KEY POINTS:
Hamish Marshall admitted his head was "all over the show" after a dawn phone call from New Zealand coach John Bracewell yesterday.
Here is the latest selection of your views:
Travis Bradley
So here we go again!! What is it with Hamish Marshall and Coach John Bracewell constantly picking him with his garbage form(and thats being polite) ?? He has not showed the selectors, myself nor any other Black Caps fans that he is in near to good enough form to be competitive for our country in the Carribean!very average scores for the last how many years but yet as soon as we lose a batsman, he is recalled to the New Zealand team!!At least we now know where our week spot will be in the side!! I am very disappointed to see that he got a recall ahead of Michael Papps who has shown much better form as of late!! Hamish needs to hit some serious scores when he gets there (and how many time has everyone heard a sentence along those lines said) because the team is really starting to take shape as one of the best we have had in a very very long time and I would hate for that to change because Bracewell has decided to go for a quick fix which is a major weak link!! Step up Bracewell good form is always the better option over experience but very shabby form over a long time!
Raj Subramanian
I miss Lou Vincent the inform player.I watched the Northern Districts match against Canterbury on all days except Sunday. Hamish really blasted the Canterbury attack scoring 80 of 113 balls and if the innings continued after tea would have gone for a century.That is his current form. He can fit into any side on his fielding. I saw Canterbury Michael Papps innings also. He is a fantastic player to watch. At this point of time he might have missed the boat, but when there is next chance in Caribbeans John Bracewell should consider him seriously.Canterbury coach Dave Nosworthy has a point, but I think Black caps must have a strategy and they think Hamish might fit into it straightaway.
Isaac
Hamish Marshall was really one of the only choices the selectors had. Papps may have excellent domestic form this season, but if he hasn't worked on his technique against genuine quick bowlers then he would be unlikely to succeed against the best in the world at the moment. As to whether Fulton should open - well that has been tried and it almost wrecked his confidence before, so why not wreck his confidence again? (note the sarcasm) In my not very knowledgeable opinion Marshall should be opening the batting - not because he is a specialist opener, but the New Zealand team is presently geared around shotmakers in the middle order and he doesn't really fit that mould. He can accumulate very efficiently though. And just a brief response to Adrian Drews comment about our first-class depth: I am fairly sure I have heard several commentators mention that because of our bowler-friendly conditions, it is almost necessary to add an extra 10 runs onto a batsman's average to gauge his performance in comparison to overseas first-class cricket...
S Heath
Lou Vincent is a hard charging batsman who will be sorely missed. He provided a vital spark at the beginning of the innings and gave Stephen Fleming the confidence to play his shots. Hamish Marshall is a prodder and poker who does not inspire confidence. there were at least two other batsman scoring better in the domestic competition who would provide better options to the team. Once again Bracewell has proven himself more reliant on picking who he personally likes, rather than picking on form.
Paul Tudor
Papps is over-rated, especially in the international arena. He has had two chances at international level and clearly has technical deficiencies. Many of the teams at the World cup will know of his susceptibility to the short ball. Even with Brett Lee not there, he would have been found out. What is surreal about this bleating from the Canterbury coach is that Papps recent good form has been in the four day competition, and his run rate in the five day final is nowhere near where it should be for a competition such as the World Cup. His innings against Canada aside (which was a stuttering affair), Vincent gets out of the blocks early, which is what you need in this form of the game. Papps is no substitute for that flair. Nor he is anything like the quality fielder that Vincent and Hamish Marshall are. Get over it Canterbury!
Tim
At the end of the day weather or not Hamish Marshall was the wrong choice the player and the team needs our support, we genuinely have a chance to win the world cup and we are all complaining and undermining not only Hamish's confidence but the whole teams. The team, John Bracewell and Hamish himself will all be judged on their performances at the world cup, and after the cup there will most likely be a clearout of players and coaches and then the Papps and the Hows can have their chance - for now give them your support and your confidence -they need it!!!
David
How many chances do we have to give this non-performer who practises through meditation? Surely there are other batsmen around (Papps) who are much more deserving of a call up.
Daryl Bawden
Why was Michael Papps not selected ? He is a specialised opener and has proven his worth at international level (average 51 in ODI). Marshall has been give more than enough opportunities and continued to disappoint us. Bracewell has already made one error in the initial selection of Tuffey who had no form on the board and now he has made another selection error. I hope I am proven wrong and Hamish scores a ton of runs. For the loss of one player we now have to move Peter Fulton up to opener effectively making two changes to a winning side. I realise Marshall is a great fieldsman but what we need is opener who will score runs firstly. Bracewell please explain.
Tom
Yes he will be missed because he will get big scores to impress the selectors.
AC
What a joke, what is Bracewell thinking! Marshall wouldnt make the Christs college third eleven based on his form this season. What do guys like Papps, Ryder etc have to do to make this team!
Karl
Yet again we are left wondering about the nature of whatever it is that Marshall holds over the selectors. Does he have some incriminating photographs of John Bracewell in a compromising position?!!! I cant think of any other way that can explain why he keeps reappearing in the national side when he has yet to work on the faults that originally caused him to be dropped. What does Matt Sinclair have to do to get a recall? And with so much going wrong with our bowlers at the moment, would Chris Harris, with a proven track record, not have been a safer bet? Vincent was a class act, and he should have been replaced by a specialist opener. The fact that he wasnt, due to the lack of in-form openers in the domestic scene, should have led to a complete reevaluation of what the Black Caps need to win the World Cup. And I am afraid that Hamish Marshall is not it.
J Mckenzie
Vincent was the man for the job.Marshall had his chance more than once, more than a dozen times actually What happened to Sinclair? Isnt Papps the form player at the moment?
Malcolm Mulligan
An opener gets injured and they send a middle order batsman it does not make sense. Bracewell has shown a lot of loyalty to H Marshall. Marshalls record at International level did not warrant a recall.His domestic form is good but so is a lot of others. In all wrong choice(having said that I will probably be proven wrong) M Sinclair I thought would have been a better go.
John Patrick
Absolutely the right decision. Papps wasnt in the 30 man squad, How and Sinclair had no runs. How can you be no good if you still average in the late 30s in tests and have scored 7 tons in first class cricket, both here and in England. Adding to that in the last 2 years, he has batted everywhere in the NZ one day order (a point many forget). He needs at least 2 games at no.3 to show his worth. And with Taylor's injury that looks like being the case. If he gets runs it will provide competition by dropping everyone one down the order, which would not affect us too much. As for a back up opener many have gone from 3 to opening successfully (Crowe, Jones, Rutherford, Fleming) which is why I feel Fulton will do OK there. Besides we have to remember that these early morning pitches could have had Vincents and Taylors wickets quickly anyway.
Adrian Drew
Marshall, who has played 63 ODIs, averaging 26.92... ...those were your words & I think they say enough but if not I think an average of 9 from his last 10 innings could add to the big no from me. I would like to compile footage of where he scores most of his runs also, very wristy, which is great for the sub-continent and that is about it. Oh no of course & NZ because our domestic bowlers are really that bad. It is proven that we can never ever rate a players ability on their NZ domestic cricket, we don't compete at that level compared to the rest of the world... our depth is relative to a paddling pool! If Sinclair cant make the test side last year although he was given an award for best domestic cricketer and Papps cant make it after a whopping run tally, it is proven that its all about ya mates in this "too tight Black Caps team". We have been playing ok but does anyone think Bracewell & Fleming are really doing a good job? Why does only the NZ public know that McCullum was not an opener & as soon as we took him out of the lower/middle order it would collapse?
