Weather report
I usually count the end of summer being the last day of test cricket, or when you can't buy Summer Ale anymore, whichever comes later. But I am a Pollyanna, and in fact summer packed its chilly bin and marched off to its inglenook a day early. The last day at the Basin was indubitably autumnal, and rain, so often our best performer, saved the game.
So what have we got to look forward to? Six months of drizzle, frost and nasty winds ferreting up trouser legs. It always feels like a funeral when cricket goes into hibernation. Googlies and Grass Stains will also be cradling a brandy bowl in front of a fire and dreaming of flannel and linseed oil and King Leather.
But let's put the logic into meteorological and assess how our lads have done over the domestic summer. We've had two test series, and the Chappell-Hadlee excursion in Oz. Let's get our thermometer and stick it somewhere.
SCORCHIO
Jesse Ryder - I have said just about all I need to say about Jesse. If he avoids fights with bathroom fixtures, he will become the best batsman in the world. He averages 55 in test cricket, scored three centuries and five 50s in all forms and bowls a bit.
Peter McGlashan - Deserved his call-up and is now, surely, Baz's understudy. Brilliant half century against the Indians, and good glove work. In a summer of meagre success, his was notable.
SNUG
Brendon Diamanti - Played a joy of an innings in a losing cause. Bowled OK. Looked lively. His reward? He gets dumped.
Dan Vettori - We take this player for granted. He is so good he is almost un-noticeable. His bowling in one-dayers is remarkable, he took a six-for in Dunedin, and he has saved his team more than once with his bottom hand shovelling. Some limp dismissals, and his inability to get more Indian scalps in Napier are the only blemishes.
Ross Taylor - The most watchable cricketer in New Zealand. Taylor's shots always give a sense of contentment. He scored five 50s, and finished the test series with two delicious tons. However, he is a confidence man, and if he is feeling a little less than simmering, that flashing blade gets him into trouble. There were times this summer that his timing was more swish than Swiss. Then again there were times when he murdered the bowling of some of the best bowlers in the game.
Brendon McCullum - Frankly there are no question marks anywhere near Baz as a player. He is the best wicket-keeper/batsman in the country. But while he seemed to feast on the Indian bowling, he was nowhere against Australia and the Windies, and our collective frustration is surely that we also KNOW how good he is but he's just not reaching our expectations. Four centuries in 200 international matches does not do him justice.
Jeetan Patel - The patience required to be the Black Caps' number 2 spinner is astounding. Two tests, ten wickets, including Tendulkar's, solid efforts in one-dayers. Only the occasional spanking. Jeets is quite possibly the second best bowler in New Zealand. If only he bowled at 145kmh.
Grant Elliott - I thought he would be circling the drain after his test performances, but that hundred in Sydney was so superb that it earned him immediate selection for the rest of the summer. Still, his batting in the T20 decider was poor, suggesting he is a fifty-over specialist.
Ian Butler - Great comeback, and as a very different player. Proved a reliable bowler, even fettering the Indians at times, and proved he could hit the ball when required. At just 27 he has great potential to be a cog in the one-dayer squad.
Chris Martin - Not wanted against the Windies, as it seemed he was feeling his 34 years. On reflection, had he played we might have won the Napier test. Was inspirational against India, running in again and again and creating the collapse that showed a chink in the Indian armour at McLean Park. If you're good enough, you're young enough.
LUKEWARM
Martin Guptill - Looked the part, especially in the one-dayers when he purred like a kitten on a heat duct, and played a crucial innings in a T20. But his test career is ever so slightly worrying. A couple of good starts, and his usually luxuriant shots, but was exposed against the short ball. Expect a barrage from the quicker bowlers next time he strides to the wicket.
Nathan McCullum - If he had had another delivery he would have brought us home against Australia. Worth a run in the one-day side.
Iain O'Brien - A folk hero, a blogger, a tryer. And occasionally a penetrative bowler with pace and movement. O'Brien's feats over the summer have been a revelation. He took important wickets, established himself in the one-day side - where he took some tap (but who didn't) - and even looked like he could make a nuisance of himself with the wood. However, only once - against the Windies at Napier - did he dominate and therein lies the concern. Would make a great Chats to a modern day Paddles.
Daniel Flynn - I have a lot of faith in Flynn. His technique looks so good, and three half-centuries in four tests is enough to convince me that he is worth his place. And the runs he scored were often important runs. So why is he just lukewarm? Because he didn't manage to nurdle even 50 runs in five one-dayers, and his wicket seems to fall as pressure rises.
ROOM TEMPERATURE
Tim McIntosh - Honestly I thought we had found the gritty kind of opening batsman - an Edgar or Richardson - who would match someone expansive like How or Redmond or Guptill. He was a limpet with pads on. But India didn't find him as immovable, and questions hang over his technique. At nearly thirty years old it's a bit late to repair.
