NZ under GrahamB (FC and Tests only)

[GrahamB]

NZ v South Africa (2nd Test)

Not much I can say except that we got beaten by a better team.

After choosing to bat first, the overhead conditions unexpectedly turned against us, giving the advantage to the South African bowlers.

It was always going to be difficult coming back from a useful first innings deficit, but leaving the visitors 239 to chase on a turning pitch gave some hope.

However, a century opening stand between Malan and van Tonder, followed by a quickfire knock from de Kock saw the South Africans through.

NZ spin bowler, Jeremy Benton, showed promising signs.

[GrahamB]

NZ Tour to England 2021

[U][B]NZ Squad[/B][/U]

[B]Openers[/B]
Tom Latham (30 years old FC bat 43 Test bat 42)
Rachin Ravindra (22 years old FC bat 42 Test bat 38)
Hamish Rutherford (33 years old FC bat 37 Test bat 27)

[B]Other Batsmen[/B]
Kane Williamson (31 years old FC bat 49 Test bat 52) [I]Captain[/I]
Dean Foxcroft (24 years old FC bat 47 Test bat 50)
Mark Chapman (27 years old FC bat 45 Test bat 36)
Will Young (29 years old FC bat 43 Test bat 33)
Glenn Phillips (25 years old FC bat 43 Test bat 26) [I]Keeper[/I]
Dane Cleaver (30 years old FC bat 42 Test bat 42) [I]Keeper[/I]

[B]All Rounders[/B]

Darryl Mitchell (31 years old FC bat 48 Test bat 41 FC bowl 34 Test bowl 34) RFM
Malcolm Nofal (30 years old FC bat 30 Test bat 46 FC bowl 29 Test bowl 50) SLA

[B]Pace Bowlers[/B]
Larry Clarke (19 years old FC bowl 21 Test bowl 23) RMF
Will Williams (29 years old FC bowl 24 Test bowl -) RFM
Kyle Jamieson (27 years old FC bowl 26 Test bowl 23) RFM
Trent Boult (32 years old FC bowl 26 Test bowl 27) LMF
Tim Southee (33 years old FC bowl 27 Test bowl 29) RFM

[B]Spin Bowlers[/B]
Jeremy Benton (26 years old FC bowl 26 Test bowl 27) SLA
Ish Sodhi (29 years old FC bowl 31 Test bowl 49) LS

[GrahamB]

NZ team for the 1st Test: T.Latham, R.Ravindra, K.Williamson (capt), W.Young, D.Foxcroft, D.Mitchell, D.Cleaver (wk), K.Jamieson, W.Williams, J.Benton, L.Clarke.

We're going in with four specialist bowlers plus an all-rounder.
Pace bowler, Will Williams, gets rewarded for consistently good domestic form over several seasons and gets a chance ahead of both Trent Boult and Tim Southee..

[GrahamB]

England v NZ (1st Test)

England's big third innings score, made under sunny skies, proved to be the winning of the test.
When an aggressive or very aggressive batsman gets going, he can have a devastating effect, and Kohler-Cadmore's century was key.
Good performances from Stokes and Archer with the ball, easily coping with the absence of Broad, who was invalidated out of the game after being whacked on the helmet first ball by Mitchell.

[GrahamB]

NZ team for the 2nd Test:

T.Latham
R.Ravindra
K.Williamson (capt)
D.Foxcroft
M.Chapman
D.Mitchell
D.Cleaver (wk)
M.Nofal
K.Jamieson
J.Benton
L.Clarke

The pitch is expected to heavily favour spin as the game progresses, so both Nofal and Bentley will play, meaning that Williams misses out.
In another change, Mark Chapman replaces Will Young in the batting.

[GrahamB]

England v NZ (2nd Test)

Ah - revenge is sweet!

The very cloudy conditions prevailing for much of the first four days seemed to suit NZ better, and Kyle Jamieson was just magnificent, finishing with record second innings figures of 8/66 to squash England's hopes.

[GrahamB]

NZ team for the 3rd Test:

T.Latham
R.Ravindra
K.Williamson (capt)
W.Young
D.Foxcroft
M.Chapman
D.Mitchell
D.Cleaver (wk)  
K.Jamieson
J.Benton
L.Clarke

One change to the side for the final test, with batsman, Will Young, shoring up the batting at the expense of Malcolm Nofal.
It's a bit of a risk using Darryl Mitchell as third seamer, but he has been effective for us in this role over many tests.

