New Zealand cricket coach Gary Stead. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand cricket coach Gary Stead. Photo / Photosport
Opinion
At the start of the summer, Black Caps coach Gary Stead acknowledged that his side could be accurately assessed based on the games ahead.
With six matches to go, they are going to need to produce a remarkable turnaround to earn a pass mark.
Showdowns against England, Australia and Indiawere always going to provide the Black Caps' toughest summer of cricket in years, and while it got off to a strong start with a test-series victory over England, the flaws in New Zealand's game have been exposed against Australia and India.
While optimism was plentiful following the superb World Cup campaign and a slew of victories over the past few years, Australia provided a significant step up, and immediately showed that the Black Caps' victories over nations with lesser credentials were just that, with a thumping 3-0 test series victory.
That series also proved that New Zealand cricket's depth is lacking. While any team would miss being without their three best pace bowlers, the injuries to Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson not only impacted the Australian tests, but also the Indian Twenty20s, where India sealed a series victory after just three of the five matches.
Trent Boult's pace has been missed. Photo / Photosport
The likes of Hamish Bennett, Scott Kuggeleijn and Blair Tickner aren't close to possessing the quality of the missing trio, and with the three seamers also ruled out of the three-match one-day series, the Black Caps' misery could be extended. The recent struggles of Mitchell Santner and Colin de Grandhomme also provide a concern, with New Zealand's all-round stocks not as plentiful as Stead would have hoped.
Perhaps the toughest challenge of all awaits at the end of the summer, with two tests against India at the end of the month seeing the world's top-ranked side get to take on a team surely demoralised from their destruction in Australia.
At this rate, it may be the Black Caps' last chance to prove they deserve to be considered one of the world's best, and given what has already been exposed in the past few months, they'll need all of their best 11 players healthy to have a chance of saving their summer.
