Just a month after New Zealand's encouraging efforts against England in Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland, they are beginning the return tour of the motherland which will include two May tests. There is a Champions Trophy (gods are they still doing that tournament?) and then 10 - that's right 10! - Ashes Test matches in the next 9 months and some forgettable ODI cricket as well no doubt. New Zealand coach Mike 'knock-on-your-door-mid-series' Hesson suggested to the English Press that his team were not merely the entree for the coming Ashes series and they would give England another shock if they were treated as such. Well as much as I support the team I feel it necessary to point out that we really are the entree course in a bloated summer and winter of cricket for the cricket establishment. That's OK though, use it and do what New Zealand does well - fight from the corner.
Even IF there wasn't so much cricket following our appearance on English shores, even if England were set to play 5 tests each against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh after us, this tour is still an entree. It's the classic English fixtures list where a low-ranked team has to play in cool May conditions for 2 measly games that the home side will almost certainly win ONE of (ensuring they don't lose the series) - second test is at Leeds? Done. It allows England to play 5-test series against Australia and South Africa in the warmth of July and August which is all they really want to do every summer. The real indication of how the thing works is that every team that plays in May is forced to splinter its squad due to IPL commitments which ensures key opposition players (lets be honest, key batsmen) don't turn up till the night before the first test and weaken their chances further. Well if England want to play warm-up rounds against weak opposition like that then that says enough about how they think and operate but we don't need to make it easy for them.
It is true, despite the 0-0 draw last month and a fine victory in Sri Lanka last year, that New Zealand is still a poorly ranked cricket team and we shouldn't be surprised that we end up playing the May-tests in England. The goal is simply to improve our rankings over time so that we can be the team playing in July and August and let Australia play in May (imagine it). If we are to be the first course this summer then we use that to our advantage. We have begun tours quite badly in recent years, often losing by massive margins in the opening test only to either win or gain a respectful draw/loss in the second match, but we cannot do that this time around. Lords is where we have to try and steal our best result because Leeds in Headingly is as much about the toss and weather as actual skill. I would love to see England have to fight for a win in Headingly instead of us.
Now in terms of the team make up I think the following 11 should play at Lords*
- Fulton
- Rutherford
- Williamson
- Taylor
- Brownlie
- McCullum (c)
- Watling (wk)
- Martin
- Wagner
- Southee
- Boult
*under the assumption that the Lords surface is the usual one that offers a bit of swing but mainly seam movement and the weird impact of the 'Lords Slope' before flattening out to a road by day 3
The main exclusions here you will notice are Guptill (no form) and Bracewell (unlucky that Wanger is taking more wickets at present). However you need to play the team with a plan in mind to dismiss the opposition batsmen: Cook and Trott. Both have certain technical disadvantages against left-arm pace and swing and add the slope of the pitch into that equation and Boult/Wagner should be the best chance. I don't think it will really swing that much for Southee - a brave punter would drop him for Bracewell but that would be a BIG call - but the real interesting spot is that of Bruce Martin. Now Martin is a poor-man's Daniel Vettori - not quite as good a batsman or bowler as Vettori but honest and hard working in both facets - so lets not kid ourselves there, but he's done enough to be on tour certainly (although neither test is at a spin-friendly ground like Edgbaston or Old Trafford). Do we need a spinner at Lords? Are we guilt tripping ourselves into thinking we need one for balance?
I honestly don't know; without Kevin Pietersen in the opposition line-up the automatic advantage of slow-left-arm-spin is gone but is it wise to rely on Kane Williamson to be the spin option? In the end there is probably enough balance and potential in the 11 players named above to do the job if given a bit of luck and some good bowling to Cook and Trott. Either way I will be glued to the TV well into the night for what is always a fascinating tour for New Zealand teams
One last note: the 1st test at Lords will be the 100th First Class match of Ross Taylor's career which will be a nice moment, just hope he celebrates it with a century or two...
Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again
It's good bye for now
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