Raval’s struggles obvious

Jeet Raval seems set to open the batting for the Black Caps against Australia in Perth next week, but if his current form continues, the selectors will have to start considering other options, even if the pickings are slim.

The 31-year-old has mostly done a good job in a difficult role – one that has had many suitors over the years, but few success stories.

He is one of 13 men to have played at least 20 matches as an opener for New Zealand, and in averaging 32.29, he has the eighthbest mark of that baker’s dozen.

Of the 10 who opened at least once this decade, only Tom Latham (44.79) and Brendon Mccullum (39.30) have fared better.

Of the 24 who opened at least once this century, he has the sixth-best average, with Mark Richardson (44.67) joining Latham and Mccullum in rarefied air, and Stephen Fleming (33.30) and Matthew Sinclair (33) barely pipping him.

Raval has outperformed the three openers who went before him – Martin Guptill (28.16), Peter Fulton (28.39) and Hamish Rutherford (27.48).

However, in his last four tests – the two at home against England and the two away in Sri Lanka – his scores make for concerning reading: 33, 4, 0, 19, 5, 0.

Go back six tests, and you’ll find his only test hundred – the 132 he scored against Bangladesh in Hamilton in March.

But with the possibility of a rare series win in Australia, and India coming in the new year to round out the home summer, that credit could quickly dry up.

With Tom Blundell, who is more a middle-order option, the only backup batsman in the 15-strong squad named for the England and Australia series, the first place the selectors would look is the Plunket Shield.

There they will find Northern Districts’ Henry Cooper making the strongest case – he has averaged 50.9 in 11 innings as an opener in 2019, and scored his third first-class century in early November, an innings of 149 in testing conditions against Otago.

That innings made him one of seven openers to have scored a century in domestic first-class cricket this year – the others are Auckland duo Guptill (whose average in five innings is 46.2) and Graeme Beghin (43.5 in six), Central Stags duo George Worker (36.23 in 13) and Greg Hay (32.9 in 13), Northern Districts wicketkeeper Tim Seifert, who scored 119 in his only dig at the top, and Latham.

But would the selectors want to throw a debutant into the fray away against Australia, who boast a fearsome new-ball attack that will be fuelled by large crowds at the MCG and SCG, or to return to Guptill, who has already played 40 tests as an opener and been found wanting?

Former NZ batsman Mark Richardson thinks it’s time to make a change, even if selectors are forced to turn to a makeshift opener such as Daryl Mitchell.

‘‘I know New Zealand want to send a settled opening partnership but you’ve got a guy who is out of form, and you’ve got guys who are confident and feeling great about their cricket,’’ Richardson said in Sky Sport commentary.

‘‘Sometimes you have to go ‘you know what, we’re forced into this so let’s just go with the blokes we trust to make runs right now, our form cricketers’.

‘‘Just say ‘look, you’re going to be opening, get your head around it. It isn’t that much different.’’

Looking past the transtasman series, the first test against India starts a day before the Plunket Shield resumes, so even if a change is needed only then, there won’t be a chance for potential contenders to further stake a claim.

If a change is deemed necessary while the team is in Australia, it could mean a reshuffle of the pack, but the rest of the Black Caps’ top six have all performed strongly and the risk of creating problems elsewhere will make