Remember the good ole’ days when NZ always seemed to be fairly good at either tests or one dayers, but never both at the same time? At the time, it was a bit frustrating, but now those days seem positively halcyon!
Frankly, the recent drawn series with Sri Lanka was flattering. Our bowling was ok, but our batting really was quite outstandingly lame. Really, what are the odds of the entire top and middle order being out of from at the same time? It seemed often that James Franklin was our most reliable batsman. No disrespect to the big fulla, he is a handy lower order player, but things have come to a pretty sad pass when our best batting hope is a bowler.
I know plenty of others have already taken a swing at the rotation “system”, but really, couldn’t we focus on trying to find 11 good players, before we worry about the second 11? Rotation is all very well for the All Blacks or the Australian Cricket teams. Both of these sides could field second-string teams which would have a good chance of dominating their respective sports. The Black Craps simply aren’t in that league. We can’t even field one decent, in-form team, let alone a second!
The only real sign of hope to emerge from the tri-series thus far is the return of Oram, who adds a bit of starch to the batting, and provides another bowling option. Without him, Tuesday’s match against England could have been quite embarrassing. Unfortunately, barring a fairly spectacular reversal of form from our batsmen, it seems likely that the rest of the tri-series will be a lame contest to see whether New Zealand or England is the slightly less woeful side, thus earning themselves the right to a 2-0 shellacking by the Australians. The saddest thing is, events thus far have made Australia’s traditional arrogant boasting actually seem quite restrained, compared to the one-sided contests on offer.
Frankly, the recent drawn series with Sri Lanka was flattering. Our bowling was ok, but our batting really was quite outstandingly lame. Really, what are the odds of the entire top and middle order being out of from at the same time? It seemed often that James Franklin was our most reliable batsman. No disrespect to the big fulla, he is a handy lower order player, but things have come to a pretty sad pass when our best batting hope is a bowler.
I know plenty of others have already taken a swing at the rotation “system”, but really, couldn’t we focus on trying to find 11 good players, before we worry about the second 11? Rotation is all very well for the All Blacks or the Australian Cricket teams. Both of these sides could field second-string teams which would have a good chance of dominating their respective sports. The Black Craps simply aren’t in that league. We can’t even field one decent, in-form team, let alone a second!
The only real sign of hope to emerge from the tri-series thus far is the return of Oram, who adds a bit of starch to the batting, and provides another bowling option. Without him, Tuesday’s match against England could have been quite embarrassing. Unfortunately, barring a fairly spectacular reversal of form from our batsmen, it seems likely that the rest of the tri-series will be a lame contest to see whether New Zealand or England is the slightly less woeful side, thus earning themselves the right to a 2-0 shellacking by the Australians. The saddest thing is, events thus far have made Australia’s traditional arrogant boasting actually seem quite restrained, compared to the one-sided contests on offer.
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