Ben on...worthy opponents

Next up in the test schedule is Bangladesh. Given the pasting in South Africa, could it be that this coming series will give closer results than previous encounters? Jonathan Millmow seems to think Bangladesh are a big threat. And as if that isn't disheartening enough, apparently Afghanistan reckon they can give us a fight.

Ben on...other blogs you may like

Things have remained slow here at Mike on Cricket, even after the start of the cricket season. (It feels like there's something missing, but I can't put my finger on it...) So I have decided to steal some content from other blogs and have added a blogroll. The blogroll is greatly padded out by two whole new blogs, Sideline Slogger and Googlies and Grass Stains, both part of Stuff's burgeoning list of blogs.

All these blogs should make my life easier, as I can just point to them instead of making my own posts. I could, for example, have pointed to Richard Irvines' very funny post about the last defeat not being as bad as it could have been instead of bothering with my own meagre effort to say the same thing. I could also add Paul Holden's and Hamish McDouall's opinions on Matthew Sinclair to complement Karl's. And my clever post about New Zealanders and ducks that I never had the time to write has been done for me in Sideline Slogger.

Karl on ... the wrong batsmen are playing

What seemed quite apparent to me in the weekend's loss to South Africa were two things - our best batsmen were woefully out of touch and clearly hadn't played any cricket in a long time; and our new opening partnership look out of their depth.

A good coach should ensure that his players arrive on a tour with their eye in, and a good coach should ensure that the best 11 players take the field, not his favourite 11. There seem to be quite clearly issues between John Bracewell and two of our more experienced players: Lou Vincent and Mathew Sinclair.

The new selection panel should force Bracewell to play both of these players. Sinclair's 189 not out in a day just cannot be ignored.

And why did they not spend a couple of weeks in Darwin playing a NZ B side?

Ben on...the biggest losing margin, the thinnest of silver linings

Quite a lot has been made about this test being our heaviest defeat. (Have you voted in the poll?) While 358 runs might be the biggest losing margin we've ever suffered, surely our loss to Pakistan in 2002 by an innings and 324 runs was a worse defeat – in that game Inzamam-ul-Haq alone scored more than we managed.

Ben on...getting better the less we play

New Zealand is going into the test series in South Africa surging up the ratings table. We have recently passed Pakistan and are now in 6th place. This was partly due, of course, to Pakistan falling in the ratings in their recent series loss to South Africa. However, New Zealand has really improved during 2007; our rating has increased from 93 to 99 this year. All the more remarkable since we haven't played any test cricket since December.

Ben on...losing the tournament in the semis

Here is a list of world championship semi-finals New Zealand has played:

World Cup: 1975, 1979, 1992, 1999, 2007; Champions Trophy: 2000, 2006; T20 Championship: 2007

Eight semis. We have gone on to appear in only one final, the 2000 Champions Trophy, which we won.

It would seem that if we could just break through that semi-final barrier, nothing can stop us winning the tournament.

Ben on...the new "international" competition

In response to the ICL, the BCCI has formally announced a new T20 competition. It is to be a direct competitor to the ICL, but will feature teams from other cricketing nations and will be ICC sanctioned.

NZC is quite bullish about the competition and Stephen Fleming was at its launch. At first glance however, their enthusiasm is baffling as New Zealand hasn't been invited. The competition will be fought over by the top few teams from India, Australia, England and South Africa. Good for them, but what about the rest of the world?

There is hope though. NZ and Aus are looking at starting a trans-Tasman T20 league. I guess this means that an NZ team that wins this league could sneak into the new "international" competition by pretending to be Australian.

Ben on...Fleming quits, loses captaincy, but stays

Finally we get some clarity about what Stephen Fleming is doing. We will no longer see him in ODIs or as test captain, but – thank the cricketing gods – he is not going to the ICL.

Ben on...Oram knocked back down the order

Today's Stuff article on the Black Caps at the T20 Championship contains the vague mention of Jacob Oram almost being knocked out by Brett Lee. The BBC is equally unspecific, saying that Oram was "unsettled" by a Brett Lee bouncer. The Australian has the details however:

In his first outing since seriously damaging his ankle last February, Brett Lee bowled impressively, claiming the first wicket of Brendon McCullum and flattening key all-rounder Jacob Oram with a bouncer which stuck the batsman's helmet and flew out to point.

Oram lay on the ground for some time being treated by New Zealand physiotherapist Dale Shackle before continuing but didn't last long.

Ben on...the Black Caps T20 prospects

With the Rugby World Cup having started this morning, the NRL finals series already tense and England and India fighting out an exciting ODI series, I need to build up my interest in the twenty20 championship.

