Corey Anderson's Back With A Bad Back (Maybe We Won't Have All-Rounders?)

Do some yoga Cozza.

The sun will rise, kiwi rugby fans will moan about a ref and Corey Anderson has a back injury. Unfortunately for Aotearoa's talented all-rounder, another back injury has seen him gap it from Somerset's T20 campaign over in England, just as it appeared that Anderson was getting back to a certain level of consistency. Playing consistency that is as Anderson only recently return to cricket following a length lay-off courtesy of, you guessed it; a back injury.

In all honesty, lumping these in separate 'injury' buckets doesn't quite do things justice and we are ultimately dealing with one big ol' injury. Anderson has battled a crook back for some time and was eased back into domestic cricket last summer, playing mainly as a batsman for Northern Districts where he built up his bowling load in the closing stanza of the season. You can't really call it a bowling load though as Anderson didn't bowl over 5 overs when he did bowl in ND's Plunket Shield games and he was subsequently rushed back into the Blackcaps for the Champions Trophy.

Anderson hit scores of 81, 19, 1 and 41* in four T20 games for Somerset. In those four games, Anderson bowled just a single over when he opened the bowling in Somerset's first game against Surrey. Somerset stated that Anderson was battlin' back stiffness, hence he didn't take any further action with the ball and given Anderson's history with his back, it's a tad weird he tried to soldier on in three more games. No wonder it got to a point where he's had to come home.

Although we all understand how talented Anderson is and the potential he has, losing Anderson isn't exactly a major loss for the Blackcaps. Scores of 8, 10 and 0 in the Champions Trophy came as the Blackcaps weren't very good and their reliance on all-rounders didn't work out as the selectors had planned. It's a bummer that we have become accustomed to Anderson's absence via injuries, such is life and now the Blackcaps have a few avenues opening up to try something different.

Anderson didn't do much with the bat at the CT and neither did Jimmy Neesham or Mitchell Santner. Neesham had scores of 6, 18 and 23 while Santner put up scores of 8, 3 and 14* as they combined to score 90 runs in three games and they combined to take 4 wickets in two games (none of them bowled vs Australia). The fascination with all-rounders was a failure during the CT and without Anderson, we may see the Blackcaps move towards a specialist batsman at No.6 in ODI and Test cricket.

Santner is less an all-rounder and more Aotearoa's best spinner, so he should hold down that spinning spot in ODI and Test squads. Anderson never worked his way back into contention for a Test spot, so his absence will only be felt in ODI cricket and Neesham could be in danger given he has 3 wickets and scores of 3, 3, 71, 7, 15 and 4 in his last four Tests. 

Noteworthy: Between 2013-2015 (Jan 1st-Jan 1st) Neesham averaged 47.66 with the bat and 39.87 with the ball. Since 2015 he's averaged 12 and 33.

Aotearoa has a couple batsmen who will be looking to step up and fill middle order roles in Test and ODI forms. Anderson is unavailable for injury and my preference is to get others involved while Neesham susses out what his international cricket niche is and demands selection in that niche; if he's going to be a legit all-rounder, he's gotta legit bat and bowl like a specialist or close to it ... if Neesham wants to be a specialist batsman, knock the door down with runs. 

So I'm happy to move forward with someone like Tom Bruce batting No.6, especially as Bruce can roll the arm over with some off-spin if the Blackcaps still want their all-rounder fix. We've heard about Martin Guptill slipping down the order which could be an option, while Colin Munro is someone who has a weight of runs that can't be ignored. Bruce and his Central Districts skipper Will Young are the two batsmen I have as next in line and along with Henry Nicholls, they form a pool of batsmen who should be selected next and given time in the middle order to figure out international cricket. 

Moving away from Anderson and Neesham also opens funky options with the bowling attack. The prospect of playing Santner and Ish Sodhi increases, while Colin de Grandhomme, Matt Henry and Scott Kuggeleijn are bowlers who can do an excellent job with the willow batting at No.7/8. The less attention that is paid to what bowlers can do with the bat, the better though and the Blackcaps are in a position where they can select the best batsmen and the best bowlers, as opposed to the all-rounder preference.

In a funny way, the lack of the Anderson/Neesham all-rounders could give the Blackcaps more options moving forward. We should expect to not see Anderson for a while as he needs to kick back and ensure that his back is as good as it can be (long-term vision means the World Cup should be a goal) and Neesham's failure to demand selection now allows the Blackcaps to look elsewhere, free of the all-rounder shackles.

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