Latham: Ready to break drought
Tom Latham is timing the ball as well as ever in the nets, but it’s yet to turn into the substantial score that could kick start his summer.
The wicketkeeper-batsman is expected to retain his place in the New Zealand one-day squad to face England in the five match series, starting in Hamilton on Sunday.
Latham’s lack of ODI runs this home summer has put his position in the side under pressure with the hard-hitting Tom Blundell and Tim Seifert knocking at the selection door. Switching from opening to No5 in the ODI side during October’s tour of India, Latham excelled and looked to have made the position his own.
He hit a majestic unbeaten 103 off 102 balls at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium to lead New Zealand to a six wicket win in the first match, which was followed up with scores of 38 and 65.
Latham’s white ball struggles in Kiwi conditions continued to open the home summer, failing to reach 50 in his seven ODI innings against the West Indies and Pakistan. His highest score was 37 at an average of 17.4 with three single digit efforts.
Why Latham isn’t delivering consistently in one-day cricket on New Zealand pitches is puzzling. He averages just 20.89 from 33 ODIs at home, compared to a healthy 44.87 overseas on predominantly slower wickets (36 matches).
‘‘I had a little bit of success in India, but it’s still reasonably new batting in the middle order. For me, it’s making sure I can learn each game and take those experiences from each game and learn from them,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m by far the finished product. I’m looking to evolve my game wherever I can.’’ The left-hander desperately needs a decent knock to begin the series for his own confidence and to repay the faith coach Mike Hesson has shown in him.
Latham realised his spot is under scrutiny, but doesn’t think he’s suddenly become a bad batsman. Hesson labelled Latham the best limited overs gloveman in the country before the Indian tour, something Canterbury one-day coach Brendon Donkers agreed with.
‘‘I feel like I’m hitting the ball pretty well in the nets. I feel like I’ve been doing that most of the summer, but it obviously hasn’t transferred into a big score, whether that be for Canterbury or New Zealand.
He has potentially one final chance in the middle before the England one-dayers during Canterbury’s Ford Trophy elimination final against Auckland on Wednesday. Not required for the Black Caps T20 side, he has returned to the domestic ranks for the red-and-blacks, hitting scores of 46 not out, 6, 2, and 34 from four innings.
Latham was annoyed at himself after getting through to 34 in Saturday’s minor semifinal against Northern Districts, scooping one to mid on from offspinner Joe Walker. He combined for a valuable 116-run third wicket partnership with Black Caps team-mate Henry Nicholls, who struck 122.
Going from opening to the middle order was a major adjustment mentally, tactically and technically. He was still developing as an international No 5, where the job description was constantly changing.
‘‘As an opener, you know the situation and you know what you need to do, whether you’re batting first or second. Whereas, when you’re batting five, every time you go out to bat it’s a completely different scenario every game. As for the England ODI series, Latham felt the teams were evenly matched. New Zealand are on an eight match ODI winning run after sweeping Pakistan 5-0 and the West Indies 3-0.
England were highly impressive against Australia last month, thumping them 4-1.
‘‘They’re a team who go out and play with no fear and we’re sort of the same. If both sides can play to their potential it’s going to be a cracker of a series.’’