Little ventured, little gained in series loss
New Zealand’s World Cupopening win over Australia feels like a year ago. Yet there has been exactly a month between that dominant display by the Black Caps over the defending T20 champions and the series defeat at home to India.
Rain prevented the hosts from grabbing a chance of a share of the spoils after a Jekyll and Hyde batting performance in Napier.
But from looking like a million dollars at the MCG, the Black Caps sit between resembling a well-manufactured piece of merchandise you’d be grateful to unwrap at Christmas at their best, and a tawdry plastic bit of tat from a $2 Shop at their worst.
As they begin an early focus on the next two major ICC white-ball events in the coming two years, did anyone learn anything new from yet another weather-plagued affair at McLean Park? Basically, no.
Devon Conway and Glenn Phillips form the foundation of
New Zealand’s T20 batting; consistency and pacing remains problematic when batting; and the bowling unit usually contains enough guile and firepower to keep them in every contest.
Mark Chapman batted at No 3 in temporary place of under-fire skipper Kane Williamson in Napier and made a run-a-ball 12.
Chapman did play at 3 versus India away at the end of last year, with decent success. But he has yet to compile a compelling case for a first-choice place in that position – should Williamson or the selectors decide the skipper won’t play T20s from next year onwards – or elsewhere.
Ahead of him in the order and in the favour of selectors is Finn Allen. But since making 42 from 16 balls to set Australia on their heels in Melbourne, the 23-yearold has registered scores of 1, 16, 32, 4, 0 and 3. Alarmingly, Allen has faced 347 balls faced in his 25 T20 international innings – less than 14 per knock.
New Zealand did remove superstar batter Suryakumar Yadav cheaply before the rain ended an intriguing contest, but as the two sides head into the three-game ODI series starting at Eden Park tomorrow, it’s the tourists – with their as-expected depth, and a bigger dose of youth than their current rivals – who have the brighter future.