BLACKCAPS Hosting Pakistan - First ODI Notes
Williamson + Nicholls = long term No.3 and 4. Heard it here first.
Courtesy of an interesting Basin Reserve pitch, the first ODI between the BLACKCAPS and Pakistan had a bit of everything. The kiwis romped to victory, consistently taking Pakistani wickets as they tried valiantly to chase 281 for victory however the volatile nature of Pakistan's batting let them down. Allow the notes to begin...
Bowlers Go Whack Whack
After Luke Ronchi was dismissed, the BLACKCAPS were 99/6 and teetering on the brink, up stepped the bowlers and boom, 83 runs between Matt Henry (48), Mitchell McClenaghan (31) and Trent Boult (4) was the result. Most importantly, these runs came quickly with Henry scoring at strike-rate of 160 and McClenaghan at 172.
Runs from tail-enders always get overlooked in terms of their importance, however this effort clearly shows how beneficial it can be to have bowlers who can find the middle of their bats.
Welcome Home Henry
Henry Nicholls returned from the Big Bash and stepped into Ross Taylor's No.4 spot where he scored 82 off 111 balls and looked destined for a century before playing on. There's a few thoughts that stem from Nicholls' innings, the main one being how strong our domestic cricket scene is these days and the quality of young players. Nicholls has stepped up out of domestic cricket and has looked at home in ODI cricket with the BLACKCAPS and Big Bash cricket. Only the likes of Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendan McCullum and Jesse Ryder would have been able to do something like that in the past and nowadays it seems like a far more regular occurrence which is great.
Nicholls seems perfectly suited to No.4 as he's a worker of the ball and expertly manipulates the ball through the various stages of fielding restrictions. Obviously Taylor stands in Nicholls' way for the mid-term future, however when you consider that Taylor has only scored more than 22 runs once in his past six innings, his injury could be a blessing in disguise; with Taylor out injured we'll get to see Nicholls get consistent game time.
Middle-Order Once Again
We're a humble bunch us kiwis ... and when we do get a bit cocky, it's low key. All this talk of the BLACKCAPS' middle order 'needing' a bat smacked of this passive-aggressive-arrogance as the middle-order had simply failed to grab their opportunities in the T20 series besides Corey Anderson.
This time the problems were far more evident with Anderson, Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi combining for 15 runs. Ronchi for example hasn't had much of a run in the middle, however his last three innings have seen him score 0, 1 and 5 which in my mind has Ronchi on the brink of waving goodbye to his BLACKCAPS career.
BJ Watling now comes into the team and Watling must be eyeing up more ODI cricket; the ball's in your court now BJ.
Bowlers Prosper
Trent Boult took 4/40 off 9 overs and Grant Elliott took 3/43 off 10 overs to lead the BLACKCAPS wicket-takers as Pakistan struggled to contain themselves. All of Pakistan's top-eight batsmen were caught as they tried to break the shackles, even if the shackles weren't fully locked in. How Pakistan adjust their aggressive stroke-play to kiwi conditions will be crucial to their hopes this series.
Changes?
I suspect we might see Adam Milne come into the bowling attack, probably for Matt Henry who saw his wickets dry up (0/43 off 8 overs). Mitchell McClenaghan's eye injury obviously influence that with Doug Bracewell coming into the squad and I'd like to see a straight swap, allowing for a pace attack of Milne, Boult and Bracewell.
The most important bowler right now though is Elliott, he's showing everyone what's up.
We could possibly see Colin Munro brought in, although I'm keen to see a settled batting line up for the second ODI tomorrow.