Michael Appleton

🇳🇿 diplomat. Now: Senior Adviser to @NewZealandMFA. Ex: HCer to 🇱🇰, posted to 🇹🇱🇺🇸🇮🇳. Samraj’s Dad & @nayantarapple’s husband. Love 🏏🗳. Views my own

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

@the_kk Yeah, the New Zealand peninsula comes from the Indian coast, via a British ship.

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

Engagement stories are always lovely and beautiful (Nayantara’s and mine unrolled at the site of our first date, Hauz Khas Village in Delhi) … but proposing while on a cricket tour of New Zealand is very cool indeed.

Congratulations to Samreen and Arshdeep.

@nayantarapple

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

Happy Diwali from our family to yours!

🪔 🪔 🪔 🪔

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

Happy Choti Diwali!

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

@Sportsfreakconz Yeah Samraj - captain this week - won the toss and bowled first :)

Doesn’t seem like the decision was conditions based though.

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

It’s a big morning for Samraj (and me!): the start of the cricket season … and then a family trip to the ballot box.

Fewer greater pleasures for a parent than a child loving some of the same things as you…

🏏 🗳️

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

@Tiare_MP This interview explains it well: https://t.co/grOzkqLJCs

As I understand it, if a party wins “too many” electorates, that party’s electorate winners with the fewest votes don’t become MPs and these electorates become “deserted districts”.

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

@corner_cric2025 How would series played by India in Australia be relevant to a tweet about Australia’s performance away from home?

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

🇦🇺 are the best Test side overall this century.

But their weak point has been winning Test series in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇮🇳 🇿🇦

🇳🇿 🇱🇰 🇿🇦 🇮🇳 have won a series in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 more recently than 🇦🇺

🇿🇦 🇳🇿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 have won a series in 🇮🇳 more recently than 🇦🇺

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇱🇰 have won a series in 🇿🇦 more recently than 🇦🇺

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

Ben is right.

If @BLACKCAPS & 🇦🇺 both play to their potential, the Test series this summer will be competitive - and there’s no reason 🇳🇿 cannot win it.

(I’d also note the only time 🇳🇿 has won a Test series in 🇦🇺, their opponents were also in transition / far from their best.)

[Ben Jones @benjonescricket]

Obviously, New Zealand will head to Australia with the weight of their history against them, but man for man there is no reason they can't turn Australia over.

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

What a barnstorming performance from 🇿🇦, coming from behind to win the 🇦🇺 series.

For all the Big 3 dominance economically & politically, Test 🏏 is having a great, competitive decade on the field.

🇮🇳 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 & 🇿🇦 have all been ranked number one - & 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 🇿🇦 have all won the WTC.

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

Win 3-Test series after lose 1st Test
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 v 🇦🇺 1882/3 1888
🇿🇦 v 🇳🇿 1994/5
🇵🇰 v 🇿🇼 1994/5
🇱🇰 v 🇵🇰 1995/6
🇱🇰 v 🇳🇿 1998
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 v 🇱🇰 2000/1
🇮🇳 v 🇦🇺 2000/1
🇿🇦 v 🇮🇳 2006/7 2021/2
🇿🇦 v 🏝️ 2007/8
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 v 🇳🇿 2007/8
🇮🇳 v 🇱🇰 2015
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 v 🏝️ 2020
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 v 🇿🇦 2022
🇵🇰 v 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2024/5
🇳🇿 v 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2026
🇿🇦 v 🇦🇺 2026/7?

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

One News giving New Zealanders a retrospective on our country’s little-known 2024 general election.

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

This was the 248th T20I innings played in New Zealand - and 259/7 is the highest score ever achieved.

The next highest: 🇦🇺’s 245/5, also at Eden Park, in 2018.

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

@ralph9 @BenThomasNZ Yeah, if they miss the major-party margin by this much (almost 10 points!) in either direction this time we’ll have either a thumping Coalition re-election or a thumping Opposition victory :)

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

@ralph9 @BenThomasNZ Yes & these final polls ranged from one nailing the outcome (TNS) to two that missed the margin b/w majors by 8 points (Colmar Brunton & Nielsen).

Not necessarily the polling average that tells you what’s going to happen: result could be one of those polls at either end of range

[Association of Cricket Statisticians & Historians @ACScricket]

A mouth watering statistic from today in South Africa’s innings v Australia. It is the first time in Test match history that six people have scored 2 or less in an innings whilst five others have scored more than 40. The highs and lows of cricket. #cricketcounts

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

Congratulations, 🇮🇳!

A modest proposal: With the T20I series over, and a Cricket World Cup just around the corner, let’s convert the next two matches into fifty-overs-a-side and have a good, old fashioned seven-match ODI series.

[Michael Appleton @michelappleton]

In Tests in 🇿🇦 in the last decade:

-the team bowling first has won 12 & lost 27.

-the team to win the toss has chosen to bat 70 percent of the time.

Curious decision from Cummins.