The bad, the worse and the woeful
ANALYSIS: The touring West Indies are staking their claim for the mantle of ‘‘Worst Team To Play In New Zealand’’.
My colleague Duncan Johnstone tagged them as the worst Windies team to visit these shores. I think they have opposition in those stakes, yet have still mounted a vigorous campaign for the label.
The evidence has stacked up: two test hidings - by an innings and 67 runs, and 240 runs - and three ODI comprehensive ODI defeats. They also lost their warmup one-day match to a NZ XI that didn’t feature any players from the six domestic association teams playing the Twenty20 competition.
To judge them against other nohopers, we need to take quality of opposition into account. The current NZ side may not rate highly with most keen cricket fans, yet it has four all-time Kiwi greats - Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, plus a possible addition in Neil Wagner. It played the test series without one of our best-ever wicketkeeper/batsman in BJ Watling and the ODI series minus a white-ball superstar in Martin Guptill.
Here’s five other contenders:
Sri Lanka 1983
A year after they played their first official test, Sri Lanka ventured to NZ and lost the test series 2-0, going down by an innings and 25 runs in Christchurch and six wickets in Wellington. Richard Hadlee, Martin Snedden, Lance Cairns and Ewen Chatfield dominated in seaming conditions foreign to the rookie tourists. They went no better in the ODI series, falling 3-0.
Notable players: Ranjan Madugalle, Rumesh Ratanayake
Forgettable players: Mithra Wettimuny, Sridharan Jeganathan.
Zimbabwe 1998
The test minnows appeared to have a reasonable 1st XI, with a couple of world-class players surrounded by a few handy tradesmen, but they lost by 10 wickets in the first test and by an innings and 13 runs in the second as they could neither make runs nor take wickets.
The one-day international series was lost 2-0.
Notable players: Andy Flower, Heath Streak.
Forgettable players: Adam Huckle, Gavin Rennie.
West Indies 1999
Had a great day one of the first test in Hamilton, reaching 282-1 at stumps. All downhill at a rapid rate from there, losing that match by nine wickets and the hangover carried to Wellington, where Mathew Sinclair made 214 on debut in a win by an innings and 105 runs. They took a 5-0 drubbing in the ODI series also.
Notable players: Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh.
Forgettable players: Nehemiah Perry, Reon King.
Bangladesh 2001
Much like Sri Lanka in 1983, the Bangers had only been playing tests for a year and it showed as they lost both tests by an innings. Their top team score in four bats was 205 against Shane Bond, Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori. A 3-0 drubbing in the ODI series was no shock.
Notable players: Mohammad Ashraful, Habibul Bashar.
Forgettable players: Manjurul Islam, Mohammad Sharif.
Bangladesh 2008
Another 2-0 test series drubbing for the visitors, who seemed better equipped but they didn’t make runs against Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Iain O’brien and Vettori while Matthew Bell and Oram made tons. As in keeping with other whitewashes we’ve read above, the ODI series went 3-0 in NZ’S favour.
Notable players: Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal.
Forgettable players: Aftab Ahmed, Sajedul Islam.
Lest we forget
For a few decades, New Zealand were the Sri Lanka/zimbabwe/ Bangladesh of world cricket. Test fodder, to the extent that few teams would play tests regularly against them. NZ went almost four years without playing a test from 1959 to 1963 and when they did, they lost three tests against a Windies team featuring Garfield Sobers, Everton Weekes and the spin twins Ramadhin and Valentine - two by an innings and the other by nine wickets.
Notable players: Bert Sutcliffe, John Reid.
Forgettable players: Allen Lissette, Trevor Mcmahon.