NZ Story ICC 2008 Version(Normal)

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We made 4 changes for the 3 day match against Northamptonshire with Peter Fulton replacing How at the top of the order, Nevin replacing McCullum as wicketkeeper and Gillespie and Kyle Mills get an opportunity to push for a spot in the starting test lineup. They replace Franklin and Vettori.

P Fulton
M Bell
R Taylor
J Ryder
C McMillan
J Oram
C Nevin
K Mills
T Southee
M Gillespie
I O'Brien

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2nd Test vs England

ENG 1st Innings
485 K Pietersen 119, O Shah 146
J Oram 4-112, I O'Brien 3-113

NZ Ist Innings
191 J Ryder 97
A Flintoff 5-25

NZ 2nd Innings (Following on)
409 R Taylor 100, M Bell 66
R Sidebottom 5-97

ENG 2nd Innings
118/0 A Strauss 62no, A Cook 54no

England win by 10 wickets

Once again England were too good. Through Pietersen and Shah they scored a very good total which allowed them to pile the pressure on us. Flintoff ripped through us in the first innings, with only Ryder putting up a fight with a well made 97. We made a much better fist of the 2nd Innings, with Taylor showing a lot of determination under a lot of pressure to score 100. Sidebottom once again got 5 wickets to leave little work for their batters, with our bowlers unable to make a breakthrough. Vettori and McCullum have both had poor games but have a tour match to try and get back into form. With Peter Fulton back from injury he will be given the opportunity to press for selection, although both the openers form has been satisfactory.

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The team for the 2nd test was unchanged, although Vettori has been stripped of the captaincy and he and McCullum have been put on notice. The experienced McMillan has taken over captaincy for now.

England have made 1 change with Paul Collingwood coming in for Vaughan

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NZ vs ENG 1st Test at Lords

NZ 1st Innings
483 C McMillan 121, J Ryder 113, D Vettori 57
R Sidebottom 7-125

ENG 1st Innings
542 I Bell 252, A Strauss 195
I 0'Brien 5-154, T Southee 4-105

NZ 2nd Innings
274 J Franklin 51, C McMillan 47
R Sidebottom 4-76, A Flintoff 3-66

ENG 2nd Innings
216/5 A Strauss 109no, A Cook 51
T Southee 3-54

England win by 5 wickets

Some outstanding batting by Strauss and Bell and extraordinary bowling by Sidebottom has given England a 1-nil lead in the 3 test series. England won the toss and put us in to bat where we struggled initially reaching 32/2. A 109 run partnership between How and Ryder rescued us somewhat. Ryder went on to score his maiden hundred in his debut test but we found ourselves in trouble again at 263/6. A 140 run partnership between McMillan and Vettori got us into a dominant position and further scores from the lower order boosted our position. Sidebottom toiled hard and was well rewarded with 7 wickets to his credit. England were down in the dumps at 4/2 before an unbelievable 420 run partnership between Strauss and Bell put them on top. O'Brien and Southee came back well to earn themselves 5 and 4 wickets respectively as we held the score to 542. We struggled in the 2nd Innings with only McMillan and Franklin showing a brief amount of the application required for a large score on a wearing pitch. Sidebottom got 4 more to end with 11 for the match and Strauss led a comfortable chase for the 215 required to win with only Southee really troubling the English. 1-nil England

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1st Test vs England at Lords

The team has been announced at a team meeting. It is as follows:

J How
M Bell
R Taylor
J Ryder
C McMillan
J Oram
B McCullum(wk)
D Vettori(c)
J Franklin
T Southee
I O'Brien

Feature being Jesse Ryder who is on debut.

England named their team also. It is as follows:

A Cook
A Strauss
K Pietersen
I Bell
O Shah
M Vaughan(c)
M Prior(wk)
A Flintoff
R Sidebottom
S Harmison
M Hoggard

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Selection Meeting.

Confirmed

1.J How
2.M Bell
3.R Taylor
4.
5.C McMillan
6.J Oram
7.
8.D Vettori
9.
10.
11.I O'Brien

With 1 batsman, 1 wicketkeeper and 2 bowlers required to finalise the XI, the selection commitee have a tough job on their hands. With Jesse Ryder having showed plently of potential in the past it it likely he will debut and bat at 4, despite his recent form (60 runs@20.00). Brendon McCullum's experience at test level will give him the edge over Chris Nevin in the race for the wicketkeepers spot. The 2 remaining bowling spots however are tricky with the following 4 having put their hands up for the job. Their stats for this tour are:

Tim Southee-11 wickets @ 20.09. BB-6/42 RPO-3.36
Shane Bond- 3 wickets @ 55 BB-2/47 RPO-4.34
Mark Gillespie- 3 wickets @ 27 BB-2/17 RPO-2.79
James Franklin- 5 wickets @ 10 BB-2/22 RPO- 2.88

Tim Southee is the obvious standout here with James Franklins stats being a touch better than Gillespies. Bond has been a huge disapointment considering his reputation and experience and will play no part in the first test. The selectors will announce the team on the day of the test.

