Hesson floats a shake-up at keeper
No player, not even captain Kane Williamson, will go without time off during this home international cricket season.
With the short, unsuccessful trip to Australia out of the way, the next three months are a solid block of home activity, with a raft of matches against Bangladesh, Australia (for the return Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series) and South Africa.
It’s inconceivable any player would be asked to play the lot, which spans all three forms of the game.
So while there have been new faces introduced, such as Auckland quick Lockie Ferguson, and in-andout players recalled in different roles — Jimmy Neesham, Colin Munro and Colin de Grandhomme — there could be more changes in the months ahead.
“We’ve already see plenty [of new faces],” New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said. “We’ve got to identify the right players and give them a number of opportunities.
“We hopefully will get some back from injuries [such as allrounder Corey Anderson and fast bowler Adam Milne]. But it’s not just a matter of chucking them in a hat and picking a few out. We’ve got to make sure we pick the right ones.
“Once we do, we’ve got to give them enough opportunities, but we’ve got to see improvement along the way.”
And Hesson dropped a hint there might be a new wicketkeeper before the end of the summer.
BJ Watling is ensconced as test keeper and is in situ as the ODI man. But Luke Ronchi, who lost his limited-overs place after a poor run of form, might return. Or a younger option — one of Wellington’s Tom Blundell, Canterbury’s Cam Fletcher and Northern Districts’ Tim Seifert— might get a sniff. “Possibly,” a non-committal Hesson said of the keeping situation. “It’s something Gav [national selector Gavin Larsen] and I will talk about. There is some opportunity there.” Williamson, still inside his first year as national skipper, might fancy playing the whole way through. He loves playing and may figure that goes with the leadership territory. But commonsense needs to apply. Consider this: New Zealand will play three ODIs, three T20s and two tests against Bangladesh; another three ODIs against Australia; and a full tour of a T20, five ODIs and three tests against South Africa in the major event of the season. At some point the call will be made: sit this one out, skipper. More likely he’ll make the decision. “It is something at some stage we’ll have to look at,” Williamson said. “The volume of international cricket is huge and it’s important players are managed well and that goes for everyone. Sometimes a week or two away is the thing you need.” Players who arrived home from Australia yesterday were expected to play at least one Super Smash T20 for their province between now and the arrival of Bangladesh, who kick off in Christchurch on Boxing Day. They’ll also have a few days off to get over the rigours of the Australian series which was hugely disappointing as the Aussies flogged them 3-0. “We’ve already mapped something out,” Hesson said of the time off issue. His estimation was, depending on the player, a break of between a week and nine days, would be sufficient to get them freshened up.