to take a good look at themselves with enough realistic self-assessment to sting them into action. I'm not saying they need to try harder or show more ticker or any of those other emotionally based, uneducated cliches; but what I am saying is that they need to be stung into a course of action that will enable them to raise their games to a level whereby they can play their best cricket more consistently.

"John Bracewell's attempts to stir up the Australians were an illustration of how low New Zealand cricket has sunk at the moment," says Paul Lewis.

"Not for the first time, Canterbury batsman Peter Fulton has been primed for a trouble-shooting role this time in a New Zealand batting line-up that has shown all the reliability of an Auckland bus," says Richard Boock in the Sunday Star Times.

Also in the Sunday Star Times, Michael Donaldson says, "If New Zealand were winning you could forgive John Bracewell his eccentricities. But the team is losing and Bracewell has now taken enough rope."

December 22, 2007

Travel's a great way to learn

Posted on 12/22/2007 in New Zealand cricket

"Those who take Daniel Vettori at face value have him all wrong," writes David Leggat in the New Zealand Herald. "The New Zealand captain is amiable, polite and well spoken. When he made the national side at 17 he could have been confused for a choir boy. But those assuming his mild demeanour translates to a gentle-minded leader, reluctant to speak his mind, should think again. Vettori displayed a firm and forthright tongue during New Zealand's poor Chappell-Hadlee Trophy campaign in Australia."

David Leggat also outlines five things we learnt about New Zealand from their 0-2 defeat in the Chappell-Hadlee series.

"The Gilchrist affair was damaging to the New Zealand team's culture, and was disappointing because it was a completely meaningless distraction," says Adam Parore.

Firm, forthright and ready to lead from front

Posted on 12/22/2007 in New Zealand cricket

The decision to appoint him captain hasn't been a hit at all, and there's not a whole lot to smile about if you're a New Zealand cricketer, but Daniel Vettori says he has enjoyed his role on the field. Talking to the New Zealand Herald's David Leggat, Vettori puts team before individual and hopes to savour some better days in cricket.

December 18, 2007

Braces yourself

Posted on 12/18/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Paul Holden, writing in his stuff.co.nz blog, salutes John Bracewell, a veritable humanheadline.

August 2003 - On meeting Stephen Fleming: “[It] left the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. He had a real presence or mana about him which needs to be respected and used to the best advantage.”

Meanwhile Hamish McDouall feels New Zealand need a bowler to tie up one end, to slow down the pace of scoring, to nick out a slashing batsman.

December 16, 2007

Taking the mick when taking the mic

Posted on 12/16/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Daniel Vettori and Ross Taylor weren’t fans of being miked up for the Twenty20 in Perth last Tuesday. Both players were surprised by how much the Nine team called upon them for commentary throughout the game, though the Australians didn’t appear to be bothered. Read the full story in the New Zealand Herald.

November 24, 2007

The church mouse opens up

Posted on 11/24/2007 in New Zealand cricket

John Wright, set to take over from Ric Charlesworth as New Zealand Cricket's high performance manager, looks ahead to his new role, the frustration at being overlooked last month as a national selector and the talented players to look out for. In an indepth interview to Jonathan Millmow in stuff.co.nz, Wright explains why struggling players like Michael Papps and Craig Cumming should be persisted with.

"I know Bruce Edgar and I were averaging in the mid 20s for the first 20 Tests of our careers but we were stuck with and backed and then we repaid them.You have to have specialists and they have to want to open the batting and you have to give them a chance, but having said that, if we are to get better at Test cricket then we have to solve that situation."

November 17, 2007

The Last XI: NZ’s greatest tail-enders

Posted on 11/17/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Even as Chris Martin zeroes in on records, Paul Holden, writing in the stuff.co.nz website, tracks the men who can bat ahead of Martin at the list of all-time Black Cap lower-order batting battlers.

November 14, 2007

The Skippy issue

Posted on 11/14/2007 in New Zealand cricket

'On Monday I wrote that Mathew Sinclair should be in the test team', writes Hamish McDouall in the stuff website. 'Two days and 243 runs later, the rest of the country agrees.'

Sinclair has been a nearly man for half a decade. His absence from the test team, considering three big test hundreds, another two ODI centuries and 11 international 50s, seems inexplicable when players like Papps, How, Cumming, Fulton and any number of Marshalls have been preferred.

Also read Paul Holden's blog in the same website writing on the naffest cricket merchandise…ever.

Meanwhile the saga that is Shane Bond's cricket career continues, says Sam Worthington in the Dominion Post. Bond touches down in Christchurch today after being invalided out of yet another tour.

November 13, 2007

The Nella Fella

Posted on 11/13/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Andre Nel intrigues me, writes Paul Holden in his stuff.co.nz website blog, Sideline Slogger.

If South African journalist Telford Vice reckons Scott Styris is cricket’s version of Banquo’s ghost, then in “Nella” we just might have gone one better and discovered the sport’s Shakespeare.

The beleaguered Black Caps can expect no respite from the short-pitched bowling barrage by South Africa's speedsters in the second cricket test at Centurion, writes Geoff Longley in the Press.

Meanwhile the New Zealand Herald are conducting a reader's poll. Is this New Zealand's worst ever sporting year? Read the selection of comments here.

November 12, 2007

Stalking Kass Naidoo

Posted on 11/12/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	'Poor batting technique. Balsa wood bodies. This raises two key questions – how is John Bracewell improving batting skills and fitness?' © Getty Images

In the Stuff.co.nz, Paul Holden, a New Zealand fan, writes on the cricket commentary on the wireless in South Africa.

Meanwhile, here in Aotearoa, we’ve never had a female cricket commentator, as far as I can recall. It is total man-land on both RadioSport and Sky’s cricket commentary teams with no cricket commentary suffragettes on the horizon either. Possibilities from the ranks of those of the fairer sex who have pledged their allegiance to cricket at one time or another would include effective actress Jodie Rimmer, bespectacled Basin-loving politician Marian Hobbs or the voluptuous talkback host Kerre Woodham

.

Hamish McDouall dissects New Zealand's woeful performance in the first Test against South Africa.

Exactly half Michael Papps‘ test innings have finished in single figures. Apart from providing a funny nickname (“Smear”) and a ridiculous haircut, what does he offer that Lou Vincent or Matthew Sinclair doesn’t? I think it is time to take the puppy out the back and shoot it. Craig Cumming’s vaunted technique against quick bowlers looked overstated in the face of superb Protea bowling.

Poor batting technique. Balsa wood bodies. This raises two key questions – how is John Bracewell improving batting skills and fitness? (After all, we don’t need finely tuned athletes, just blokes who can turn up for work…) And what the hell is High Performance Manager Ric Charlesworth actually doing?

