Ross Taylor, Kyle Jamieson and Henry Nicholls. Photos / Photosport
Ross Taylor, Kyle Jamieson and Henry Nicholls. Photos / Photosport
The Black Caps have wrapped up the series against the West Indies with just under eight days of dominant test cricket, yet a few key questions remain unanswered. Dylan Cleaver shares his five takeaways from the emphatic victories in Hamilton and Wellington.
Player of the series
Without question they gotit right with the choice of Kyle Jamieson. He scored 71 runs for once out, including his maiden half-century, and took 11 scalps at an incredible 13.1 per wicket.
More than his stats, however, is the sense of excitement in the crowd whenever he is in the action.
He looks like he's having the time of his life (he probably is) and that is infectious. He looks like he's genuinely happy and humbled by being the "very much the fourth prong" in the four-pronged attack and that attitude also lifts others around him.
Kyle Jamieson celebrates a wicket on day two of the second test against the West Indies. Photo / Photosport
"His contributions have been outstanding. In the short career he's had so far he's come in and had success straight away," said stand-in captain in the second test Tom Latham.
"He's a guy who's always willing to learn, always willing to pick the brains of the other guys in the group. For him to come back this year with a few new skills is testament to himself and he thoroughly deserves the player of the series."
The greatest
Is it time to anoint this incarnation of the Black Caps as our greatest test cricket side?
It is certainly tempting to do so, and Newstalk ZB's Andrew Alderson examines this in more detail, but it would be a far easier title to bestow upon them if they had a signature away series win to fall back on.
People might point to the 2-1 win over Pakistan in the UAE in 2018. It was a tremendous result in foreign conditions but the Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi are not Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad.
The last two tours to the BIG guns did not go well, getting 0-3 pantsings in India and Australia.
Spin doctors
One of the questions leading into the Pakistan series, starting Boxing Day in Mt Maunganui, is whether we'll see a spinner picked?
Regardless of whether Ajaz Patel is fit, and it sounds like he is not far away, it is difficult to see a place for him. This pace attack is so well balanced and so hungry to bowl that Daryl Mitchell, the "fifth" seamer, got just seven overs across the series.
My guess is they will not change the balance of the side unless there is an injury or the express information from curator Jared Carter at Bay Oval is that the pitch is dry and could break up.
Fever pitch
On the subject of turf, the Basin Reserve pitch started out looking lily pad green and finished looking like a really ugly strip of mottled turf… but it played really well.
It is common for opposing captains to lament the pitch they are forced to endure when travelling overseas but Jason Holder admitted it was a "really good" test match strip.
Cricket is a sport where no matter how dominant the team is, there will always be a microscope on individuals.
Last week it was Henry Nicholls who was in the midst of a test-match trot, now it is 36-year-old great Ross Taylor.
Ross Taylor is a man under pressure following a lean period in tests. Photo / Getty Images
It has been a year since he raised his bat for 50 in a test – or nine completed innings.
He has only endured one longer trot in his 13-year career, going 10 completed innings without a 50 in 2016 when he was battling dodgy eyesight due to a pterygium in his left peeper.
With 19 test centuries and an average in the mid-40s, Taylor's credentials need no embellishing but he'll appreciate being able to raise the GM shortly.
