Re: New Zealands tour of England
Vettori only took one wicket in this game so he wasn't a prominent figure in this match with the ball. Martin is a decent opening bowler as is Kyle Mills and Iain O'Brien is getting into some sort of form. New Zealand's problem at the moment is their batting line-up, they just don't have the experience at international level. Jamie How is the only batter from their top four who is showing anything of substance at the moment, and even then it has been at a stretch. James Redmond has batted six times for six failures and Brendon McCullum has been rushed up the order to number three when in reality he shouldn't be batting above six.
New Zealand's two most experienced batsmen in the side, McCullum and Jacob Oram are out and out sloggers, something which would worry the NZ selectors. The departure of Stephen Fleming and the abscene of Scott Styris has hurt them and has exposed a very young top order. I'm not sure why Styris isn't there, he is a patient player and adds stability to a line-up which seems to be lacking an anchor figure at the moment.
Jamie How, James Redmond, Ross Taylor, Daniel Flynn and Gareth Hopkins have played a total of 27 tests between them. Add's McCullum's 35 and Oram's 29 and that makes a total of 91 tests. In comparison, England's top seven have a total of 278 with Tim Ambrose the only player that has played less than ten tests. England already have a massive advantage and that's before they even start playing the game. The Kiwis are lacking a player than can provide some experience at the top of the order as well as acting as a mini mentor. The guidance just isn't there at the moment and I'm sure that the NZ administration would be slightly worried. The evidence is in the stats, England batted for 126.5 overs for the game whilst NZ could only manage 119 overs from two attempts. They're desperately in need of an older player for that batting line-up.
Big Man;220001 said:
Vettori only took one wicket in this game so he wasn't a prominent figure in this match with the ball. Martin is a decent opening bowler as is Kyle Mills and Iain O'Brien is getting into some sort of form. New Zealand's problem at the moment is their batting line-up, they just don't have the experience at international level. Jamie How is the only batter from their top four who is showing anything of substance at the moment, and even then it has been at a stretch. James Redmond has batted six times for six failures and Brendon McCullum has been rushed up the order to number three when in reality he shouldn't be batting above six.
New Zealand's two most experienced batsmen in the side, McCullum and Jacob Oram are out and out sloggers, something which would worry the NZ selectors. The departure of Stephen Fleming and the abscene of Scott Styris has hurt them and has exposed a very young top order. I'm not sure why Styris isn't there, he is a patient player and adds stability to a line-up which seems to be lacking an anchor figure at the moment.
Jamie How, James Redmond, Ross Taylor, Daniel Flynn and Gareth Hopkins have played a total of 27 tests between them. Add's McCullum's 35 and Oram's 29 and that makes a total of 91 tests. In comparison, England's top seven have a total of 278 with Tim Ambrose the only player that has played less than ten tests. England already have a massive advantage and that's before they even start playing the game. The Kiwis are lacking a player than can provide some experience at the top of the order as well as acting as a mini mentor. The guidance just isn't there at the moment and I'm sure that the NZ administration would be slightly worried. The evidence is in the stats, England batted for 126.5 overs for the game whilst NZ could only manage 119 overs from two attempts. They're desperately in need of an older player for that batting line-up.
