Blackcaps Short Form wicketkeeper- who is next

With the retirement of Luke Ronchi a hole has appeared in Blackcaps ranks for a wicketkeeper in short forms of the game of cricket. In the past wicketkeepers have been pretty much a simple choice and by and large have a certain career longevity.

One could suggest someone out of Domestic Cricket step up, but if one looks at the stocks there doesn't appear to be many standing up (Based on last Ford Trophy 2017 Jan to Mar.).

The Blackcaps build a team out of batting ability (and bowling) but rarely does a wicketkeeper get in for his wicketkeeping ability alone, quick scoring batsmen and a closer has to be in his resume.  So with that in mind I have scoured the Ford Trophy scores from this year and present the stats here.

Auckland Aces

GD Phillips opens the batting for the Aces and his scores were 0,5,41,33,102 - 181 runs at 36.2

Northern Knights

Seifert  1,12,40,104, 56,38  - 251 Runs at 41.8

Central Stags

Cleaver  0,9,9,10,7,77  -  112 runs at 18.8

Wellington Firebirds

Blundell  36,21,32 - 89 runs at 29.7
Ronchi  63,22,31  - 116 runs at 38.6

Canterbury

Latham  3,59 - 62 runs at 31.0
Fletcher  8,8,5,13,10  -  44 runs at 8.8

Otago Volts

de Boorder   2,4,3,31,43  -  83 runs at 16.6


Interesting stats. Many fans have their pick but Blackcaps need to pick on form and ability and with that in mind there are three options, Phillips, Seifert and Latham.  Latham would be the front runner for me, is already indoctrinated in the A Team's game plan. I would be inclined to bring in Phillips as an apprentice under Latham and to get the vibe that goes with the team. And a bonus is he can cover opener if injury/etc.

Looking at these stats there is a clear situation that we don't have a great deal of depth at Wicketkeeper in Domestic cricket.  Maybe Cricket NZ takes a leaf out of Rugby and foster talent.  There has always been a lot of (very) senior players hogging places in their teams better suited to youth.

NZC have a long winter/spring to find their man and they won't have any opportunity to pick from Ford Trophy form as ODI's start before that Trophy (based on last years competition format)

Tale of the Tape - CD run-scorers Ford Trophy

They're top of the table after six rounds of the Ford Trophy, and well on top.  So what is happening with CD?

Fair to say they are a well balanced side, capable of setting a total with the top order firing, and capable of defending a total or restricting an opposition through a well appointed bowling attack.

I have a poser for you.  If the selected players in the Blackaps ODI side need to be replaced through injury or lack of form, who is next?  Well if an opener's required noone in the Ford Trophy is setting fires apart from CD's George Worker.  Three centuries in 6 matches, the highest a bewildering 194 and at an average of 83.3.  But if we need a 3 or 4, look no further than Will Young.  Only one ton and a not out, close with another not out of 97 and steady scores giving him an average of 81.5.

And one has to remember these have been scored on many varying decks.

Here is their stats after six rounds remember:

	Worker		Young
	118		101*
	8		22
	9		97*
	194		36
	100		65
	71		5
Runs	500		326
Average	83.3		81.5

One has to remember, good form whilst it is happening is better than top tier players out of form.  Worker also offers the other option of bowling, so an asset.

Jamie How's Fitzherbert Park Swansong

Palmerston North, for quite some time, has been a scarcity in first class cricket.  And I know that, I haven't been for over 5 years, the last time also CD versus the Auckland Aces and that day Michael Bates destroyed us.  So what drove CD management to finally relent and hold another match here.  Hard to fathom actually, public pressure, player pressure, or just a sense of feeling sorry for one of the cities that excels in providing top class players.  It definitely wasn't Jamie How's decision to retire, they would not have been aware of that at the start of the season.

Yes you heard right, Jamie How has retired after this season and this game at Fitzherbert returned him to his home city and he was to play a small part in a great win.  I wanted to go to see How and Worker tear apart Auckland. I had to endure as the Aces decided to bat first on what seemed from the stand, a very dodgy pitch.  And the Aces struggled managing 225 all out on the last ball.  I moved my position around to the North Eastern embankment hoping to get some downwind lofted shots on my camera.