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Tour Match vs MCC

MCC 1st Innings
205 D Charlton 48
T Southee 6-47, S Bond 2-42

NZ 1st Innings
643/7decM Bell 173, J Franklin 143no, T Southee 102no

MCC 2nd Innings
110 J Franklin 4-22, T Southee 2-14

NZ win by Innings and 328 runs.

This would be close to my biggest win ever, albeit against poor opposition. Franklin, Bell and Southee all impressed with bat while Southee,Bond and Franklin dominated with ball which creates a tough selection for the 1st Test. Both McCullum and Nevin failed with the bat so we go into the test with no wicketkeepers in form which is a concern. Bell and Hows 120 run opening stand has eased fears somewhat of the Openers but Ryder still has a question mark over his form and may find himself squeezed out of the final XI for the 1st Test at Lords which begins in 4 days time.

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After good performances against Essex and Kent, Oram, O'Brien and Taylor get a well deserved rest. In their place comes Franklin, Nevin and Gillespie. Nevin has been brought in to put some pressure on McCullum who has had a poor tour thus far while Gillespie and Franklin will compete with Southee and Bond for the 2 remaining fast bowling spots. The team to vs the MCC is:

M Bell
J How
J Ryder
C Nevin
C McMillan
B McCullum(wk)
D Vettori(c)
J Franklin
T Southee
S Bond
M Gillespie

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Tour Match vs Essex

Essex 1st Innings
370 R Bopara 110
J Oram 5-90, I O'Brien 3-78

NZ Ist Innings
342 R Taylor 178no
D Masters 4-100

Essex 2nd Innings
179/2dec R Bopara 42no
I O'Brien 1-29

NZ 2nd Innings
60/0
Match Drawn

Another outstanding performance from both O'Brien and Taylor to secure their spots in the test team. Oram though was the pick of the bowlers with 6 wickets for the match. With as many as 4 spots still available fringe players wil be given their opportunity in the next match vs MCC before the 1st Test vs England

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Our 2nd Warm Up Match was against Essex. The same line-up was kept as there are no other options to open batting (Fulton is injured) and most others are performing. Those who failed in 1st game(Bond, Ryder) with be under pressure to perform

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Tour Match vs Kent

Kent 1st Innings
296 N Dexter 69, J Denly 56
I O'Brien 4-69, T Southee 3- 59

NZ Ist Innings
406 C McMillan 110, R Taylor 101

Kent 2nd Innings
321/7dec M Walkfer 102
D Vettori 3-86, I O'Brien 2-60

NZ 2nd Innings
70/2 M Bell 35, J How 30no
Match Drawn

This was a good hit out for the boys with 2 centuries for us in the match encouraging. O'Brien and Southees form is pleasing. Major concern currently is opening batsman(so unlike NZ)

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The tour began with disaster after Peter Fulton broke a finger at training and is injured for 2 weeks. This is a massive blow as he was going to be an important part of the test lineup. The tour began with a warm-up match against Kent. I picked a shadow test lineup in the hope they find some form before the upcoming test series. The team is:

Matthew Bell
Jamie How
Ross Taylor
Jesse Ryder
Craig McMillan
Jacob Oram
Brendon McCullum(wk)
Daniel Vettori(c)
Tim Southee
Shane Bond
Iain O'Brien

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20 Centrally Contracted Players for 2008/09 Season

The contracts have been handed out to the following players:
Peter Fulton
Jamie How
Matthew Bell
Ross Taylor
Craig McMillan
Jesse Ryder
Jacob Oram
Scott Styris
James Franklin
Kyle Mills
Brendon McCullim
Chris Nevin
Daniel Vettori
Tim Southee
Shane Bond
Iain O'Brien
Mark Gillespie
Jeetan Patel
Matthew Sinclair
Aaron Redmond

Their were few surprises with the selection of Chris Nevin a notable addition.
This list of contracted players made the selection of the 18 man squad to tour england very straightforward with only Mathew Sinclair and Aaron Redmond missing out.

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Going into the 2008 season the Blackcaps(NZ cricket team) were looking to develop promising youngsters in Tim Southee,Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder while at the same time trying to enhance their test(7th) and ODI(3rd) ranking. NZ Fixture list looks like this for 2008/09 season:

April-June Tour of England 3 Tests, 1 T20, 5 ODIs
October West Indies in NZ 2 Tests, 3 ODIs
November-January Tour of Australia 3 Tests, Tri Series vs Aus, South Africa
Febuary-March India in NZ 3 Tests, 5 ODIs

NZ cricket will announce the 20 centrally contracted players shortly.