November 4, 2007

'Mollycoddled' cricketers unable to think for themselves

Posted on 11/04/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	Laptops have become a mainstay of the coach's armoury © Cricinfo Ltd

John Morrison, the former New Zealand batsman, has attacked the modern culture of over-analysis (which was mentioned yesterday by Nathan Astle) and criticised New Zealand’s inability to think on their feet.

"I'm always worried when I go to a ground and see cricket coaches poring over laptops but the problem is, now if you say anything to the contrary you're called old and out of touch.

So instead we've created this industry of extras around the team who have to justify their existence by taking any decisions or responsibilities away from the players.

"So we've got this mollycoddled generation of sportsmen who might be great athletes but who have lost all ability to think for themselves.

Read the full piece at the New Zealand Herald, and check out John’s website.

November 3, 2007

Brain-washing New Zealand's cricketers

Posted on 11/03/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	Nathan Astle made the revelations in his recently published autobiography © Getty Images

New Zealand's cricketers run a form of "personality training" whereby the team are split up into groups to describe eachother, according to Richard Boock in the Sunday Star Times.

This is the much-trumpeted forum that as told in Nathan Astle's just released autobiography includes a session in which each player has to leave the room while the rest of side break into groups and dream up adjectives to best describe him, and a few things they believe he should try to brush up on.

Apparently the brainchild of a former Australian school teacher, the supposed aim is to improve the relationship-dynamics between the players, therefore imbuing the squad with a greater sense of trust and, as a consequence, helping to achieve more success on the playing field. That's the aim, anyway.

However, if you talk to Astle who describes it as personality training (not a long way from attempted brain-washing) or any number of genuine conflict-management specialists, they'll tell you it's an astonishingly naive system, lacking in any academic appraisal and with the potential to cause more damage than benefit.

[...]

It's true, Imran Khan was arrogant, Ian Botham was irresponsible and Javed Miandad was dangerously intemperate but I can't recall any complaints about the quality of their performance. Same goes for Shane Warne. He wouldn't have won any prizes for balanced thinking, but do you think his team-mates cared?

Maybe you only have these quack-fests when you have a struggling team.

November 2, 2007

The late bloomer

Posted on 11/02/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	© Getty Images

In the past Chris Martin didn't always seem to be taking his cricket seriously. But now he has a target of 200 Test wickets, he tells Jonathan Millmow of the Dominion Post.

Martin is ninth on the New Zealand test wicket charts with 106 scalps, but a successful return in the upcoming two-test series against South Africa would see him overtake Bruce Taylor (111) and Richard Collinge (116)

Nathan Astle is retired from international cricket but he still remains a sought-after player as various tournament organisers turn to him to wow crowds, writes Logan Savory in the Southland Times

Astle feels the atmosphere surrounding the Black Caps was claustrophobic and the game made too complicated. Read Geoff Longley's piece in the Press for more.

October 28, 2007

Introducing Hamish Bennett

Posted on 10/28/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	© Getty Images

Chris Cairns analyses New Zealand's fast-bowling bench strength in the New Zealand Herald and introduces Hamish Bennett, a hope for the future.

Now built more like a reconditioned All Black forward than a fast bowler, Bennett's size and action has more than a passing resemblance to Englishman Steve Harmison - something not lost on Bennett's former age-grade team-mates who often referred to him as 'Harmy'.

Also read Richard Boock in the Sunday Star Times where he looks ahead to Daniel Vettori's first challenge as New Zealand Test captain.

Vettori, who will become the first front-line bowler since Harry Cave to be the country's fulltime test captain, can hardly wait for the Wanderers' match to arrive - despite the degree of difficulty expected. "I'm looking forward to it and I'll be trying to keep a fun element about it, even though we'll be deadly serious about trying to win."

October 26, 2007

Sinclair's lifesaver

Posted on 10/26/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Mathew Sinclair is not terribly disappointed with not being picked in New Zealand’s squad to tour South Africa. Speaking to stuff.co.nz, he says,

“I haven't played any cricket over the winter and, from a selection point of view, I had no recent form to back my claims.”

Sinclair indicated that the contract with New Zealand cricket had been a boon.

"That was a little lifesaver really and has given me some stability financially.”

In another story, Gareth Hopkins, who made the team, says that the time spent with Glenn Turner helped him mould his batting.

"I remember one day I was in the nets and I asked him `did you ever have a couple of options for a ball when you were attacking the bowling?' and he just looked at me and said `yes Hoppy, three or four.’"

October 18, 2007

The Mac Attack

Posted on 10/18/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Geoff Longley of New Zealand's The Press looks back at the rollercoaster career of the big-hitting Craig McMillan and highlights the problems McMillan faced as a diabetes patient.

Having diabetes since 15 meant he constantly had to be conscious of his blood-sugar ratio in the middle.

Hence McMillan often had a supply of jellybeans with him out in the middle to lift his levels if he felt himself going low which was sometimes difficult to determine with the adrenalin pumping.

Playing big innings often took its toll and on occasion McMillan arrived at press conferences with his speech slurred and desperately in need of a glucose injection but unaware of his plight.

Meanwhile, in the Marlborough Express, John Alexander writes of former New Zealand offspinner Dipak Patel's search for spinning talent.

October 14, 2007

The importance of being Bond

Posted on 10/14/2007 in New Zealand cricket

While perhaps the average speed of the Black Caps attack has increased in the past few years, do not think for a moment that a potent New Zealand test match bowling attack can do without Bond, writes Mark Richardson in the New Zealand Herald.

In the same newspaper Paul Lewis speaks to Chris Martin on the challenges that lie ahead:

I think the first time I played them, it was a case of me realising that I could play at that level. The next time I played them, I had been out of the game pretty much for two years and I had a point to prove.

October 13, 2007

Daunting debut for Vettori

Posted on 10/13/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Daniel Vettori will soon become New Zealand's 26th Test captain when he leads the team on a tour to South Africa. Geoff Langley, of the Press, caught up with the new captain.

You haven't done much captaincy before at first-class level, have you?

No, just a handful of games. The biggest thing for me is I've always wanted to captain the side and I need to find out that I can do it. I think I can. I'm going to captain a test side with little experience in leading at first-class level but a lot of experience at playing the game. Hopefully that wealth of knowledge accumulated over 10 or 11 years of test playing cricket will stand me in good stead.

Aren't you worried having Stephen looking over your shoulder?

I don't see having Flem there as a problem. I can understand people's concerns about that but I think Stephen's alleviated those about what he wants to get out of the game now. He wants to score runs, lead the batting side and be a huge asset to me for the one or two years while his playing is as good as it can be. That's exciting for me to hear that.

September 30, 2007

Pinball wizardry needed for selection

Posted on 09/30/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Mark Richardson, the former New Zealand batsman, writing in the New Zealand Herald, offers his views on the team selected for the tour of South Africa. He has sympathy for Lou Vincent and Sinclair and believes they have missed out because they're not specialist openers.

