Hands up if you've hit a bad ball down a fielder's throat?

In the wrap of Auckland's win over Otago, I highlighted the slump that Otago's batsmen have found themselves in. This is in stark contrast to Central Districts' batsmen and the two teams share similar bowling attacks in terms of quality, yet the Stags have three of the top-four run-scorers thus far, plus Dane Cleaver and Doug Bracewell come in at 10th and 11th in the rankings.

Considering that Michael Papps is 2nd and his 354 runs are bolstered by his 316 in the opening game (11, 24 and 3 since then), you could make a case for CD having the three best batsmen; Jesse Ryder's 1st, Brad Schmulian's 3rd and Greg Hay's 4th. Oh, and George Worker's just popped back into Plunket Shield cricket with 111 in his first innings, which coincided nicely with the lack of runs from Mitch Renwick as Worker replaced Renwick (0, 23, 6, 21) in for round three.

The cookie has crumbled in terms of run-scoring for CD which along with an injury to opener Ben Smith, has made difficult selection decisions for coach Heinrich Malan fairly simple. Earlier I had highlighted the selection conundrum that was coming as neither Worker nor Ryder was in the XI for round one; Smith opened (he didn't via injury but was selected to open), Renwick at #3 and Schmulian at #5.

Smith's injury meant CD needed an opener for round two and Renwick was moved up to open with Hay. Ryder's return to the middle order pushed Schmulian - who scored a double-hundy on debut but definitely isn't as good as Ryder - out of #5 and Schmulian was moved into the vacant #3 spot. Schmulian demanded further selection with that double-hundy and that's the best example of taking your opportunity because if Schmulian doesn't score runs with Ryder and Worker absent, he'd likely be the bloke who misses out when they return. Schmulian got a sniff and scored big runs, forcing Malan to keep him in the team and Schmulian quickly became the versatile cog CD needed to plug a hole.

The fact that Schmulian had scored runs this season and Renwick hadn't, then played a part in Renwick making way for Worker's return. This is just as I see it and there may be other factors that influenced Malan's decision-making, ultimately though runs speak for themselves and Schmulian had done what Renwick didn't. Schmulian then repaid the faith last round with a 74 at #3 after Worker and Hay had banged out centuries, stacking up the run-bank to earn further selection.

(RARE CANDY SPORTING/LIFE WISDOM: Take your opportunities. You never know when it's coming, so you always need to be ready and prepared which is where hard work comes. If you're always working hard, you're always ready. You can't predict when that opportunity will come and you can't expect another opportunity to come, so always be prepared because that will put you in the best position to take the opportunity.)

More funk will come when Tom Bruce returns.

While there's glory in this CD batting group, skipper Will Young is up to his neck in a slump; 1, 32, 11, 16, 0.The difference between Young and Renwick for example, is that this slump for Young is kinda crazy because it's definitely not the status-quo and he has earned to work his way out of the slump by stacking up runs previously ... and he's the skipper. Even going back to when Young was on tour in India with Aotearoa when Young scored; 0, 14, 15, 14, 2 (the last innings was a one-dayer).

Young's dismissal in the second innings of round one was just plain 'guts bo'. He appeared to hit a horrible delivery from Anton Devcich with the back of his bat, down the throat of Joel Baker at short-fine-leg. That's exactly what happens when you're battlin':

Well that and a whole lot of edges/missing straight deliveries. Young has been caught behind twice (Inns1+5) as he fiddled at deliveries he probably should have left and when you're in form, you're judgement is a lot better than that. Young also got bowled (no footage) and trapped lbw by Matt McEwan in round two vs Auckland and the lbw was merely a case of Young not hitting a straight ball, angling into his pads that he would otherwise hit 85 percent of the time:

This is a 24-year-old who averages 38.60 in First-Class cricket and has only seen his average dip below 40 thanks to this slump. Established players need to be given time to suss their issues out and I suspect Young will be given ample opportunities to do exactly that, which has me pondering how CD could fit Bruce in. And that folks, I reckon will result in a fairly scary move that will see Bruce replace a seamer.

There are a few reasons why I'd lean towards that move; all the batsmen are scoring runs apart from the skipper and the Stags also have a bowling roster full to the brim. Seth Rance and Doug Bracewell are the top-dawgs, which leaves Blair Tickner and Bevan Small competing for a third-seamer spot. CD then have Ryder's medium-pacers, Ajaz Patel's spin, as well as the spin of Schmulian, Worker and Bruce.

Small: 5w @ 42.60avg/3.55rpo.
Tickner: 12w @ 28.66avg/3.95rpo.

And when we're talking about taking opportunities, Tickner took 2 and 4 wickets last round. Tickner's also been better than Bracewell's (9w @ 32.44avg/3.28rpo) but Bracewell is still a top-dawg. Tickner and Small have been given a chance to make their case for future selection and have kept Navin Patel out of the team in doing so, now that they have a near full-strength roster (could Ross Taylor make things even funkier!?), I'd be rolling with Tickner as he's done the business.

This is scary because Rance is heating up and took 5w last round (20.08avg/3.12rpo) and Patel's still dominating with 14w @ 24.35/2.95rpo. CD sitll have weapons in their bowling attack, along with depth as skipper Young can turn to Ryder, Schmulian, Worker or any of his frontline bowlers to chip in. Their bowling attack will still pose a major threat and then consider this batting line up that CD could use with Bruce's return:

Worker - 111runs @ 111avg (one game).
Hay - 269r @ 53.80avg.
Schmulian - 313r @ 62.60avg.
Young - SLUMPING.
Ryder - 370r @ 185avg.
Bruce - 42.65 FC avg.
Cleaver - 216r @ 43.20avg.
Bracewell - 215r @ 107.5avg (two not-outs).
Patel, Tickner, Rance.

That's how I view things playing out and I'm going to be tuned into the scorecard next round to see if there are any low key injuries or selection funk. If you had a jolly ol' time reading this, just hit an ad to show your support to the Niche Cache. You'll be making a donation without having to pay anything, or you can jump on Patreon and donate to our cause, with some exclusive stuff coming your way in return.

Peace and love 27.

Oh and after McEwan dismissed Young, he dabbed. Must be an Auckland thing?