hi - i'm new here . . .

[Mr Kiwi]

(snigger)

so, i spend a few weeks away from the beeb and when i come back everybody's gone. now i know where your all hiding.

hello to all, i expect most sensible people are in bed and i should probably do some work - but it IS nice to have a board open to more sociable hours - especially with a nth vs sth hemisphere tour on

best talk some cricket before i get told off for being irrelevent . . .

on current form i'd say rain will be the most important factor in the test series coming up. i reckon we'll lose at least one test result due to one team losing the time required to finish the other off.

of course i'm still going for a nz win . . .

[sostenurter]

Hello Mr Kiwi! Good to see you here. You may notice that one of your posts has been copied on to here, with many approving comments and many people wondering how we could lure you onto these boards! Glad to see you are here. I too am glad these boards are open all hours, as I've been keeping some pretty anti-socail hours of late. This is bcause I quit my job three days into the first WI vs Eng Test match. Friends have suggested politely that this is, perhaps, due to the cricket...of course I reject such suggestions - if I was going to quit a job in order to watch more cricket I'd quit in the summer, when Test matches start at 11 British time, not 2.30 or 3.30. Even when I was in the job I saw most of the action in the WI.

Anyway, Mr Kiwi, I have a question for you. According to the BBC website, the following six players all toured England in 2000, as part of a NZ A team: Mark Richardson, Scott Styris, Michael Papps, Daryl Tuffey, Jacob Oram and Chris Martin. These are six very good, important players - how do you do it? We've been having a big discussion on here about the relative merits of A tours, county cricket, ODIs, the Academy etc., but I can't think of any England A-tour that has ever produced such a number of good Test players. What is the secret?

Also, (I raised this point a couple of months ago on the Beeb's boards) both NZ and SA have an abundance of all-rounders. England have in the past (and regrettably, in the last few ODIs) tried to imitate this policy, but it has resulted in playing lots of pretty useless bits-and-pieces players. Why is this? A South African friend told me that this was because budding cricekters in SA were taught to bat and bowl, and even if they showed exceptional proficiency at one discipline, they were not allowed to drop the other one. He said this was the reason SA were the best all-round cricket team in the world - as he put it, and as others have suggested, in the 1999 World Cup they played Total Cricket, with nearly every member of the team proficient in all three disciplines.

Before he told me this, I'd have thought it ridiculous that a promising young bowler should be made to work on his batting instead of concentrating on perfecting his bowling and getting it up to Test level. I'd have called it an indictment of the ridiculous bits-and-pieces tendency sweeping through cricket. But if my South African friend is right, it's responsible for turning out players like Kallis, Pollock, Klusenor, Hall etc. Is the SA policy right? Or is it just a fluke that they have so many great all-rounders? And what is the policy in NZ? In your post called the xenophobes guide to NZ cricket, you said of Styris "Originally a bowler who could bat a bit (I’m getting sick of writing that sort of thing)". So, can you shed any light on why there are so many "bowlers who can bat a bit" in the NZ team? Is it a fluke, or is it a conscious decision by coaches, the academy, etc.? Will be interesting to see what you have to say.

[Goatman]

Greetings Mr. K. As the bloke that first recommended you for being poached I am very glad to see you join the dark side. May time never wilt the mast of your aspiration.

I'd also like to echo the feelings of sosternurter above. What in the NZ system, in your expert opinion, allows failed off-spinners to become leading opening batsmen (Richardson) and wobbly medium pacers to become bludgeoning middle order players (Styris). It certainly makes for a team of unprecidented robustness and flexibiity.

[Farmer Giles]

Well hello Mr K.

You are outnumbered already of course, as my team is Yorkshire as well as Goatman's. Frankly, you don't stand a cat in hell's chance against England this year, although why I should be so optimistic I've no idea. Anyway, best of luck chum.

[Yorky Lad]

Have you seen the poll on the upcoming series against NZ Farmer? I have registered my vote in favour of an England victory.

I see the C&G cup game against Dorset has been rained off today. Hope it doesn't go to the toss of a coin or a bowl off or whatever they call it.

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

Afternoon FG. Life on the farm still good ? Currently still trying to think of a suitale log in name for the beeb site after my outbursts got me banned (or me updating my browser not sure which), which is understandable and at least proves the mods do something. Who do you reckon for the final ODI ?

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Mr Kiwi

on current form i'd say rain will be the most important factor in the test series coming up. i reckon we'll lose at least one test result due to one team losing the time required to finish the other off.

of course i'm still going for a nz win . . .

We dont get any rain in the summer these days,er get hosepipe bans instead.greenhouse effect and all that.

You might win a game

[sostenurter]

Originally Posted by ernest

We dont get any rain in the summer these days,er get hosepipe bans instead.greenhouse effect and all that.

You might win a game

No, no, no, we get rain AND hosepipe bans.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by sostenurter

No, no, no, we get rain AND hosepipe bans.

hmmm. True but there at the wrong times,We get our cricket these days though,just cant water your garden when it rains.

Clarke just dropped a catch...

[Richard Jenkins]

Hello and welcome mr K enjoy your stay. Nice post on the BBC t'other day.