If you're Sinclair or Vincent where do you bat for your province? Do you open, hoping for the usual test incumbent failures or do you patiently position yourself? The simple answer is to bat where you score the most runs. But that just enhances the problem for both these two because for Sinclair that's three and Vincent it's four.

September 28, 2007

Papps ready for South African fast bowlers

Posted on 09/28/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Recalled New Zealand Test opener Michael Papps reckons he has no lasting hang-ups about being hit by fast bowlers, writes Tim Dunbar in The Press.

The gritty Papps says he is comfortable with the likelihood the South African pacemen will be trying to rattle his helmet with bouncers in the upcoming two-test series. "Oh, fine with it. It's just one of those things that happens in cricket. I've been pinned before, mate, and I'm sure I will be pinned again."

Meanwhile Craig Cumming, Papps's fellow opener, has secured a spot as a second opener. He finds a place ahead of Jamie How for the two-test cricket series in South Africa in November. Jonathan Millmow reports in The Dominion Post.

Interested in Chris Martin's plans for the forthcoming season? Click here.

September 11, 2007

The end is near on Fleming speculation

Posted on 09/11/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Geoff Longley writes in the Press that an end to the Stephen Fleming saga will probably come this week, with Daniel Vettori likely to take over as Test captain.

It is understood the New Zealand captaincy issue has been resolved without acrimony and there seems no suggestion of Fleming charging off to the Twenty20 rebels in a huff having been bypassed for the captaincy. That would have been a black mark on Fleming's largely outstanding association with the game in this country and a sad note on which to farewell NZC, with whom he has had a 15-year association.

September 9, 2007

Fleming losing grip on Test captaincy

Posted on 09/09/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	Stephen Fleming has some big decisions to make © Getty Images

Stephen Fleming’s refusal to distance himself from the Indian Cricket League will cost him the New Zealand Test captaincy, according to Richard Boock in the Sunday Star-Times.

It's thought the New Zealand selectors are anxious to continue with Fleming's services as a batsman, but are unwilling to retain him as captain, possibly because of his alleged links to the rebel league; possibly because they think the time is right for Vettori. Whatever the motive, there must now be a strong chance that Fleming will feel slighted by the decision, and that he'll decide to turn his back on NZC in favour of signing on to the lucrative rebel circuit.

August 19, 2007

Fleming's awkward position

Posted on 08/19/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	Why can't I have everything? © AFP

Stephen Fleming is in an awkward position following an offer from the Indian Cricket League - willing to pay huge money to have him play two months a year - and his exclusion from New Zealand's Twenty20 sqaud for the inaugural World Championship in South Africa, writes Dylan Cleaver in the New Zealand Herald

Ideally, Fleming would probably like to do both but if he had to choose, then recent events are making the ICL seem a more attractive proposition by the day.

But he hasn't gone all Jacques Kallis on us by threatening an imminent retirement because he's probably been considering it anyway. He's instead kept a silence he probably feels is dignified, though New Zealand Cricket obviously feels it is counterproductive and confusing, judging by their understandable request for him to speak publicly to "clear the air".

August 5, 2007

Fleming expected to be left out

Posted on 08/05/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	Fleming: South Africa bound? © Getty Images

It is expected that Stephen Fleming's name will be missing when the 14-man squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in September is read out soon, writes Dylan Cleaver in the New Zealand Herald.

While his probable absence could be put down to routine matters of wanting to blood younger players in this all-action form of the game, says Cleaver, it will fuel conspiracies he will retire from international cricket to take up a contract with the embryonic Indian Cricket League.

With Fleming getting quality match play in England, not being particularly mobile in the field, or one of the game's great sloggers, his spot could be taken by one of the new breed of cricketers the selectors have been eyeing over the past 12 months. At the top of that list is understood to be Wellington's Grant Elliott.

In the same publication, Cleaver also traces Auckland spinner Tim Lythe's remarkable move to relaunch his career after a cancer scare. To rid his body of the bone cancer he was diagnosed with in 1999, doctors sawed off half his left thigh bone, replacing it with a titanium rod and replaced his knee with a complex prosthesis. What was supposed to last ten years lasted six as Lythe returned to his first-class career.

Read on here.

July 28, 2007

Wright returns with message to toughen up

Posted on 07/28/2007 in New Zealand cricket

As New Zealand look to toughen up their cricket outlook, there's no better man than John Wright to show them the way, who has joined New Zealand Cricket in a high-performance role. His role is vague for now, but John Bracewell, the coach, and Justin Vaughan, the New Zealand board's chief executive, have their ideas of how best to use Wright's abilities. David Leggat, writing for the New Zealand Herald, illustrates with an example during a tour of India in the 1980s.

Once, the ball rolled a metre away from his bat. Convention is that the batsman lobs the ball back to the bowler. But Wright stood his ground as the youngster marched all the way down the pitch to pick up his ball. Watching this, Wright's teammates chuckled.

June 30, 2007

Grateful Sinclair hopes to justify his contract

Posted on 06/30/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Mathew Sinclair feels like a bloke who has fallen off the back of an ocean liner and been thrown a lifebelt, writes David Leggat in The New Zealand Herald.

Those who reckon he doesn't warrant another contract point to the substantial troughs; those in his camp cling to the notion that having achieved the big numbers before he can do so again.He's aware of his reputation _ too many lows over a long period of time _ and although it may be too late to make full amends, an older, wiser Sinclair can at least partially put things right in the coming year.

June 17, 2007

Who's next in line?

Posted on 06/17/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Hamish Marshall has become the first New Zealand player to turn his back on a national contract. The Northern Districts batsman has made "the most difficult decision of my life" and, armed with a British passport, will play his cricket in England for the foreseeable future.

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Dylan Cleaver looks at the three players who appear to have the inside running to take the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) contract vacated by Marshall.

Click here to read on.

June 3, 2007

The player whose face just doesn't seem to fit

Posted on 06/03/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	Sinclair- Out in the cold © Getty Images

Mathew Sinclair went fishing the day he received the news most of us expected but somehow hoped wouldn't happen. He didn't catch anything. Sinclair is just not having a time of his life, missing out on another contract, writes Dylan Cleaver in The New Zealand Herald

Here's two statistics to consider when assessing Sinclair's test record. Up to 2001, when Sinclair started to be dropped and picked for the test team, he averaged 43.16. Since 2002, when he began to get mucked around, he has averaged just 23.06.

He scored far too slowly (SR 60.76) to ever be truly effective in his 45 one-day internationals and that provided the selectors with enough ammunition to drop him.

May 22, 2007

Wrong move for New Zealand's Mr Wright

Posted on 05/22/2007 in New Zealand cricket

The possibility that John Wright could be the next head coach at Australia's academy does not please Geoff Longley. In The Press, Longley writes that it seems wrong for Wright to help Australia's cricketing elite.

