Black Caps captain Tim Southee talks to his team in a huddle. Photo / Photosport
Black Caps captain Tim Southee talks to his team in a huddle. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
1. Kicked in the Bazballs
Tim Southee and Gary Stead said the same after the first-test shellacking: the way England played was no surprise.
The Black Caps expected it, anyone who’s watched England under Brendon McCullum expected it, and yet…oof.
Similar to the experience of the href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/black-caps-v-england-watch-boomfa-security-guard-smokes-streaker-in-epic-tackle/OFVDSSOY3NBAVOQUHSGK5STQMM/" target="_blank">streaker on the opening day at Bay Oval, it’s one thing to see the security guard flying straight at your ribs and quite another to get cut in half by his textbook tackle.
Bazball, by design, does allow the opposition opportunities, if they’re good enough to take them. They Black Caps didn’t quite grasp the chance, and it must be galling to see one of their greats install such a fresh and effective brand of cricket in benefit of another nation.
Just don’t call it Bazball around Ben Stokes, who twice bristled at the term in post-match interviews. In fairness, McCullum was no fan either, and Stokes revealed the Kiwi was in for surprise when he discovered the badge emblazoned Bazball that Joe Root had cheekily affixed to his coach’s gearbag.
Brendon McCullum. Photo / Photosport
2. Chasing Ol’ Gil
Everyone’s happier when they’re winning; this isn’t a grand discovery. But after each night in the first test, the contrast between what the respective teams’ players were saying — and how they were saying it — was illuminating.
It was exemplified best on the opening day, when Harry Brook was about as outwardly joyful off the field as any athlete these eyes have seen. Being 23 and having just mashed 66 of your 89 runs in boundaries would certainly help, but there was no doubt this mood was collective — and trickling down from McCullum.
Brook sheepishly smiled when asked whether, following a few close calls in recent months, his coach had raised Gilbert Jessop’s 76-ball record for England’s fastest test century — McCullum had — and it’s surely a matter of time before that 121-year-old mark falls.
A couple of hours after England had clinched their 267-run win, bathed in the late-afternoon Mount Maunganui sun while sipping beers and playing keepie-uppie on the field with their mates, England looked like they were having the time of their lives.
The Black Caps, throughout three-and-a-bit days at Bay Oval, looked like they were having…less fun.
3. Stay at home, Dad
Matt Henry is a professional cricketer, a competitor who wouldn’t shirk a challenge. But for the weak-willed among us, it sure would be tempting, after watching the way Brook and co deal to bowlers, for another week of dad duty to take precedence over a trip to the firing range that will be the Basin Reserve.
Henry is an upgrade no matter who he replaces. But with 55 test wickets from 35 innings — holding an average of 41.1 — he’s unlikely to be a decisive addition.
The 31-year-old had one taste of Bazball in June’s series sweep, taking 2-195 from 42 overs with a run rate of 4.64, as England triumphed by chasing down 299 in 50 overs. That return was better than his new skipper and new-ball partner in Wellington — and a better economy rate than any seamer but Southee managed in the first test. Yet, again, not exactly influential.
The lack of options without Trent Boult and Kyle Jamieson speaks to a concerning lack of depth around the Black Caps. Of the players on the fringes who featured in the recent subcontinental series — Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy, Henry Shipley, Ben Lister — none impressed.
What cavalry is coming doesn’t seem well armoured for the challenges of international cricket.
Matt Henry in action. Photo / Photosport
4. It’s no blip
If the Black Caps do get Bazballed again at the Basin, there may be temptation to tip the cap and accept England as right now an unstoppable force who previously rolled through Pakistan, South Africa, India in one test, and New Zealand (hey, come on, you did us twice!)
But that would be ignoring what happened earlier this ‘summer’, last summer, and even earlier.
Since claiming the World Test Championship, New Zealand have two victories in 12 tests. Since that same date, against ICC full members, they’ve won eight of 16 ODIs. In the shortest form, it’s 17 wins out of 34.
Recent results are, in other words, no aberration.
5. Not-so-great expectations
The morning after the nights before, one soundbite given by Stead stood out when considering where the Black Caps stand in the global game.
“We don’t claim to be the best team in the world or anything like that,” the coach said. “We went on a run there for a while just prior to the World Test Championship that I think was unprecedented in New Zealand’s history.”
Indeed, starting in November 2016, with an eight-wicket victory over Pakistan in Christchurch, and culminating in June 2021, with an eight-wicket victory over India in Southampton, the Black Caps won 22 of 34 tests, with six draws and six losses (three in a sweep against Australia because of course).
That is unprecedented in New Zealand’s history. Stead’s right about another thing: this country is not a traditional cricketing powerhouse. There was never a guarantee the golden run would last.
Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Henry Nicholls, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner are survivors from that instigating win at Hagley Oval. Through age, injury or form, only Latham is guaranteed at least another few years at the top.
