We first remember Allen from that stirring turn against Australia in the 2022 T20 World Cup where he slaughtered the bowling in the 16 balls he faced, putting the Black Caps on course for a shock win (in Australia, what’s more). It led to Australia missing the knockout stages.
They weren’t just any old Ockers kitted out in national T20 colours to give the test bowlers a spell. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood had their world-class asses handed to them by an upstart who happily ignored reputations, focusing instead on hitting every ball. Hard.
It was the opening match of that World Cup and Allen seemed a dream come true for Kiwi cricket fans. He hit 42 runs off 16 balls that day in Sydney, a strike rate of 262.50. But it was a false dawn.
He’s been dangerous but not always effective. Time at the crease and consistency eluded him – always a source of doubt for selectors where dashers are concerned; big shots, small totals.
He wasn’t chosen for the ODI World Cup. He had a poor T20 World Cup in 2022. He was let go by the Royal Challengers Bangalore – who brought him to the IPL for that raw talent but couldn’t quite bring themselves to give him first-team time. They maybe saw something not quite right, not quite ready.
Perhaps it was just a young man (now 24) trying to tame instinct – a force not easily subdued or altered. Instinct is what many natural (as opposed to coached) players have in abundance. In less than half a second a batter at the top level has to make up his mind. Instinct kicks in, not always advantageously.
Many summers back, I had a chat with a batter playing for Auckland who was notching good scores but not going on with it. He was often dismissed hooking; bowlers were beginning to feed him short balls for the shot. Give up the hook, I suggested. “It doesn’t have a lot to do with me,” he responded.
In other words, the hook was pure instinct; it led his eye, brain and hands. Allen’s instinct is to score off every ball, preferably by hitting it as far as he can. He does not have the grace of a Martin Crowe or a David Gower, more the clean hitting of Brendon McCullum, Ian Botham, and Vivian Richards.
The problem is, at this level, you can’t score heavily off every ball. After watching Allen shock the Pakistanis with his hitting in the second T20 (74 off 41 balls), I thought his acid test would come not so much in the shots he plays as those he doesn’t. In other words, growing the ability to know which ball to welly and which to respect, pushing it for a single rather than trying to disfigure it.
Then came that record-setting 48-ball century – the equal fifth-largest in T20 international history.
In the third over, facing Shaheen Shahid Afridi (Pakistan’s best bowler in this series), he clobbered him mightily over square leg and midwicket for two sixes in a row. He defended the next ball and, okay, it beat the outside edge. He pushed at the next one and set off for a single but slipped. However, he knew he’d done the right thing; he knew he had the balance right.
The other pleasing thing was that he played some true cricket shots. In his first two innings against Pakistan, it was clear how heavily he plays to the leg side. His eye is so good, he can whip balls from outside off to distant destinations over leg.
His off-side scoring was almost barren; his scoring chart (wagon wheel) was so heavily legside, no wagon could have moved with that wheel. It was particularly noticeable watching him bat with Williamson; when Allen was carting the bowling over leg, Williamson was precisely threading the needle on the other side of the pitch.
But in his century innings, once he was settled, he started to play a few blazing off drives. If Williamson plays through the off with a scalpel, Allen does it with a scythe, his drives rocketing to the boundary before Williamson’s, he hits so cleanly.
He is by no means the finished article – there will be better bowlers who will plan for his aggression and plot his dismissal and the spinners can tuck him up a bit. But he is developing a swagger now.
Sure as eggs, reverses and failures will come – his style of batting carries risks. But the rewards in T20 and ODIs are considerable and New Zealand will benefit if he plays, plays, and plays again.
Paul Lewis has been a journalist since the last ice age. Sport has been a lifetime pleasure and part of a professional career during which he has written four books, and covered Rugby World Cups, America’s Cups, Olympic & Commonwealth Games and more.
