My last poll asked you to announce which New Zealand player was most likely to step up and replace Chris Cairns.
Ross Taylor, Ewen Thompson, Brendon Diamante and Paul Hitchcock all received one vote apiece. Brendon McCullum (c'mon, I'm sure he could bowl if he really wanted to) got two votes, and three very optimistic people decided the Scott Styris would grow some talent at this late stage of his lfe.
At the more realistic end of the scale, Jesse Ryder won six votes, Jimmy Franklin seven and Jacob Oram won with a whopping eleven votes.
My new poll looks at the dramatic reversals of fortune suffered by the visiting West Indians in recent years, and wonders if New Zealand might be in for something similar. In five years time we will be without Stephen Fleming and Shane Bond. Let me know if you think Jesse Ryder and Richard Sherlock will be able to replace them. Or even surpass them. Or whether Ryder will blow out and Sherlock will break down and New Zealand will be left with an elderly and even more wretched Scott Styris and a bunch of overweight kids dragged reluctantly away from their Playstations to help the team avoid an innings defeat against Nepal.
Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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3 comments:
I'm interested that you think Dan Vettori will be gone in five years - he'll only be 32 years old in 2011 (it seems like he's been around forever, but he has been playing since he was a teenager). Shane Warne is still playing test cricket at the age of 36.
Yeah, but Dan is already having significant back problems. I hope he lasts beyond 32, but I suspect he won't
The problem with New Zealand has been that they have never been able to step it up despite being a very good team in phases.
The series in England a couple of years ago was unlucky with all the injuries and Strauss making the best out of his debut. Around that time, they lost the series to Pakistan in a session as well.
It takes consistent brilliance to become a top team. A long way ahead as far as the future is concerned. I hope we do see some brilliant players who can step it up in the future. I am seeing the time as quite average at the moment though with a lot of work required in the consistency department individually and team wise.
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