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My concern about the upcoming test is that the headline will be something along the lines of “Santner and Wagner hang on for draw against weak South African side”. As you said Dylan, the last two test rollouts at the Mount weren’t good performances, especially against Bangladesh where we looked like we’d win just by turning up…

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I'm a Kiwi born and bred, but when it comes to cricket I have eyes only for bazball. McCallum and Stokes have given test cricket such a boost, it is impossible to ignore. Go England!

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I don't have a particular view re Auckland's stadium situation, but can we please call major bullshit on this location and transport argument re Eden Park. Most big cities do NOT have stadia central. Stade de France, Wembley, stadium Australia are all suburban and not at a central transport hub. Melbourne is the exception not the rule, which we should certainly want to emulate but if the money means we have to make do with what we've got (and spend limited funds on a dedicated cricket arena) I'm ok with that

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I’m not disagreeing with your overall premise Dylan, but I’m picking this SA side will be more competitive than people think even if I’d be pretty peeved with the whole situation if it was my team. I think it would be unwise to assume it’ll be a cakewalk for a few reasons - I think NZ looks stronger on paper than it is in reality right now (form issues) and SA has considerable depth and ability to unearth talent. Layer on that the fact that their top side includes quota players and this means there are quality players waiting in the wings - look for example at how long it took players like van der Dussen and Klaasen to break through.

As an aside I’m personally finding it hard to be outraged about the whole thing. Whilst test cricket is the holy grail for me there’s no doubt it’s slowly being debased when teams like Ireland and Afghanistan, lacking test quality and feeder comps, are granted status. This needs to be taken into account when you compare say a John Wright to a Tom Latham - similar stats but one played against quality opposition full time and the other gets to pad his average against weak and associate nations.

Just wanted to touch on the Bazball / reverse sweep points from your last piece as well. Well played Ollie Pope, and perhaps there is *something* to his reverse sweep theory. But...the idea that you can premeditate and kill the ball more effectively via the extra reach the shot gives you is flawed IMO. Quality defensive batting against the turning ball is about quickly picking length and playing forward *and back*. I’ve got little short legs and I can cover 2m this way. It’s not just about smothering the ball before it turns, it’s also about maximising the distance between yourself and the pitching ball. Jaiswal is 179* overnight and played exactly this way, don’t think I can recall a single sweep or reverse sweep. There are times when it’s really spitting and outright attack is the best approach, but I do feel we’re in an era where patience and well grounded defensive techniques are in short supply.

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