[GrahamB]

England v NZ (3rd Test)

I must say that one rarely achieves a test series victory over the English on their home soil, but we managed to crush then in the final test to do so.
A great all-round performance.

[GrahamB]

NZ Tour to Ireland 2021

[U][B]NZ Squad[/B][/U]

[B]Openers[/B]
Tom Latham (30 years old FC bat 43 Test bat 44)
Rachin Ravindra (22 years old FC bat 42 Test bat 40)
Hamish Rutherford (33 years old FC bat 37 Test bat 27)

[B]Other Batsmen[/B]
Max French (20 years old FC bat 52 Test bat 19)
Kane Williamson (31 years old FC bat 50 Test bat 52) [I]Captain[/I]
Mark Chapman (28 years old FC bat 44 Test bat 31)
Glenn Phillips (25 years old FC bat 43 Test bat 26) [I]Keeper[/I]
Dane Cleaver (30 years old FC bat 41 Test bat 36) [I]Keeper[/I]

[B]All Rounders[/B]
Dean Foxcroft (24 years old FC bat 46 Test bat 47 FC bowl 32 Test bowl 50) OS
Darryl Mitchell (31 years old FC bat 39 Test bat 45 FC bowl 33 Test bowl 30) RFM
Malcolm Nofal (30 years old FC bat 30 Test bat 37 FC bowl 29 Test bowl 52) SLA

[B]Pace Bowlers[/B]
Larry Clarke (19 years old FC bowl 21 Test bowl 23) RMF
Will Williams (29 years old FC bowl 24 Test bowl 42) RFM
Kyle Jamieson (27 years old FC bowl 24 Test bowl 22) RFM
Trent Boult (32 years old FC bowl 26 Test bowl 27) LMF
Tim Southee (33 years old FC bowl 27 Test bowl 29) RFM

[B]Spin Bowlers[/B]
Jeremy Benton (27 years old FC bowl 32 Test bowl 33) SLA
Ish Sodhi (29 years old FC bowl 31 Test bowl 49) LS

Will Young was unavailable through injury, so the youngster, Max French, comes back into the squad.

[GrahamB]

NZ team for the 1st Test:

T.Latham
R.Ravindra
K.Williamson (capt)
D.Foxcroft
D.Mitchell
M.French
D.Cleaver (wk)
M.Nofal 
K.Jamieson
J.Benton
L.Clarke

Covering our bases with three pacemen and two spinners.

[GrahamB]

Ireland v NZ (1st Test)

A famous victory for Ireland, set up by an opening stand of 399 between Paul Stirling and Ross Allen at the start of the game.
After amassing a huge score, the Irish bowlers stepped up and bowled out of their skins to dismiss NZ cheaply and enforce the follow-on.
Although NZ batted much better in their second innings, the sad reality was that they were highly unlikely to save the game.

[GrahamB]

NZ team for the 2nd Test

T.Latham
R.Ravindra
G.Phillips
K.Williamson (capt)
D.Foxcroft
M.French
D.Cleaver (wk)
K.Jamieson
W.Williams
J.Benton
L.Clarke

Glenn Phillips replaces Darryl Mitchell in the batting, while pace bowler Will Williams comes in for his second test ahead of all-rounder Malcolm Nofal.

[GrahamB]

Ireland v NZ (2nd Test)

Although we won this test to square the series, the Irish proved that they're not easy-beats.

On a sharply turning pitch during their second innings, they put up a tremendous fight before eventually succumbing to the spin of Jeremy Benton and Dean Foxcroft.

[GrahamB]

Zimbabwe tour to NZ (2 Tests)

NZ team for the 1st Test

T.Latham
R.Ravindra
G.Phillips
K.Williamson (capt)
D.Foxcroft
D.Mitchell
D.Cleaver (wk)
K.Jamieson
J.Benton
L.Clarke
T.Boult

Darryl Mitchell and Trent Boult both return.

[Dhruv]

How is lockie Ferguson and Jimmy neesham in the game?