Jamie How - Is How the new Sinclair, getting the occasional game when hams are strung or fingers tweaked? I was surprised that he was dropped after scoring a fine half-century in the run chase at Napier against the Windies, but then he failed in the one-dayers and on his test recall. He didn't dominate domestically as he has, and seems to go at the ball too hard, but surely this is just a dip in form?
Kyle Mills - A year ago I was declaring him player of the season. Now I wonder if that's all she wrote. Good bowling on his return to test cricket, and a match-winning four wickets in Perth - but at other times his bowling just seemed a bit anodyne. I'm not going to right him off yet though - as his fifty in Chch proved, he's a fighter.
Scott Styris - Believe it or not actually played for New Zealand this summer. But you would have missed it if you were hung over after Christmas Day. Did OK. Got injured.
Neil Broom - Exciting selection, and a match-winning innings against Australia, but no score higher than 29 is a concern. His scores declined over the summer. Some of the best fielding we have ever seen, however, was worth a bunch of runs.
BIT NIPPY
Tim Southee - Too much potential to cast aside, but has got to become steadier. He seemed to get pounded throughout the summer, the quality of his deliveries when he got wickets merely flattered to deceive. I can't help but think he has been the victim of selectors' errors.
Jimmy Franklin - One half century on a flat pitch does not a batsman make, however many you have scored at first-class level. Picked up odd wickets, and more importantly bowled wicket-taking deliveries, but we need more from him to justify inclusion as a bowler alone.
Mark Gillespie - Got a go in the tests, and then bowled such a bunch of pies I feared his career was over instantly. Then bowled really well at Napier in a one-dayer. Patchy at best, he has dropped down the pecking order, and must work hard to avoid obscurity.
Ewen Thompson - Got in the side because of sheer weight of wickets. Bowled well in a T20, but got ritually disembowelled on his one-day debut.
Peter Fulton - Was given a series against Australia when Jesse was injured - and actually played well (a nice forty and some successful hitting in the last match) but like his whole career, he never looked like his stay was permanent.
CHILLED TO THE BONE
Jacob Oram - His body is falling apart. If he managed to play he is the same steady bowler that we seem to lack at other times. His batting was poor this summer, but quite frankly that seems his only option for the future if bowling puts him in the treatment room.
Matthew Sinclair - Demanded selection by his hunting-gathering in the State Championship. Then when selected he doesn't move his feet, and snicks to the keeper. He may have been a victim of selectors, but he's also a victim of his own manifest flaws.
Craig Cumming - An odd selection. Extracted from domestic cricket to play his first one-dayer in four years. Known to be vulnerable to left-armers, and set to play against Johnson and Bracken. In the end chipped out lamely. Surely there were better options.
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new zealand test cricket lies in the gutter. i'm sorry to say it but if you guys couldn't even beat the west indies at home, then there are some serious problems.
McGlashan:
"In a summer of meagre success, his was notable."
Scorchio!? Bit early for that isn't it!? Fine prospect, but international experience near zero. 'Snug', but only as a limited overs batsman. If they see him as a keeper only he'll almost never play!
On Guptill, how does such a massively strong hooker/puller have a vulnerability against the short ball!? Didn't think it was possible, but there you go.
Diamanti's innings was not bad but hardly something to herald. I'm not convinced by him as a player but 20/20 is a good place to see if he's up to it at international level.
Not a bad list but McGlashan as scorchio? Are you serious? Ahead of O'Brien, Taylor, Vettori and on a par with Ryder. Is the writer related to him? That said most other choices are bang on. I must say I hope we've seen the last of Fulton....
What about a rating for Moles. I see that some other commentators are already writing him off, which to me seems a bit premature. I have no real opinion yet, as I think he still needs another test series to see if he is going to make a difference.
A fair summary Hamish. Vettori's lack of penetration in *Test* cricket is a worry, and if he wasn't such a good (and fast scoring) batsman Patel would surely deserve the nod ahead of him.
Given that Moles wants more say in selection, you have to wonder which players would have got more/less game time if he'd had more say.
O'Brien seems a bit lowly rated until towards the end of the test series where he seemed exhausted he was our pick of the bowlers - he was the only threat in the WI test series & this was really his first summer of international cricket.
I'm sorry, but Guptill as lukewarm? The guy's averaging 55 in ODI's, he has a better ODI record than Ryder and is surpassed this season only by Ross Taylor. McCullum by comparison, has failed in the ODI arena this summer.
Beware the folly of rating a player on a single performance (Diamanti, McGlashan)....Tim McKintosh would've been at the top of the list had you written this column a couple of months ago
Noice. Happy hibernation.
Fairfax: how about some of these well-written posts on the back page of the Sunday paper, instead of Boock's rather tiresome weekly knee-jerks.
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I'm sorry, I can't get over the continued rating of How. In his "fine" half century, he played a crap shot early on, and the guy at mid-on dropped a clanger. He then got lucky for 40 mins. Poor shot selection married with good looking but leaky technique = test average in the early 20s.