Injuries put selections in a spin
Patel out of first test
Mitchell Santner’s return to the Black Caps test squad could allow coach Gary Stead to select four frontline seamers for the first test against the West Indies in Hamilton next week.
Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, and Neil Wagner were all involved the last time the Black Caps played a test – a win over India in March – but it appeared one of them was going to have to make way.
Stead had said it would be ‘‘unusual’’ not to include a spinner in the playing XI before selecting left-armer Ajaz Patel as the only option in the original 13-man squad for the two-test series – an out-and-out bowler who has batted no higher than No 10 in his eight tests so far.
While Jamieson has set his sights on becoming an all-rounder and scored 44 and 49 against India in his first two tests, as well as taking 4-39 and 5-45, it would be a risky move to install him at No 7 at this stage of his career.
Tim Southee has scored a firstclass century and would have been the other option to bat that high in an XI including four seamers and Patel, though that too would have been risky.
Then came yesterday and the confirmation that Patel and Colin de Grandhomme, the Black Caps’ regular test No 7, would not be fit by next Thursday, when the first test starts, as they recover from calf and foot injuries, respectively.
Daryl Mitchell was brought in as a like-for-like replacement for de Grandhomme, fresh from a strong start to the Plunket Shield with his new team, Canterbury, where he has made a century and taken the
first five-wicket bag of his career.
Santner was brought in for Patel, who will still train with the team in Hamilton with a view to being fit for the second test in Wellington the following week.
But while he’s like-for-like in that he’s a spinner, Santner offers much more than Patel with the bat. He scored a century from No 8 at Bay Oval last November, has a test average of 26 and could easily
slot in at No 7 instead of Mitchell, opening the door for a fourpronged seam attack.
Stead said Santner’s ‘‘little bit more’’ with the bat had put him in front of offspinner Will Somerville, who got the nod ahead of him in Sydney at the start of the year, and acknowledged ‘‘he could’’ bat at No 7 if needed.
That leaves the coach and captain Kane Williamson with three
options as they consider the lower half of their playing XI – Santner and all four seamers; Mitchell and all four seamers, but no spinner; or Mitchell, Santner, and three of the four seamers, de Grandhomme and all four seamers, but no spinner, or de Grandhomme, three of the four seamers, and Patel.
Casting his eye forward – past the three Twenty20 internationals that are in store tomorrow, in
Auckland, and on Sunday and Monday, in Mount Maunganui – Stead said it would come down to the conditions at Seddon Park.
Stead said they were targetting the Boxing Day test against Pakistan in Mount Maunganui for de Grandhomme’s return, though if he made good ground, he could feature in the T20 series that begins on December 18.
Back in the Black Caps fold for the first time in four years, Brendon McCullum wants the selectors to finally reveal their strongest Twenty20 international XI in the coming months.
Selection stability and a clear top lineup is priority one for the former skipper as the hosts open their season tomorrow night ranked sixth in the world, with 12 wins from 33 completed T20 internationals since November 2017. Last season at home, there was a 3-2 series loss to England and 5-0 to India, three of those defeats in Super Overs.
Compared with tests (ranked second) and ODIs (ranked third) it’s the Black Caps’ most troublesome format, less than a year out from the next T20 World Cup in India after this year’s was postponed due to Covid-19.
Again, tomorrow night’s threematch series opener against West Indies at Eden Park won’t feature their two best players Kane Williamson and Trent Boult, back from starring roles in the Indian Premier League and being saved for the first test which starts three days after game three.
On the plus side it allows coach Gary Stead to unveil two of New Zealand’s most-discussed cricketers Devon Conway and Kyle Jamieson for their T20 debuts and further cloud, or clarify, the selection puzzle.
Assuming all 16 Black Caps get a run at Eden Park and Bay Oval across this fourday stretch, a total of 26 players will have worn the black T20 uniform in the past two years.
‘‘New Zealand Cricket has used T20 as an opportunity to blood some guys and freshen up some others who’ve been on the road for a long period of time. There’s probably not the same continuity as we’ve seen in other forms,’’ said guest coach McCullum from managed isolation training, when asked about the T20 side.
‘‘I know Steady and Kane and Tim [Southee] and all the coaches and leaders will want to improve
that and with the T20 World Cup not too far away, it’s time to drill down what your best XI is going to be, and start to try and build a squad to be competitive.
‘‘That’s why these games are vital. I’m sure once we get to the end of this season we should have a lot more consistency with how we view selection around the T20 side and what is our best team.’’
For now it’s difficult with Williamson and Boult absent and
Colin de Grandhomme out until at least Boxing Day with a bruised bone in his right foot. But, amid 14 home T20s this season, by the time Australia arrive in February for their five-match series you’d expect some clarity.
The batting order provides the most head-scratchers, with de Grandhomme having largely batted No 4 and returned single figure scores in his last five T20 knocks. In tomorrow night’s opener Daryl Mitchell, de Grandhomme’s test replacement, looks likely to fill that No 4 slot with Ross Taylor remaining at five and Jimmy Neesham at six.
Up top, Martin Guptill and wicketkeeper Tim Seifert will likely open, with Conway or the recalled Glenn Phillips at No 3. The latter two could also put the heat on Guptill when Williamson returns. Colin Munro was overlooked after being granted permission to play Australia’s Big Bash, and it gets tougher in a toporder logjam, but McCullum is a fan and warns not to write him off.
Similarly, Mark Chapman is highly rated and comes in for game
three where he’s seen as Taylor’s backup at No 5.
Then there’s the question of where Williamson bats later on.
He was effective at No 4 for Sunrisers Hyderabad where he scored 317 runs at 45 and a strike rate of 134. In his last Black Caps T20 innings he blasted 95 off 48 balls against India at Hamilton, batting in his regular No 3 spot.
With a nod to the future, an XI of Seifert, Phillips, Conway, Williamson, Chapman, Mitchell, Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Jamieson, Lockie Ferguson and Boult would be an exciting one for this experimental phase – let’s say against Pakistan pre-Christmas – before big decisions are required.