But the Aces were up to the task and snared George Worker, after two fine boundaries, played on.  It was quite amusing for me as I managed to snap the moment the bail dropped off and it galvanised me not to shoot any other batsmen playing a shot in case it was a jinx. It was a shame George missed out as I feel he's an outside chance of making the national team in the near future in the 50 over format.

So my attention switched to Jamie.  But not for long.  After two fine boundaries he was trapped LBW to Matt Quinn and walked off Fitzherbert for the very last time as a CD player to the sounds of loud applause. I have always loved Jamie How's ability and style.  I have also admired his dedication to CD and Manawatu Cricket, and of course appreciate the effort he put into his stint for the national side.  I am proud and sad.


But the attention for me then switched to two young and promising CD youngsters, Ben Smith and Will Young.  The mantle handed over, these two swiftly set about righting the CD innings and put on a handy and elegant partnership for the 3rd wicket.  Young especially was very impressive though both were prominant in the cover drive and playing in front of the wicket.  I think one day both these players will feature in higher cricket.

And thankfully Michael Bates didn't feature today and CD managed to get the required runs in the 48th over for the loss of five (I know some reading this will cringe when I say the skipper, Kruger van Wyk, played a key part of that chase).  So my day at the cricket was complete and I left very happy.  CD win and now topping the table, but still a long way to go to win the Ford Trophy.  I know Jamie and George failed to bother the scorers much today, but there is still a few games to go, to go out and really enjoy their cricket and bat records out of existence.

To Manawatu Cricket, you put on a fine show today, and enough to convince CD cricket to hold more matches here, though I do think there does need to be something done to make the pitch more conducive to higher scores.  Sure tight games are always good games but if you want excitement and bigger crowds, make the venue so.  My only regret, the demise of the scoreboard at the Esplanade end of the ground.  please build another, the small electronic one was terrible for old eyes.

All eyes on the prize

With a little under 5 weeks to go all eyes in the cricketing world are switching to Australia and New Zealand.  No not the SLvNZ and AusvInd test series, the domestic cricket.  How so??

A while back (maybe a  week or so) an Indian on my twitter feed was ruing the state of his team and was not looking forward to the world cup as the pitches would favour the two local teams and countries that play on similar surfaces.  This was also echoed by a Pakistani tweep.  Australia they're not too worried about as pitches tend to favour runs scoring with plenty of bounce and true lines.  But New Zealand pitches have a reputation of being green decks with plenty for the bowlers and the batsmen have to really dig in to score runs  At that time I told both that they had nothing to worry about as our domestic pitches are roads now and runscoring is not an issue.

And that seems to be the truth.  Saxton Oval is the only CWC pitch to be used thus far in Ford Trophy and a highscoring game, and Hagley had a test that produced plenty of runs. McLean Park is historically a road, so that leaves Eden Park and Westpac Stadium (drop ins) and University Oval and Seddon Park (test venues).  I think it's fair to say the drop ins are generally conducive to run getting so there should be no fears there.  Of all the venues, the unknown quantity will be University Oval and Seddon Park.

I'd say all teams coming here shall be greeted by hard dry pitches with runs in them (as a hot dry summer goes on).  And should New Zealand progress to finals stage at MCG having played on those decks should stand them in good stead in Aussie.

Cricket - a game for the masses??

For as long as the game has been around, the focus on playing cricket wasn't just playing for a crowd.  Instead over the years, many have played for the game for the sheer enjoyment and camaraderie that goes with the game, be that at street level, school level, club level, domestic level and even international level.  The game was (and is) about participation and enjoyment, stats and records.  Nothing more.

To hear non cricket followers, especially sports jocks that have no understanding of the game, lament crowd issues when dealing with the sport it really does show that they don't have an understanding of those little nuances.  Cricket is about the game.  Streets cricketers will have a small number of avid watchers, probably the same number that frequent a domestic game (especially here in New Zealand).  The followers of cricket are too, avid about the game.  The ones you see at the grounds will have all their little trinkets to follow the game.  Binoculars, drinks, a scorecard, and probably Wisdens or some other means of following stats (nowadays more likely to be a tablet with wifi).  They are few and far between BUT they attend every game, just as the Mums and Dads attend every school game.

