Blackcaps vs Pakistan: Second Test Preview
Kick back bro.
An immediate drama has been avoided with Ross Taylor being cleared to play in the second Test, phew. I'm relieved Taylor can play because at the moment, every game/innings is an opportunity for Taylor to right his ship and to get the back-end of his career moving towards plenty of runs. The more people are discussing Taylor's position in this team, the worse this whole situation is.
Taylor now has an opportunity on what is kinda his home deck - he's a H-Town resident - against a Pakistan bowling attack that is a tad more placid than India's spinners in India, or Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada in South Africa. What I've found interesting with regards to Taylor's eye issue and how that could have impacted his batting, was that before heading to Zimbabwe were he hit two centuries and a half-century, Taylor was playing on our Kiwi County Tour with Sussex.
Guess what Taylor did with Sussex? He socred runs, 478 of them in eight games at an average of 47.80 with a century and four half-centuries, just before he left our Kiwi County Tour he hit 142*.
Trying to figure out this timeline of Taylor's eye problem is tricky, but we've been told that Taylor saw a specialist before he whacked that double-hundy against Australia. Obviously it wasn't hindering him then and obviously it wasn't hindering him a few months ago when he was beating up County bowling attacks. In being cleared to play, we have to assume that Taylor can see fine, or else he wouldn't be playing and I'm at the point where I just want to see Taylor bat every innings.
Just as I want to see Kane Williamson bat every innings, albeit for slightly different reasons. Intrigue has me glued to the screen to watch Taylor, while the cricket-nerd inside my soul has me gapping the missus' party to watch Kaptain Kane do his thing.
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We were treated to Kaptain Kane at his very best last Test as he came in to join debutant Jeet Raval with Raval trucking along nicely. While Raval locked in on his duties as a Test match opener, Williamson made batting look excessively easy as he tends to do as he manipulated the ball around the field, ticking over the singles etc. Williamson scored 61 off 77 balls at a strike-rate of 79.22 and the thing about Williamson is that his 'lean patch' is still bloody good.
Williamson has hit four half-centuries in 10 innings since hitting 113 against Zimbabwe; his only century of 2016 thus far. In 2015, Williamson hit four centuries and a double-banger. Williamson's not in good shape is he?
As a Northern Districts stalwart, Williamson is legit on his home deck and as he's known as our best player of spin, this is nicely set up for Williamson to score some big runs. Seddon Park will undoubtedly offer the Blackcaps seamers - Tim Southee and Trent Boult also call this their home deck - plenty of grass to admire on the first few days, but what happens on the last few days as the pitch deteriorates and brings Mitchell Santner, or more notably Yasir Shah into play, will provide a fun climax.
I do think Santner will slot back into the team, in place of Todd Astle. If Santner's selected, he can either bat above or below BJ Watling and while it was a bunch of roses when Santner started his Test career, you can feel the vibe around him shifting. In the past few days I've heard many media jokers talking about Santner's lack of wickets and runs; bemoaning the lack of a No.1 spinner while also pointing out that Santner hasn't done anything substantial with the bat.
I'd prefer to see Santner bat below Watling as Astle did, with less pressure on him to score runs. Santner still has to earn the right to bat above Watling and he does that by scoring crucial runs, or defending his wicket valiantly if the kiwis are in trouble. As for his bowling, Santner's job in Aotearoa is to just clog up and end while the seamers do their thing and with as he concedes just 2.94rpo in Test cricket, he's figuring out ways to tie batsmen down.
Santner can build pressure for himself and brew up a rash shot from a Pakistani batsman who won't treat him with a great deal of respect, or he can serve up six dot balls while Neil Wagner's storming in from the other end with the same applying to Southee and Boult. While I want to see Taylor bat as often as possible as every innings is a chance to re-establish his world-class status, I want to see Santner play as often as possible because we forget that he's still bloody young and needs to stack up Test matches, thus gaining experience against different batsmen.
Quick notes...
Yasir Shah, Yasir Shah! I want to see Yasir Shah at his best ... please!?
The good vibes around Raval and Colin de Grandhomme vanished a few days after that Test was completed and now it's all about consistency, or at least showing signs that they can do a job long-term. How many kiwi cricketers have fizzled after good starts to their Test careers?
BJ Watling's last half-century came all the way back in Zimbabwe.
No third Test, wtf?