Not to sure if you read all the comments in the last post Holden but I agree with Taylor moving up to 3.

Watling, McIntosh, Taylor, Flynn, Guptil, McCullum, Elliot, Vettori would be my ideal line up.

but lets hope we draw at napier, its a draw ground, the only way we could lose is if our batting collapses. But as Vettori said, if you couldnt score runs on the Wellington deck...

I just realised why McIntosh hasn't been dropped - he needs to score a half-century first. As Bell and Redmond have shown, getting 50 on the board after a run of low scores is a surefire way to convince the selectors that you're not up to the job.

Suprise suprise the player that appears in the top 3 average opening partnerships is not even in the squad.

I'm not sure about the pre-occupation with 'grittiness' from some of the NZ media.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10613693

From what I've seen from the NZ batsmen 'grittiness' just means "I'm struggling badly to score runs and I'm going to get out without getting past 30". Players like McIntosh, Flynn & Elliot have battled away without going anywhere. It's OK to battle for a while during a good spell of bowling or on a tough pitch but the above three just seem to do this whatever the situation and never emerge from the battling spell. All this ends up doing is giving the bowler the encouragement that you're never going to get on top of him and he can pretty much do what he wants. As a batsman you need more than a simple desire to stay at the crease. You need a game plan, to know your scoring areas and you have to cash in when the bowler strays into those areas. Flynn's main scoring area is of particular worry as he whips the ball from his pads through or behind square. Fine if the ball is angling down leg but very dangerous otherwise. LBW anyone?

Napier should give the batters a bit more leeway, there probably won't be as much seam movement for Asif so hopefully he won't be able to exert the suffocating pressure he did in Wellington.

Scott - I don't reckon Elliot will play, Patel will be in for him

Great to see a new blog Holden - especially when their are plenty of talking points. Nothing like a good old-fashioned NZ batting collapse post-mortem to bring the armchair commentators (like me) out of the woodwork.

Frank - "From what I've seen from the NZ batsmen 'grittiness' just means "I'm struggling badly to score runs and I'm going to get out without getting past 30"."

Couldn't agree more. I think Flynn has been trying to show a little more 'positivity' in scoring singles but it clearly hasn't worked out so far. For the third test I see it's confirmed that Guptill will bat 3 and most likely only one of Flynn or Elliott at 5, so I'm assuming Vettori at 6 and Patel at 8.

Also, anyone know the latest on Redmond's fitness? Or Franklin's for that matter?

I think Guptill's fist pump was refreshingly honest. He wasn't trying to pretend that everything was fine, he was just trying to do his best.

I get very tired of the homogenized front put forward by the players. So carefully managed to the point they have no personality.

Lets face it, in this country, if you do anything out of the ordinary, someones going to have a go at you. I think the kiwi batsmen could benefit from being allowed to be themselves, to tell the rest of the world to go hang and let their performances speak for themselves.

Not one of them is truly relaxed. They pretend to be, but why maintain such a facade?

We have good batsmen. McIntosh, Flynn, Guptill, Elliott are all good batsmen, but their confidence is shot. And confidence is the biggest single defining factor in the NZ game.

I do not envy the situation NZ cricket players find themselves in. They train their whole lives to make the grade. Comprimise many other aspects of their lives. Then only get a handful of chances to prove themselves. That's very very tough. If you lose your spot, you lose your livelihood.

NZ Cricket has to stop looking at the national side and realise they need to manage the local game better. People need to be able to make a career out of playing domestic cricket if we are ever able to lift the game in NZ.

We need a ground up solution, not a top down one.

I think there are 3 major changes that need to happen. 1 - Domestic players need to be paid more. 2 - More international players should be allowed to play in NZ. 3 - More games need to be televised.

I realise these are very tough goals to shoot for, but without a major overhaul of the way we approach cricket in NZ, things will only get worse, not better. Everyone seems to be holding on for a miracle rather than taking stock properly.

Can't say I think selection is the problem, it's just that there's no sure fire candidates available. Therefore we end up with the 'have a punt' selection. Even though I agree with BJ Watling's selection (we had to do something) I think this is more of the same and I don't have a lot of confidence that he will be a success. Problem is I don't have much confidence in any other option either. It's really 'hope and see' stuff.

Predictions for Napier:

McIntosh will come out all guns blazing against Asif and Aamer getting into the 80s before holing out on the midwicket boundary. He will then be dropped for the Bangladesh series replaced by Redmond in a cruel twist of irony.

O'Brien will purposefully dislocate his finger on the 4th day of the test in a desperate attempt to 'break' a partnership between Yousuf and Umar Akmal.

Jeetan Patel will bowl really nicely but not take many wickets. Someone will hit him on to the roof of the stand.

Umar Akmal will score some runs, Daniel Vettori will rescue NZ.

Someone (not Peter Fulton) will ask for a referral on a run out that has already been to the third umpire.

Ian Smith will crap on about how great Hawke's Bay is.

BJ Watling will score 19 in one of the innings

Guptill and Mackintosh, Cumming and Bell, Blair Squared (Hartland and Pocock).... we don't need a new opener, we need an exorcist. Guptill is a number 3, but there's no point putting him there if our openers, to quote Navjot Sidhu, have a bat lift similar to an octopus falling out of a tree. Our technique to bowlers swinging it in is just shocking. John Wright's helping out with coaching isn't he? We could do worse than putting him out on the paddock. PS Good luck Watling. I'm cheering for you, although my throat is quite hoarse from cheering for How, Redmond, Cumming, Bell, Papps, Nevin, Jones, and others who have tried out the Black Caps poisoned chalice in any form of the game.

on the "batting"... watling to fail. mcintoss, gulptil and fyllin to all bomb out again. taylor will do what taylor does. mccullem will throw the bat for another golden in the 1st, and be dropped 3 times on the way to 24 in the 2nd. dan the man will rock out another 40* and an unbeaten century in team totals of 197 and 243. sun is shining, weather is sweet yeah, make ya wanna move, ya dancing feet yeah.