The Blackcaps Didn't Pick Their Team On Form and You Know What Happened, Part 2
Picking right back up where we left off...
At his best Corey Anderson is one of the finest all-rounders in the game. It’s been a while since we saw that side of him, sadly. When he took the ball against Ireland in the warm ups it was the first time Anderson had bowled in an ODI since October 2016 in India which was the first time he’d bowled in an ODI since February that year. Four overs in eleven months.
Anderson did fine here, a little expensive but he took three wickets against England. It wasn’t enough to justify being the fifth bowler though and tellingly those overs were also juggled with Jimmy Neesham (and a little Kane in the Bangladesh game). Except that Neesham averages 43.28 at an economy of 6.65 RPO over the last year with the ball. He’s bowled one maiden in 91 overs in that time. There’s nothing there that says anything other than ‘part-timer’ but Neesham was expected, with a rusty Anderson, to provide something close to ten overs a game.
Reason for that being instead of specialising with a genuine bowler and a genuine batsman, the Blackcaps picked both Anderson and Neesham to do a little bit of both, along with Mitchell Santner who, quality spinner that he is, has absolutely no reason to call himself an all-rounder in ODI cricket. His last year with the bat? Top score of 38* and an average of 14.92 – that’s in 22 innings and his strike-rate in the time (here’s where that stat becomes important again) is less than 70 runs per 100 balls. He cannot justify batting higher any higher than eight here. At the start of his ODI career he flirted with something greater so he’s capable but let’s wait until he earns that role.
Speaking of trash batting stats, if you thought Corey Anderson was gonna even things out with the willow in hand then you’re absolutely wrong. He scored 18 runs in three innings at the CT, scored 20 and 24 in the tri-series and hasn’t passed 50 since March 2015 (the semi-final of the World Cup, for you clever bunnies out there).
Corey Anderson’s last 15 ODIs:
191 RUNS | 12.73 AVE | 68.70 S/R | 0 50s | 3 0s
His bowling numbers, while limited, are a lot better than that. Also bear in mind that he suffered from a pretty serious recurring back injury during that time, hence why he’s only played 14 games in 27 months. The point here is not that Corey Anderson sucks, he clearly doesn’t. The point is that right now, for this tournament, he isn’t ready to be the player he’s been in the past (and was at that World Cup). And frankly that’s a common thread throughout this team.
Jimmy Neesham’s a decent batter but is he a hard-hitting closer or a proper batsman? Well he averaged 30.15 over the last year so maybe only, in keeping with the overall all-rounder theme, a little bit of both. Our inability to close innings in a tournament which the coach said for ages was gonna be a high-scorer was another problem. Anderson and Neesham have the power but neither did anything here. Santner once hit four sixes in an ODI innings – in England and everything – but that’s not the batter he’s been for ages now. Neil Broom was dead average. How’s this for a middle order?
Broom, Anderson, Neesham & Santner combined:
12 INN | 141 RUNS | 36 HS | 12.81 AVE | 77.0 S/R
That, right there, is supposed to be the quartet that carries us through the last 20 overs and they scored, minus extras, at a rate of 4.6 runs per over between them. In the match against England the hosts were 166/3 after 30 overs. New Zealand were 158/3 after 30 overs. They scored 310, bowled out with three balls left. NZ were skittled for 223 with 33 balls left.
Also, that thing about Neesham having the power… he’s hit nine ODI sixes in his entire career, only once more than one in an innings. In the last twelve months Neil Broom has more big ones than him. Tom Latham has double the number in one fewer innings in that time. Neesham’s had some super knocks, 70-odds against Aussie and South Africa stand out recently, but he’s not exactly been a late-order slogger. Might be his best shout is to ignore his bowling for a spell and try nail down that number five spot first, concentrate on the batting.
Would Colin de Grandhomme have done worse? His bowling average of 36.28 over since June 2016 is nothing special but he has Test wickets to his name. Plus he can hit sixes from ball one, though 129 runs at 32.25 ain’t special either. But as an all-rounder, as someone there to offer something with bat and ball, he might secretly be the most dependable of the lot. Using those twelve month stats, here’s a look at the average differentials of the main contenders. They reckon a decent all-rounder has a batting average higher than their bowling one so here goes…
Colin de Grandhomme: 32.25 | 36.28 | -4.03
Mitch Santner: 14.92 | 33.34 | -18.42
Corey Anderson: 10.33 | 30.60 | -20.27
Jimmy Neesham: 30.15 | 43.28 | -13.13
Colin Munro: 23.60 | 81.00 | -57.40
( BAT | BOWL | DIFF)
Eh, but by that same measure Kane Williamson’s differential is +22.25 so whatever.
