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futureblackcap

futureblackcap

Well-Known Member
No body probably cares but this would be my contract list for the Blackcaps for the 2013/14 season (in order of overall importance across the formats).

1) Ross Taylor (enough said)
2) Tim Southee (absolute gun of a bowler - finally found his feet across the formats)
3) Kane Williamson (brilliant talent - really impressed with his improvement in ODI's)
4) Trent Boult (awesome talent - great bowling partner for Southee)
5) Brendan McCullum (best finisher in world cricket when on-song - let's hope he re-finds the music)
6) Hamish Rutherford (great talent - hopes he'll be re-selected as an openner in ODI's to partner Guptill)
7) Martin Guptill (needs to turn his ODI form into Test form)
8) Mitchell McClenaghan (Wagner and Bracewell needs to watch their backs in the whites)
9) Neil Wagner (impressed in Test cricket - may it continue)
10) Kyle Mills (a top performer in ODI's)
11) BJ Watling (really rate him and hope he's brought back into the ODI side - impressed with the gloves as well)
12) Nathan McCullum (in top form at the moment)
13) Bruce Martin (best Test spinner in the country currently - Vettori is unrealistic)
14) Doug Bracewell (adds pace to the attack - should get more ODI's)
15) Peter Fulton (deserves a contract - not sure if he's our long-term opener in whites)
16) Grant Elliot (underrated performer in ODI's - deserves his place)
17) Tom Latham (exciting prospect and could possibly become an opener in ODI's - wish he'd pick up the gloves again)
18) Daniel Vettori (sad to put him down this low but he's got worse injury problems than Oram did)
19) Corey Anderson (exciting all-rounder prospect)
20) Dean Brownlie (last last last chance)

Missing out:
James Franklin (sorry Jimmy, your one of my favourites but your not doing enough)
Colin Munro (unlucky but I think it's too early for him - huge problems against the short ball)
Andrew Ellis (showed a little with the bat and ball but not good enough at either in internationals)
Ronneel Hira (not convinced about his ability at international level - only plays T20's)
 
James Franklin is really 50-50, and I think Dean Brownlie is a bit better than you give him credit for, but I can agree with pretty much everything else. Where does Jeetan Patel sit with you?
 
troll3y said:
James Franklin is really 50-50, and I think Dean Brownlie is a bit better than you give him credit for, but I can agree with pretty much everything else. Where does Jeetan Patel sit with you?
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Yeah. The first few times I saw Brownlie I thought he was a long-term prospect and the big plus going for him is he's stronger off the back-foot than off the front.

Jeetan Patel is a strange one. He's been in and out of the the national side for most of his career yet he seems to struggle with confidence. The only real times I've seen him bowl well for NZ was in tandem with Vettori in Tests. On a technical side, being a spinner myself, I'd say that he bowls too quick through the air and like many spinners, as soon as the batsmen plays an attacking stroke, he goes into his shell and bowl darts. He's been doing well in England for Warwickshire though.

I believe Bruce Martin is a much better spinner at international level as he has a sense of quiet confidence about how he goes about things and he works to field plans well and floats it up there at times and gets turn from pitches that offer little.
 
Thought Patel has always bowled reasonably well when I've seen him but his record isn't all that flash.
 
NZ at least seem to have a bit of depth floating around these days, haven't seen any spuds like Rob Nicol or Jamie How selected for a while :p
 
Kram81 said:
NZ at least seem to have a bit of depth floating around these days, haven't seen any spuds like Rob Nicol or Jamie How selected for a while :p
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Indeed. Haha. To be fair to Jamie How..he was brought back into the side after his awesome form had turned into a slump. Peter Ingram would have to be the worst batsmen NZ has selected in the last ten years haha.
 
futureblackcap said:
That was his technique hahaha! He was like Sehwag with paralyzed legs and a fear of pace bowling haha.
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I used to play against Ingram when he was younger, you will be shocked to know that he used his feet and a light bat. I think he made the choice to become a clubber to prolong/make his career, for a guy of limited talent it was a smart move...still in the worst NZ XI of all time though.
 
leftie600 said:
I used to play against Ingram when he was younger, you will be shocked to know that he used his feet and a light bat. I think he made the choice to become a clubber to prolong/make his career, for a guy of limited talent it was a smart move...still in the worst NZ XI of all time though.
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Okay. I shouldn't actually have been that rude to Ingram. I highly respect players who use what limited ability they have and they get to the top in their fields. It's quite inspirational. He never should have been a Blackcap though hehe.
 
