End of the not so golden summer

As the English football season starts with Newcastle United's usual combination of ineptitude and self-destruction, the cricket season begins to wind down. That gives us a chance to review the form of the New Zealanders in England. We'll get the worst out of the way first, the form of the touring national side.

Batting
GJ Hopkins Runs 71 HS 71 Ave 71.00
MH Richardson Runs 583 HS 101 Ave 58.30
SP Fleming Runs 482 HS 117 Ave 53.55
JDP Oram Runs 263 HS 103* Ave 52.60
NJ Astle Runs 343 HS 93 Ave 38.11
CL Cairns Runs 349 HS 82 Ave 34.90
DL Vettori Runs 250 HS 77 Ave 31.25
CD McMillan Runs 245 HS 86 Ave 30.62
BB McCullum Runs 298 HS 96 Ave 29.80
SB Styris Runs 343 HS 108 Ave 28.58
KD Mills Runs 57 HS 42* Ave 28.50
MHW Papps Runs 241 HS 126 Ave 26.77
DR Tuffey Runs 57 HS 14* Ave 11.40
SE Bond Runs 7 HS 7 Ave 3.50
CS Martin Runs13 HS 7 Ave 3.25

Bowling
CL Cairns Wkts 18 Ave 28.66 BB 5-79
DL Vettori Wkts 20 Ave 30.60 BB 5-92
KD Mills Wkts 3 Ave 39.00 BB 3-51
CS Martin Wkts 14 Ave 44.57 BB 4-92
SB Styris Wkts 7 Ave 46.42 BB 3-88
SE Bond Wkts 4 Ave 50.00 BB 2-46
DR Tuffey Wkts 8 Ave 55.50 BB 4-57
JDP Oram Wkts 3 Ave 106.33 BB 2-76

Sigh. There are very few positives to look at here. The form of Richardson, Fleming and Oram with the bat being one small ray of sunshine. And Chris Martin boosted his career batting average. The bowling averages on the other hand are an almost complete disaster.

Moving on to brighter things. Here are the averages for the players with county contracts. Adams and Spearman have a game or two to add to their figures.

Batting
CM Spearman Runs 1257 HS 341 Ave 62.85 (SR 77)
AR Adams Runs 177 HS 124 Ave 35.40 (SR 124)
IG Butler Runs 166 HS 68 Ave 33.20
JEC Franklin Runs 155 HS 44 Ave 31.00

Bowling
AR Adams Wkts 17 Ave 20.70 BB 5-93
JEC Franklin Wkts 18 Ave 23.05 BB 7-60
IG Butler Wkts 8 54.50 BB 4-114

Certianly there are a few more things we can sing about here. The batting of Spearman being an obvious high, along with the form of Adams with both bat and ball. Franklin didn't embarrass himself either - his spell of 7-60 on debut being a highlight of his time with Gloucestershire. And although Ian Butler's bowling figures are very, very average - he did play on a series of particularly flat wickets. Butler also attracted press attention for his pace. Here is the Telegraph on his one day debut:

Butler proves a wow on his bow
By Kate Laven at Canterbury

Ian Butler made a dramatic entrance for Kent with a virtual single-handed slaying of Sussex, taking four catches and three wickets to set up an easy 47-run victory.

The New Zealander, fresh from his side's victory over West Indies at Lord's on Saturday, was making his debut and after one showing could prove to be one of Kent's most exciting signings...

...Ward gave the Kiwi the first of four superb catches, all of them at square leg near to the boundary.

... Butler completed the destruction with a fine spell of bowling, finishing with three for 19 from 3.5 overs, and wrapping up the victory with a ball to spare.

And the Telegraph, in a later review of the team's form, noted that Kent had "a threadbare attack which, with the notable exception of Ian Butler, posed little threat [to batsmen]"