Tight focus fuels Black Caps
Will it happen today? Will it happen on Sunday? Will it happen at all this season?
The Black Caps are now halfway through their home summer and are yet to lose a match.
They have 13 straight wins under their belt – two in tests, eight in one-day internationals, and three in Twenty20s – and will have a chance to make it 14 on Thursday night at Eden Park, in the second of three T20s against Pakistan.
You normally don’t have to look hard to find a source of angst in the Black Caps ranks – why is he there instead of him, why do they keep picking that guy, and so on – but this summer, critics have largely been reduced to picking nits.
When the West Indies were being blown away, the home team may not have received the praise they deserved, but now that Pakistan have suffered the same fate, there can be no doubt that this is a very good Black Caps outfit.
In some cases, the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Winning bilateral series at home is not enough to make this the best Black Caps side ever, but if they keep this run going, the argument in their favour will grow stronger and stronger.
Tougher challenges in the shape of Australia and England loom large, but they will be eager to notch wins 14 and 15 of the summer against Pakistan this week – the third and final T20 is on
Sunday at Mount Maunganui.
Colin Munro has been one of the team’s star performers in the shortest format, and as far he’s concerned, there’s no special sauce fuelling the current run.
‘‘We’re just trying to play each game as well as we can,’’ he said.
‘‘I know it sounds boring and that it’s an old cliche, but that’s what we’re trying to do, and big series wins will take care of themselves.
‘‘When you’re winning, it’s the best time to critique performances as well.
‘‘You don’t want people being down on themselves, but as long as the team’s still winning, it’s a great time to reflect on things you can do better on.’’
When the West Indies’ tour ended without a win on January 3, there were great expectations placed on Pakistan, which they have fallen short of so far in going winless as well.
But despite the results staying the same for the Black Caps, Munro feels Pakistan have been a stronger opponent.
‘‘Don’t take anything away from the West Indies, I think we played really well against them,’’ he said.
‘‘Pakistan were obviously whitewashed in the one-dayers, but they were very competitive all the way through.
‘‘You saw how they bat deep [in the fifth ODI], they’ve got a great young legspinner [Shadab Khan], and Mohammad Amir and Hasan Ali are probably two of the better seamers going around in world cricket,.
‘‘We’ve been put under pressure at certain times, and we’ve done really, really well.’’
So what can Pakistan do to try to halt the Black Caps’ winning run?
They might not need to do a lot, given that it’s T20, where fortunes can change quickly, but the first thing they need to fix is how they bat early doors.
At the end of the opening power play in the six internationals so far, Pakistan have been 40-4, 39-2, 9-3, 43-2, 34-3, and 24-4.
With starts like those, it’s no surprise they haven’t been able to post competitive totals, or chase down the targets they’ve been set.
Ross Taylor and Tim Southee have dropped out of the Black Caps squad for Thursday’s match, with Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson coming in.