Blackcaps In Africa: First Test vs Zimbabwe Preview
While the good vibes around our Blackcaps are cute and all, I can't fight off that loss at home to Australia. The good vibes flowed like Grade 5 rapids with the Blackcaps' performance at the World T20, ensuring that we bid farewell to our Blackcaps for a few months with smiles on our dials but those bloody Aussies touched up our gang on local turf in the only format that matters.
Perhaps losing to Australia - on wickets that were apparently meant to help the locals - was a bit of a reality check and perhaps our Blackcaps needed it. A tour to Africa is our first opportunity to see the Blackcaps play Test cricket since Australia paid us a visit in Aotearoa and it's not only an opportunity to get back amongst a few wins, it's also the dawn of a cheeky new era under the guidance of new skipper Kane Williamson. Brendon McCullum allowed the Blackcaps to turn a corner, however it is Prince Kane who will lead the Blackcaps in what must be considered very exciting times as this isn't just a young-ish Test team, there's also plenty of young talent coming through.
This is why playing two Tests against Zimbabwe is perfect as the Blackcaps will likely ease themselves back into Test cricket against a weaker opposition before heading to South Africa.
As fans, we should expect a series win as Zim cricket is yet to emerge from this horrible slump that they have found themselves in and while there are familiar names like Graeme Cremer, Hamilton Masakadza, Craig Ervine, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams and Chamu Chibhabha in this Zim squad, they simply don't play enough high-quality Test cricket to suggest that they will pose a threat.
Which leads me to an over-arching thought to keep in mind for the Zim leg of this African tour; we can't read too much into individual and team performances throughout these two Tests. Sure, if the Blackcaps lose the series or leave Zim with two mediocre draws, then we have reason to be frustrated and ask questions but I can almost guarantee that blokes will stack up runs and wickets against Zim.
The best example here is Martin Guptill, who has a habit of pummeling weaker bowling attacks. Just because Guppy hits a century or whatever, doesn't mean he's locking himself in as Blackcaps opener for the foreseeable future. Reserve judgement on Guppy and other players until they face South Africa, which is also why I'm completely disregarding the warm up game against Zim 'A' as any sort of gauge on form.
We can however keep an eye on a few different storylines that will come to the fore against South Africa, consider this the planting of a few different seeds to keep tabs on.
Matt Henry and Neil Wagner are coming off of strong stints in County cricket and this coincides with memories of Trent Boult struggling to fire last summer. It wasn't too long ago that Boult and Tim Southee had joined forces to form a lethal new-ball combo, but that aura has kinda faded and I'm excited by the pressure that is being put on them by the likes of Henry and Wagner. Doug Bracewell is also part of this squad and while the Southee/Boult combo deserves first crack, the make up of the seam attack and which seamer dominates will be interesting.
There's no Corey Anderson in this squad and we haven't seen Jimmy Neesham play Test cricket for a while either, no dramas there though as we have Mitchell Santner. Santner has an opportunity on pitches that will suit his tweakers to showcase his ability as a spinner and really further his case to be the numero uno all-rounder from Aotearoa. This would give the Blackcaps some funky balance that I'm already loving, especially with the depth in The Stable as they'd be able to carry four seamers and Santner the all-rounder.
That probably won't happen in Zim though as pitches are expected to offer some spin, allowing for Santner and Ish Sodhi to build on their impressive performances in India for the World T20. The first aspect of this is that hopefully we won't see Mark Craig ... kinda dramatic and all but we're moving forward and the Santner/Sodhi combo is what will give the Blackcaps an exciting edge in the future. They simply need time in Test cricket and persisting with Craig will slow the development of Sodhi especially.
Santner and Sodhi took the World T20 tournament by storm, however T20 form for a spinner is a bit of an illusion as batsmen are always looking to attack. Santner and Sodhi need to continue to learn the craft of delivering six balls that tie a batsman up and set him up to take a wicket in the next over, or two overs down the track. Zim will present an interesting step up from those T20 performances as Santner and Sodhi will need to show that they have the control and patience to trouble Test batsmen, although Zim's batsmen won't quite have the skill to dictate proceedings like South Africa's best batsmen will.
Jeet Raval's presence in the squad is exciting, I just can't see him getting much of a look in. I suspect we'll see Raval open the innings if he does get an opportunity and with Guptill one sketchy ground as a Test opener, it will likely come at the expense of Raval's Suburbs New Lynn comrade. The batsman who I'm most interested in is Henry Nicholls, who I have coming in at No.5 in my Blackcaps team for the first Test. My vision for Nicholls is that he does a Michael Hussey role, locking down the middle order while scoring freely enough that the game is never stagnant with Nicholls at the crease. We haven't seen a whole lot of Nicholls in the black cap, so I view this as the perfect chance to give him a substantial dose of faith and keep Anderson at the back of your minds if Nicholls looks comfortable against Zim as it's Anderson's who'd be the big loser if Nicholls establishes himself at this level.
My team for the first Test would be...
Guptill, Latham, Williamson, Taylor, Nicholls, Watling, Santner, Sodhi, Southee, Boult, Wagner.
This is the start of Prince Kane's reign and while a few Tests against Zimbabwe doesn't quite have me frothing, the thought of Prince Kane's reign starting is enough. With younger players like Nicholls and Sodhi likely to feature heavily, there's a fresh vibe to this Blackcaps side and when you consider that B-Mac's era is being backed up by this new wave, we can all be fairly happy as kiwi cricket fans.