Kiwi Cricketing Thoughts: Corey Anderson's Creeping + Mr Kitchen
The past or future?
Go around your group of mates this weekend and ask who they think is the best all-rounder in Aotearoa? Jimmy Neesham's up there and will get a few mentions, Colin de Grandhomme's creeping into contention, Mitchell Santner can do some nice things with bat and ball while I've built up some hype around Scott Kuggeleijn's all-round skills as well. Some people might mention George Worker into that bracket and Andrew Ellis continues to dominate the domestic scene, but do y'all remember Corey Anderson?
Anderson is effectively taking the summer off of Blackcaps duty and in the last three rounds of Plunket Shield cricket, he has taken a major step forward in showcasing his fitness by bowling a few overs for Northern Districts. There is a clear pattern at play here and it's obvious that Anderson has been given a plan to get back to his genuine all-round duties; Anderson bowled 3 overs against Auckland in round eight, then 4 overs against Wellington last round and then bowled 3 overs in the current game against Otago.
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The first two bowling stints only game in one innings of either of those games, with Anderson not bowling in the other innings. Plus, it's not as though ND need Anderson to bowl as they've rolled out a three-seamer attack featuring Scott Kuggeleijn, Joel Baker and Zak Gibson/Brett Randell with Ish Sodhi and Josef Walker offering spin options. Daryl Mitchell is always there to bowl some medium-pace, giving ND six bowling options without Anderson and Anderson's really just ticking his back over with a few overs here and there.
With the bat, Anderson struggled to make an impression in the Ford Trophy with 124 runs @ 31avg and a half-century in four innings; Kuggeleijn averaged 34.57. In the Plunket Shield though, Anderson has 400 runs from 10 innings with an average of 44.44, a century and a half-century. In the last three games Anderson has batted at No.4 for ND and he's captained the team as well.
We know that Anderson won't earn a Blackcaps call up as a batsman, mainly because we've now got plenty of experienced and youthful depth. Anderson has to show that he can genuinely offer a dual threat and while it's been a slow process, three/four-over stints to finish the Plunket Shield are evidence that Anderson's on the right track.
Colin Munro is demanding all sorts of headlines with his four centuries in eight Plunket Shield innings (100.16avg/133.25sr), but another bloke has also hit four centuries. Anaru Kitchen and Munro have both played six games this season, however Kitchen's played 11 innings to Munro's six which gives Munro the clear advantage; Kitchen's on a tear though.
Kitchen starts today's play (Thursday) with 141* to his name with an impressive strike-rate of 88.12 and that's his third century in his last five Plunket Shield games, his fourth century if we include Otago's last Ford Trophy game. This pushes Kitchen up to third in the run-scoring rankings and he's one of four batsmen who have over 600 runs so far this season, with Brad Wilson and Michael Papps taking the top spots followed by Kitchen and Munro. Munro and Kitchen have hit their 600+ runs with strike-rates over 77 (Kitchen's is 77.50) while Wilson (42.90) and Papps (46.44) score their runs at a far more sedate pace.
There's also the fact that Kitchen and Munro are the only batsmen in the top-10 who have played less than nine games.
While there appears to be a clear reason for Munro's non-selection, it's difficult to come up with reasons why Kitchen hasn't earned a promotion. He offers some left-arm spin so you could chuck him in that all-rounder basket, however there just doesn't seem to be much room for Kitchen and that's something we are going to have to get used to with the depth of kiwi cricket steadily improving.