From your list there's a few that need to put in the hard yards:

Watling - Great concentration but not a great technique, has been protected somewhat by being down the order. If he doesn't work on it he better hope a superior gloveman doesn't come into contention
B Martin - He's a fill in until a better talent takes the chance
D Bracewell - Too erratic, there's enough seam bowling in NZ right now that could take his place. Needs to really have a think as to what kind of bowler he wants to be.
D Brownlie - Highly rated in the NZ FC scene but needs to do more than just sit on his backfoot, I agree that he deserves one more chance but I get the feeling that a young talent will take his place in a couple of years.
P Fulton - Crap technique but it should be noted that he got out in Eng due to poor shot options, if he can keep his head together he may hang on longer than what we think.
D Vettor - How long will this torture go on for?

Can't really say much about bolters other than seam bowlers (Henry, Milne, Duffy etc.), there's not much out there at the moment. Here's hoping Ryder gets it back together and comes back into the fold now that his mate Taylor is content.
 
futureblackcap said:
Okay. I shouldn't actually have been that rude to Ingram. I highly respect players who use what limited ability they have and they get to the top in their fields. It's quite inspirational. He never should have been a Blackcap though hehe.
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Nah, go for it, he would never take it personally. Back in the day he was pretty level headed and not like some prima donnas that have a shot at pro sport. I would proudly wear an Ingram shirt if I was on a 'Worst NZ cricketers' themed stag-do.
 
leftie600 said:
From your list there's a few that need to put in the hard yards:

Watling - Great concentration but not a great technique, has been protected somewhat by being down the order. If he doesn't work on it he better hope a superior gloveman doesn't come into contention
B Martin - He's a fill in until a better talent takes the chance
D Bracewell - Too erratic, there's enough seam bowling in NZ right now that could take his place. Needs to really have a think as to what kind of bowler he wants to be.
D Brownlie - Highly rated in the NZ FC scene but needs to do more than just sit on his backfoot, I agree that he deserves one more chance but I get the feeling that a young talent will take his place in a couple of years.
P Fulton - Crap technique but it should be noted that he got out in Eng due to poor shot options, if he can keep his head together he may hang on longer than what we think.
D Vettor - How long will this torture go on for?

Can't really say much about bolters other than seam bowlers (Henry, Milne, Duffy etc.), there's not much out there at the moment. Here's hoping Ryder gets it back together and comes back into the fold now that his mate Taylor is content.
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Pretty much agree with you there. But I will add...I believe Martin is way more than a filler. The way he bowled against England in 3 of his 4 Tests was very impressive. He out-bowled Swann.

On Watling. While his technique might not be the best. He's probably the best grinder in the side ie. the player with most grit. When we've completely collapsed...he's normally the one there at the end with a hard earned fifty. With McCullum down the order in tests, we don't need another aggressive keeper. I've been impressed with his keeping as well. Really hope like Latham, that he keeps for his domestic side during the season.

I have kept Bracewell because he's got more pace than any of our other current fast bowlers and I believe he'll re-find his form soon enough. He's far from Test quality at the moment though.

Completly agree with your thoughts on Brownlie and Vettori. You could be right on Fulton as well...maybe hehe.
 
Agree re Watling being down the order but I think being down the order has disguised his limitations much as it was for McCullum when he was a keeper. I hope being in the team and playing internationals will help him work on ironing out those flaws over time, I see him as our test keeper and Latham being the limited overs keeper for the foreseeable future.

With Bracewell the more time with Bond coaching him the better, this is an area that a level headed ex-international who was one of the best can really add something (lord knows why the Aussies got rid of McDermott and turned down Younis as coaches).

I've also played against Fulton, it's was about then that I realised the huge gulf between me as a club player and Fulton as a journeyman FC player (he usually smashed us around).
 
The actual contract list is exactly the same as mine above ^ however, Colin Munro gets a contract instead of Vettori who pulled out. :D
 
Sad isn't it when it really is that easy to pick the top 20 players? Will be interested to see how the NZ A tour goes, especially a few of the young spinners.
 
leftie600 said:
Sad isn't it when it really is that easy to pick the top 20 players? Will be interested to see how the NZ A tour goes, especially a few of the young spinners.
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Don't know about it being sad but our weaknesses at the moment is not having any young spinner's challenging Bruce Martin's position. Nethula is the pick for me as our Test fringe spinner atm although Ish Sodhi and Nick Beard are ones for the future I believe. And the other obvious weakness is our consistency with the bat in Test cricket. But I think we should be reasonably happy atm because we have strong pace bowling stocks and quite a few young guys who've impressed.
 
Not a bad list. Southee is one of the my favourite NZ players along with B. McCullum, Taylor and McClenaghan.

I played cricket with Dean Brownlie's youngest brother back when I was in junior cricket. All the Brownlie's were as arrogant as anything though.
 
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