It is unfortunate that a position could not be found in New Zealand that would enable Wright to pass on his expertise to both budding Black Caps and those already in the top team. At the highest level, New Zealand appears to lack batting nous as shown by poor performances at test level and some inconsistent displays in the one-day game.

In recent seasons New Zealand has shown a disturbing trend to fall over after getting ahead in a tests. Wright, given his experience coaching India from 2001-2005 and the reluctance with which he yielded his wicket as a New Zealand opening bat, seemed the ideal person to add some steel to the Black Caps' batting mindset.

May 9, 2007

Hopping from medicine to business

Posted on 05/09/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Chris Rattue profiles Justin Vaughan, the newly appointed chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, in The New Zealand Herald.

International cricketer. Successful double Shell Trophy winning Auckland captain. Well travelled academic and businessman. Why not NZC chief executive then, for Dr Vaughan?
Yet despite being a member of the NZC board, Vaughan didn't give the job a moment's thought after Snedden rang to say he was stepping down.

April 30, 2007

A fast bowler who never knew when to stop

Posted on 04/30/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Dick Motz, the first New Zealand's bowler to reach 100 Test wickets, has died in Christchurch.

Geoff Longley offers his in tribute in The Press while Lynn McConnell writes on Sportal about the fast bowler who loved hitting sixes.

The Waikato Times, which rates Motz as the fifth best seamer that New Zealand ever produced, hails him as:

"He could be a shock and a stock bowler. Extremely courageous and durable, with a fine fast bowler's hatred of batsmen."

Investing in New Zealand's future

Posted on 04/30/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Michael Donaldson, writing in The Sunday Star Times looks at the existing system, suggests changes and picks his possible 15 for the next World Cup.

A possible 15 for the 2011 World Cup: Daniel Vettori (captain), Peter Fulton, Lou Vincent, Todd Astle, Ross Taylor, Tim Southee, Corey Anderson, Jacob Oram, James Franklin, Brendon McCullum, Aaron Redmond, Kyle Mills, Daniel Vettori, Jeetan Patel, Hamish Bennett.

April 27, 2007

Coach not the problem

Posted on 04/27/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	There's no guarentee that John Bracewell's successor will do any better © Getty Images

The blame for New Zealand's disappointing exit from the semi-finals shouldn't rest on the coach John Bracewell, writes Richard Boock in the New Zealand Herald. He says that naming individuals as scapegoats isn't going to help as it's the entire squad which should be made accountable.

New Zealand bombed out in the Caribbean because the individual players, when presented with the equivalent of a rigged draw to see them through to the semifinals, choked like a chihuahua on a chicken bone. Remember the old saying about a champion team always beating a team of champions? Utter rubbish. Romantic bollocks.

Writing in the same paper, Adam Parore has a different opinion and feels that Bracewell hasn't done enough to warrant a second term. He also pushes for John Wright as a worthy replacement.

I've always hoped that John Wright would get his chance at some stage and from conversations with him many years ago, he has had his eye on the Black Caps' job

February 26, 2007

Drunken rampage in New Zealand

Posted on 02/26/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Three players from Taranaki were arrested yesterday following "a drunken rampage" in Napier.

Police were called just before 1.30am with reports a group of five men were causing chaos along Hastings Street and up Shakespeare Road after being refused entry to Rosie O'Grady's Irish Pub.

Senior Sergeant Mal Lochrie says officers caught up with the group in the suburb of Ahuriri after they had walked over Napier Hill. He says they threw and kicked rubbish around, ripped down signs, abused people, damaged letterboxes and shattered a parked car's windscreen with a tree branch.

Mr Lochrie says three cricketers, aged 18, 23 and 26, have been charged with disorderly behaviour. The Taranaki Mens A side was in town over the weekend, playing Hawke's Bay.

More at Auckland's Newstalk.

February 24, 2007

10 reasons to feel good about Black Caps

Posted on 02/24/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	'The quality we have just seen is superior to anything from the 1980s or my era - they are playing at a completely different level' - Adam Parore © Getty Images

Adam Parore believes the rediscovered killer instinct will serve Black Caps well in the World Cup.

This is the most exciting group of talent I've seen for some time, and already among our better one-day outfits. The challenge is to move ahead, to reach a 60 to 70 per cent win ratio instead of settling for 45 per cent. The signs are good. The quality we have just seen is superior to anything from the 1980s or my era - they are playing at a completely different level. Keep it up, and they will be hard for anyone to beat.

Richard Boock is also in a optimistic mood. He presents 10 reasons to feel good about New Zealand's World Cup Campaign.

Rod Emmerson captures the upbeat mood in New Zealand with a cartoon. Check it out here.

February 22, 2007

Do not adjust reality - it's true

Posted on 02/22/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	Stephen Fleming leads the celebrations for New Zealand © Getty Images

Richard Boock, like thousands of other New Zealanders can scarcely beleive the 3-0 whitewash of Australia, pinching themselves silly after a ten wicket romp and two delirious 336+ chases. Unable to take the shock, he requests that someone please tell the Kiwis to warn them in advance before pulling off such stunts.

You could imagine the bedlam outside the medical clinics yesterday morning as thousands of New Zealanders lined up to have their eyes tested.

"I think I just saw New Zealand beat Australia 3-0, doc."
"Really? Well, take two of these with a glass of water and everything should be fine in the morning."

Read the full piece in The New Zealand Herald.

February 10, 2007

Should Vettori take over as New Zealand captain?

Posted on 02/10/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	Stephen Fleming: under the scanner after New Zealand's poor display in the CB Series © Getty Images

With New Zealand having lost seven of their last nine one-day internationals, calls are on in the media to try out a new captain. Adam Parore, the former wicketkeeper, says in The New Zealand Herald that it's time for a change.

Never has he [Fleming] looked more comfortable with losing than after the match against England. He admitted that he had no idea why the Black Caps kept losing, only that he thought they were playing quite good cricket. Even more alarming was the admission that he had no clue as to how he could get his team to win again.

However, Fleming still has his supporters. Richard Boock, writing in the same paper, suggests it's nonsensical to call for Fleming's head.

If you studied Fleming's leadership effort during the tri-series, you could make a case that he's never been quite so daring or spontaneous; starting with his field placements for key opposition batsmen, his bowling combinations and his manipulation of the power-plays.

February 9, 2007

The good, the bad and the ugly

Posted on 02/09/2007 in New Zealand cricket

"Surprisingly there are many encouraging aspects to emerge from the debris of New Zealand's tri-series campaign, an effort that started with a meek loss to Australia and ended with a meek loss to England, up until that point the laughing stock of the cricketing world," writes Richard Boock in The New Zealand Herald.

For starters, there was the excellent impression made by new paceman Mark Gillespie, then there was batsman Lou Vincent, who was injected into the side like a dose of adrenalin and who could forget Jacob Oram's feats at Adelaide and Perth, when he awoke a previously near catatonic Australian public with a hitting blitz that had respected commentators comparing him with Ian Botham and Viv Richards.

