NZ under GrahamB (story)

[GrahamB]

SRI LANKA v NZ (2nd ODI 2012)

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

Unfortunately this one was a no contest. The Sri Lankans belted 276/9, Jayawardene leading the way with a magnificent century.

Then Kulasekara and Thushara knocked the top off our batting, to leave us in tatters at 23/3 and later 97/5.
Young Tom Latham tried to hold our effort together with a fighting innings, but he received little support from his team mates.

A really disappointing effort!
However, like everybody else playing this game, I'm experimenting and learning as I go. Still a lot of learning to do by the looks of it.

[GrahamB]

SRI LANKA v NZ (3rd ODI 2012)

Changes to both teams for this crucial match.
Sinclair, Williamson and Milne made way for Nicol, Brownlie and Oran in our side, while Prasanna was replaced by Herath in the Sri Lankan side.

Batting first, we again struggled to put enough runs on the board, with our top order collapsing like a pack of cards.
At 66/5, we were in danger of a new level of humiliation, but Munro found solid support from Franklin, and then the tail wagged a little.

Henry got us off to a great start, dismissing both openers cheaply, but that was it.
A scintillating unbeaten partnership between the rampant pair of Mathews and Sangakkara saw the home side through to victory in just the 29th over!

The series lost already at 0-3 and just more experimenting remaining for the last two matches.

[GrahamB]

SRI LANKA v NZ (4th ODI 2012)

Whilst the Sri Lankans kept the same side, we again rang changes as we searched for an elusive win, Sinclair, Williamson and Milne consigning Nicol, Brownlie and Franklin to seats in the stands.

Guptill and Sinclair were determined that we'd get a decent start this time and they delivered in style. Although there was little else of substance, 258/7 was going to be way more competitive than we'd been previously.

Imagine then our disappointment to go down by 1 wicket!

[GrahamB]

SRI LANKA v NZ (5th ODI 2012)

One change to each team for the final ODI.
Spinner Jono Boult needs a break, so young Joe Walker has been thrown to the lions (or should I say tigers) for this one.
The Sri Lankans have brought back Prasanna and dropped pace bowler Thushara.

Guptill and Munro set the innings up with a good third wicket stand, after Sinclair and Lathan fell cheaply.
However, they had little support from anybody else other than Ross Taylor, and our innings fell away to finish at 227/9.

What looks like hard work for our batsmen appears to be rather effortless though for the Sri Lankans.
Jayawardene fell short of a second century for the seres, but Matthews completed his as the home side cruised to victory inside 40 overs.

A 0-5 whitewash in the ODIs. How embarrassing!

[GrahamB]

SRI LANKA v NZ (1st 20/20 International 2012)

For the 20/20 series, we brought over six different players - 21 year old batsman Daryl Mitchell, allrounder Grant Elliott and bowlers Dan Vettori, Seth Rance, Brandon Hiini and Michael Bates.
On the plane back home were Williamson, Brownlie, Oram, Trent Boult, Jono Boult and Joe Walker.

Strange game the first 20/20.
The Sri Lankans put together 158/8, with nobody going past 30.
We struggled to keep up with the required run rate right from the start, and despite our best efforts fell 24 runs short. Franklin impressed with an unbeaten 44.

[cricfan1]

0-5 ohh Now it give me some factor

Hope you will get some good youngster NZ is in development face

[GrahamB]

SRI LANKA V NZ (2nd 20/20 International 2012)

Disastrous starts seem to be the order of the day for us in shorter forms of the game.
Batting first, we were in complete tatters at 33/6!
Although we limped through to 116, largely thanks to young Mitchell, it was never going to be enough.
To our credit, the bowlers toiled manfully in the Sri Lankan heat, but it was Jayawardene and Mathews who did the damage again as their side knocked off the required total.

We did well to draw the test series, but we were woefully outclassed in the ODIs and 20/20s.

[Imager36]

Totally wrong screenshots for those T20s... but never mind! Good luck for the next series!

[GrahamB]

Totally wrong screenshots for those T20s... but never mind! Good luck for the next series!

Corrected. Thanks. We're off to South Africa next.

