Blackcaps vs India: T20I Series Wash Up
Let the good vibes of some International T20 buzz wash over you, diluting the shenanigans of the ODI series vs India and filling you with hope of positive progress for Aotearoa's Blackcaps.
Let the good vibes of some International T20 buzz wash over you, diluting the shenanigans of the ODI series vs India and filling you with hope of positive progress for Aotearoa's Blackcaps.
Fresh off a horrible ODI series vs India, we've got a Blackcaps ODI squad named to take on Bangladesh.
Join me on this journey as I try to waltz down a treacherous path, dabbling in thoughts about a distant World T20 while the ODI World Cup offers a map that I don't fully trust.
The similarities between Aotearoa's Blackcaps and White Ferns is extremely weird at the moment and while they were both torched by India to lose the series, the kiwis then went on to win their next games with the series already wrapped up.
The final ODI of the series between Aotearoa and India, reflected the difference between the two teams not only in terms of what they are currently capable of on the field but also where they sit on their journeys towards the World Cup.
As Kane Williamson and Trent Boult assessed conditions ahead of the fourth ODI, on their quasi home pitch, they were without their third Northern Districts Knights amigo Tim Southee.
For a joker like me, the Blackcaps winning the fourth ODI vs India via Trent Boult's magic and doing so by such a hefty margin doesn't offer a whole lot of funk.
This was nothing more than a coincidence, but to have the Blackcaps T20 squad named to face India around the same time as the 2020 World T20 tournament's draw was unleashed, was a glorious coincidence.
Today, Aotearoa's Blackcaps take on India in the fourth ODI with the series already on it's way into the cricketing heavens.
While the slump that Aotearoa's Blackcaps have found themselves in is a bit of a shock, the White Ferns' slump is more a case of the status-quo against the world's better nations continuing.
That was fun wasn't it? A trio of ODI's vs India and a trio of rather emphatic losses for Aotearoa's Blackcaps, reminding us all of how easy it is for the Blackcaps to go from bullies to being bullied.
The second ODI between Aotearoa's Blackcaps and India wasn't quite a repeat of the hiding dished out by India in the first fixture, although the kiwis were dismantled in classy fashion by the tourists.
Unfortunately for Aotearoa's White Ferns, losses in T20I and ODI cricket are becoming the status-quo and the start to Amy Satterthwaite's tenure as ODI captain has followed on from a lacklustre World T20 campaign.
Heads up: India's pretty good.
We’ve already taken a peek at the bowlers so it only makes sense that the beautiful batsmen would get their turn in the sunlight. Four years of fours and sixes and run outs and raised bats.
There’s a lot of water goes under the bridge over a four-year World Cup cycle. Four years ago Mike Hesson and Brendon McCullum were only just getting used to their new roles as national heroes and a passionate public had only just forgotten the initial struggles of that leadership combo.
As we are in this 'everybody gets a run' stage of World Cup preparations, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the most interesting Blackcaps are getting their big opportunity vs India.
These are careful times for the Blackcaps and coach Gaz, to the point where with big churs to Coach Gaz, we can't really dig too deep into what he says publicly.
Three games of Super Smash cricket over the weekend and all sorts of ins/outs, making it a difficult exercise when trying to suss out which domestic battlers are enjoying a splash of whack whack cricket.
Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu shut the door on any chance of Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine reaching the WBBL04 finals, booking a spot for Melbourne Renegades in the semi-finals along with Sara McGlashan's Sydney Sixers and Rachel Priest's Sydney Thunder.