February 4, 2007

Not the poor man's Chris Cairns

Posted on 02/04/2007 in New Zealand cricket

	'Now I feel as though they can bowl different lengths and I can still hit them' says Oram the Invincible © Getty Images

Jacob Oram - back from injury - has had a great CB series averaging 241 from the first three matches. But the return hasn't been easy and the comparisons with Chris Cairns, a little frustrating. He talks to Jonathan Millmow of Fairfax Media about the technique of hitting out, texting Cairns and, taking his dog for a walk.

Oram has his own distinctive technique where he opens out his front hip and shoulder to create power and give him a hitting arc through the on-side. It can look agricultural and does shut off the off side but it is hard to criticise given his results over the last three games. "I used to try and bully it over the boundary, now I feel as though they can bowl different lengths and I can still hit them.

"Taking the dog for a walk is the best remedy (when you are down), he'll lick your face no matter what. All he wants is to go for a swim, he doesn't care if you've got zero or a hundred. That always brings you back to earth."

January 31, 2007

Alright, we were wrong about the unwatchables

Posted on 01/31/2007 in New Zealand cricket

New Zealand cricket isn't often the height of fashion, but lately it's been sniffed at even more than usual, especially given John Bracewell's disconcerting habit of rotating his starting line-up. But now, suddenly, the Kiwis are on the up - a place in the CB Series is all but sealed, and even Australia were threatened by Jacob Oram's fireworks at Perth. Richard Boock in New Zealand Herald feels an apology is in order.

In common with other newspapers, we may have been guilty of suggesting that John Bracewell was not quite the next Albert Einstein, and that his selection policies appeared to have been designed by a bunch of Alzheimer's victims

January 27, 2007

Was Astle pushed?

Posted on 01/27/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Nathan Astle retired on Friday, citing a lack of motivation ahead of the World Cup. But Richard Boock, in the NZ Herald, reads between the lines and finds Astle's reasoning doesn't add up.

So, what about the idea that coach John Bracewell and the management team have approached Astle, offering to assist him through a dignified retirement rather than announcing that he's been axed? It's certainly worth considering, not only because Astle seems to have lost the hand-eye co-ordination that made him such a threat in previous years, but also because of the remarks he made about retirement last month.At the time, Astle was being interviewed in the lead-up to the first test against Sri Lanka and his comments then contrasted wildly with the slightly rehearsed reasoning he came out with yesterday.

January 9, 2007

Billy's had a ton of fun

Posted on 01/09/2007 in New Zealand cricket

Even though inclement weather ruined the series decider at Hamilton, there was just enough time for the toss. It meant that umpire Billy Bowden has now managed 100 ODIs. Phil Hamilton in the Waikato Times doffs his hat.

January 5, 2007

McMillan determined not to sell himself short

Posted on 01/05/2007 in New Zealand cricket

After Craig McMillan flopped as a would-be salesman he was left a solitary career choice – weigh down his cricketing curriculum vitae by sheer volume of runs, writes Chris Barclay of the New Zealand Press Association.

"I did a couple of courses and saw a couple of things I thought I'd apply for – I was going to be a salesmen," he said."I got a couple of interviews, it was nothing major but obviously when something hits you pretty hard like that you have to start thinking ahead. I was out of my comfort zone turning up in front of two or three people and being asked questions you can't answer because you haven't been in that workforce or that situation ...I decided at the age of 30 I wasn't washed up – as some people obviously thought I was."

December 30, 2006

Century maker learns a lesson

Posted on 12/30/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Ross Taylor, the promising young New Zealand batsman who scored his maiden one-day hundred in just his third match, ended up in hospital attached to a saline drip and unable to celebrate his milestone. Taylor, 22, learnt a valuable lesson in his third one-day innings - eat lots, drink plenty and try not to be so nervous. Speaking to The New Zealand Herald, a slightly embarassed Taylor admits the realisation he was in trouble struck at the worst possible time - as he was setting off for his hundredth run.

December 11, 2006

Video of Murali's dismissal against New Zealand

Posted on 12/11/2006 in Sri Lankan cricket

The Corridor has a video of Muttiah Muralitharan's controversial dismissal against New Zealand last week.

November 19, 2006

A breeding ground for nurturing depression

Posted on 11/19/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Mark Richardson says that "a tour of Australia is no place to be for someone suffering from depression" in The New Zealand Herald.

I wish Trescothick - an opening batsman whom I've always held in the utmost admiration, the best in overcoming this illness and hope he returns to the international level. Now, speaking of things mental, has anyone else noticed that in a game between Auckland and Northern Districts, last week Hamish Marshall made 170 not out?

November 18, 2006

One man, a dog and a sleeping bag

Posted on 11/18/2006 in New Zealand cricket

The opening day of the first-class cricket season is like stepping back 30 years to when towelling hats were de rigueur. A quick inventory read: thermos flasks, three; field glasses lovingly protected in leather cases, four; tartan blankets, eight; chilly bins, two; fold-out chairs, six (one in camouflage colours); cricketers on field, 13, (plus two umpires).

There's few under 40 here. It feels like a Stephen King novel where an unknown force has stolen the young and deposited them in a cornfield north of Rangiora.

No, it’s not a County Championship match in England in April, it’s a State Championship match in New Zealand in November. And, as Dylan Cleaver finds in The Herald on Sunday as he watches Canterbury take on Otago, it can be a chilly, isolated affair. But it’s not all bad:

Most people involved in the game are quick to tell you how much superior the State Championship is now compared to the old Shell Trophy and Plunket Shield days - better cricket, better pitches, better facilities, better player welfare etc.

November 12, 2006

The McCullum advantage

Posted on 11/12/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Post Champions Trophy, Mark Richardson counters suggestions that Brendon McCullum be moved up the order to counter New Zealand's top-order woes, citing the team's strengths.
Read the full piece in Herald on Sunday.

The one area the Black Caps could say they are strong, and arguably the best in the world, would be their lower middle order. It is because of this depth the Black Caps rate themselves as a very good chasing side and it should be because of this depth that the top order has the confidence to play freely. If McCullum is taken out of the lower middle, he will leave a gap

November 4, 2006

Bracewell must bite bullet

Posted on 11/04/2006 in New Zealand cricket

	Parore: 'If Braces [Bracewell] wants to win the World Cup, he'll need to make changes' © Getty Images

"You can wave goodbye to our World Cup chances right now unless John Bracewell rediscovers his nerve in the next few weeks," writes Adam Parore in The New Zealand Herald.

If the present lot were suddenly going to turn into world-beaters, they would have done so a long time ago. So we need to accept that, if we continue to support the incumbents, we cannot win the World Cup.

Warren Lees, New Zealand's coach during the 1992 World Cup, is also calling for changes.

