Black Caps campaign looks in tatters
February 08, 2008
On the surface those two T20 losses can seem very disheartening but I refuse to believe all is lost.
England has arrived with a strong unit and a handful of world-class players. With that said they still have a lot of weaknesses and really haven’t been tested under pressure yet.
The Black Caps have the talent in the squad to match and beat the English, I have no doubt, but a lot of internal issues within the team have to be addressed first.
Why was every batsman in yesterday's batting line-up out of position?
I can't see any wisdom in having a situation like that at international level. And I hope I'm the not the only one that thinks that Brendon McCullum's stint as an opener has to end.
The strength of our team when we were easily amongst the best three ODI teams in the world was its fielding and the sting in the tail of its batting.
Recently the quality of fielding has declined – this being especially noticeable in South Africa – and now our once potent tail is succumbing as easily as our top order does.
John Bracewell obviously wants explosiveness at the top of the order and instead of utilising one of the countries most explosive batsman in Lou Vincent he persists in bumping Brendon McCullum up the order.
I think it's becoming obvious that McCullum is going to fail more often than he comes off at the top of the order so why not get the best out him and get him to resurrect our tail.
Our tail-order will also of course be boosted once Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori and James Franklin return at seven, eight and nine in the order.
I'm comfortable with giving Jesse Ryder a prolonged chance at the highest level. Out of a T20 smash and bash situation I think he would be at ease surviving against that English bowling attack.
As for the English, their batting looks as exciting and capable of quality limited overs cricket as it has ever been. But hit and miss innings like Phil Mustard's at Christchurch (six off the back of the bat! Who does that?) make me think they might not be as successful in the 50 overs cricket to come.
Still there is Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood to worry about.
The English bowling looks very thin despite its many successes against our disorganised batting order. Ryan Sidebottom aside the others look non-threatening.
James Anderson doesn't seem to even look where he's bowling to but I'll give him credit so far as to say he is an excellent swinger of the ball.
So looking to the ODIs ahead - with the exception of the omitted Andre Adams - I think we have the right personnel to win it's just a down to a matter of tactics.
England has arrived with a strong unit and a handful of world-class players. With that said they still have a lot of weaknesses and really haven’t been tested under pressure yet.
The Black Caps have the talent in the squad to match and beat the English, I have no doubt, but a lot of internal issues within the team have to be addressed first.
Why was every batsman in yesterday's batting line-up out of position?
I can't see any wisdom in having a situation like that at international level. And I hope I'm the not the only one that thinks that Brendon McCullum's stint as an opener has to end.
The strength of our team when we were easily amongst the best three ODI teams in the world was its fielding and the sting in the tail of its batting.
Recently the quality of fielding has declined – this being especially noticeable in South Africa – and now our once potent tail is succumbing as easily as our top order does.
John Bracewell obviously wants explosiveness at the top of the order and instead of utilising one of the countries most explosive batsman in Lou Vincent he persists in bumping Brendon McCullum up the order.
I think it's becoming obvious that McCullum is going to fail more often than he comes off at the top of the order so why not get the best out him and get him to resurrect our tail.
Our tail-order will also of course be boosted once Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori and James Franklin return at seven, eight and nine in the order.
I'm comfortable with giving Jesse Ryder a prolonged chance at the highest level. Out of a T20 smash and bash situation I think he would be at ease surviving against that English bowling attack.
As for the English, their batting looks as exciting and capable of quality limited overs cricket as it has ever been. But hit and miss innings like Phil Mustard's at Christchurch (six off the back of the bat! Who does that?) make me think they might not be as successful in the 50 overs cricket to come.
Still there is Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood to worry about.
The English bowling looks very thin despite its many successes against our disorganised batting order. Ryan Sidebottom aside the others look non-threatening.
James Anderson doesn't seem to even look where he's bowling to but I'll give him credit so far as to say he is an excellent swinger of the ball.
So looking to the ODIs ahead - with the exception of the omitted Andre Adams - I think we have the right personnel to win it's just a down to a matter of tactics.
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