The 2016/17 cricket summer looms as a big test for premier quick Tim Southee, who needs a strong showing to give New Zealand a chance for success. Photo/Photosport.nz
The 2016/17 cricket summer looms as a big test for premier quick Tim Southee, who needs a strong showing to give New Zealand a chance for success. Photo/Photosport.nz
It is no surprise that the decline in the performance levels of New Zealand's premier fast bowlers has coincided with a rough patch of results.
Trent Boult and Maungakaramea's Tim Southee have been the Black Caps go-to new ball pair for a number of years now and when at theirbest are one of the better partnerships in the world.
However, since the 2015 World Cup both have been sub-par. That's not to say the others, bar Neil Wagner, are bowling any better - but as the leaders of the attack, the onus goes back on them.
Southee has averaged 40.48 with the red ball in his last 14 tests and has not taken a five wicket bag since he took ten wickets at Lord's in 2013. Boult is averaging 36.24 with only one five-for in the same period.
While the Black Caps overall performance cannot be put on these two, they and their fellow bowlers are simply not performing well.
Only Neil Wagner (22.78) has averaged under 30 with the ball, becoming New Zealand's main - and at times sole - strike weapon.
But with Doug Bracewell and Matt Henry not piling on consistent pressure on Southee and Boult, they will likely have the entire test summer to once again prove their credentials.
Neither Henry or Bracewell offer the control and leadership skills of Boult and Southee. Both swing the ball prodigiously when conditions suit and are able to take wickets when they don't.
Southee, as the bowling leader, knows he has to step up. And he absolutely has the ability, he just needs a strong start to the summer.
That won't come easily though as they face world number ones Pakistan in two tests, starting tomorrow.
They boast a strong batting lineup of Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Sarfraz Ahmed who will take full toll of any poor bowling.
But if Southee and Boult can recapture their form from three years ago, New Zealand have a great chance of a boil over.
Southee showed glimpses of what he can do with the ball on his return to the international arena after an injury layoff with a quality ODI series in India, as well as 7-83 off 31 overs in his hit out for Northern Districts in the Plunket Shield.
These positive signs lead you to believe he is on the verge of roaring back into form at the right time.
Elsewhere in the squad, coach Mike Hesson has made some interesting calls in his squad for the first test.
Jeet Raval has been rewarded for consistent domestic form by replacing Martin Guptill as an opening batsman. This change was a matter of when, not if, considering Guptill's poor run in the whites.
A shift down the order in tests, a la Brendon McCullum, could make better use of his obvious skills while protecting him from the swinging ball.
The other two changes were somewhat surprising. Colin de Grandhomme has been called in as all-rounder cover for Jimmy Neesham while Todd Astle has been selected as the sole spinner after Mitchell Santner was ruled out of the first test against Pakistan with a broken wrist.
De Grandhomme is unlikely to feature and once Corey Anderson is once again fit, will most likely shift out.
Leg spinner Ish Sodhi should count himself unlucky after losing his spot in the Black Caps' test squad for their home series against Pakistan. Photo/Getty Images
Ish Sodhi was unlucky to miss out for the Pakistan series. While Astle offers more with the bat, Sodhi performed solidly in India and has more potential as a long-term leg spin option.
Given Astle will be up against Yasir Shah, the world's best leg spinner, there is little doubt that he will be outshone.
Astle definitely deserves the opportunity on the weight of some strong Plunket Shield form, but for the future of New Zealand cricket, surely Sodhi has to be given the spot.
There is plenty to prove for a lot of the Black Caps over a bumper summer involving series with Australia, South Africa and Bangladesh, but no player has more to prove than Maungakaramea's finest.