"I know he [Hamish Marshall] scored a lot of runs in England, but all that confirms to me is that English county cricket is crap. Most of our players could go to England and do well on the county circuit, as Craig Spearman has already shown. But there's an enormous gap between that and international level."

November 3, 2006

The fragile Champions Trophy

Posted on 11/03/2006 in New Zealand cricket

	Of his last 18 dismissals, Marshall has been bowled or leg before wicket on nine occasions © Getty Images

New Zealand's World Cup plans appear in serious disarray after another abject performance from the top-order batsmen sent them toppling out of the Champions Trophy, writes Richard Boock in The New Zealand Herald.

Boock offers suggestions - recalling young Central Districts tyro Ross Taylor in place of the hapless Hamish Marshall, and promoting Brendon McCullum - while hoping that New Zealand have plenty of time to make adjustments to their World Cup squad.

Chief among them should be the immediate release of Marshall, who has been caught up in a scarcely-believable slump over the past 18 months, and ended his tournament campaign with the worst average of the entire squad. If Bracewell picks him for the next game, it would be no surprise to discover Amnesty International taking an interest, such has been the torture and needless cruelty caused by his continuing selection.

Click here to read more.

October 22, 2006

Triumphant trip to 'homeland' for rookie Patel

Posted on 10/22/2006 in New Zealand cricket

It's his first time playing the game in father Shashi's homeland and, albeit for just a moment, Jeetan Patel is public idol No 1. Read more at the New Zealand Herald

Patel's passion for the game goes back to his father's fanatical background, having been born in the Gujarat province - of which Ahmadabad is the main city - before immigrating to England in his early teens and moving to New Zealand after marrying.

"At our home in Wellington, Dad and I would just play cricket day and night. I'm glad to be playing in his country of origin, but I'm here to play for my country now."

October 21, 2006

Punish the drug offenders: Parore

Posted on 10/21/2006 in

Adam Parore, the former New Zealand wicketkeeper, looks back at his experience of playing against Pakistan and wonders how their bowlers managed to bowl "25 overs on a searing hot day and seem to get faster as the day wears on".

I remember thinking more than once in the subcontinent, "something's not right here". I prided myself on being pretty fit during my career. I'd look at some of these guys and think "you can't do that".

Read the full piece in The New Zealand Herald.

September 1, 2006

It's not just cricket's attitude that stinks

Posted on 09/01/2006 in Miscellaneous

In The Times, former Wisden editor Tim de Lisle highlights the fact that cricket's international merry-go-round is not only hard on the players, it's also pretty environmentally unfriendly. He recalled that while editing Wisden Cricket Monthly a few years ago, he commissioned an investigation into the mileage of top players:

"We named the first winner — Australia's Ian Healy, who had done, from memory, about 70,000 miles. Within a few years, the winner (by then Stephen Fleming, of New Zealand) was doing 100,000 miles. International cricket’s total emissions, for a relatively small sport, must be colossal."

He then points out that the English county circuit is strewn with sponsored cars flying up and down the country's motorways. And then there is Asia.

"Open an Indian magazine and the chances are you will see Sachin Tendulkar sharing a little of his personal cachet with a motorbike. And administrators in the subcontinent still think it’s OK to give the man of the match a bike or even a car. Not even the umpires are immune. Fly Emirates, say their shirts, which is demeaning to them and damaging to the planet."

July 16, 2006

There's too much of a good thing

Posted on 07/16/2006 in New Zealand cricket

New Zealand aren't able to rustle up a single meaningful match while the rest of the world is talking a about player burnout. Is it really a problem, asks Dylan Cleaver in the New Zealand Herald.

May 22, 2006

'A' tours losing ground in New Zealand

Posted on 05/22/2006 in New Zealand cricket

The 'A' tours essentially provide the stepping stone for domestic stars to enter the national team, but the concept has evoked mixed reactions from players in New Zealand. Suggestions are on to beef up the existing domestic tournament, citing Australia's rise as an example, reports Dylan Cleaver in The New Zealand Herald.

'A' tours are effectively a series of trial matches and are, by definition, artificial in nature and unlikely to provide the competitive edge you get in domestic cricket.

May 14, 2006

Failing the UWTBB exams

Posted on 05/14/2006 in New Zealand cricket

It's report card time for New Zealand's international season and Mark Richardson plays professor. The Kiwis may have passed the overall season, but failed the all important Up With The Big Boys (UWTTB) Exams. Read on in the New Zealand Herald.

John Bracewell has an unfancied job arresting New Zealand's Test decline and the results seem unfair, given his passion and commitment to his job, writes Paul Lewis in the New Zealand Herald.

"He just can't win no matter what he does, you might say. It's true, as ever, that the blokes who trot out on the paddock have a fair bit to do with things."

It's rather crowded at the top

Posted on 05/14/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Paul Lewis asks why New Zealand perenially struggles to find quality openers, with those since 2000 enough in number to form a 13-man squad. Read on in the New Zealand Herald.

To say that New Zealand has not replaced Richardson is like saying that the Amazon is a bit of scrub. We haven't even replaced the guy at the other end from Richardson.

Also, read Richard Boock's views on the same topic in the New Zealand Herald.

May 7, 2006

Fleming batting his way into history

Posted on 05/07/2006 in New Zealand cricket

"On present form would be hard not to rate him alongside Glenn Turner and Crowe as one of New Zealand's best three batsmen of the modern era. But should he continue on in his record-breaking style for as long as he's intending, he could easily end up in a category of his own," believes Richard Boock.

May 1, 2006

New Zealand on a roll

Posted on 05/01/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Although the second Test at Newlands is heading towards a draw, Brendon McCullum believes New Zealand can take the momentum forward into the third Test at Johannesburg next week:

"First and foremost we're looking for a win, but if it doesn't happen then we head to Johannesburg with an opportunity of saving the series, and that can be a strong motivating factor in its own right," he said.

"We've got some tough cricket in front of us here, but whatever happens I think we'll carry some good momentum into the last test."

More at the New Zealand Herald

April 30, 2006

Fleming a late convert

Posted on 04/30/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Stephen Fleming's conversion rate from 50s to 100s may not make jaws drop but Mark Richardson writes in the New Zealand Herald that he does a fine job of converting the 100s into bigger scores.

April 29, 2006

Time running out for Fleming to tame test demons

Posted on 04/29/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Stephen Fleming's double-century put New Zealand in a commanding position of the second Test against South Africa but Adam Parore writes in the New Zealand Herald that Fleming's poor conversion rate has hampered him from becoming New Zealand's most-successful batsman.

April 23, 2006

Mills was worth the gamble

Posted on 04/23/2006 in New Zealand cricket

It was well worth New Zealand risking Kyle Mills in the No 3 position, says Mark Richardson in the New Zealand Herald.

