Just before the tournament kicks off this weekend I have taken a moment to compile the XI that I believe can do well for New Zealand in England over the next three weeks. I have tried not to rely on stats too heavily because I find them misleading at best in the shortest form of the game. Instead I have drawn on my recollection of how the players performed in the IPL, at home in 2008/9 and their noted skills.
The Team:
Openers (strikers)
- B. McCullum (wk)
- J. Ryder
- M. Guptil
- R. Taylor
- S. Styris
- J. Oram
- J. Franklin
- N. McCullum
- P. McGlashan
- D. Vettori (c)
- I. O'Brien/I. Butler (the latter will naturally appear higher up the order if selected)
- As the coach I would instruct the strikers to go-for-it as early as possible, naturally one will get out early and the remaining one should continue with one of the innings players at the other end getting set (if two innings players should bat together, one should become a striker asap).
- The sloggers should come in from over 10 and look to hit singles for about an over then hit out.
- The fiddlers are the players I believe can maneuver the ball best and feed strike to the sloggers etc. They are hugely important because they must be able to come in at any point where a collapse is looming and hit the ball to strange places (McGlashan has shown particular skill in this department all year)
- With two spinners and three full time seamers the attack in nicely balanced with Ryder as back up
- Brendon McCullum should keep so that my fantasy cricket team works properly!
- The plan is basic and the players I have selected are, mostly, clever enough to adapt to the situation which is the real key to succeeding at this game
Well that is my pick and please feel free to pick at my selection and reasoning - no doubt it will not completely succeed as 20/20 is hard to predict
Look out for my upcoming post about the balance of bat and ball across the forms of cricket
Join me next Thursday for another XI
If McGlashan wasn't keeping, would there be much benefit having him in there ahead of Broom, who could be a great asset at 6 or 7?
ReplyDeleteI believe that McGlashan is a good enough 20/20 batsman to be in there and not keep. On several occasions in the last 9 months or so I have seen him bat and have been impressed with his ability to score off almost any delivery - a crucial skill down the order in 20/20 - and although Broom may be skilled at ODI lower-order hitting, he hasn't proven this skill (at least to my eyes) yet. 20/20 requires different kinds of players - especially those that cope under pressure, in this case the pressure of coming in during the 15 over or so and having to score at 100+ strike rates from ball 1 is the key one. Thus players like Styris and Guptil are up the order as they benefit from a slower start. Hope that answers your question
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