NZ All Time XI
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As good as Taylor’s record is I’ve never felt comfortable when he has come to the crease. Unlike Kane or Crowe or even Jones, where I expected that they would get runs, Taylor is a guy that I’ve felt would get out the next ball....
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@act-crusader yeah Kane and Crowe are most un-Black caps like in their ability to settle to the task immediately.
Taylor plays far too loose at the beginning of almost every innings. Must be a mental thing.
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@dogmeat said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@act-crusader yeah Kane and Crowe are most un-Black caps like in their ability to settle to the task immediately.
McCullum was that way too. I often had no idea what test match he was trying to play his innings in but you knew it wasn't for the Black Caps and it must have been a good one.
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@act-crusader said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
As good as Taylor’s record is I’ve never felt comfortable when he has come to the crease. Unlike Kane or Crowe or even Jones, where I expected that they would get runs, Taylor is a guy that I’ve felt would get out the next ball....
Taylor is just a bit inconsistent. Some innings I've seen him play he looked in total control from start to finish. Others he really scratches around, but is good enough to survive long enough to put some runs on the board. Kane is super consistent in his approach, always looks in control, hence his superior record.
I really wouldn't understate just how good Taylor is though. He gets maligned on here are lot given he's one of our best ever players.
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@no-quarter because we've looked to him to pull our chestnuts outta the fire so often!! Or when we've been doing ok we are hoping he'll kick us into game winning territory.
Kane is single-handedly putting us in a position to win matches or avoid loses. I wonder if Ross is going back to some early career indecision about playing safe or aggressively. Remembering this is a guy that has just got his vision sorted again, no idea how he played as well as he did with that eye issue!!
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@dogmeat said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@rotated said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@dogmeat said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@rotated I don't think Flem, Congdon, Jones or Rig were ever more than footnotes in a discussion.
Before Williamson and Taylor were candidates (~2013ish?) pretty much every all time test XI would have had at least one of those surely? If not only because Rig is the best pure opener we have but Flem/Sutcliffe/Turner can all be legitimately played there in an all time team.
yeah nah
In 2009 a cricinfo panel chose the best ever NZ XI None of your candidates got a look in
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/429010.html
That is an excellent selection.
Little Kane now comes in to bat at three, and Rossco is pushing hard at Donnelly or John Reid (I'm not sure what to do with Bert - he's also pushing for a spot lower down - as well as an opener's berth) if we would go in with just four bowlers.
Boult can wait for now.
The other change I'd now make is Baz for Ian Smith, which will upset @rotated among others.
But, have a look at the list of highest scores by NZers and Baz features near the top more often than anyone - more than Kane, more than Crowe. He's got half a dozen big scores, including the biggest, plus at least three double hundreds.
Turner, Dempster, Williamson, Crowe, Donnelly, Reid, McCullum, Vettori, Hadlee, Bond, Cowie.
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@chris-b said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@dogmeat said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@rotated said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@dogmeat said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@rotated I don't think Flem, Congdon, Jones or Rig were ever more than footnotes in a discussion.
Before Williamson and Taylor were candidates (~2013ish?) pretty much every all time test XI would have had at least one of those surely? If not only because Rig is the best pure opener we have but Flem/Sutcliffe/Turner can all be legitimately played there in an all time team.
yeah nah
In 2009 a cricinfo panel chose the best ever NZ XI None of your candidates got a look in
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/429010.html
That is an excellent selection.
Little Kane now comes in to bat at three, and Rossco is pushing hard at Donnelly or John Reid (I'm not sure what to do with Bert - he's also pushing for a spot lower down - as well as an opener's berth) if we would go in with just four bowlers.
Boult can wait for now.
The other change I'd now make is Baz for Ian Smith, which will upset @rotated among others.
But, have a look at the list of highest scores by NZers and Baz features near the top more often than anyone - more than Kane, more than Crowe. He's got half a dozen big scores, including the biggest, plus at least three double hundreds.
Turner, Dempster, Williamson, Crowe, Donnelly, Reid, McCullum, Vettori, Hadlee, Bond, Cowie.
Cairns over Reid for me. Like him or not his test record is too good to leave him out.