A sports jock that says something like "Ford Trophy shunted to the back end of the season" has no

understanding of why that would happen?  Suggesting that a 50 over match played in summer holidays will grab more crowds is being ill informed.  The likes of 50 overs matches are played for the enjoyment of the players and also to get form players in the mix for international honours.  Yes I did hear the same Jock lament the lack of international players playing in that competition and that's a reason NZC doesn't get crowds.  If that same Jock had done his homework he would have seen quite a splattering of current and former internationals playing in the competition.

But back to the crowds.  Rightfully, crowds turn out for international games.  It's Us versus Them and they want Us to win.  The same thing happens to a certain extent in most sports here, crowds for second tier level below international and lower are sparse.  Clubs get club followers, domestic teams get regional followers, school cricket gets Mums and Dads and some other school supporters.  I had the good fortune to see my old High School, Palmerston North Boys High School, play a cricket match and a rugby match last year, and there were few watching.  I dare say every weekend the same applies to most sport.

In reality cricket is a hard watch.  It requires enormous amounts of time and patience, even in the shorter forms.  It's not a 90 minute game.  It's a game about the players, not the crowd.  It's a game about improvement, succeeding, failing, getting back up and fighting on. It's about numbers (not the ones on the shirt, the scorebook ones), it's about passion.  All one has to do is go down to a beach one sunny summers day and see a family playing beach cricket.  Even though that family may not go to a test match, you can bet they are following it.
 That's the game!!

Cricket Coverage in New Zealand

For a large number of years now, New Zealand domestic cricket has been poorly covered by the media in this country.  And to make matters worse, New Zealand Cricket seems complicit in that lack of coverage.

But to be fair, the media has other things to look after and the summer game here is low on that priority list to cover.  And why cover it?  Websites like BlackCaps.co.nz and Cricinfo cover everything cricket, not only in this country but from the greater world games.  But is that enough?

Well judging by a comment from a radio sports host it is not.  His comment said (loosely speaking) the domestic game, particularly the Ford Trophy is a nothing contest and of poor quality and doesn't deserve covering.  My thoughts at the time of the comment was "well if you want to improve it, provide tacit coverage and bring the masses into the game".  But we know that won't happen!  That would mean sports journos would have to drag themselves away from their Twitter screens, go to a game, and provide "expert" coverage so the masses "Can" buy into the game.

The sports jock also intimated that the level of cricket was substandard and not worth covering which really got me thinking.  You see all the current winning Blackcaps players have played or still play in all forms of the three competitions (HRV Cup for T20, Ford Trophy for One Dayers, and Plunket Shield in 4 day comp) and got their grounding in that substandard level of cricket.  And they always will, not because the media don't want to cover it, but because they want to hone their skills and give some inspiration to those coming through from age group cricket.  So what of the coverage supplied by New Zealand cricket to their flagship competitions?

Well the HRV Cup gets coverage on Sky TV.  That's it.  The rest is covered by avid cricket fans and sometimes writers on blogs, Twitter or other social media?  Sure BlackCaps.co.nz covers some, but that's more geared towards live scoring and archives material on players and teams.  Very little posturing in opinion pieces or selling the game to the wider public.  Where they should be targeting in the very least is full coverage of all games in the Ford Trophy and Plunket Shield on national sports news bulletins and across the media as a whole.  There's a double edged sword to this.

Firstly, a lot of the older less computer savvy cricket fans get to see the game they love covered professionally.  Secondly, if you put the game in full public view, i.e. television, even for three minutes or so, you get young lads and lasses seeing the glory of the game and you get new players.  Yup, it's called advertising.  You put a little out, you get greater return.

So my plea to the media is this.  Instead of downplaying the importance of the domestic game, get off your arses and go to the games and report on them and put it in your papers, on the radio, or on our screens.  And to New Zealand Cricket, put more money into getting those journos off their butts.  Get Media coverage on the TV.  Spend a little to buy a lot.  The game really is worth it.

And my parting shot on the level of cricket.  Recently Otago performed with distinction in the Champions Trophy.  Our domestic cricket really is That Good!!