Shaoib Akhtar has managed to generate a bit of heat before the series has even begun by hitting a team mate with a bat. Unfortunately, his absence will make the tournament rather less interesting. The most exciting news coming out of the New Zealand camp – generating considerably less heat than in the Pakistan camp – is that McCullum won't be keeping, to keep him focussed on opening the batting.

But anyway. Who is going to win? Or more importantly, will New Zealand win?

New Zealand has gone to South Africa with a very good squad. It is not too different from the team that came 3rd in the World Cup (though the absence of Fleming is very significant). We have what must be the most potent weapon in Shane Bond and some batsmen with real push in McCullum, Oram and Styris. Ian Chappell rates us highly, second only to Australia in this tournament.

However, our strengths possibly camouflage our weaknesses. In T20, a team's overall bowling strength is determined more by the weaker bowlers, and a single outstanding batsmen contributes more than any number of decent sloggers. Bond knocking batsmen over with a strike rate of 12 at an economy rate of 6 is largely neutralised if Martin is going for 9 an over from the other end, and we don't have a Ponting, Smith or even a Fleming in our batting line up.

So how well will we do?

I'm not prepared to stick my head out over T20. It's all just too unpredictable. Instead I am going to rely on statistics. (Get ready for one of the most outlandish, most audacious use of numbers that has ever tried to pass itself off as statistics.)

Unfortunately, there isn't enough data on T20. However, there is plenty of data on tests and ODIs. Based on the test and ODI rankings, Australia should waltz home; they are 30 points ahead on the test table and 5 points ahead on the ODI table. But, I am going use the assumption that T20 is to ODIs as ODIs are to tests. We can see that since Australia is so much a better test team (rating of 141) than a ODI team (rating of 129), they should be correspondingly less good at T20 – I calculate a rating of 117. New Zealand on the other hand is spectacularly better at ODIs than in tests. Our test and ODI ratings of 99 and 114 give a T20 rating of 129, giving us a huge advantage over Australia.

But is it enough to win the tournament? Well, unfortunately, the Windies' shockingly bad test rating of 72 gives them the edge. Even combined with a mediocre ODI ranking of 102, their T20 rating of 132 just might be enough for them to squeak home in the final.

Ben on...Warne's favourite Black Caps

Shane Warne has decided to tell us his pick for the top 50 cricket players that he has played with or against. The list ran in his cricket column in Times Online: introduction, 50-41, 40-31, 30-21, 20-11, 10-1.

He has only three New Zealanders on his list:

47
Chris Cairns (New Zealand)
Test matches 62
Runs 3,320 at 33.53
Wickets 218 at 29.40
He played the most incredible shot off my bowling during a game in Hamilton. Placing his left leg into the rough, he swivelled to face square leg and hit the turning ball over that area for a huge six. At one stage, he was probably the best all-rounder in the world, despite struggling with injuries.

23
Stephen Fleming (New Zealand)
Test matches 104
Runs 6,620 at 39.64
Catches 159
Definitely the best captain I have played against, which is why he is in the 20s rather than the 40s. His understanding of tactics and plans are second to none, and he has the temperament to stay calm when things are going against him. Also a classy left-handed batsman and excellent slip fielder.

22
Martin Crowe (New Zealand)
Test matches 77
Runs 5,444 at 45.36
“Flem” will bristle at ranking below Crowe –– but 23 is my favourite number so he can’t take it the wrong way. I played against Crowe early in my career and did not bowl to many more elegant batsmen in the years after he retired. He picked up length early and seemed to have all the shots, allowing him to score quickly.

Ben on...the ICL

I've been wanting to post about the Indian Cricket League since it was first announced. At the time I thought the idea of a rival cricket tournament was quite exciting. The ICC were in the process of grossly mismanaging the World Cup and the BCCI had been turning into the bully of the world cricket playground. Even if the whole purpose behind the ICL was to simply make money for a media kingpin disappointed at missing out on TV rights, I was happy to see the possibility that these two arrogant, venal organisations might get black eyes.

However, every time I started to make a post, the fortunes of the ICL would plummet, making my post irrelevant. But every time it seemed like they were sunk, they would sign some important player or overcome some hurdle or there would be some other twist, and suddenly the ICL would have new life. When Lalu Prasad Yadav gets involved in an issue in India, it has officially become a farce.

The story in New Zealand has also run something of a roller coaster, with Fleming being approached, Chris Harris signing then not signing, retired cricketers being possible signings, fears that the ICL will strip New Zealand of its talent, rumours of Shane Bond being offered $600,000 and then NZC being set to support the ICL. Now today, NZC has made their position clear, with a statement that they will not support the ICL. (There are also a suggestion that any contracted players will be hit with breach of contract suits if they join the ICL.)

