Guitar before nets for skipper
It was guitar practice before net practice for Black Caps captain Kane Williamson in preparation for the big Waitangi Day Twenty20 double header against India.
A keen guitarist, and surfer, Williamson invited Wellington band Drax Project into the Basin Reserve dressing rooms where he plucked the guitar to strains of their hit song Woke Up Late.
He didn’t do too badly, either, judging by the raucous reception from the band members, winners of breakthrough artist of the year at the 2018 NZ Music Awards.
Drax Project will play at Westpac Stadium in between the women’s (4pm) and men’s (8pm) T20s against India as New Zealand Cricket hopes for upwards of 20,000 fans. A tick more than 13,000 was the official figure for Sunday’s men’s ODI.
Williamson and White Ferns captain Amy Satterthwaite unveiled their new Aotearoa shirts to mark Waitangi Day, and will wear them again in games two and three in Auckland on Friday and Hamilton on Sunday.
It’s that kind of series with the pressure off a touch, very little riding on it, but a chance for NZC to promote their White Ferns and cash in on some big crowds and fill the coffers.
Eden Park is already a sellout of close to 40,000 for Friday’s game two.
‘‘It should be a fantastic day with all the entertainment, a bit of a festival vibe and hopefully some good cricket,’’ Williamson said.
‘‘We’ve kind of followed each other’s trends so far [losing the ODI series to India before claiming a consolation victory] so hopefully we can both make a step up.’’
The Black Caps have several changes from their ODI series defeat and are without the injured Martin Guptill (back). Allrounder Daryl Mitchell is poised for a T20 debut.
Senior man Tim Southee will lead the bowling attack after sitting out the last four ODIs, which Williamson said nothing sinister should be read into.
‘‘We had a number of guys getting some good game time in that Indian series where Tim had played a huge amount of cricket. He’s a massive part of our side, a leader in the group. It was one of those things.’’
Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan welcomed the change of format after their 4-1 ODI series victory which stamped them as likely World Cup favourites.
Asked if he would have preferred more ODIs to hone their cup preparation further, Dhawan said: ‘‘I reckon we’ve played enough, how much more would we have played?
‘‘It’s good that we’re playing T20, we’re human as well so our bodies need rest. Five one-dayers was more than enough, we’ll take 4-1 and go back home happy.’’
For the White Ferns it’s a chance to avenge their loss to India at last year’s Women’s World T20 in Guyana which saw
them tumble out before the semifinals.
It was hard work in the ODIs with India outclassing them in the first two before a consolation victory in Hamilton.
Spinner Anna Peterson (4-28) and seamer Lea Tahuhu (3-26) did the damage with the ball and their batting guns Suzie Bates (57) and Satterthwaite (66 not out) fired in an eight-wicket victory to raise hopes they can be competitive in the T20s.