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*Unofficial* New Zealand Black Caps Thread

Flem274*

123/5
im a very boring person so im trying to rank my kiwi bowlers. bruce taylor didn't like favourable conditions did he? gunned it in india and the windies but was modest at home and in england. is there any footage of him? it tends to suggest he was bowling the flintoff/morkel length, which makes him so valuable and inspiring on a motorway but not as successful when it's spicy.

i've always been a fan of the guy since hadlee overshadows him as a bowling allrounder.
 

Bahnz

Well-known member
im a very boring person so im trying to rank my kiwi bowlers. bruce taylor didn't like favourable conditions did he? gunned it in india and the windies but was modest at home and in england. is there any footage of him? it tends to suggest he was bowling the flintoff/morkel length, which makes him so valuable and inspiring on a motorway but not as successful when it's spicy.

i've always been a fan of the guy since hadlee overshadows him as a bowling allrounder.
He was tall by all accounts, so tended to get a bit of lift on unresponsive decks.

My ranking of the top 10 woulde be: Hadlee, Cowie, Wagner, Bond, Boult, Taylor, Southee, Collinge, Vettori, Mr X
 

Flem274*

123/5
i like that group of names too, tho i might have a slightly different order. maybe hadlee, cowie, bond, wagner, the alleged mr x, boult, taylor, southee, collinge, cameron

vettori leads the spinners by miles

was watching test bowling highlights of mr x yesterday. fmd he was amazing once he clicked in test cricket. it's a shame he spent so long injured, he deserved to drag that teenage average further down. an all time very goodTM bowler lost to us.
 

Bahnz

Well-known member
i like that group of names too, tho i might have a slightly different order. maybe hadlee, cowie, bond, wagner, the alleged mr x, boult, taylor, southee, collinge, cameron

vettori leads the spinners by miles

was watching test bowling highlights of mr x yesterday. fmd he was amazing once he clicked in test cricket. it's a shame he spent so long injured, he deserved to drag that teenage average further down. an all time very goodTM bowler lost to us.
Yeah, he lost points for me because of his physical fragility (same reason why Bond isn't ranked #2). But in terms of raw talent, he was a fine bowler, His bowling in his last test was one of the best performances I've ever seen for NZ. Mills and Martin both broke down injured. That meant that Cairns only had 125kmh James Franklin, a half fit Jacob Oram and Scott Styris as back up. Yet he ended the test with 9 wickets and bowled with real pace and skill - would've been a matchwinning performance with anything approaching a fully fit bowling attack.
 

Starfighter

Well-known member
im a very boring person so im trying to rank my kiwi bowlers. bruce taylor didn't like favourable conditions did he? gunned it in india and the windies but was modest at home and in england. is there any footage of him? it tends to suggest he was bowling the flintoff/morkel length, which makes him so valuable and inspiring on a motorway but not as successful when it's spicy.

i've always been a fan of the guy since hadlee overshadows him as a bowling allrounder.
1965
1969 at 0.29

A long time ago there used to be highlights from the 1973 series which had rather a lot of him. Haven't seem them for at least five or six years though.
 

Starfighter

Well-known member
woah, thanks!

he looks pretty sharp in that second clip, and that ball must have come back viciously.
I have both in my recordings collection, the second one is slanted inswinger. I don't think he was that quick, bog ordinary fast-medium sort of speed. Kinda hard to remember since I only saw it once and it's been so long, but he looked (and was) quite unimpressive in 1973, bowling too short on pitches expected to favour him. That was his last series, though he was only 30 and played in FC until 79/80.
 

Flem274*

123/5
I have both in my recordings collection, the second one is slanted inswinger. I don't think he was that quick, bog ordinary fast-medium sort of speed. Kinda hard to remember since I only saw it once and it's been so long, but he looked (and was) quite unimpressive in 1973, bowling too short on pitches expected to favour him. That was his last series, though he was only 30 and played in FC until 79/80.
im kiwi remember, sharp = fast medium, fast = fast

that sounds about right from looking at his record and what i've read. it definitely sounds like he favoured hitting the deck hard on the flintoff/morkel length which isn't comfortable but is a bit too short to consistently catch the edge or hit the stumps. his record in less favourable conditions is gold though, so it's a shame he didn't play in the 80s or later as the third seamer.

on modern nz day 5 decks he'd be popular with his skipper.
 

