NZ story (pre-patch)

[GrahamB]

NZ team for the 1st Test

P.Fulton
M.Bell (capt)
M.Sinclair
I.Robertson
D.de Boorder (wk)
J.Ryder
K.Williamson
J.Oram
D.Vettori
S.Bond
D.Tuffey

The main surprise is de Boorder's inclusion as keeper ahead of McCullum.

[GrahamB]

Pakistan v NZ (1st Test)



Just when I was beginning to wonder whether either NZ or myself or both were pretty useless at this game!
NZ go 1-0 up in the series.
For those interested, de Boorder scored a half century upon debut.
Look at Oram's bowling!

[GrahamB]

Pakistan v NZ (2nd Test)

We went into this test with the same playing eleven that had served us so well in the opening test.
However, the Pakistanis had been stung by the heavy criticism in the press, and they were a completely different side this time around.
The one shining light for us was Derek de Boorder, who followed up his half century in his first test with a magnificent century in this one!



The series standing at 1-1 with one to play.

[GrahamB]

One change to our lineup for the deciding test, with Neil Broom coming in for his debut in place of Jesse Ryder.
Ryder was going to be omitted for this tour due to his poor performances in Sri Lanka, but his good domestic form led to me giving him another chance. However, he hasn't delivered the goods.

[ineedsomesleep]

Good thread.

I love playing those long games, and working a team slowly up the ranks as years go by. I've always found New Zealand quite hard to deal with. And this is coming from someone who's got bangladesh up to a #2 ranking (took a while, mind you... but they get some good young spinners coming through).

[seanoc]

As a fellow NZ and ICC fan i luv doing international careers with NZ. It is always a struggle however, especially in terms of spin bowlers and judging what FC players to pick from. I noticed guys like de boorder and arnel doing well. Did they hav good FC form or were they just picked on a gut feeling?

[GrahamB]

As a fellow NZ and ICC fan i luv doing international careers with NZ. It is always a struggle however, especially in terms of spin bowlers and judging what FC players to pick from. I noticed guys like de boorder and arnel doing well. Did they hav good FC form or were they just picked on a gut feeling?

Arnel seems to do well in OD especially. I picked him on a combination of domestic form, first class/OD average, second team average and economy.
De Boorder was selected on a combination of his FC average plus second team average.
Spin bowling is our achilles heel. Vettori isn't really that brilliant, but there is nobody else even in the frame.

[GrahamB]

Good thread.

I love playing those long games, and working a team slowly up the ranks as years go by. I've always found New Zealand quite hard to deal with. And this is coming from someone who's got bangladesh up to a #2 ranking (took a while, mind you... but they get some good young spinners coming through).

Thanks for your interest. I agree that it's very frustrating playing with NZ.

[GrahamB]

Pakistan v NZ (3rd Test)



Phew - what a nailbiter the decider turned out to be. Thank goodness that Shane Bond chose to produce his brilliant best to almost singlehandedly destroy the Pakistani challenge.
NZ take the test series 2-1 with an 11 run victory.

[grant28]

[QUOTE=GrahamB;4448]OD Squad v Sri Lanka

One good thing about this new version is that you can select a different squad for the ODIs.

Brilliant!

I am loving reading this story aswell lol

[GrahamB]

[QUOTE=grant28;4577]

OD Squad v Sri Lanka

One good thing about this new version is that you can select a different squad for the ODIs.

Brilliant!

I am loving reading this story aswell lol

Cheers mate. It's a poor excuse for a story really, but I'll try to include more detail after the first season is out of the way.
I wish I'd known you could select a different squad for the ODIs before the tour started though!

[patrickF690]

loving the story keep it up

[Chewie]

Arnel seems to do well in OD especially. I picked him on a combination of domestic form, first class/OD average, second team average and economy.
De Boorder was selected on a combination of his FC average plus second team average.
Spin bowling is our achilles heel. Vettori isn't really that brilliant, but there is nobody else even in the frame.

I've found that Vettori does very well; in my save he was one of the best Test and ODI bowlers in the world, and I was able to bring his test and ODI average to below 28.

[GrahamB]

I've found that Vettori does very well; in my save he was one of the best Test and ODI bowlers in the world, and I was able to bring his test and ODI average to below 28.

It will be interesting to see if I have the same success with him. You're getting my hopes up!

[GrahamB]

loving the story keep it up

Thanks.