Blackcaps In India: Second Test Debrief
A bit of passion, love it.
Bare with me as I stick to the script and roll through some positives from the Blackcaps loss to India in the second Test. There's only one bloke we can start with in that regard as Tom Latham continues to impress as a Test opener and his current trajectory is precisely what I want to see from the Blackcaps as a Test unit (more on that in the negative vibes section below).
Without Kane Williamson, Latham's 74 in the second innings stood out like a sore thumb simply because he applied himself and did so with a technique that was good enough to stop straight balls taking wickets. Latham now has three half-centuries in three straight games as he hit 55 in a warm up fixture against Mumbair and he's now gone back-to-back with half-centuries in India, against an Indian side who are now the best Test cricket team in the whole wide world.
You've got to wonder what it is about Latham that is making him stand out as he is - it seems as though he's the only kiwi batsman (besides Williamson) who is capable of implement minor tweaks to his technique and game-plan against India's bowlers. It's not just the Indian spinners now though as Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 5/48 and Mohammed Shami 3/70 in the first innnings before combining to take 4 wickets in the second innings. Not only has Latham perfected the sweep and altered his front-foot position to limit the danger of the straight delivery from the spinners, he's also shown that he's capable of providing some resistance against the conventional and reverse swing of India's seamers.
Latham was the only positive in a reasonably poo batting performance from the Blackcaps, while our bowling attack again did a low key good job in dismissing India for 316 and 263. There was swing, a bit of seam and spin in the Eden Gardens pitch so we shouldn't rejoice in the work of our bowlers but the fact that they have restricted a very strong Indian batting line up in their own conditions. It doesn't sound so great, but keeping this Indian side under 400 across four innings is not too shabby.
Mitchell Santner is still our No.1 spinner and the arrival of Jeetan Patel didn't do anything to change this. Patel has been a master in England and is a nice stop-gap measure right now, however we shouldn't expect him to have any mid/long-term future in the Blackcaps and we don't really need it because Santner is continuing to develop nicely. Santner picked up 1/83 at 3.60rpo in the first innings and then 3/60 at 3.75 in the second innings, while Patel conceded 6.25rp off 8 overs in the second innings.
The work of our pace attack is something that we should be fairly proud of as well and while Santner is a young spinner on the come up, Matt Henry has stepped into this Test side and quickly shown that he is also a young kiwi cricketer who can help take this team forward. Trent Boult and Neil Wagner also enjoyed success in taking wickets in either innings, however the way Henry once again snapped up his opportunity and immediately had an impact with 3/46 at 2.30rpo in the first innings before taking 3/59 at 2.95rpo in the second innings. Henry finished with 6 wickets, which was better than Boult's 5 wickets and it's impossible to deny that Henry simply takes wickets.
In just six County cricket games for Worcestershire, Henry took 27 wickets at 26.51 and the way Henry attacks the stumps with a bit of movement definitely has something to do with this. Henry doesn't rely on swing, he just steams in and hits the deck hard, always targeting that off-stump and we can't deny how effective Henry has been. I'm intrigued to see what the plan is for Henry going forward because I want him in my Test attack more often than not and that might not be good news for Doug Bracewell or Tim Southee.
The first Test gave us good performances in a hostile environment from Latham, Santner and Kane Williamson. Those three are all in the younger bracket and the basis of my positivity about this second Test is that we once again enjoyed some decent performances from the younger members of the team. Latham and Santner again stood up to the challenge, continuing to get better and now we can add Henry to that group as he's still trying to establish himself in Test cricket. Henry was called upon to do a job and did exactly that, taking wickets as he tends to do.
As kiwi cricket fans, we can let a cheeky smile creep through about the work of Latham, Santner and Henry while also acknowledging that the likes of Williamson and Boult are performing at a level that we require of them.
Hold on to some positivity, because it's all we've got at the moment. This Blackcaps team continues to struggle against quality opposition and what pisses me off the most is that they are losing Tests, not gritting their teeth to salvage a draw. Even their Test losses - five losses from eight Tests - are hefty and while I can point to the performances of young players, reaffirming my belief that this team will get better in the coming years, it's incredibly disappointing to see that this team has gone backwards in the space of 12 months.
The idea of going backwards is complex because the Blackcaps have faced Australia, South Africa and India with away trips to South Africa and India not exactly being easy tours. Those are three of the best teams in the world so it is somewhat understandable that this team is struggling as all the positive vibes up to this point had come from wins over weaker opposition, but damn mate, we're not even working hard to somehow find a way to draw Tests. This is why I reckon the team has gone backwards as they have slipped back into a zone where they simply don't have any fight in them.
That's the great thing about Test cricket; a draw can often be a good result and the mark of a solid Test cricket team is that you are hard to beat. Right now, this Blackcaps team is easily beat-able ... I just thought that some improvement would be shown and in 2016 we would see this team make the step from losing Tests to Australia to being able to offer some fight in India and be tough to beat. Unfortunately, this Blackcaps side has rolled over twice.
But it's soooo hot in India? Again - what did the Blackcaps do after their African tour? They came back to Aotearoa for a few days, which differs from a truly professional sporting view of trying to spend as much time in foreign conditions to really acquaint yourself with them. The proof is in the pudding folks and we should all be questioning how much this Blackcaps team really wants to improve or dedicate themselves to being the No.1 Test team in the world.
I loved seeing Virat Kohli's antics as India chased victory. Passion and blatant desire to be the best, oozed from his as he jumped around, hootering and a hollering. I view that as the pursuit of excellence and while it made me feel as though our Blackcaps were India's whipping boys at that stage, it also made me ponder if the Blackcaps share that desire of excellence.