The Silver Fern

@sparky said in All Blacks v Argentina I:

Take the win, flush the dunny and move on.

Always nice to be on the right side of it. Just part of me just feels like that's been AB policy since Hansen first used the phrase.

@Landers92 said in All Blacks v Argentina I:

@Landers92 said in All Blacks v Argentina I:

Be good to bring on ALB instead of proctor when he is meant to return. At least get some leadership and stability out there to close this out

Laughing at myself right now. Lol ffs

At the time I don't think anyone was desperate to see Proctor back out there either

Proctor or ALB - an underwhelming selection choice.

Not quite a proverbial game of two halves. Perhaps a game of three thirds...

That should be it....

Even Blind Freddie could have predicted this second half. Just not Scott Robertson.

"Yours!"

@Landers92 said in Southland v Manawatu:

Manson showing his wheels there for that try. Insane speed

His opposite was made to look like he was running in treacle.

100%. And also cricket is supposed to be a fun game to play at heart - so why not bat as long as you can...

Assuming the weather forecast is good, no rush to declare with three days to go. Added bonus (if unlikely needed) of cooking Zimbabwe in the field before batting.

@MN5 said in Black Caps in Zimbabwe:

@Cyclops said in Black Caps in Zimbabwe:

A long way off Turner too. I didn't realise Matt Horne had 4 test tons, that's 4 more than I would have guessed. I normally put him in the Blair Pocock/Hartland bucket of futility.

I’m surprised Bruce Edgar only has three.

We certainly put some of these 80s folk heroes on a bit of a pedestal

At the time Turner's 7 centuries was the overall record, so three was genuinely up there in NZ Cricket history (especially with some of the 90's opening combos that we then went on to try)

I hazily remember seven centuries being talked about a lot when Crowe reached that mark.

Sadly few surprises there. The MA's aren't perfect, but NZ Cricket seems to operate on a different wavelength to the community game lately.

The original PlayHQ debacle, and the recently retracted levy being among the examples.

Michael Holding was a somewhat early retirement with injuries. The Windies also weren't renowned for rushing through their overs in that era - smart on their part tho. We still bowled a few into the ground/had bad luck with injuries even then, us being us... Brendon Bracewell among others springs to mind.

Lets hope O'Rourke isn't joining a long list....

@Chris Out of curiosity, what's the turnover of age grade coaches in the Queensland setup like?

I've only seen a very small glimpse of the ND system, but there seems to be a lot of staff turnover - and perhaps not always consistency for individual players as a result.

@Crazy-Horse said in Black Caps in Zimbabwe:

@canefan said in Black Caps in Zimbabwe:

@Crazy-Horse said in Black Caps in Zimbabwe:

@Cyclops said in Black Caps in Zimbabwe:

O'Rourke was out in that second innings too, so it was just Henry and the spinners. (Mitchell too I guess). Described as 'stiffness' so hopefully precautionary and he'll be a go for the second match.

He's a Kiwi quick looking useful. It'll be a stress fracture.

We have pretty average form in terms of keeping our young quicks injury free

We do. @Chris can probably give us an idea why. Training? Lack of match play? Or maybe, with our limited depth we notice it more.

Chris will have a lot more science to it. My two cents worth on the bowling injuries is I think you're right on the limited depth making it noticeable.

It may also be relatively less technical training when they're younger, as things like bowling loads are otherwise increasingly being discussed at slightly younger levels.

@Higgins said in NPC Tipping 2025:

Edit: And as I wrote the above Winger does front up. Still it is small consolation that he can't improve on his finishing position last season when he sneaked ahead of @Donsteppa to win the thing right on full time.

I vaguely recall the result effectively being staked on the NPC final. I went double or nothing on that one

@Cyclops said in Other Cricket:

Bonkers score card for India's second innings. 2 ducks, 3 centuries and a 90 from the 6 guys to bat.

Stokes a bit grumpy when India declined the draw with both batters in the 80s. Sundar ended up with a maiden test century which is kind of reasonable, but with Harry Brook and Joe Root basically giving them batting practice for the final few overs all feels a bit meaningless. Jadeja at least had the decency to blast his way there, while Sundar nurdled it around.

Ben Stokes has plenty of opinions on how cricket should be played - which is usually whatever suits him at the time.

#2019NeverForget #StillBitter

One of those players where stats and a bit of luck finally swung the way of talent that was always there.

Wallabies forwards are going to be too soft on D to win this one.

Would have wanted to nail that conversion too, a chance to bury the Lions in the first half at this rate...