This statement clears things up considerably. Not completely however, as we still don't know the intentions of the contracted players that might have been approached. (And there are hints that Fleming at least is seriously considering it. The article I linked to above about the breach of contract suits suggests that some officials want Fleming punished for not committing to NZ cricket.) It would be a great shame if any contracted Black Caps joined the ICL. I like Richard Boock's suggestion: if they want to play in a "tinpot Twenty20 circus alongside other has-beens and wanna-bes", then let him go. Surely the negative reaction they'd get from their New Zealand fans and the complete downer of finishing their career in a shoddy sideshow of a tournament would be punishment enough.

Ben on...Twenty20 squad announced

The 15-man squad to contest the Twenty20 Championship has been announced, chosen from the preliminary 30-man list. Or rather, 15 guys were crossed off. Here is the squad below, also showing the guys who were left out.

Andre Adams
Shane Bond
Neil Broom
Grant Elliott
Stephen Fleming
James Franklin
Peter Fulton
Mark Gillespie
Chris Harris
Paul Hitchcock
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
James Marshall
Chris Martin
Michael Mason
Brendon McCullum
Nathan McCullum
Peter McGlashan
Craig McMillan
James McMillan
Warren McSkimming
Iain O'Brien
Jacob Oram
Jeetan Patel
Aaron Redmond
Bradley Scott
Scott Styris
Ross Taylor
Daniel Vettori (captain)
Lou Vincent

The notable (but not too surprising) omissions are Fleming and Franklin.

The newcomers are Gareth Hopkins, Nathan McCullum and Bradley Scott. Hopkins has in fact represented NZ in 5 ODIs as a wicketkeeper – he didn't actually face any balls the one time he did get to the crease, though he has taken 8 catches. He looks to be very good cover for Brendon McCullum behind the wickets and should do okay if given a chance to bat. Brendon's brother, Nathan McCullum, impressed with some strong hitting in the recent Emerging Player's Tournament in Australia. Bradley Scott is an Otago all-rounder who will fill Franklin's place.

Ben on...jelly beans and things

I don't understand the jelly beans either D; it's all just a bit too English. Dylan Cleaver seems to have got the joke though. He has put together a list of 'meaningful' items that could be thrown on the pitch.

Ben on...two more years of Braces

So New Zealand Cricket have announced that John Bracewell's contract is to be extended for another two years. This was pretty much to be expected.

Other interesting news in the announcement are

• Dayle Hadlee has been appointed bowling coach and Australian Mark O'Neill will be batting coach
• John Wright will join NZC's High Performance Programme in some as yet undetermined capacity
• Bracewell will no longer have final say over selections

It is hard to muster up much of an opinion on Bracewell's reappointment in the middle of the off season. It is fair to say that Bracewell had some good success during his time; however, the team has not shaken its top order brittleness nor the tendency to choke in critical games.

The other changes are very interesting however.

It is very good to hear that John Wright will be involved with the team. He was a very good coach of India and many of the Indian players flourished under him (many of whom are now struggling).

It is particularly good news that we have good specialist bowling and batting coaches. It always seems that we perform well as a team while the players generally fail to excel personally. If we could combine our impressive team performances with some strong individual performances, we must be much more successful.

I am also pleased with the fact that Bracewell's powers will be slightly curtailed. While it may be the case that he has never used his selection veto, right from the beginning I had the sense that he was being made out to be bigger than the team. I recall when he was first appointed that it was thought that his veto over selections might interfere with the dynamic Fleming had with the team.

Ben on...emerging players in action

The currently running Emerging Players' Tournament is giving us a look at some of NZ's new talent. All of the uncapped players in the Twenty20 Championship squad are playing, as well as a couple of other youngsters not in the squad, Hamish Bennett and Rob Nicol.

New Zealand should hope to do well in this tournament, which consists of Twenty20 and limited over rubbers. We seem to have sent what amounts to an A side, while the other teams include an Australian Centre of Excellence squad, an Indian state side (Karnataka) and the South African emerging players.

The tournament started yesterday, with a win for NZ over the South Africans in the Twenty20 rubber.

Ben on...Twenty20 squad

The preliminary 30-man squad has been named for the Twenty20 Championships. The list is long enough that pretty much all the current regular internationals not effected by injury make the list. Missing due to injury are Kyle Mills and Daryl Tuffey. Michael Papps and Matthew Sinclair were also not selected, presumably not being seen as Twenty20 material. And there is still room in the list for a few non-regulars, Chris Harris and some new faces. In the following list, those in red have no top-level international experience. With the World Cup having just concluded, a new team has to be built for South Asia 2011. With luck, we may see some potential members of that team given a chance here.

