NZ under GrahamB (story)

[GrahamB]

1st ODI v Zimbabwe

We took the risk of going in with our two spinners, meaning that Boult, Ellis and Wells would be our seamers.
The game was a real nailbiter!
We put together a competitive total, but thanks to a fine unbeaten century from Williams, the visitors were always in the hunt. Fortunately, we kept grabbing wickets at the other end and came away with the win.

B.Hatwell
S.Murdoch
K.Van Wyk (wk)
H.Boam
R.Taylor (capt)
S.Stewart
S.Wells
A.Ellis
B.Martin
T.Boult
T.Nethula

[Chewie]

I have to say, you are extremely quick at getting rid of the current stalwarts when they're just slightly out of form

[Dom]

Your teams bowling in the One Day format seems to be really good. What line and length do you set your bowlers to bowl or would you say it is down to the fields you set?

[GrahamB]

Your teams bowling in the One Day format seems to be really good. What line and length do you set your bowlers to bowl or would you say it is down to the fields you set?

In the ODIs, I bowl with three bars aggression right through.
I use default field settings and bowl to the batsmen's weaknesses.
I start off with the field set to three, take it down to two once a batsman reaches 20 and down to 1 if they reach 40.

[GrahamB]

I have to say, you are extremely quick at getting rid of the current stalwarts when they're just slightly out of form

Usually, it depends on whether their domestic form has been poor too.

[GrahamB]

2nd ODI v Zimbabwe

Both sides retained the same playing eleven for the second ODI.

The match was almost a carbon copy of the first.
We again passed 250 with Murdoch and Boam leading the way.
As in the first game, Williams was the only Zimbabwean batsman to pose a threat, and he very nearly led his side to victory. Wells and Nethula were the most impressive bowlers again too.



Can't have happened too often that a batsman scores two consecutive unbeaten OD centuries, only to finish on the losing side both times?

[GrahamB]

3rd ODI v Zimbabwe

Both sides made changes for the final ODI.
We brought in the players who'd not figured in the first two games. Raval replaced Murdoch as one of the openers, Williamson and Derek de Boorder replaced Boam and Stewart, and Arnel replaced Boult.
The visitors brought in Hamilton Masakadza, with Ervine and Williams dropping to numbers 3 and 4 respectively.

Our top order failed today and it was left to Derek de Boorder (playing as a batsman only) to hold things together. He got good support from our two all-rounders (Wells and Ellis) and Martin and we struggled through to 227 in the final over.
Chinyengetere and Ervine laid the foundation for a consolation victory with half centuries, but the Zimbabweans almost faltered towards the end. Had a chance from Chigumbura been held in the slips, things might have turned out differently.

[GrahamB]

T20 Internationals v Zimbabwe

The NZ squad:

B.Hatwell
S.Murdoch (capt)
J.Raval
K.Bettley
R.Taylor
D.Broom
D.de Boorder (wk)
K.Van Wyk (wk)
J.Franklin
J.Ryder
N.McCullum
A.Ellis
B.Martin
G.Aldridge
T.Boult

In the 1st T20, we lost wickets too regularly and it was left to Jesse Ryder to guide us through to a respectable 140/8.
However, the most dangerous Zimbabwean batsmen can all score at a good clip, and they chased down the target with two overs to spare!



We'd played both our spinners in the first match, but different pitch conditions saw both dropped in favour of Ellis and Aldridge. We also brought in the more aggressive Jeet Raval to replace Hatwell at the top of the order.
This time we chose to bowl first and we didn't allow any of the visiting batsmen to get established, resulting in restricting them to a paltry 120/6.
Ellis and Franklin both had very impressive spells.
When Stephen Murdoch is in form, it doesn't really matter who partners him at the wicket. Although Raval went cheaply, Murdoch and Taylor made no race of it, smashing their way through to the victory score in just the 11th over!

[GrahamB]

NZ Squad for T20s v South Africa

The South Africans will likely provide a much sterner test for us, so some changes were made to our T20 squad.
I'm mindful of including young players in cases of borderline selections, so that I can train them. Therefore Jeet Raval and Kane Williamson kept out Hatwell and Broom respectively.
Brendon McCullum returns from injury, so Derek de Boorder has been preferred as back up ahead of Kruger Van Wyk.
The only two new faces are batsmen Cameron Merchant and Dean Brownlie.

S.Murdoch (capt)
B.McCullum (wk)
J.Raval
R.Taylor
C.Merchant
D.Brownlie
K.Williamson
D.de Boorder (wk)
J.Franklin
J.Ryder
A.Ellis
N.McCullum
G.Aldridge
T.Boult
T.Nethula

[GrahamB]

1st T20 v South Africa



Brendon McCullum took all of his pent up frustrations out on the Proteas attack, spearheading our effort to reach 151/8.
Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough to hold off a strong South African batting performance and we went down in the final over.

[ab5ides1]

Great reading. Is Murdoch actually this good in real life?

[GrahamB]

Great reading. Is Murdoch actually this good in real life?

To be honest, I haven't followed the domestic scene here that closely for the past couple of seasons. However, if Murdoch was really this good, I'm sure we'd all be aware of it.

Cheers,
Graham.

[GrahamB]

2nd T20 v South Africa

Just one change to today's side, with Nathan McCullum providing a spin option in place of Kane Williamson.
Brendon McCullum continued his rich vein of form, smashing an unbeaten century as we racked up an impressive 182/5.
However, the South Africans managed to keep up with the asking rate throughout their innings and again pipped us in the final over!



Really not sure what more we have to do to beat this strong Proteas side.

[GrahamB]

3rd T20 v South Africa

Change of tactics - bowl first!
After restricting the visitors to 155/5, I had hopes that the lads would pull back a consolation victory. Unfortunately, they did a magnificent job keeping our batsmen in check and we fell short.
A 3-0 whitewash, but we were very competitive in all three games and the signs are promising for the future.



Now on to the three ODIs against South Africa.

[GrahamB]

NZ Squad for ODIs v South Africa

B.Hatwell
S.Murdoch (capt)
B.McCullum (wk)
H.Boam
D.de Boorder (wk)
N.Broom
S.Wells
A.Kitchen
D.Flynn
A.Ellis
B.Hiini
B.Martin
B.Arnel
T.Nethula
T.Boult

Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson are very badly out of form and it was a tough decision to leave them out.
Anaru Kitchen, Daniel Flynn and Neil Broom have all had magnificent domestic form and just begged to be included.
Shanan Stewart and Daryl Tuffey were unavailable through injury.
We couldn't leave Brendon McCullum out following his blistering T20 form.