Black Caps Black Book .../Diary - Game Two & Three
After slipping up against the English in game one, the Black Caps have fought back hard to take a 2-1 win, one win away from sealing the series. In both fixtures over the weekend, a long weekend with cricket peeping out the front and back of the weekend, England showed that their effort in the first ODI was no fluke or one off reward for a shift in style.
That England have come very close to winning these last two ODI's should settle everyone who thought that the Black Caps would easily dispose of the English. If you found yourself uttering 'they lost to England, wtf!?' after the first ODI, you're dumb.
In both ODI's we've seen Ross Taylor come to the party and he's enjoying some nice form which has me smiling ear to ear. We have seen him swing crisply at anything within his zone, which has resulted in the ball being dispatched long over mid-wicket, a shot or a range of shots which seemed to have been shelved for a while. This Black Caps team has fun, they play naturally and they rely on what has made them such good cricketers, in keeping with that theme it's only right for Taylor to showcase his strokes.
Taylor has now hit 57, 119* and 110 so far this series.
The other big performer with the bat has been the Prince, Kane Williamson who is forming a very nice combination with Taylor, the King. Williamson scored 93 in the second ODI and 118 this morning as he continues to make international batting look freakishly easy.
They have each offered chances for England to snare their wicket, but with so many runs being scored you wouldn't be dumb for thinking that they are giving it a reckless whack that comes off. No, that's how Brendon McCullum plays and there isn't anything wrong with what McCullum does; he's a pinch hitter.
It's laughable to see and hear people still complaining about McCullum.
He's a pinch hitter and there's nothing negative about that, especially when you have Williamson who looks equally as majestic in defence as he does stroking the ball through the covers.
Taylor's presence at four means that runs are easily accumulated. Of the four scores that Williamson and Taylor registered over these last two games, only Taylor's second century came at slower than a run a ball. Taylor scored 119 off 96 balls first, then 110 off 123 balls while Williamson scored 93 off 88 balls and 118 off 113, that's wonderful
Grant Elliot Watch: Elliot had a very nice cameo with the bat in game two, hitting 32 off 15 and bowled 1 over for 9 runs. He then bowled 2 overs for 17 runs and scored 5. Besides the late innings hitting in game two, that's a pretty poor effort so he's still hovering around the 4/10 mark.
I'd like to single out Martin Guptill as well who hit a 50 in game two and is showing that he's got this grittyness with his batting which goes nicely with some B-Mac. It's weird, as the Black Caps play with freedom, Guptill generally does the opposite (he has gone big a few times yeah) and he's very focused at the start of the innings. I like it, and his hard work does mean B-Mac can do what he does best.
Mitchell Santner has also looked good and I was super happy to see him play game three as the main spin option. He's getting hit a bit, which is understandable but he's chipping in with wickets and having him there frees up a spot to either play an extra pace bowlers as they did in game three or, if it's a spinning deck, play Nathan McCullum.
The big news though is that Trent Boult has been ruled out of the series, which for me, is fantastic! Okay, sure, Boult's been our best bowler in all formats so far in England but we know that he's the man, he doesn't need to be pushed any further. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Boult's back injury isn't very serious at all and is either merely precautionary or just a smokescreen to give Boult some time to rest.
It's fantastic because now we get to see other guys, like Ben Wheeler play for the Black Caps in meaningful games. Wheeler was very good on debut in game three taking 3 for 63 off 10 overs and this is what the Black Caps need. To be the best team in the world, whatever the format, you either need to have great luck with injuries or have a pool of high quality bowlers who can perform on the international stage. Hopefully we see Wheeler a lot more in the last two games.
We've also seen Corey Anderson sent home injured, which again, is all good. Anderson's a proven performer and deserves to be kept in cotton wool, especially when we have a young bloke in Santner doing a nice job. Colin Munro joins the squad, but I'd like to see Santner told that he's the number one all rounder and that he'll play the last two games, unless we wrap the series up early.
Who knows how game four will pan out, such is ODI cricket that England could get a hot performance or three and take the win, or the Black Caps could continue their form. I think we're a great chance of beating England in game four with a weakened squad which would be ideal, the perfect situation for the Black Caps moving forward. It's a big challenge though, but the sort of challenge that we want our younger players to be facing.