Considering that Jeetan Patel was brought in and pretty much replaced Ish Sodhi in the Test team then a few months later did the same in the ODIs, you’d have figured he’d have a part to play at the CT but instead he watched from the sideline. You can’t really debate the place of Mitch Santner as the top spinner, especially not in this form of cricket. This also isn’t a debate over Sodhi not being picked. They went with Patel and despite his vast County experience (they even played the opener at his adopted home ground) he was left wondering what if.
Hindsight’s a wicked tool but let’s roll with it for a second. Patel came back into the ODI team this year and has taken 7 wickets at 25.42 and an RPO of 5.08. He can open the bowling for a change if you need and he spins the ball the other way to Santner. He might have done no better than anyone else, it was just strange to see him forced in and then left out.
Blackcaps Top Ten ODI Wicket Takers from June 2016 to June 2017
Same goes for Mitch McClenaghan. Still at the IPL when the tri-series took place, another whole drama in and of itself there, he didn’t get a bowl in that series. He also hasn’t had a bowl for bloody ages. Last time he hurled a white one down for the Blackcaps in an ODI was on New Year’s Eve 2015 – although he did get 1/54 in the practice game against Sri Lanka. He’s a more aggressive seamer than the rest of the options and might have been of use while Shakib and Mahmudullah were out there slaying… but nah, he didn’t play a game. With only a bunch of T20 stuff for preparation, he probably wasn’t much use anyway. Hence why picking three key bowlers out of the IPL was so dumb.
The other one was Adam Milne, also without a single ODI for NZ in the last year until he played in the tri-series. Took some wickets but copped some runs. Looked sharp early on in his spells and less so in his later overs. Almost like he’d been preparing by playing T20s, ain’t it?
Adam Milne’s first spells in each innings combined:
8.0 OVERS | 45 RUNS | 4 WKT | 5.63 RPO
Adam Milne’s remaining overs combined:
13.2 OVERS | 101 RUNS | 2 WKT | 7.58 RPO
But Milne and McCleneghan have both been first choice in the past. They’re both great third seamers on their day. The problem was that neither has been near that level since the World Cup (at which they were both injured and replaced). Since Matt Henry has had a couple tough ones in the last year, as Lockie Ferguson didn’t quite establish himself in his seven games, that third seamer role was up for grabs and it was Milne that was given it (ahead of Jeetan as well, who coulda come in as a second spinner since our all-rounders are all seamers).
This is starting to evolve into less of a debate about form and more of a thing about the Blackcaps relying painfully too much on their best couple players.
Even Tim Southee though, whose opening spell against Bangladesh was easily the most dominant any kiwi bowler looked all tourney… he hasn’t taken more than three wickets in a match since that legendary 7/33 at the World Cup. Not that you should expect a bowler to tear through teams every game but once or twice in 31 matches, maybe. He averaged 39.92 in the last year. He’s averaged 48.87 since that game in Wellington against England. After controversially (but fairly) being dropped from the Test team once this summer we’ve probably gotta open our minds to the idea that Southee shouldn’t be a lock in this ODI team either. If that were a new player doing that then you’d never hear from them again. (Five wickets in 21.3 overs at less than fives (RPO) at the CT, granted).
No worries about Trent Boult. 31 wickets at 30.29 over the last twelve months. Undoubtedly New Zealand’s best bowler. Santner’s 33.34 with 29 wickets ain’t a lot worse though, especially with an RPO of less than 4.50 as a spinner. There wasn’t a lot of committing to backup options after those two and Southee so there also wasn’t anyone who really ripped it up in limited opportunities, demanding further selection. As much as we want to see this team nurture a bloke like Lockie Ferguson, he took 8 wickets at 50.87 so Champions Trophy success was maybe a step too far at this stage.
Scott Kuggeleijn offered a lot more in his brief glimpse at international cricket. There’s going to be some interesting (and necessary) debate when he gets a run before a home crowd, which won’t be comfortable for anyone, but his domestic record is great and as a bowling all-rounder who can tonk it at the death he’s kind of a perfect fit right now.
Ish Sodhi is a lot better than his record and Matt Henry’s recent record is nothing compared to his career 25.26 ODI bowling average. Both, just quietly, are also underrated lower order batsmen who have each raised their bat for fifties in Test matches. Neither were in this squad. If they’d done some crazier things in their limited recent chances then they might have been but so it goes, when they didn’t the Blackcaps reverted to what they hoped were safe options.
Now, if we’d had 2015 Anderson and Milne combined with Bangladesh Broom then things might have been a little sunnier (not literally, you saw that weather). Ronchi’s almost exclusively been crap with the bat for more than two years now but he did have that rapid nice fiddy against Oz. Imagine too a world where Jimmy Neesham was either given a more specific role or sacrificed for a genuine batsman or bowler. There’s a Blackcaps team in there somewhere that could’ve competed in England.
Hmm… maybe there’s a Lesson to be learned in all of this.
Same drill as always, one run to win and you're at the non-striker's end being called through. Complete the victory for TNC, ground your bat firmly on an ad someplace on the page.