Brace for batting fireworks
Who wants to take the new ball this afternoon?
Anyone fancy a bowl at the death, at 300-3?
Rival skippers Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli won’t quite be calling for volunteers but some World Cup aspirants might need some cajoling as they look to push their cases in Napier in the first one-day cricket international.
It’s all set up for a cracking occasion in 30 degrees Celsius temperatures, the high point and big ticket item of an otherwise uninspiring home summer when the world’s No 2 side face the third-ranked Black Caps.
It’s just that the men gripping the white Kookaburra will do some with some trepidation, given the re-turfed McLean Park retains its reputation as a batsman’s paradise with short side boundaries to punish anything too short or straight.
Central Stags plundered 225-3 on the nearby strip in a Twenty20 against Canterbury Kings, including Black Caps seamer Matt Henry last Saturday, and a blistering 110 off 60 balls from team-mate Tom Latham wasn’t enough.
Add to that the two highest averaging ODI batsmen of the last 13 months: India’s Kohli a mindboggling 113 from 17 innings and New Zealand’s Ross Taylor 92 from 13 knocks. Then India’s openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan ranked second and ninth respectively in ODI cricket and the veteran MS Dhoni, who provided two superbly paced unbeaten knocks to seal a 2-1 series win over Australia.
Taylor, Williamson, Martin Guptill and Latham match up pretty well against a weakened Indian attack without the rested Jasprit Bumrah and suspended allrounder Hardik Pandya.
And as Kohli said so informatively at his pre-series briefing, he and Williamson will be using all their own knowledge to get inside the heads of their opposites.
‘‘You put yourself in that situation and thinking ‘what is the shot that I would want to play to get myself out of trouble, or how so I see this game going forward, am I in the mindset of just knocking singles around.’ And you place the field accordingly. If I’m wanting to go after the bowlers you change the field before
the batsman does it,’’ Kohli said.
‘‘Being a batsman and captaining the side helps in that regard because you can premeditate at times what the batsman might want to do. That’s a massive factor.’’
Both skippers were noncommittal about how much a series victory would mean, given the big prize looms in the UK starting in just over four months.
Both are in the final stages of fine tuning their 15-man squads and in that regard it’s a big fortnight or so for Colin de Grandhomme, Matt Henry and Doug Bracewell, with the likes of Jimmy Neesham and Todd Astle also set for chances in games four and five.
De Grandhomme and Neesham look the two favoured pace bowling allrounders at this stage, with Anderson leaving his run late and Bracewell only a slim cup chance.
Still de Grandhomme, after a freshen-up, needs to show his matchwinning qualities after a lean few months with bat and ball, with others snapping at his heels.
Henry, too, looks a likely World Cup inclusion but needs more bowling after some unwelcome idle months in late 2018. Wickets up front from him, and in the middle stages will prove his worth to this side with form in England to help his cause.
Said Williamson, coming off a 3-0 win over Sri Lanka: ‘‘We saw in the last series we want to execute a few things better, certainly in the field we want to step up and get back to our old ways which is that real attitude in the park.’’
Kohli played in the last ODI series in New Zealand in 2014 when the hosts won 4-0 with a tie in Auckland. He said the Black Caps were one of the hardest to beat at home.
‘‘The fact they are No 3 in the world speaks about their consistency over the last couple of years. We played them in India and got beaten in Mumbai, and all the games were competitive and we felt they had a really good balance. They have that energy and that buzz about them and they play their cricket in the right way which is something we always appreciate.’’
Where’s Virat? Or maybe that should be Mr Kohli.
New Zealand men’s and women’s captains Kane Williamson and Amy Satterthwaite, and India’s women skipper Mithali Raj milled about on the McLean Park outfield in the blazing Napier sun. Waiting. And waiting.
Then he appeared from nowhere in his team kit, the great Virat Kohli, as cameras clicked and zoomed. He greeted Williamson warmly in the traditional method, reverse cup handshake and half-hug, introduced himself to Satterthwaite and shook her hand then exchanged some banter and laughs with his opposite number.
Clearly they get on well, two of the world’s top batsmen and Indian Premier League captains who, incidentally, are exactly the same height.
The mutual admiration society was soon in full swing, too.
Kohli: ‘‘He’s easily one of the best players in the world, so easy on the eye, great to watch. I really enjoy watching his batting personally.’’
Williamson: ‘‘Virat is certainly a player I admire and enjoy watching and he’s pushing the boundaries of the game, which is brilliant.’’
Only once before has Kohli set foot on McLean Park, five years ago under M S Dhoni’s captaincy. Of course he scored a wondrous century, 123 off 111 balls, caught Ryder, bowled McClenaghan (remember them?), one of 39 oneday international tons which could well become 40 in today’s first of five ODIs against the Black Caps.
Since that series in January 2014 – which New Zealand won 4-0 including a tie in Auckland – Kohli has risen to cricketing giant on the Sachin Tendulkar scale. Maybe even bigger now. His 28 million Twitter followers were treated to a photo from India’s Havelock North lodgings on Monday reclining on a sofa in hotel issue flip-flops, sponsor’s energy drink in full view, smiling broadly.
Yesterday was his first public appearance after he arrived to screams from the hordes at Auckland Airport on Sunday, placating them with a small wave from behind sunglasses as he pushed his laden trolley, with his wife and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma at his side.
The previous day they’d hung out with Roger Federer at the Australian Open in Melbourne, as you do.
Now it was down to cricketing business and Kohli was respectful and polished as ever, perhaps to one of the smallest press conferences he will ever give – about 15 reporters and camera operators in the McLean Park gymnasium.
Kohli was booed by sections of the crowd during the Sydney test earlier this month but said the masses, good or bad, never faze him these days.
‘‘That used to happen, I started getting it back in 2014-2015 and I used to feed off it back then because I needed something to boost me up. Now being the captain, I don’t need to focus on all those things. I have a greater responsibility which I understand. It’s an honour to play for my country and I don’t need the crowd on my side or against me,’’ he said.
‘‘New Zealand is always a pleasant place to play cricket. They like and enjoy good quality cricket and applaud good sportsmanship and good cricket. We’ll
really enjoy ourselves playing here.’’
Pleasantries over, it was off to the nets. In Napier it requires crossing a road and a wee stroll to get to the Nelson Park practice area, a vast expanse lined by palm trees. Yesterday it was lined with people, a crowd of 100-plus kept at bay 30 metres from the nets by a low rope and three Red Badge security officers.
Kohli padded up under the gazebo, strode to the nets with his two white-handled MRF bats. He faced two support staff hurling white cricket balls with plastic flickers that resemble longhandled soup ladles – one leftarm, one right.
Those expecting a masterclass were disappointed as Kohli outside edged twice, inside edged another one or two and generally didn’t time it that well, aside from a sumptuous cover drive and a couple of straight hits that soared into the deep blue. He ducked a well-aimed, quick bouncer, too.
After 10 to 15 minutes Kohli strode back in, not too bothered, took his seat and grabbed some fruit from the platter. Dhoni in the net on the far side was hitting it well, fresh from two matchwinning knocks in Australia.
The skipper looked far from upset with his day’s work and you know what they say about a scratchy dress rehearsal.
Brace yourselves, New Zealand’s bowlers.