Black Caps on salvage mission
The Black Caps have a month and a handful of games to rediscover their mojo. New Zealand’s 15-man squad for the Twenty20 World Cup was named yesterday with little surprise regarding the make-up.
The tournament starting in Australia next month – New Zealand meet the hosts at the SCG on October 22 – will be hyped as an explosive event, but the Black Caps have again taken the ‘steady as she goes’ approach that’s served them well in recent years.
There’s no scary new young tearaway pace bowler in the lineup, and while Finn Allen is capable of big-hitting exploits up top, he’s already played 13 T20 internationals since debuting last March and may not be in the firstchoice XI.
It doesn’t look like a side capable of storming to success across the Tasman – but neither did last year’s outfit, and they got within one victory of claiming a second significant piece of silverware in five months.
The squad for the 2022 tournament only features cosmetic changes from the group which made the final in the UAE.
But the Black Caps haven’t been an attractive proposition since the start of the year.
The test XI produced a flat display against Bangladesh to herald the new year as they were steamrollered by the tourists.
South Africa also outplayed New Zealand in the second test in Christchurch the following month to mean both home test series were drawn, before a rejuvenated England won the majority of the moments that mattered most to claim all three tests in June.
Since then, it’s been mostly second-stringers in a series of games against lesser lights and meritorious yet unmemorable series wins in white-ball formats in the West Indies, before again being unable to get across the line when in contention in one-dayers in Australia.
Presently, Trent Boult appears the only player possessing the impact and impetus to push the side towards another World Cup final as they prepare to meet Pakistan and Bangladesh in a series of T20 games in
Christchurch next month prior to departure.
Much will again land on the shoulders of captain Kane Williamson.
The 32-year-old has yet to find fluency and form since months off with an elbow injury over summer, and it seems that his struggles are at times reflected in some hesitancy from the rest of the XI.
With little to no gap between games against Bangladesh and Pakistan, Williamson may not play all four matches and a potential ‘final’, but it feels imperative that he’s given plenty of opportunity to pull back close to his imperious best – it was his superlative 85 from 48 balls that gave New Zealand a shot at winning last year’s final.
Yesterday, coach Gary Stead defending his squad’s hitting power, with some justification.
Martin Guptill, Allen, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell are all legitimate fence-clearers, while batting ‘closer’ Jimmy Neesham has an almost unprecedented T20I strike-rate of 165.84.
The coach spoke optimistically of how his troops can turn around their fortunes.
‘‘You win close games,’’ Stead said. ‘‘It can be as simple as just someone coming in and hitting the ball for a boundary or a six, and all of a sudden the game looks different. It’s so fickle and fine.’’
New Zealand’s displays at last year’s tournament illustrate that you don’t have to – nor are likely to – bludgeon each opposition side in a path to claiming the Cup.
The Black Caps opened with a loss to Pakistan, scored an outstanding win over India, had unflattering efforts over Scotland, Namibia and Afghanistan before a late-surge semifinal triumph against England.
Stead would love his troops to find a winning formula, but isn’t perturbed if it doesn’t come until it’s essential.
‘‘If you play well it breeds confidence in a team, but momentum can change so quickly in a game.’’