Hesson backs Munro with ball
Mike Hesson wants his side to keep attacking England’s vaunted batting line-up.
New Zealand took wickets regularly enough on Sunday to restrict the visitors to a par score in a three-wicket win achieved in the last over.
‘‘I think the ability to keep taking wickets throughout the innings was critical,’’ Hesson said.
‘‘Even though they can bat to 11, you’ve still got to start. So if we can keep bringing out new guys, you earn yourself some dots, a little bit of a reprieve really.’’
‘‘The key with any one-day game is making sure you can have an attacking option at one end throughout the innings.
‘‘We kept chipping away ... we didn’t go bang bang.’’
The wickets were shared among the Black Caps bowlers, with part-time seamer Colin Munro getting a big scalp when he dismissed Joe Root for 71.
‘‘I think Colin Munro’s wicket of Joe Root was critical for us. To get them five down meant we got five overs of them trying to rebuild a little bit.
‘‘The more he [Munro] bowls, the better he’s getting.
‘‘He’s had to bowl a number of different roles. He’s got some good skills - he can bowl off-cutters, we obviously saw his knuckle-ball yesterday.
‘‘He’s learning from Grant Elliott - the master of 115 [kph] bowling.’’
Hesson said Ish Sodhi got the selection nod over Todd Astle on his bowling.
‘‘We see Todd more in the allrounder role.
‘‘Obviously with playing Colin de Grandhomme as that allrounder, and Mitch [Santner] yesterday, we decided to go with Ish yesterday with his record on that ground.’’
Sodhi took 2-63 off his 10 overs, with his figures blown out by three consecutive sixes struck by Jos Buttler.
‘‘I thought he was very good for the majority of it,’’ Hesson said.
‘‘The thing that all our spinners find on our small grounds is that you certainly don’t need to tease or entice anyone. He created a lot of opportunities and that’s what you want from your legspinner.’’
Anything full from the slow bowlers now appears to be an invitation for the batsman to swing on length and dispatch it over the boundary.
‘‘Every side around the world knows that - you come to NZ, the boundaries are quite short.
‘‘The majority of time we bowled into the wicket, which was the length to bowl on that surface.’’
Hesson naturally had praise for century-maker Ross Taylor and wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham, who put on 178 for the fourth wicket after New Zealand’s top-order failed.
‘‘The partnership between Ross and Tom set it up and was certainly deserving of a good finish.
‘‘You can’t always rely on your top-order to set that platform, even though they’ve done it for the majority of the summer for us. It was nice for that middle-order to come in dominate.
‘‘A lot of the time the middle order have had to come in and play little cameos, be quite selfless.’’
Hesson was pleased with the ‘‘calmness’’ of his team in the opening match of the five-game series, with game two in Mount Maunganui tomorrow.
‘‘A little bit more mature of a group, they know their roles,’’ Hesson said while comparing the one-day unit to the T20 team.