The list of nationally-contracted players for 2012-13 has provided a fair bit to talk about, actually. With Buchanan and Kim Littlejohn calling the shots, perhaps that was always going to be the case. Still it's hard not to think "Is this the best NZ can do?" when you look at the list.
To be fair to the selection committee, NZ have played precious little cricket since the end of the 2011 World Cup - 7 tests, 9 ODIs and 7 T20s (for comparison's sake, England, who generally don't play a lot of limited-overs cricket, have played 21 ODIs and 8 T20s to go with 15 tests in that period). So they haven't had a lot to base the contracts list on, really.
The list of 20 is as follows:
Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Andrew Ellis, Daniel Flynn, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tarun Nethula, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kruger van Wyk, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson
According to the criteria our friends Littlejohn and Robinhood have formulated, tests are supposed to get twice as much weightage as the other forms when it comes to selection. But the list only seems to reinforce the fact that tests are a distant third on the priority list, and NZC (perhaps justifiably) are hedging all their bets on the other two forms.
How else can can you explain test specialists Mark Gillespie and Neil Wagner missing out while the Andrew Ellis, Tarun Nethula and Jacob Oram all make the cut on the basis of some half-decent performances against Zimbabwe? Of course, Wagner (who has been immense in the first-class competition) is yet to appear in a test but that never stopped others from getting contracted in the past. Gillespie, who made a superb comeback against South Africa and even bowled through pain, can feel pretty aggrieved at missing out while Tim Southee stays.
In addition, Franklin and Oram are lucky to be there considering they turn out very infrequently for NZ. I suppose the management sees them as important to NZ's chances for the World T20, though Franklin will probably feature more regularly later in the year.
Among those who dropped off the list: Andy McKay is a bit unfortunate to have slipped down the fast-bowling pecking order, Neil Broom even more so in that he never got a game to prove himself. And Jesse Ryder will be badly missed in the West Indies and in India, though one hopes he will be back sometime in the season.
To end on a positive note, it looks like Daniel Vettori has come out of retirement from the shorter forms and made himself available for the World T20 (though I wonder why everybody seems to be calling it a 'retirement' when it was an indefinite break). Given how dire NZ's limited-overs bowling was for much of last season, this will be a tremendous boost.
To be fair to the selection committee, NZ have played precious little cricket since the end of the 2011 World Cup - 7 tests, 9 ODIs and 7 T20s (for comparison's sake, England, who generally don't play a lot of limited-overs cricket, have played 21 ODIs and 8 T20s to go with 15 tests in that period). So they haven't had a lot to base the contracts list on, really.
The list of 20 is as follows:
Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Andrew Ellis, Daniel Flynn, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tarun Nethula, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kruger van Wyk, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson
According to the criteria our friends Littlejohn and Robinhood have formulated, tests are supposed to get twice as much weightage as the other forms when it comes to selection. But the list only seems to reinforce the fact that tests are a distant third on the priority list, and NZC (perhaps justifiably) are hedging all their bets on the other two forms.
How else can can you explain test specialists Mark Gillespie and Neil Wagner missing out while the Andrew Ellis, Tarun Nethula and Jacob Oram all make the cut on the basis of some half-decent performances against Zimbabwe? Of course, Wagner (who has been immense in the first-class competition) is yet to appear in a test but that never stopped others from getting contracted in the past. Gillespie, who made a superb comeback against South Africa and even bowled through pain, can feel pretty aggrieved at missing out while Tim Southee stays.
In addition, Franklin and Oram are lucky to be there considering they turn out very infrequently for NZ. I suppose the management sees them as important to NZ's chances for the World T20, though Franklin will probably feature more regularly later in the year.
Among those who dropped off the list: Andy McKay is a bit unfortunate to have slipped down the fast-bowling pecking order, Neil Broom even more so in that he never got a game to prove himself. And Jesse Ryder will be badly missed in the West Indies and in India, though one hopes he will be back sometime in the season.
To end on a positive note, it looks like Daniel Vettori has come out of retirement from the shorter forms and made himself available for the World T20 (though I wonder why everybody seems to be calling it a 'retirement' when it was an indefinite break). Given how dire NZ's limited-overs bowling was for much of last season, this will be a tremendous boost.
2 comments:
Mark Gillespie definitely deserved a contract.
Gillespie is not on the list apparently because of fitness problems - he is currently recovering from an injury.
By that logic Jacob Oram shouldn't be contracted either.
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