Latham runs into form

Unable to buy a run at the end of last summer, Tom Latham admits he’s grown as a result of the toughest patch of his career.

Today’s second one-day international against the West Indies at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval will be one to savour for the Cantabrian, captaining the Black Caps at his home ground.

With skipper Kane Williamson rested for the final two ODIs, Latham will look to lead the side to a series victory after Wednesday’s comfortable five-wicket win in Whangarei in the opening match.

It won’t be the first time he’s led his country, guiding New Zealand in four ODIs against Bangladesh and Ireland during a pre-Champions Trophy tri-series in May.

Not so long ago, the wicketkeeper-batsman was under intense scrutiny for his place in the firstchoice ODI XI.

He had a dreadful period to close out the last home summer, amassing just nine runs in five innings opening against the quality Australian and South African attacks, which including three ducks.

Latham was dropped for the final two ODIs against South Africa, but retained his place for the test series.

Horribly out of form, down on confidence, and guilty of being dismissed lbw or caught, falling over on a leg stump line, he looked devoid of answers.

Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium was the scene of a breakthrough innings for him on October 22, when he hit his most important white ball knock in the black shirt.

Switching to the No 5 slot, Latham notched a composed 103 not out from 102 balls, judging the tempo of the run chase perfectly to haul down India’s 280.

He backed that up with 38 in the second match in Pune, and was impressive again in the final ODI in Kanpur, scoring 65 in a narrow six-run loss.

Those morale-boosting displays followed 104 against Ireland and 84 against Bangladesh in May’s triseries when he was opening.

Latham described last summer’s lean run as the most challenging chapter of his career, but believed he’d become a better batsman because of it.

‘‘It was the first time I have been under quite a bit of pressure like that.

‘‘You probably learn more from times like that than if you’re going well. I guess that was quite an important time for me in terms of bouncing back after that.’’

He didn’t make any drastic changes to his technique, focusing on his mental approach and not overthinking batting. Sometimes a couple of confidence-building boundaries early in an innings can

lift a batsman out of a slump, and things began to improve.

‘‘To me, it’s probably more about trusting your game, more

than trying to go out and change things.

‘‘Cricket is a funny game. Sometimes you can middle one in the

gap or sometimes it can go straight to the fielder. It’s important for me to make sure I keep trusting my game and go from there.’’

Aside from Williamson, Tim Southee has also been given a breather for the final two ODIs at Hagley. The third match is on Boxing Day on Tuesday.

Mitchell Santner and Neil Broom come into the squad, while right-arm seamer Seth Rance replaces Central Stags teammate Adam Milne, who suffered a left foot injury and will be out for two to four weeks.

Broom will bat at three, while Matt Henry will take Southee’s spot in the playing XI. New Zealand

were yet to decide whether they would go with two frontline spinners as they did in their last ODI at Hagley against South Africa in February.

Santner and legspinner Ish Sodhi both featured in that match, with the pair combining for three wickets.

Canterbury legspinner Todd Astle took 3-33 in his ODI debut on Wednesday and it would be a rough call to leave him out on his home track after that performance.

The Black Caps have a fine ODI record at Hagley, winning all six matches there since first playing Sri Lanka in January 2015.

‘‘It’s important for me to make sure I keep trusting my game.’’

Tom Latham, above