Andre Adams
Shane Bond
Neil Broom (Otago)
Grant Elliott (Wellington)
Stephen Fleming
James Franklin
Peter Fulton
Mark Gillespie
Chris Harris
Paul Hitchcock
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
James Marshall
Chris Martin
Michael Mason
Brendon McCullum
Nathan McCullum (Otago)
Peter McGlashan
Craig McMillan
James McMillan (Otago)
Warren McSkimming (Otago)
Iain O'Brien
Jacob Oram
Jeetan Patel
Aaron Redmond (Otago)
Bradley Scott (Otago)
Scott Styris
Ross Taylor
Daniel Vettori
Lou Vincent

Ben on...NZ for WSC 08/09?

According to this article in The Australian, NZ and South Africa are pencilled in to play in Australia in 2008/9. Awesome. Unfortunately, the gist of the article is that the three teams might not compete in a tri-series because the international programme is just too crowded. The first real evidence that the 28-year old tournament is in jeopardy. This follows on from suggestions during the last series that the event may have had its day (something about 1/3 of the tournament featuring teams that aren't Australia being something of a problem).

It would be a real shame if the Australian tri-series weren't to happen. It really is a fantastic tournament. The victories and close losses in the World Series Cup are some of my best memories of cricket (and here are some of Mike's memories). It just the best ODI tournament out there – except maybe for the Chappell–Hadlee, but certainly better than the World Cup. Long may it continue.

Ben on...the record finally broken?

I was briefly excited seeing the headline for the Cricinfo bulletin for the current match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – "Bangladesh bowled out for lowest Test score". Could it be that our lowest innings total record of 26 has finally been broken after over 50 years? No. It was only Bangladesh's lowest innings total – a mammoth 62, which doesn't even make it into the bottom 40 innings totals.

Ben on...the coming season

NZ Cricket have released the schedule for the home series against Bangladesh and England, so it looks now like we have a mostly complete schedule for the next year or so:

September

  Twenty20 World Championship South Africa
   12, Kingsmead Twenty20 vs Kenya
   15, New Wanderers Twenty20 vs Sri Lanka
   (the rest of the series TBA)

October

  NZ in South Africa
   25–28, Goodyear Park vs South Africa A

November

    1–4, Sedgars Park vs South Africa A
   8–12, New Wanderers 1st test vs South Africa
   16–20, SuperSport Park 2nd test vs South Africa
   23, New Wanderers Twenty20 vs South Africa
   25, Kingsmead 1st ODI vs South Africa
   30, St George's Park 2nd ODI vs South Africa

December

    2, Newlands 3rd ODI vs South Africa

 Chappell–Hadlee Trophy in Australia
   11, W.A.C.A. Twenty20 vs Australia
   14, Adelaide Oval 1st ODI vs Australia
   16, Sydney Cricket Ground 2nd ODI vs Australia
   20, Bellerive Oval 3rd ODI vs Australia

  Bangladesh in New Zealand
   19-22, Seddon Park Northern Knights vs Bangladesh
   23, Seddon Park Northern Knights vs Bangladesh
   26, Eden Park 1st ODI vs Bangladesh
   28, McLean Park 2nd ODI vs Bangladesh
   31, Queenstown Events Centre 3rd ODI vs Bangladesh

January 2008

    4–8, University Oval 1st test vs Bangladesh
   12–16, Basin Reserve 2nd test vs Bangladesh

February 2008

  England in New Zealand
   2, QEII Park Canterbury Wizards vs England
   3, QEII Park Canterbury Wizards vs England
   5, Jade Stadium Twenty20 vs England
   7, Eden Park Twenty20 vs England
   9, Westpac Stadium 1st ODI vs England
   12, Seddon Park 2nd ODI vs England
   15, Eden Park 3rd ODI vs England
   20, McLean Park 4th ODI vs England
   23, Jade Stadium 5th ODI vs England
   25–26, University Oval Otago Volts vs England
   28–1, University Oval Otago Volts vs England

March 2008

    5–9, Seddon Park 1st test vs England
   13–17, Basin Reserve 2nd test vs England
   22–26, McLean Park 3rd test vs England

May 2008

  New Zealand in England
    15–19, Lord's 1st test vs England
   23–27, Old Trafford 2nd test vs England

June 2008

    5–9, Trent Bridge 3rd test vs England
   13, Old Trafford Twenty20 vs England
   15, Riverside Ground 1st ODI vs England
   18, Edgbaston 2nd ODI vs England
   21, County Ground 3rd ODI vs England
   25, Kennington Oval 4th ODI vs England
   28, Lord's 5th ODI vs England