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*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

The Hutt Rec

Well-known member
Spark mentioned they were putting up loads of old games when the rights transferred to them, so I signed up since it’s free until the end of June ... and it was just exactly the same games that Sky showed a few weeks ago before they lost the rights! Very disappointing.
 

Moss

Well-known member
Contract list out for 2020-21:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...s-contract-colin-munro-jeet-raval-out-in-cold

Pretty much on expected lines with Conway, Jaimeson and Patel in, and Raval Munro and Astle out. Possibly a minor shock for Munro who is still an automatic T20 pick. Nice to see Will Young in there though who knows when he gets to feature in international cricket.

The thing that stands out in the list for me is only 3 of them are proper limited overs specialists at this point - Guptill, Neesham and Sodhi. Everyone else has been in and around the test side of late; while Santner, Henry and possibly even Ferguson are unlikely to get back into the test XI anytime soon, it's still a striking contrast from 8-9 years ago when you'd have the likes of Nathan McCullum, Woodcock, Ellis, Nicol, and latter day versions of Franklin and Oram getting contracts. Makes you pretty happy with how things have progressed over the decade.
 

SteveNZ

Well-known member
Contract list out for 2020-21:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...s-contract-colin-munro-jeet-raval-out-in-cold

Pretty much on expected lines with Conway, Jaimeson and Patel in, and Raval Munro and Astle out. Possibly a minor shock for Munro who is still an automatic T20 pick. Nice to see Will Young in there though who knows when he gets to feature in international cricket.

The thing that stands out in the list for me is only 3 of them are proper limited overs specialists at this point - Guptill, Neesham and Sodhi. Everyone else has been in and around the test side of late; while Santner, Henry and possibly even Ferguson are unlikely to get back into the test XI anytime soon, it's still a striking contrast from 8-9 years ago when you'd have the likes of Nathan McCullum, Woodcock, Ellis, Nicol, and latter day versions of Franklin and Oram getting contracts. Makes you pretty happy with how things have progressed over the decade.
I might have a short memory, but is Conway the first player in a long time to feature in the contract list without having played a game yet?
 

Chewie

Well-known member
If by played a game you mean an international game for NZ then Will Young is on that list. If you include A games, then maybe.
 

SteveNZ

Well-known member
If by played a game you mean an international game for NZ then Will Young is on that list. If you include A games, then maybe.
I counted the NZ XI games v Australia in the warm-ups for the World Cup. But yeah, two uncapped players in the contract list. I can't remember the last uncapped players in a national contract list.
 

_Ed_

Well-known member
James McConie just said on CGW that he's heard rumours of a move to give Latham the test captaincy. :huh: Not sure of the veracity.
 

SteveNZ

Well-known member
Sounds like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

I'm not against reviewing Kane as captain, not because I don't think he's good at the job but because it could weigh on him over time if he leads all three forms - especially when Ross retires and he's carrying even more of the batting load.

But Latham, as good a captain as I believe he is, he's still learning his trade (particularly mental) at Test level. I don't think captaincy is going to help him average 45+ as an opener against good sides, especially in those tough series' where we struggle.
 

Chewie

Well-known member
From James McOnie on twitter:

Coup alert! Kane Williamson's test captaincy is under threat. Apparently coach Gary Stead favours fellow Cantabrian Tom Latham as skipper. It'd be easier on the ego to take the T20 job from Kane, to ease his workload, but that's not the preferred plan. #Canterburymafia (1 of 2)

Also, there's a lot of drama surrounding the internal NZ Cricket player rankings, which determine pay. A few players have leapt up the rankings without the stats to back it up. Will post more details soon but I'm tired from watching #TheLastDance and Storage Wars. (2 of 2)
edit: oh these tweets were from two days ago, I don't follow him, just Andrew Mulligan who retweeted it today. So nothing new from the other post I guess
 

Flem274*

123/5
i don't hate latham as skip (i thought he did well given the sunk ship he inherited in the 3rd test) and i think he'd make a good one, but he's only just started scoring real runs against attacks that could cope with or dominate our own shield, so i'd hate to see that reversed.

also i thought kane was excellent in the wc. can he really be blamed for both tours of overthinking in australia?
 

SteveNZ

Well-known member
i don't hate latham as skip (i thought he did well given the sunk ship he inherited in the 3rd test) and i think he'd make a good one, but he's only just started scoring real runs against attacks that could cope with or dominate our own shield, so i'd hate to see that reversed.

also i thought kane was excellent in the wc. can he really be blamed for both tours of overthinking in australia?
No, he can't. He beat India 2-0 in whites. He took us to the WC final, and won player of the tournament and most certainly was seen as the best skipper. We pooed ourselves in Australia, which is hardly uncommon. Massive overreaction based on one series of poor performance, which is almost part of our DNA.

I think McOnie might have steered out of his lane. Firstly, does any one think Stead would be stupid enough to shoot Bambi? Who's going to win that power battle? Hesson knew he could take on Ross because he had Brendon, and really only lost Gup as Ross' ally for a time. There's something like what, 6-7 ND guys in our Test side? And all of them senior players, who I have no doubt think Kane is the best man for the job. If Stead marched Kane, there'd be only one winner.

And the national contracting system is largely based on statistics - https://www.nzcpa.co.nz/uploads/3/8/5/8/38581077/master_agreement_2010_-_2018.pdf Yeah there's subjective measures as well but it would be hard to mix around 'a few players' as McOnie said, without having the stats to back it up. The internal disagreements tend to be over minor placings, ie Kane over Ross at 1, someone being 11th or 12th etc. It's usually pretty clear cut.
 

Bahnz

Well-known member
I'm sure it's something that Latham's coveted for a while. Still, Kane has only been captain for 3 years and has by and large done a fine job of it, espcially as he's grown into the role. Maybe the thinking is that with Kane's declining output in tests post the WC maybe there's a need to have him focus on run scoring. But it's Kane ****ing Williamson, he deserves another year before you start seriously worrying about his batting.
 

Moss

Well-known member
There's no harm in grooming Latham as Kane's stand-in and eventual successor by allowing him to captain the odd ODI-series here and there while Kane gets to put his feet up. Vettori was allowed to grow in the role of Fleming's understudy in the same way, as was Kane when McCullum was captain (the series in the UAE in late 2014 just before the world cup, which NZ won 3-2 was a high point). An in-form Latham will be quite important for the 2023 world cup anyway, given he enjoys the subcontinent. But that's all it should be.

What we don't need is division in the camp of any kind, there were suggestions of it during the Sydney test particularly over Southee being dropped/rested. Hopefully the management is sensible enough not to fix something that is far from broken.
 

Bahnz

Well-known member
Would be cool if the rumoured Aus v NZ test series in November comes to fruition, at least in theory. Had a dream last night that I was watching the first test at the Basin. Aus had batted first, scored 470, and NZ were 220/7 in reply with BJ marshalling the tail. I really wish my dreams were less realistic.

I really miss live cricket.
 

Flem274*

123/5
the public will side with kane but tbh if what the article says is true then both have flaws in their selections. stead is probably a bit too cold for a team of millennials who would feel betrayed by droppings for rests or declining into 124kph medium pacers (the southee dropping) but equally kane loves trash spinners too much (santner) and clearly hates using any spinner who bowls aggressively outside the sc.
 
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