Black Caps Black Book .../Diary - Looking Back In Coloured Clothing
Before we dive into this ODI series against England, I thought it would be a good time to just run through a few thoughts on our Test team. The Black Caps covered all the bases, loosing the first Test at Lord's and then winning the second Test at Headingly in convincing fashion to level the series 1-1. We went into this series with a few question marks having of various aspects of the squad and I think we did see a few of those questions answered, positively.
We have a long term opening pair in Martin Guptill and Tom Latham. Left hand/right hand combination at the top of the order with Latham the quintessential gritty opener who takes his time and punishes bad balls. Guppy is still finding what exactly works for him but it was good to see him get a few runs throughout the series. These two will fail, it's the nature of being a Test match opener but as long as one of them bats some time, then I'm pretty happy and we saw that more often than not.
The Stable is healthy. When I came up with 'The Stable' Matt Henry wasn't even in the picture, which obviously means that The Stable is going fantastic at the moment. Doug Bracewell and Neil Wagner have been part of The Stable since day one, but Henry has crept ahead of them and I like what he offers as the third seamer. With more experience, he'll start to land six balls in the same spot and really build pressure in conjunction with the bowler at the other end, the great thing is that we saw glimpses of this in the two Test's. What we saw more of though was that he can move the ball around and produce an unplayable delivery, which again, suits the third seamer spot nicely.
Mark Craig's spot is his to give up. He had moments, more so in the first Test where he looked a bit out of his depth as he couldn't produce the consistency required to really hold up one end and take wickets as well. The most pleasing aspect here though is that he righted the ship as England's batsmen may have targeted him as a weak link, but Craig came back and showed that he has the goods to do a job for this team. He's got flight, he found a nice pace to bowl at and as an offie, he gives the ball a good rip. Throw in some solid lower order batting and you've got a good team man.
BJ Watling is still my favourite Black Cap. How can you not love him?
The only negative for BJ is that Luke Ronchi showed what a classy player he is on debut. It's not too negative for BJ, it's more of a conundrum really as I can see the Black Caps playing both Watling and Ronchi again at some stage. Think about it; is there a middle order batsman who is tearing the walls down, demanding selection? Not really, well no one who has shown that they are a better option than either Watling or Ronchi. This fucks up the all rounder spot, so you would imagine that Corey Anderson would have something to say about that ... well that's if he's going to be bowling more than he did. If Anderson's not bowling much, then you might as well just play the extra batsman and run with four front line bowlers.
Prince Kane deserves to be known as one of the world's best. He didn't have the overall series to make a compelling case, but he scored his share of the runs and had everyone creaming their undies at what he produced. Whether it's with the bat or the ball, something happens when the Prince is around and it's always handy to have a cricketer like that.
Live by the sword, die by the sword. If you don't like the way the Black Caps play, with an attacking instinct and aggression unseen by a Black Caps team in my lifetime, get over it. This is how Brendon McCullum has chosen to lead this team and he's obviously figured out that this is how the Black Caps are going to win Test's.
That's the key thing here, win win win. This isn't a strategy just to have a strategy, no, this is about winning Test's and while it might result in a few losses, there will be less draws and hopefully more wins. Personally, I love it, but I can handle the losses with the bigger picture in mind and don't feel the need to lay into McCullum or the team after one loss, I'm great, I know.
I love the plan, the strategy and the identity of the Black Caps, but more importantly I love that they have actually decided to go down this route. Think of how many years the Black Caps have simply existed in world cricket, without any real ambition or a plan to put that ambition into action. McCullum and his team know what they are aiming for, so I'd rather celebrate that instead of questioning every decision he makes because wouldn't you rather the team go for the number one spot, like, at least try right?