[GrahamB]

0-5 ohh Now it give me some factor

Hope you will get some good youngster NZ is in development face

NZ always seems to be in development phase these days.

[GrahamB]

NZ TEST SQUAD to SOUTH AFRICA 2012-13

Opening Batsmen
Stephen Murdoch
Brendon MacCullum (wk)
Hamish Rutherford

Other Batsmen
Dean Brownlie
Kane Williamson
Ross Taylor (capt)
Jesse Ryder
Derek de Boorder (wk)
Stewart Rhodes
Anaru Kitchen

All-Rounders
Colin de Grandhomme
Andrew Ellis

Pace Bowlers
Matt Henry
Tim Southee
Trent Boult
Adam Milne

Spin Bowlers
Todd Astle
Joe Walker

Unlucky to miss the cut were Matt Sinclair, James Franklin and Michael Bates.

[GrahamB]

LIONS v NZ (Three Day Match 2012)

Some good motivation for many of our players to perform in this match, with the Test line up yet to be finalised.

We're likely to include one of our all-rounders in the test side, so the bowling efforts in particular from De Grandhomme and Ellis would be interesting.
In our first innings bowling effort against the Lions, de Grandhomme definitely had the edge, looking faster and more threatening.
Likewise, this was a chance for our two spinners to show their wares, and on this occasion, it was Todd Astle who took the honours.

There were similar head to heads in our batting too. With Rutherford and MacCullum seemingly competing for an opening spot alongside Murdoch in the Test line up, the latter chose a good time to score a wonderful unbeaten double century. Rutherford and Brownlie scored half centuries as we cantered to a big score.

Then another chance for the bowlers to impress. Again, Astle had a better showing than Walker, but amongst the all-rounders, Ellis gave us food for thought over whether he or de Grandhomme should play in the upcoming 1st Test.

[GrahamB]

NZ announce 1st Test playing eleven

Stephen Murdoch (29 years old, 6 tests)
FC average - 50.77
Test average - 81.30

Brendon MacCullum (31 years old, 64 tests, wicketkeeper)
FC average - 37.49
Test average - 36.53

Dean Brownlie (28 years old, 11 tests)
FC average - 55.53
Test average - 53.28

Kane Williamson (22 years old, 18 tests)
FC average - 48.56
Test average - 48.89

Ross Taylor (28 years old, 43 tests, captain)
FC average - 44.55
Test average - 46.06

Jesse Ryder (28 years old, 23 tests, RM)
FC average (batting) - 43.50
FC average (bowling) - 31.39
Test average (batting) - 43.26
Test average (bowling) - 66.50

Colin de Grandhomme (26 years old, test debut, RFM)
FC average (batting) - 36.94
FC average (bowling) - 30.04

Todd Astle (26 years old, 1 test, LS)
FC average (batting) - 22.31
FC average (bowling) - 34.33
Test average (batting) - n/a
Test average (bowling) - 40.80

Matt Henry (21 years old, 6 tests, RFM)
FC average (batting) - 18.47
FC average (bowling) - 26.05
Test average (batting) - 32.00
Test average (bowling) - 56.94

Tim Southee (24 years old, 19 tests, RMF)
FC average (batting) - 17.68
FC average (bowling) - 29.63
Test average (batting) - 21.96
Test average (bowling) - 43.23

Adam Milne (20 years old, test debut, RF)
FC average (batting) - 10.29
FC average (bowling) - 30.75

The South African playing eleven is:
G.Smith
H.Amla
J.Kallis
A.de Villiers
A.Petersen
J.Rudolph
M.Boucher (wk)
V.Philander
M.Morkel
D.Steyn
L.Tsotsobe

[gunot5827]

Enjoying your story, good luck vs South Africa. I'm at about the same point as you with my NZ save and have lost every series but one where I beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in the tests. It is frustrating but then again thats how NZ are in real life so at least the game is realistic in that aspect lol

[GrahamB]

Enjoying your story, good luck vs South Africa. I'm at about the same point as you with my NZ save and have lost every series but one where I beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in the tests. It is frustrating but then again thats how NZ are in real life so at least the game is realistic in that aspect lol

Less frustrating than the past few versions, at least with regard to Test cricket. However, way too difficult in ODIs and 20/20s.