BLACKCAPS In Africa - Alright Alright, That's The Warm Up
So the BLACKCAPS won a series that they should have always won, even if there was a crop of younger players hunting for an opportunity. While Zimbabwe offered up plenty of hope for the future of cricket in their country, there was still a gulf in class that definitely won't exist when the BLACKCAPS get their South African leg of the tour underway with a T20 on Friday.
First and foremost, I like what Mike Hesson has done by keeping Ish Sodhi in the squad for the South African series. Sodhi, like Mitchell McClenaghan and Matt Henry had rough moments and impressive moments, but the pace bowlers were always going to have an opportunity to put what they had learned in Zimbabwe into action against a better opposition.
That learning bit is also important, because the BLACKCAPS, as a team and individually showed the ability to improve as they adapted to conditions and their opposition. For a young bowling attack to do so, shows some healthy signs.
Long-term benefits were limited if Sodhi returned to Aotearoa after the Zimbabwe leg. Nathan McCullum is a veteran who probably won't be around at the next World Cup and while he's very much our best limited overs bowler, we still need to develop numerous replacements. Sodhi showed that he can perform with the white ball, albeit in favourable conditions which in a way eased him into this tour. He now gets to spend more time under Mad-Eye's wing as well as doing so in conditions that shouldn't offer as much spin.
Throw in the fact that the entire BLACKCAPS bowling attack will be up against a far better batting line-up in South Africa. This will be a big test for Sodhi, but also the rest of the crew including McClenaghan, Henry, Ben Wheeler and Doug Bracewell as well as the all-rounders Jimmy Neesham and Grant Elliot.
In home conditions, the usual suspects of AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis present a formidable foe, while they also have David Miller who was super dangerous during the World Cup and Rilee Rossouw who is a talented, yet volatile batsman. Should the bowling group serve up they same inconsistent performances with the ball as they did against Zimbabwe, they could be watching the world's best batsmen at their free-flowing best.
The McClenaghan theory will once again be tested. He was up and down against Zimbabwe as he looked life-threatening in one spell and then sprayed it around the next, plus his best wicket-taking haul in the third and final ODI included two wickets in the last 10 overs when Zim were looking to up the ante. If McClenaghan takes the new ball - he might not and might be used as a strike weapon during the middle stages/later on, he's got to take early wickets and get South Africa under pressure with their best batsmen back in the sheds. That's the thing with McClenaghan and as the theory goes, if he's not taking wickets he's leaking runs which will only more dangerous with South Africa's three musketeers.
Obviously the same goes with Henry, Wheeler and Bracewell but they have all showed a wee bit more control than McClenaghan. Well, maybe not Bracewell as he didn't feature in Zim and hopefully he gets a few games to show what he can do, while we also got a brief glimpse at Adam Milne in the T20 against Zim.
What makes this deep bowling attack even funkier is the fact that Ross Taylor has returned home with a groin injury. This could present an opportunity to stack the bowling attack with Grant Elliot moving up to four, Jimmy Neesham to five and Luke Ronchi to six. That would give the BLACKCAPS five certified bowling spots with one likely to go to either McCullum or Sodhi, or both depending on conditions.
How lovely would it be to see a four man pace attack? McClenaghan, Wheeler, Henry and Milne? They'll be rotated heavily so Bracewell will need to be ready, but I want to see this young bowling group thrown to the wolves, or into the deep end and let's see what they can do.
Unfortunately, the one innings we saw form Colin Munro wasn't great to watch. I expect he'll be given another opportunity against South Africa, but wow, there were some sketchy shots against Zim and another mediocre performance could see Munro drop back down to no man's land - good domestic player but unable to step up.
An alternative situation which is equally as likely as the four man attack, because that's pretty dramatic is that George Worker gets a run. It's basically up to Hesson to decide whether he wants more bowlers or whether he goes with Munro or Worker, who both offer batting and can do some sort of job with the ball. Worker has more upside and if we don't see the four man attack, I'd wanna see Worker.
Things with the willow-wielders though are pretty stable otherwise and it's bloody fabulous. Martin Guptill and Tom Latham were good enough in Zim but could have done much better, which is all good when you have the Prince in such scandalous form.
South Africa, as they do with the bat, offer a far greater threat with the ball compared to their neighbours. There's no Morne Morkel , but that only gives young quick Kagiso Rabada the chance to perform on home soil. Rabada made his debut a few months ago with 6/16 against Bangladesh in Bangladesh. He's played three ODI's and taken 12 wickets, yeah not a bad option to join Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander huh?
I like their spin options as well with Imran Tahir a threat with his leg-spin (low key leggy battle alert vs Sodhi!) and Aaron Phangiso likely to offer some competition for that starting spinner spot.
I'm far more excited for this South African leg than I was to see the BLACKCAPS take on Zimbabwe, but the Zim series definitely played its part in my excitement. South Africa are a far tougher opposition, but the BLACKCAPS showed the ability to get the job done against an improving Zim team and did well to adjust to conditions that we haven't always performed in.
With no Ross Taylor, this BLACKCAPS team only gets younger and right now I don't think there could be much better for cricket in Aotearoa to see a young BLACKCAPS team up against a quality South African side, in South Africa.