Black Caps coach Gary Stead is sticking to his guns. Photo / Photosport
Black Caps coach Gary Stead is sticking to his guns. Photo / Photosport
Black Caps coach Gary Stead is sticking to his guns, but he's going to need them to fire by the end of the week.
The Black Caps have suffered three consecutive hefty defeats to India in their ODI series, and concerns are growing about deficiencies in some key areas.
Themost pressing issue is at the top of the order, where 14 games have now gone by without an opening partnership of 35 runs or more.
That opening pair - Martin Guptill and Colin Munro - have combined for just 79 runs in the three games, with their aggressive style not paying dividends, but Stead has no plans to change their attacking approach.
"I hope it's not a problem in the future. We've got a very clear plan of how we want to play – that won't change. We have to recognise at the moment that the top order aren't getting as many runs as what we'd like, but also [Mohammed] Shami and [Bhuvneshwar] Kumar have been outstanding with the new ball and really put us under pressure."
Despite the top order struggles, Stead is still putting faith in his trusted personnel – at least for the next two games, with no batsmen being added to the squad for the final two matches of the series.
"We'll definitely be looking at the opening positions and considering change, but I'm not 100 per cent sure yet. We haven't got other openers that are in the squad as such, but we do have other openers who could cover at short notice."
Colin Munro has struggled against India. Photo / Photosport
A promotion up the order for Tom Latham is the only scenario in the current squad, but the left-hander has been batting well in the middle order, and Stead isn't rushing to meddle with the strength of the lineup.
"Latham could open, he's done it before, but I think the 3/4/5 [positions] is something that's been really positive for us over the past year or so. I'm loathe to make too many changes to that after just having three poorer games."
While the failures of the Black Caps batsmen have taken centre stage this series, it hasn't exactly been a positive series for the bowlers either. While Stead praised the efforts of the impressive Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner on Monday, the bowling unit have taken just nine wickets in 128 overs.
India's number six batsman – Kedar Jadhav – has had to face just 10 balls this series, and Stead sums up the challenge facing the Black Caps as the World Cup looms.
"This isn't just about us not scoring enough runs – we haven't been able to take wickets as well."
Put it that way, and unless the Black Caps can turn things around in the final two games, the top order might not be the only selection dilemma Stead has to deal with.
