Cricket - NZ vs Sri Lanka

[Bovidae]

Black Caps squad for the 1st test against Sri Lanka in Wellington, starting on Saturday:

Kane Williamson (captain), Tom Latham, Jeet Raval, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Ajaz Patel, Trent Boult, Matt Henry, Will Young.

Somerville and Sodhi return to domestic cricket. Central Stags batsman Will Young is the new name in the 13-man Black Caps squad, included as batting cover.

[MajorRage]

Somerville takes 7 wickets on debut then gets dropped? What am I missing?

[canefan]

@majorrage said in Cricket - NZ vs Sri Lanka:

Somerville takes 7 wickets on debut then gets dropped? What am I missing?

The pitch probably isn't spinner friendly, so we only take one

[No Quarter]

@canefan said in Cricket - NZ vs Sri Lanka:

@majorrage said in Cricket - NZ vs Sri Lanka:

Somerville takes 7 wickets on debut then gets dropped? What am I missing?

The pitch probably isn't spinner friendly, so we only take one

Yeah, we're unlikely to take 2 spinners in NZ. Better he keeps playing than sits on the sidelines. Patel deserves his spot.

[Virgil]

The herald headline that he was dumped is both ridiculous and ignorant.

[KiwiPie]

At his age, Somerville could conceivably never play test cricket again - and if so, what an outstanding career it was!

[dogmeat]

@kiwipie A spin equivalent of Rodney Redmond

[Bovidae]

I would have thought that the selection of the sole spinner would also be dependent on whether the SL top order was dominated by left or right-handed batsmen. Ideally you'd want the ball spinning away from their batsmen.

[Rapido]

I'm outraged that the selectors have left out a spinner who took 7 wickets on debut, and instead favoured a past it old hack who took 7 wickets on test debut 2 weeks earlier.

[Cyclops]

@rapido said in Cricket - NZ vs Sri Lanka:

I'm outraged that the selectors have left out a spinner who took 7 wickets on debut, and instead favoured a past it old hack who took 7 wickets on test debut 2 weeks earlier.

Maybe we should have ignored both and found another 30 plus spinner to give a test debut to?

30+ nz spinners on debut must have a sensational record for nz because Bruce Martin and maybe Mark Craig were both 30+ on debut I think (not 100% on Craig)

[KiwiPie]

Specialist spinners to have played test cricket for NZ this century

Vettori, Wiseman, Walker, Bradburn, J Patel, Astle, Martin, Sodhi, Craig, Santner, A Patel, Somerville.

And Somerville has the best average but of those who played 5 tests or more, only Vettori and Santner averages under 40. Craig, Wiseman, J Patel, Sodhi all settling into 46-48.

[dogmeat]

@cyclops Craig was 27 when he blitzed the Windies

[rotated]

@dogmeat said in Cricket - NZ vs Sri Lanka:

@kiwipie A spin equivalent of Rodney Redmond

Or Andre Adams.

[No Quarter]

@KiwiPie love your work mate.

[KiwiPie]

@no-quarter said in Cricket - NZ vs Sri Lanka:

@KiwiPie love your work mate.

I owe it all to StatsGuru which is probably the greatest ever digital invention.

[Virgil]

@kiwipie said in Cricket - NZ vs Sri Lanka:

@no-quarter said in Cricket - NZ vs Sri Lanka:

@KiwiPie love your work mate.

I owe it all to StatsGuru which is probably the greatest ever digital invention.

Have you not checked out the Hawt girls thread?..

[MN5]

I guess the extremely overrated Mitch Santner is thankful he's still young....

[pukunui]

Do we play Sri Lanka every summer or does it just feel like we do?

[Siam]

@mn5 he's a good lad with a white ball though. Stop picking on the third formers!

[KiwiPie]

@pukunui said in Cricket - NZ vs Sri Lanka:

Do we play Sri Lanka every summer or does it just feel like we do?

I think we do play Sri Lanka or Bangladesh every summer.