Hesson backs Munro with ball
Mike Hesson wants his side to keep attacking England’s vaunted batting line-up.
New Zealand took wickets regularly enough on Sunday to restrict the visitors to a par score in a three-wicket win achieved in the last over.
‘‘I think the ability to keep taking wickets throughout the innings was critical,’’ Hesson said.
‘‘Even though they can bat to 11, you’ve still got to start. So if we can keep bringing out new guys, you earn yourself some dots, a little bit of a reprieve really.’’
‘‘The key with any one-day game is making sure you can have an attacking option at one end throughout the innings.
‘‘We kept chipping away ... we didn’t go bang bang.’’
The wickets were shared among the Black Caps bowlers, with part-time seamer Colin Munro getting a big scalp when he dismissed Joe Root for 71.
‘‘I think Colin Munro’s wicket of Joe Root was critical for us. To get them five down meant we got five overs of them trying to rebuild a little bit.
‘‘The more he [Munro] bowls, the better he’s getting.
‘‘He’s had to bowl a number of different roles. He’s got some good skills - he can bowl off-cutters, we obviously saw his knuckle-ball yesterday.
‘‘He’s learning from Grant Elliott - the master of 115 [kph] bowling.’’
Hesson said Ish Sodhi got the selection nod over Todd Astle on his bowling.
‘‘We see Todd more in the allrounder role.
‘‘Obviously with playing Colin de Grandhomme as that allrounder, and Mitch [Santner] yesterday, we decided to go with Ish yesterday with his record on that ground.’’
Sodhi took 2-63 off his 10 overs, with his figures blown out by three consecutive sixes struck by Jos Buttler.
‘‘I thought he was very good for the majority of it,’’ Hesson said.
‘‘The thing that all our spinners find on our small grounds is that you certainly don’t need to tease or entice anyone. He created a lot of opportunities and that’s what you want from your legspinner.’’
Anything full from the slow bowlers now appears to be an invitation for the batsman to swing on length and dispatch it over the boundary.
‘‘Every side around the world knows that - you come to NZ, the boundaries are quite short.
‘‘The majority of time we bowled into the wicket, which was the length to bowl on that surface.’’
Hesson naturally had praise for century-maker Ross Taylor and wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham, who put on 178 for the fourth wicket after New Zealand’s top-order failed.
‘‘The partnership between Ross and Tom set it up and was certainly deserving of a good finish.
‘‘You can’t always rely on your top-order to set that platform, even though they’ve done it for the majority of the summer for us. It was nice for that middle-order to come in dominate.
‘‘A lot of the time the middle order have had to come in and play little cameos, be quite selfless.’’
Hesson was pleased with the ‘‘calmness’’ of his team in the opening match of the five-game series, with game two in Mount Maunganui tomorrow.
‘‘A little bit more mature of a group, they know their roles,’’ Hesson said while comparing the one-day unit to the T20 team.
Conversion rates in cricket don’t always have to be about turning fifties into centuries.
On Sunday night in Hamilton, Mitchell Santner would have converted a number of New Zealand cricket fans from nonbelievers into disciples.
After being set up by a wonderful partnership between Ross Taylor and Tom Latham, Santner saw the Black Caps home by three wickets with four balls to spare in the first of five one-day internationals against England.
The left-handed allrounder smote an unbeaten 45 off 27 balls as New Zealand surpassed England’s 284-8 at Seddon Park.
Santner this summer has become something of a whipping boy for Black Caps fans, but after a strong spell with the ball - 2-54 off his 10 overs - his ability to hit the white ball over the boundary under severe pressure should have won fans over.
The 26-year-old was happy to deflect the credit the way of his team-mates, as Ross Taylor and Tom Latham put on a crucial fourth-wicket partnership of 178 after NZ had slumped to 27-3 in the 10th over.
‘‘The way Tommy Latham and Ross set that up for us at the end gave us a chance to do what we did at the end there,’’ Santner said.
‘‘Being three down under the pump early - that brilliant partnership in the middle set it up for us.
‘‘We talked about we could chase tens - but it was hard to start, the new batsman incoming having to hit straight away was always going to be difficult.’’
He said Taylor advised him he could ‘‘take a few dots to get in but you could catch up later on at the end’’.
‘‘Good that he listened,’’ Taylor chimed in as the two sat side-byside at the media conference afterwards. ‘‘Wise words, eh?’’ Santner replied. ‘‘Ross and I were talking about 50 off five, if me and him could bat to the 46th [over] and go from there, just set little targets and then take it deep as we can.’’
England’s 284-8 after being sent in was seen as a par score by both sides. Joe Root provided the backbone with 71 off 75 deliveries while batting at No 6, wicketkeeper Jos Buttler made a powerful 79 from only 65 balls.
‘‘Tim and Trent at the start bowled very well,’’ Santner said.
‘‘They [England] played well through the middle, Root and Butler, they had a good second 30-over block.
‘‘We managed to get wickets enough at times to stem - the last 10 [overs], 68 [runs], a probably a bit under par these days, we see 90, 95-plus.’’
Taylor got to 113 from 116 balls before being beaten by leggie Adil Rashid and stumped by Buttler as the two teams produced a nailbiting finish. Latham made a polished 79 from 84 deliveries.
During Taylor’s innings, he went past the 7000-run mark in ODIs, becoming the third New Zealand batsman to do so after Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle, with a superior average.
It was his 18th ODI century - the most by a NZ batsman - and his third at Seddon Park, where he averages 51.78 in one-dayers.
His knock and that of Latham set the stage for Santner, who ended the match by sending a Chris Woakes’ delivery into the stands at wide long-on and raising both arms in triumph.
‘‘I didn’t know what to do,’’ he confessed. ‘‘I don’t usually celebrate.’’