Mike5181

Well-known member
1965
1969 at 0.29

A long time ago there used to be highlights from the 1973 series which had rather a lot of him. Haven't seem them for at least five or six years though.
I thought that was Richard Hadlee in the second clip for a second, had to check because the player looked similar. It was Dayle Hadlee on his debut. Front arm and head were kept a bit straighter in Richard's action.
 

vandem

Well-known member
Dick Brittenden in the 69 tour book makes several comments about Taylor's inconsistency. From the summary chapter:

... his bowling never brought him really spectacular results. But Taylor kept getting wickets - and getting them faster, in terms of overs to wickets, than anyone else in the team [Motz, Cunis, Collinge, Dayle Hadlee were the other seamers]. He had the happy knack of getting an early one or two and his test figures were revealing [8 tests v WI, in Eng, in Ind, in Pak, 24 wickets @ 23.4]. ... His bowling was sometimes very sharp, sometimes a little lackadaisical...
 

Moss

Well-known member
Dick Brittenden in the 69 tour book makes several comments about Taylor's inconsistency. From the summary chapter:
The chapter mentions Dick Motz. Can anyone weigh in on how good he was? Known for being the first kiwi to the 100 wicket mark, and seems to be regarded as NZ's bowler of the 60's (a case could be made for Taylor I suppose though he straddles 2 decades). Based on accounts from my fathers/grandfathers generation he made a favourable impression during his India visit in 64-65. Rated 'fast' by Cricinfo too though that obviously isn't the final word.
 
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Flem274*

123/5
Dick Brittenden in the 69 tour book makes several comments about Taylor's inconsistency. From the summary chapter:
this is pretty faint praise for a bloke who finished with a career average of 26 which i estimate puts him at the best average of all kiwis except cowie at the time, and easily the best of the 100 wickets club.
 

vandem

Well-known member
The chapter mentions Dick Motz. Can anyone weigh in on how good he was? ...
From Brittenden's 1965 tour book (Ind, Pak, Eng):

He [Motz] was much more accurate than Collinge or Taylor, more agressive, in a more obvious sense, than Cameron.... He had out-swing at times, but based his attack principally on pace, a little lift, variations in the line of his attack, and his ability to seam the ball on most pitches. He had a significant lead over the other pace bowlers in his percentage of top-order victims.
 

Flem274*

123/5
ta

big dig call to rate dick motz, collinge and dayle hadlee higher than bruce taylor (if im reading his subtext correct) given the statistical context. the cynic in me with well known views on cricket writers does wonder if it's a 'tim southee is a better odi bowler than matt henry' call.

i freely admit i want bruce taylor to be praised though. i feel bad for him that a certain other bowling allrounder followed and outdid him almost immediately.
 
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vandem

Well-known member
..big dig call to rate dick motz, collinge and dayle hadlee higher than bruce taylor (if im reading his subtext correct) given the statistical context. the cynic in me with well known views on cricket writers does wonder if it's a 'tim southee is a better odi bowler than matt henry' call...
Possibly.

But Brittenden had been on both 3-country tours in 65 and 69 so seen a lot of Taylor.

And by the end of the 69 tour Taylor has slipped to 3rd choice seamer (with Motz also injured / retired). Dayle Hadlee (pace, bounce, hostility) and Bob Cunis (stamina, accuracy) were preferred in the 2 seamer + 2-3 spinner attack in Pakistan.
 

vandem

Well-known member
The tour books are a good read, can often be found in NZ 2nd hand bookshops for $5 - 10.

Brittenden (Christchurch Press) wrote books on 53-54 (SA), 65 (Ind-Pak-Eng) and 69 (Eng-Ind-Pak) tours.

The 61-62 SA tour is covered in detail in John Reid's "Sword of Willow" (written with post-tour assistance from Alex Veysey (Dominion)).

Aussie player / journalist Dick Whitington lived in South Africa in the 60s and also wrote a book on the 61-62 SA tour, but I like Reid's 1st person account more.

DJ Cameron (NZ Herald) wrote a book on the 71-72 WI tour.
 
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