Steve Smith kisses his helmet after scoring 150 against the Black Caps. Photosport
Simon Doull has offered the Black Caps a bowling blueprint to reining in Steve Smith in tonight's second Chappell-Hadlee one-day international in Canberra tonight.
And the former New Zealand bowler echoed the thoughts earlier this week of another ex-Black Cap in Andre Adams in urging coach Mike Hesson to change his batting order for the clash.
Doull said the Black Caps need a new strategy in handling Smith after the Aussie captain's match-winning knock of 164 in Sydney.
"The bowling has to be better," Doull told the Radio Sport Breakfast show.
"Two guys going for 70-odd - 74 for (Matt) Henry, 73 for (Lachie) Ferguson - you can forgive that. It's going to happen now and then. But two guys going for that many, and then Jimmy Neesham going for 58 which is nearly 10 an over. So you've got three guys going at 7s, 8,s and 10s. It's just too tough to contain."
Doull said the Black Caps needed to forget about getting Smith.
"Lachie Ferguson is the only one who can possibly hurry him up with the short pitched deliveries, and even then at the back end his pace (in Sydney) was dropping off quiet markedly.
"They've got to find a better way. Steve Smith is a bit like a Virat Kohli. You've got to bowl almost a foot outside off-stump, set a field for one side of the ground only. You don't even try and bowl him out. Apart from that first one from Trent Boult that they didn't review, Smith very rarely misses the ball that's straight. He suckers you into bowling straight so he can work it through the onside.
Listen: Simon Doull on the Radio Sport Breakfast
"You've got to make him change his game."
Doull urged Hesson to consider resting Ferguson tonight and playing Tim Southee.
"Ferguson's drop off (in pace in Sydney) was alarming for me....from 150kmh to 130 late in the piece. I don't know if it was injury or cramp....but he was clearly battling the other day. I'm not saying he needs to go, I think he needs to be given time.
"You don't want to mess with his confidence. We know he can bowl quick. I go back to 2010 or 2011 whenever it was when Adam Milne came on the scene. He had a rough start. He got clobbered in his first couple of games. So it's not unusual. He's just got to find his feet.
"He's going to be a valuable back-up to Milne if he's not available and we need guys who bowl genuinely quick."
Doull was also frustrated by the batting order employed by Hesson in Sydney.
"I didn't understand a thing, I really didn't. It was strange to me," Doull said.
"I think Colin Munro gets pidgeon-holed a little bit. I think he would be a slightly better player if given time, so I'd like to see him bat at No. 4. I know Jimmy Neesham did an OK job with his 34 off 36 but when you look through the two records of those guys at domestic level, Neesham is well down the pecking order.
"He's more of a test player. Look at his one-day stats. He's going a six and a half an over with the ball and he averages 21 in one-day international cricket. Now they're not stats for a No. 4. His test stats are outstanding. I just think we've got some of these guys around the wrong way. We throw them into the wrong form of the game.
"We know Neesham can find the boundary. I'd have him down where Mitchell Santner was."
Doull believes the best order is Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Munro at four, Colin de Granhomme at five followed by BJ Watling, Neesham and Santner.
"We need to find out what our No. 1 one-day international line-up is going to be. They need to give Munro some time at 4 while Ross Taylor is away and he can drop to five when Ross Taylor comes back. Then you've got a pretty good looking top five," he said.
"I don't like the fact they are toying around with it. If they're going to stick with Colin Munro, give him as much time as possible. Don't pidgeon-hole him to batting towards the end of the innings and finishing a game off. Let him play, work his way into an innings and if he's got the opportunity to go hard right at the end of the innings gets the chance, then good on him."