Black Caps batsmen are hitting top form
With the top order firing on all cylinders during their one-day series win over Sri Lanka, there has never been a better time to be the Black Caps’ batting coach.
Craig McMillan has been in the role since 2014 and gets the chance to take charge of the team for tomorrow’s Twenty20 international in Auckland while head coach Gary Stead has a break.
He said he was pleased with how their batsmen had been performing, especially with a World Cup less than six months away.
‘‘I’m really stoked with the way the guys are playing, and the consistency they are showing in the different formats.
‘‘That’s one of the challenges for the modern-day player, switching from format to format. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time, but we’re starting to get better at it and we’re seeing that consistency now, which is great.’’
That consistency was on full display during the ODI series against Sri Lanka, which ended in Nelson on Tuesday, where the Black Caps won by 115 runs after batting first and posting more than 300 for the third match in a row.
In the first game, Martin Guptill set the tone, scoring 138 off 139 balls, with Kane Williamson (76 off 74), Ross Taylor (54 off 37) and Jimmy Neesham (47 off 13) following in his footsteps.
In the second Colin Munro got things going, before being run out for 87 off 77 balls, his equalhighest ODI score, with Taylor (90 off 105) and Neesham (64 off 37) putting the icing on the cake.
Then in the third it was Taylor (137 off 131 – his 20th ODI hundred) and Henry Nicholls (124 not out off 80 – his first ODI hundred) who did the bulk of the work.
Batting coach may be McMillan’s title, he says the team’s standout performers, such as Taylor, have a role to play as well when it comes to helping the likes of Nicholls find their feet.
‘‘Through my time as a player we didn’t have a batting coach, we had very few support staff. It was a different era, where you
‘‘I’m really stoked with the . . . consistency they are showing in the different formats.’’ Black Caps batting coach Craig McMillan
generally learnt from the players around you, and that’s one of the things we encourage with the guys, to learn not only from the coaches and support staff, but from the guys they’re playing with.
‘‘Ross Taylor, who’s played so many games, has so much experience, has 20 ODI hundreds, I couldn’t think of a better opportunity for someone like Henry Nicholls to learn than out in the middle from Ross.’’
There is certainly no better inspiration than Taylor right now, with the 34-year-old in a rich vein of form.
Since the start of last year he is averaging 92, and since the end of the 2015 World Cup he is averaging 70, numbers which leave McMillan in no doubt he’s ‘‘at the highest end of world class’’.
‘‘The last 12 months, the consistency he’s shown and the innings that he’s put on the board that have won us games, it doesn’t matter whether they’re hundreds or 80s, that’s what the team wants and that’s what he’s doing, so it’s great.’’