New Zealand batting

[Gambit]

I've always wondered why, historically, NZ's lower order has more often than not outperformed their top order. You can almost always sense a recovery after NZ are 4 or 5 down for nothing. This probably has to be with the fact that on their pitches, very few opening and middle order batsmen in first class games survive the first hour and the lower middle/tail batsmen come in and bat just as the pitch is starting to ease.

[Dravid]

reminds me of the late 90s ZIM team :hahaha: but today atleast guptill and taylor got runs

[DomainK]

Vettori always does a great job of annoying the opposition with his stubborn batting. Just when the opposition thinks they have done the job, he steps in and spoils the celebrations. I hope he bats through tomorrow. Then Pakistan will show them how to do a proper collapse job.

[gaurav92]

^ yeah :hysterical: and BTW how did u make 122 milz :omg: and did i ever say that you were one of my favourite posters :winky: :icflove:

[King]

Batting is quite tough in NZ conditions particularly pre-Christmas. Usually better batsmen come from usually Auckland, Christchurch and Napier (CD). The rest of the centers usually produce bowlers as pitches aren't conducive for batting most of the summer. If you look at the upcoming young ones they don't get enough opportunities to bat long. In Under 11s, the batsmen are retired when they reach 20. In Under 12s batsmen are retired when they get to 30. In Under 13 and Under 14 batsmen are retired when they get to 40/50. The system of retiring batsmen suck. NZ cricket borrows these stupid stuff from ECB. It suits ECB because there are enough cricketers in the age groups in England and participation is the key over in England given the number of cricketers that participate in cricket. Over here in NZ there are not enough numbers and we still keep going by the ECB rules. I have fought several battles with the administrators and try to make them aware why we lack batsmen that can bat long and hard but it just doesn't seem to get to them. Cricket is ruthless and it has to be that way even in age group cricket. We produce kids that can bat, bowl, field, keep and pretty much do everything without really specializing. NZ is fantastic in producing Sodhi like player that finds hard to find their feet in international cricket. If you look at the likes of Oram, Styris, McCullum, Vettori and the list goes on and on and on, they are all decent bat as well as bowlers but you can't really pick any of these as world beaters. Then we have pitches that suit the medium pace bowlers heavily. The bowlers hardly have to do much, they just need to bowl full and straight the wickets will come. If you look at the bowlers (barring Bond), they are all single dimensional. They wouldn't know how to bowl on a pitch that is not condusive for fast bowling. In NZ conditions you don't have to price out batsmen, just bowl in one area and due to lack of pace, bounce and because of massive lateral movement batsmen that don't have temperament get themselves out. Majority of the time, the bowlers hardly try to learn any sort of skills knowing fully well single dimensional bowling is the best way to make a mark in NZ. Participation at age group level and lack of competitive set up is killing NZ cricket. Now with IPL around there are more kids playing cricket but they are heading towards what you call "Jack of all" and "Master of none". It's in shambles really the NZ Cricket, we can't produce decent spinners, openers, middle order batsmen and quickies. All we can produce is players that can contribute 30 runs each and take 1 or 2 wickets in a inning giving away 35 runs per wicket. Outside NZ, the same players fail miserably as the batsmen don't have the temparament to bat for long hours to get big 100s and bowlers haven't skills enough to price out batsmen on a flat track.

[Gambit]

^ Thanks for that King. The Vettori-McCullum partnership today reinforces the point I was making in the OP. It seems that in domestic games the lower middle order gets to bat a lot more than the top half because of the initial conditions and hence, they actually become better bats that the guys at the top. And regarding the point you made about all rounders, if I had to pick a cricketer that typified NZ cricket it would be Chris Harris. Decent bat/decent bowler/decent fielder.

[DomainK]

^ yeah :hysterical: and BTW how did u make 122 milz :omg: and did i ever say that you were one of my favourite posters :winky: :icflove:

wow....that's an honor. You are also one of my favorite.:icflove: BTW That money was a stroke of luck.

[punjabi_khota]

Vettori is their most successful test batsmen of last couple of years. He probably should be batting at 6 or 7 rather than 8.

[gaurav92]

wow....that's an honor. You are also one of my favorite.:icflove: BTW That money was a stroke of luck.

:bow: