For richer or poorer
It’s big-money Australians v Kiwi battlers
They’re a $9 million all-star Australian cricket team who fetched four times as much as their New Zealand opponents at the Indian Premier League auction.
But they’re ranked a lowly seventh in the world compared to the Black Caps at No 2, recently dethroned from top spot by Pakistan.
Confused? Welcome to the world of Twenty20 cricket where player price tags skyrocket or plummet on a franchise owner or coach’s whim, and the Aussies remain flavour of the month.
Captain David Warner’s Australians will swagger onto the Sydney Cricket Ground for tonight’s tri-series opener with a combined IPL value of $9.32 million, compared with Kane Williamson’s Black Caps at $2.28 million.
Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis and Andrew Tye all topped $1 million at last weekend’s auction while Williamson’s $634,000 to Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad was the top price of the six Black Caps sold.
The disparity is mirrored by their annual pay packets, too. Warner reportedly collects A$900,000 (NZ$978,000) as his Cricket Australia retainer while Williamson, the top-ranked New Zealander, is on about $210,000 plus match fees.
We’ve seen it before: a star team can topple a team of stars, especially in the shortest format. At the last World Twenty20 in India in 2016, New Zealand swept past Australia in group play and made the semifinals before falling to England.
Despite losing two on the bounce to Pakistan in a 2-1 series defeat, the Black Caps are 12 points and five spots ahead of their hosts on the rankings.
‘‘For us it’s about improving all the time and guys being familiar with their roles. We all lose games but it’s about getting better as a
side and learning from our mistakes,’’ Williamson said.
For New Zealand the juicy part of the summer is finally here, against Australia and England in this tri-series before the latter play five ODIs and two tests. Along with India and South Africa, the Big Four provide the best yardstick of where the Black Caps stand.
As does form away from home, a significant hurdle for most teams.
New Zealand’s last win in any format in Australia was the 2011 test victory in Hobart; and their last victory at the SCG was in 2002.
Australia have what visiting coach Mike Hesson dubbed a Big Bash All Stars side, with Lynn and leading runscorer D’Arcy Short facing New Zealand for the first time alongside Warner and Aaron Finch in a stacked top order.
Williamson played under Warner’s captaincy with the Sunrisers and was impressed. Not surprisingly, Warner encourages aggressive and positive cricket and Black Caps new ball pair Trent Boult and Tim Southee will be tested early.
New Zealand’s two matchwinners Colin Munro and Colin de Grandhomme get their chance to unleash their hitting power in Australia, and show they were undervalued compared with the likes of Lynn, Maxwell or Stoinis.
Munro and Ish Sodhi were the top-ranked batsman and bowler in T20 internationals but slipped to fourth and third respectively after successive Pakistan defeats where Williamson said ‘‘they taught us a few lessons’’.
‘‘The rankings just happen and it’s not really a focus for us,’’ said Williamson. ‘‘We saw in the T20 international bowling rankings which was Ish Sodhi one day; then he bowled one over he wasn’t proud of and then it was another bloke, Mitch Santner.’’