In difficult conditions, the Black Caps took a punt when they promoted Kyle Mills […] It didn't work, thus exposing managements' necks, but I for one thought it was a good piece of improvisation and would have even gone a step further and had James Franklin follow Mills.

April 2, 2006

Selection policy out of Sinc with our Redpath winner

Posted on 04/02/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Mark Richardson writes in The New Zealand Herald that Mathew Sinclair should take the rumoured contract on offer in South Africa because the game owes him more than the New Zealand cricket environment can offer him.

April 1, 2006

Oram provides extra piece in puzzle

Posted on 04/01/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Who is Adam Parore's tip for the key player if New Zealand are to seriously ruffle the South Africans this month? Big allrounder Jacob Oram. Find out why in his article in The New Zealand Herald.

March 31, 2006

How can they afford to leave Styris out?

Posted on 03/31/2006 in New Zealand cricket

The best argument in support of the latest theory swirling around the New Zealand team is that it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense, writes Richard Boock in The New Zealand Herald.

The idea of omitting Styris from the line-up has drawn gasps from media commentators. It doesn't make sense? Well, neither did it when Chris Cairns was virtually forced out of the game this year, when Nathan Astle's cage was rattled so vigorously he almost jumped of his own accord, and when Lou Vincent was dumped from the test squad.

March 27, 2006

Mark Richardson: Whoever opens, don't be like me

Posted on 03/27/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Mark Richardson, former dour New Zealand opener, says the present lot of openers - Jamie How, Hamish Marshall, Michael Papps, Lou Vincent and Matthew Sinclair, have the potential to dominate good attacks from ball one

March 25, 2006

If only Fleming was more ruthless ...

Posted on 03/25/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Adam Parore, former New Zealand wicketkeeper, reckons Stephen Fleming is missing the ruthlessness required to go from good to great.

Fleming will end up with a test average a good five or six runs short of what it should have been. He even said last year it had got beyond the point where he could rescue this situation - that his numbers would never stand out in the history books. I wonder if this thinking has infiltrated his game, and taken away that extra ruthlessness needed to get the big hundreds.

March 24, 2006

Bruise-some threesome and other stories

Posted on 03/24/2006 in New Zealand cricket

© Getty Images

West Indies are seeking redemption in the third and final Test against New Zealand while the hosts are looking to pull off a clean sweep in preparation for their expected tough tour of South Africa. But there are several tests within the Test.

Fazeer Mohammed says West Indies are once again at that familiar position in a series - nothing but pride to play for.

Hamish Marshall is under the cosh after struggling as an opener.
He finished last season averaging more than 45 in Tests, while his last six Test innings, four as opener, have produced an average of 11.83. And he sees the writing on the wall.

Continue reading "Bruise-some threesome and other stories"

March 13, 2006

Fleming spoof interview embarrasses Sky TV

Posted on 03/13/2006 in New Zealand cricket

The New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has attacked his former opener, Mark Richardson - he of sprinting in a leotard fame - for comments made after the fourth day's play against the West Indies at Auckland. Before anyone gets too excited, Martin Crowe, Sky's executive producer of cricket, was quick to issue a statement explaining that all was not as it seemed. "The interview was a spoof in which Stephen has a crack at Mark about his commentary. It was scripted and not real although it has appeared on the internet as a news item."

The transcript read:

Richardson: OK, thanks, good luck

Fleming: Thanks mate (interview ends). Yeah, you're an idiot, that's ridiculous, seriously that's just ridiculous. Two things, you've forgotten who your mates are, some of your comments in the changing room? And the other thing is you're just an idiot talking about scoring rates and picking up the ... uh ... the tempo of games, you were one of the most boring players to watch and from what I've seen so far in your commentary position is crap. You're forgetting who your mates are mate, about six months ago you were with us.

The video can be seen at CricketWeb . [Thanks, Pratyush]

March 10, 2006

Beaten, but what a swell party it was

Posted on 03/10/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Bruce Pairaudeau, the former West Indies batsman, relives the memory of those dramatic hours at Eden Park 50 years ago, when New Zealand rolled his West Indies side for just 77 in the second innings, to end what is still the longest winless test streak.

March 9, 2006

'Weekes is out!' echoed all over NZ

Posted on 03/09/2006 in New Zealand cricket

The New Zealand Herald spoke with the surviving members of the NZ team about their historic victory over the West Indies 50 years ago - their first in Test cricket. Sammy Guillen talks about his stumping of Alf Valentine that brought up the historic victory.

And, DJ Cameron, who reported on the match, relives those historic moments.

As that great West Indian batsman Everton de Courcy Weekes swung his bat like an executioner's axe at the juiciest of long-hops that cloudy afternoon of March 13, 1956, 10,000 Eden Park spectators (and thousands more huddled over their wireless sets across the land) plunged into that fatal coma.

March 6, 2006

Vincent talks himself out of Test squad

Posted on 03/06/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Was Lou Vincent really dropped, or did he simply talk himself out of the Test side to play the West Indies?

Read the full report here in The New Zealand Herald.

March 5, 2006

New Zealand face ODI drought

Posted on 03/05/2006 in New Zealand cricket

New Zealand have risen rapidly from No.7 to No.3 in the ICC one-day rankings but lack of ODIs leading up to the World Cup might affect them, feels Dylan Cleaver.

March 3, 2006

Voting with their feet

Posted on 03/03/2006 in New Zealand cricket

The fans appear to be voting with their feet. Ticket sales for the final one-dayer between New Zealand and West Indies have been sluggish at best, as The New Zealand Herald reports.

February 25, 2006

When Fleming lost faith in his team

Posted on 02/25/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Mark Richardson, of lycra running suit fame, is bringing out a book about his career. It will be an interesting read as he began as a slow left-arm bowler before developing into a gritty opening batsman. In one part of the book he discusses how Stephen Fleming lost faith in the New Zealand team as results went against them. The Herald on Sunday gives a taste of what he has to say.

"In Australia I saw Flemo's shoulders slump," Richardson continued. "You could see he must have felt it didn't matter what he planned, his bowlers couldn't effect it for him, and he became quite introverted."

February 15, 2006

The end of lycra

Posted on 02/15/2006 in New Zealand cricket

The BBC report that Mark Richardon will hang up his famous and hilarious lycra suit on Thursday. Richardson, New Zealand's former opener, used to challenge and race the least athletic member of the opposing team at the end of each series (see here); his final sprint will be against the West Indies after their Twenty20 encounter on Friday.

Richardson, infamous for taking on the opposition's slowest player, will race John Afoa and Jerome Kaino from the Auckland Blues rugby side at Eden Park.

The batsman, whose suit will then be auctioned by the Beige Brigade, said: "Even if I lose, I'll look the best."

February 11, 2006

NZ cricketers' haunted house proving dangerous

Posted on 02/11/2006 in New Zealand cricket

A bunch of New Zealand cricketers have been spending time at an alleged "haunted house," and each has come down, rather spookily, with injuries:

Otago provincial representatives Greg Todd, Aaron Redmond, James McMillan, Neil Broom and South African Jonathan Trott have all suffered injuries while living in the former hospice, now converted into a five-bedroom town house.