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@no-quarter I don’t doubt his record and he must be doing alright given he has been a mainstay over a period where we have seemingly changed top order batsmen like undies. Put it this way, I am pleasantly surprised when he survives and gets past 30. I know he can kick on, but I’ve never been confident watching him.
Almost like Spencer or Beauden kicking goals. They were/are good enough but a nervous wait every time they stepped up to the tee
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@mn5 Cairnsie was never up to batting in the top 6 even among some of the somewhat mediocre options he played with.
Never saw John Reid, but he mainly batted at four for NZ, so he gets quite a few more marks than Cairnsie even though their averages are similar.
I'd be somewhat tempted to leave him out for Rossco, though - and just have four bowlers.
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@chris-b said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@mn5 Cairnsie was never up to batting in the top 6 even among some of the somewhat mediocre options he played with.
Never saw John Reid, but he mainly batted at four for NZ, so he gets quite a few more marks than Cairnsie even though their averages are similar.
I'd be somewhat tempted to leave him out for Rossco, though - and just have four bowlers.
Thats debatable but he'd bat 7 or 8 in my all time team.....
Cairns was so superior to Reid in terms of his bowling it wasn't funny.....not to mention CC has a good batting record too.....Very similar to Reids in fact.
Consider this.....a 5 for and a century are pretty much what every bowler and batsman strive for respectively right ? Cairns has 18 combined from 62 tests......Reid had 7 from 58 tests.
I get that Cairns had a polarizing personality and obviously the allegations play a massive part in that too but anyone who doesn't think he's one of our all time greats has rocks in their head.
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@mn5 He doubtless is a New Zealand great - if we're allowed to have twenty or thirty "greats". But, for me he sits alongside someone like Fleming - a good test player, but not exceptional.
In terms of World "Greats", only Sir Paddles would be sure of an invite. Marty might get a seat in the room, and Little Kane is filling in an application form.
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@chris-b said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@mn5 He doubtless is a New Zealand great - if we're allowed to have twenty or thirty "greats". But, for me he sits alongside someone like Fleming - a good test player, but not exceptional.
In terms of World "Greats", only Sir Paddles would be sure of an invite. Marty might get a seat in the room, and Little Kane is filling in an application form.
I agree, Paddles is our only true great but I have no doubt KW will join him.
Again, Cairns walks into the team for me, only stickler is the "balance" and where he bats.....
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Boult is the superior choice over Bond.
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Problem with Cairns in an all-time team is he doesn't stack up as batsmen or bowler alone against the other options. You'd only play him if you think you needed an extra batsmen at 7, or another bowling option and bat him at 6, to cover weaknesses. You don't have those weaknesses in all-time teams so for me he doesn't make the cut as he either weakens the batting or the bowling. 6 batsmen, 1 keeper and 4 bowlers gives the best balance to this team.
Someone like Kallis can make teams like this as he makes the team as a batsmen alone, and the bowling is just a bonus. Cairns isn't quite good enough at either.
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@no-quarter Yeah - and that's the thing.
Ideally, you'd want everyone in the top 6 to have averages of 50+, because that's going to be the benchmark of the Aussies/English/Windies etc. Which is why I'll pick Dempster (a coulda been Great, but didn't play enough) over someone like Wright or even Sutcliffe.
Bowling-wise, you want people who can dynamite a world class batting line-up - in my lifetime that's Hadlee, Bond and just maybe Boult.
Harsh reality of NZ cricket is that we have to include people like Turner and Vettori - excellent players, but guys who wouldn't get a look in in an all-time Australian team.
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@chris-b said in Cricket - NZ vs Pakistan:
@no-quarter Yeah - and that's the thing.
Ideally, you'd want everyone in the top 6 to have averages of 50+, because that's going to be the benchmark of the Aussies/English/Windies etc. Which is why I'll pick Dempster (a coulda been Great, but didn't play enough) over someone like Wright or even Sutcliffe.
Bowling-wise, you want people who can dynamite a world class batting line-up - in my lifetime that's Hadlee, Bond and just maybe Boult.
Harsh reality of NZ cricket is that we have to include people like Turner and Vettori - excellent players, but guys who wouldn't get a look in in an all-time Australian team.
Ummmmmm......It's New Zealand?
An Aussie all time 2nd or even 3rd XI would destroy our best.
