As much as I would like to pontificate about Kevin Pietersen vs. English Cricket, Throwing or the West Indies' continued turmoil, I am driven today to speak briefly about the New Zealand cricket team going into this summer. I caught bits and pieces of the game in Mt. Manganui and to a certain degree my opinions will be based on this match.
The obvious point is that the Black Caps lost to South Africa today as the full-strength Proteas team chased 230 with 11 balls to spare. With so many ODI games in the next 4 months it's difficult to take the results of these 3 games very seriously - at least in the sense that I won't lose sleep over a series loss the way I would if it were a full tour. What I would like to see is progress and signs of something special to come in March. This is a good series to try a few things - although don't believe team management when they spin it that way, given less injuries there would NEVER have been this much tinkering - and blood new players all in the interest of having a proper squad come February and March. That being said there is plenty we can think about as we lean back from our television screens.
If I take the team in batting order:
- Jimmy Neesham - chosen to open the innings in an obvious attempt to fit both he and Corey J. Anderson into the team. I will say that he did display the confidence to play some aggressive cricket against a very good attack. His bowling looked good too and I have not always been a fan of that attribute of his game. He should open in the other two games so we can gauge his potential as an opener with Guptill
- Martin Guptill - he has done a lot of reconstruction work on his technique in the winter season and I will look forward to examining it more closely the next two matches; sadly he wasn't able to produce much with it in game one but over the series we should gain a measure of the new man.
- Dean Brownlie - a benefactor of injuries to Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor. I missed seeing his innings live but some of the shots I saw in highlights looked very good (and on the legside which is even better). He has shifted to Northern Districts this season to try again for International honours as an opening batsman.
- Brendon McCullum - in his latest attempt to bat in every position in the line-up, McCullum slotted in at 4 and produced a couple good shots before Morkel fooled him with a slower-ball bouncer. His form is often all over the place in one-day cricket - to be honest I prefer him at 6 or 7 to add impetus to an innings - I was more interested to see if his captaincy was till as sharp as the last 18 months. In small chases you cannot let the game drift so it was good to see plenty of bowling changes to try and disrupt South Africa's progress but they lacked the aggression of Milne or McClenaghan to provide a different kind of pressure in the middle overs (30-40). If he is going to bat at 4 for the remaining games he will need to build his innings more affectively to compensate for the lack of Williamson and Taylor (proven ODI-hundred makers).
- Corey J. Anderson - first-baller today and not much of a bowling spell. I felt by the West Indies tour in April that Anderson was slightly out of favour with the Black Caps after an injury during the Indian series, his return has been slowed by the success of Neesham in the test side and subsequent elevation of Neesham to this ODI team. I am still not sold on both of them being there at the same time because they are filling the same role. If one of them could improve their bowling then it would be a different story.
- Luke Ronchi - he finally produced an innings of character and class after a number of games in the top-side without living up to the expectations. B J Watling is a very good wicketkeeper-batsman too so they are in a real competition for that role in the World Cup next year. If Ronchi continues to bat like he did in this game then he probably has an edge over Watling as there is a dynamic and explosive nature to Ronchi that Watling may not possess. This contest will be fascinating to watch.
- Nathan McCullum and Daniel Vettori - Nathan was the second spin option in this game and if they had been defending a proper total of 260+ then his worth would have been more apparent. His bowling, due to exposure in 2020 cricket for so long, is geared around containing batsman who are trying to get 10+ off every over. He developed really good methods of preventing that kind of runrate but it does make him a appear limited when the opposition can choose to milk him for 40-50 runs off 10 overs. Vettori can be negated in that way as well - they had the SA player David Miller in commentary and when asked about team plans for Vettori he revealed that they don't see him as a threat, just another bowler. Vettori has years of experience on his side in ODI cricket though and McCullum could do worse than learn from the different variations Vettori has used to take so many wickets in this form.
- Mills and Boult - the opening attack. Mills is looking old and it will be interesting to see if he makes it too the World Cup in the new year as Southee and McClenaghan return. Boult is an interesting topic because many people wonder why he hasn't played more of this form. My feeling is that I almost prefer his playing so much test cricket initially. He is far more valued in the long form of the game and if he now adds ODI skills to his trade then so be it, but left-armers have been ruined by too much limited-overs cricket before and it would have been a waste to see him fall into that dustbin in history.
Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again
It's good bye for now