Todd dislocated his right knee and broke his leg in a freak bowling accident, Redmond dislocated his knee taking a catch while McMillan, Broom and Trott suffered serious muscle strains in a two-week period which left the five players laid up simultaneously.

"These injuries have been a shocker. In the space of two weeks everyone in the flat (apartment) has gotten injured. It's just too bizarre," Redmond said. "None of the other boys in the (Otago) squad have tended to get injured. It's ironic because at the top of our house is a medical Red Cross. It's like an ambulance cross on the roof - too bizarre."

January 28, 2006

Devilry to sainthood, Cairns had it all

Posted on 01/28/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Chris Cairns went the full distance in his cricket, from Black caps bad boy to senior statesman of the side, writes Geoff Longley.

Now he's one of our best allrounders. A cricketer capable of breathtaking efforts. Whether it was the rhythmical press of his bowling arm, an effortless skimming return from a distant boundary or a primitive onslaught with a bat he claimed attention. His journey hasn't been all plain sailing. Despite his athletic grace his list of injuries is like a lecture on anatomy. He missed almost half the tests he could have played.

January 23, 2006

Chris Cairns the genius

Posted on 01/23/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Richard Boock is full of praise of the just-retired Chris Cairns who, he considers, is a genius:

Say what you like about his temperament and injury record, his notorious battle with former coach Glenn Turner and his legacy of not quite fulfilling his extraordinary potential; at his best he was a genius.

January 10, 2006

Lesbicious suspicious

Posted on 01/10/2006 in New Zealand cricket

First it was full-baguette cavity searches in Queenstown, now New Zealand's prude police are back out in force, as two women are threatened with eviction for snogging on the big screen at Napier. The incident has caused uproar, with one Kiwi MP declaring: "this is a human rights issue".

Of course it is! Move over, and let us all have a look!

January 2, 2006

Cairns closing in

Posted on 01/02/2006 in New Zealand cricket

Despite his recent struggles with form and fitness Chris Cairns is closing in on a memorable milestone. He needs one wicket to reach 200 in ODIs and 90 runs to reach 5000. Only Sanath Jayasuriya and Jacques Kallis have performed this feat before.

December 29, 2005

Styris hits purists for six on footwork

Posted on 12/29/2005 in New Zealand cricket

Scott Styris is set to infuriate traditionalists for the second time in a month after declaring footwork an over-rated art.

December 4, 2005

Marshall's future in the balance

Posted on 12/04/2005 in New Zealand cricket

The future of Hamish Marshall playing for New Zealand is in doubt, so says Dylan Cleaver:

A couple of nice pushes through the covers off Bracken nudged Marshall's total to five but at the other end, against Lee, he looked lost. Stuck on the crease, he just managed to fend off a Lee ball zeroing in on his heart. Two deliveries later, Marshall, again entrenched on the crease-line, played a feeble push and chopped on to his stumps.

December 3, 2005

Kiwi fruit and apples

Posted on 12/03/2005 in New Zealand cricket

Brett Lee's destructive bowling wasn't appreciated by a partisan New Zealand crowd - who are fairly famous for their behavior, especially towards the Australian cricket team.

Lee was pummeled with fruit - chiefly, apples - and he's understandably peeved:

"I am a pretty big fan of fruit but not past the old head," Lee said. "You don't really appreciate 10 or so pieces of fruit being thrown at your head.

"I don't mind being sledged or anything. A bit of fun with the crowd is part of it, it happens in every stadium, it happens in Australia. Apples being thrown at your head is something we don't want to happen in cricket."

December 1, 2005

How to beat Australia - a pessimist's guide

Posted on 12/01/2005 in New Zealand cricket

Richard Boock details the pessimist's guide to beating the Aussies, ahead of Australia's tour of New Zealand:

1: Lull them into a false sense of security. This shouldn't be overly difficult, given New Zealand's 5-zip loss to Ricky Ponting's men last summer, and their 4-0 drubbing at the hands of South Africa last month. Add the absence of skipper Stephen Fleming, the total loss of form from some of the top-order batsmen, and news of the team psychologist being called in already, and it looks like New Zealand have them exactly where they want them.

A whitewash is on the cards, then...

November 25, 2005

Wake-up call goes unheeded

Posted on 11/25/2005 in New Zealand cricket

Richard Boock feels that John Bracewell's handling of Chris Cairns was good for both the team and Cairns himself.

November 15, 2005

New Zealand gets kids hooked on cricket

Posted on 11/15/2005 in New Zealand cricket

More than 60 Auckland children from low-decile schools launched themselves into a special cricket tournament yesterday, supervised by the country's brightest cricket stars.

Several Black Caps including Daniel Vettori, Scott Styris and Kyle Mills took part in the Hooked On Cricket programme at the Papatoetoe Cricket Club.

More at the New Zealand Herald

November 9, 2005

Shaky times in the Shaky Isles

Posted on 11/09/2005 in New Zealand cricket

“As if being beaten up by South Africa, the match referee, and the International Cricket Council's one-day rankings wasn't enough, the vanquished squad arrive home this morning to suggestions of a rift between management and players.” Richard Boock, of the New Zealand Herald, takes a look at the latest Chris Cairns-related controversy.

November 4, 2005

Bracewell and the laboratory

Posted on 11/04/2005 in New Zealand cricket

Richard Boock writes on John Bracewell's coaching methods:

You get the feeling that if John Bracewell was a chemistry teacher his science laboratory would have been blown to smithereens within the first weeks of the opening term ... has opted for experimentation to find the best World Cup combination has so far watched his shrewdest theories explode in spectacular style.

October 30, 2005

No Cairns, no fear

Posted on 10/30/2005 in New Zealand cricket

Without the fizz of Chris Cairns, New Zealand lack the fear factor, says Dylan Cleaver in the New Zealand Herald.

Mark Richardson adds that New Zealand's current tour is going the same way as their trip back in 2000.

October 27, 2005

Marshall's hour of reckoning

Posted on 10/27/2005 in New Zealand cricket

After being voted as the batsman of the year last season, Hamish Marshall's form has gone from bad to worse. Can he turn it all around in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa? Richard Boock writes on the challenges he faces.

September 28, 2005

Beware the agony of Cairns

Posted on 09/28/2005 in New Zealand cricket

Richard Boock warns against writing off Chris Cairns, who was recently dropped for the South African tour, and writes: "Cairns might be in the autumn of his career, but he remains a cut above most domestic practitioners."

The key, though, according to Boock, is whether Cairns can convince the selectors that he's a better bowler than Kyle Mills and James Franklin, or batsmen than Craig McMillan, Hamish Marshall and Lou Vincent.