Unobstrusive Black Caps to provide stern test
a terrific job. Neil Wagner, the apparently modest left-armer, works outside the visible spectrum with the temperament of Dennis Lillee and the physique of Wilhelm Richard Wagner. He is ranked No 3 in the world, ahead of No 9 Josh Hazlewood and No 17 Mitchell Starc. Trent Boult is No 11.
The Kiwis have a trio to match the Australians no matter the conditions, although injury may yet play a part in who arrives on Australian shores.
Left-arm finger spinner Mitchell Santner joins the ranks of genuine allrounders with a century in Mt Maunganui, along with wickets and a stunning catch. He may finish his career with better numbers than his bespectacled fellow tweaker Dan Vettori. Colin de Grandhomme, favoured in the short forms, nonetheless finds a way to contribute with bat and red ball.
The trick is to compete, to find a way to get the job done no matter the conditions, the opponent or the scoreboard. And the Kiwis are mastering this.
Durban-born BJ Watling looks like the kind of bloke you would get to mind your pets while you’re on holiday, but can’t get out of the house once you get back. If patience is a virtue then Bradley-John could bat in the middle order for the Heaven First XI. New Zealand’s unobtrusive and unflamboyant are proving effective.
Is this the best Kiwi side to visit Australia since Richard Hadlee’s men of the mid-1980s? Probably.
The current New Zealand team has quality reserves in the slow bowling department, too, with leggie Ish Sodhi (recently schooled by Stuart MacGill) and Ajaz Patel, who is better than useful. The New Zealanders come prepared for Perth and for Sydney.
The captaincy of the shrewd theatre-lighting engineer from the 1980s, Jeremy Coney, compared to the Black Caps’ one true modern superstar in Kane Williamson is not much of a contest. Coney, the modest batsmen who bowled a few wobblers, against the world’s