White-ball focus for Anderson
Healthy, and hungry, Corey Anderson is putting long-form cricket on hold to give himself the strongest chance of playing at next year’s World Cup.
Twelve months after careersaving back surgery, the 27-yearold allrounder felt in the best physical condition.
He departs for the United Arab Emirates on Saturday with the New Zealand A squad to play their Pakistan counterparts and is gunning for a recall to the Black Caps’ ODI and T20 sides.
Anderson hasn’t played international cricket since June 9, 2017, at the Champions Trophy tournament and knew if he performed well for New Zealand A opportunities existed.
The Black Caps have left two spots vacant in their ODI and T20 squads to face Pakistan in the UAE and will look at in-form players from New Zealand A.
Anderson stressed he wasn’t quitting red-ball cricket and would reassess his long form future after this summer.
After playing all nine matches for a successful New Zealand side at the 2015 World Cup on home soil, Anderson said he would love to play in the 2019 version.
He had been toying with the idea of focusing on limited overs cricket since back surgery last year, where 10cm of titanium cable and some screws were inserted into his spine to repair a fracture.
New Zealand Cricket’s head of high performance Bryan Stronach and new Black Caps coach Gary Stead were both supportive of Anderson’s decision.
‘‘I got a taste of [the World Cup] here four years ago and it was unbelievable,’’ Anderson told Stuff.
‘‘To try and give myself a chance to be involved in that again, that’s the driving force.’’
Anderson, who put his name in bright lights with a then-ODI record fastest century off 36 balls against the West Indies in Queenstown on New Year’s Day 2014, has endured a wretched run with injuries.
He has been plagued by back issues and also undergone groin and shoulder surgery, but said his body held up well during his T20 stint with Somerset in England over the Kiwi winter.
Anderson was the fifth leading run-scorer in the competition, notching 514 runs from 15 innings at an average of 43 and strike rate of 169. While he bowled only four overs, Anderson said that was more to do with Somerset’s bowler-heavy squad.
Anderson expects to see a decent bowling workload for New Zealand A and was almost at the stage where he could bowl full capacity in 50-over cricket.
There hadn’t been any bowling restrictions placed on him, but he will be monitored in the days after matches.
‘‘Although the surgery was 12 months ago, it’s probably just being cautious around those things. I had my 12-month scan last week to make sure everything was great and I got the allclear to say everything was spick and span.’’
Anderson’s time out from the game had only hammered home how much playing for his country meant to him. It had also been a valuable reminder that there was more to life than cricket.
‘‘To have everything back and heading in the right direction gives your psyche a massive boost.’’
Anderson knows the challenge in front of him. But it’s one he’s ready to embrace.