Chappell-Hadlee/Hadlee-Chappell ODI Series: Game One Debrief
Suburbs New Lynn 4 lyf
The easy point to make is that the Blackcaps bowlers weren't so good, hence they lost the first Hadlee-Chappell ODI against Australia. Blended in that was decision not to review the not out lbw decision against Steve Smith, plus Lockie Ferguson being welcomed to international cricket and we've got the lazy journo's guide to why the Blackcaps lost. Straight up though; the Blackcaps were out-classed in every aspect of the game.
Not only did the Blackcaps bowlers not quite hit good areas for long enough, they have apparently put the yorker away in their kitbags. This definitely wasn't the best bowling display from what was an intriguing general team selected Mike Hesson and Kaptain Kane Williamson, apart from the brilliance of Aussie skipper Smith.
No yorkers, no-balls and no consistency. Martin Guptill did hit a half-tracker straight down the throat of mid-wicket though ... Kane Williamson flayed at a wide delivery, nicking one he'd usually middle to the cover boundary. And how about that fielding display, the sort of fielding that had me giggling to myself more often than not for the comedy of errors. It all kinda felt like this Blackcaps team was operating at a few levels below that of their opposition, in all departments.
In saying that, the Blackcaps were somewhat impressive as well. Out-classed for sure, yet it didn't feel like this Blackcaps team was too far off as they could have kept Australia under 300 had it not been for 15 extras and sloppy fielding. That would have kept a lid on the run-chase and the Blackcaps made a bloody good effort of this run-chase which was led by the pure striking of Martin Guptill and his 114 off 102 balls. Guppy had a strike-rate of 111.76 which was better than Smtih's 104.45sr and we were simply treated to Guppy at his finest, until he hit that half-tracker from leggy Adam Zampa into Glenn Maxwell's mits.
The disappointment Guptill showed when he was dismissed told the story of a bloke who knew he had probably thrown any chance the kiwis had of victory away and at that stage, victory was definitely in their sights. There wasn't a whole lot else apart from Colin Munro's 49 off 59 balls, Jimmy Neesham's 34 off 36 and Matt Henry's 27 off 15; if Guptill was able to hang around until the 40th over then the other blokes wouldn't have had to do much more than keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Don't think that this is any sort of negativity directed at Guptill as he was nothing short of brilliant, for whatever reason he middled a terrible ball to a fieldsman. That happens in cricket and there's no explanation, it just shows the fine line of getting closer to 300 and seeing the batting innings dwindle away.
I won't forget the feeling when Jimmy Neesham walked out to bat at No.4 as I couldn't help but be a little surprised, like 'wait, Neesham's in this early?'. What Guptill, Neesham, Munro, de Grandhomme and Henry have in common is that they can absolutely tonk a cricket ball and I vividly remember the cracking sound of bat on ball when Neesham hit back to back boundaries, or when Guptill was blazing them around. This sort of power-hitting, or more notably the consistency of power-hitting in the line up is exciting and is the reason why I never flicked over to watch the Wellington Phoenix get touched up again as up until the 35th over or so, it never felt like the Blackcaps couldn't chase the target down.
Power-hitting is great, especially when you've got Tom Latham and BJ Watling to noodle it around along with Williamson's general awesomeness; I'm not sure what to make of Mitchell Santner's innings. This balance in the batting line up is exciting, but we need to remember that Neesham, Santner, de Grandhomme, Munro are all at the start of their international careers while Latham and Watling are still looking to seal ODI spots long-term.
We saw in this ODI loss that there's plenty for the Blackcaps to work with and I'm excited to see how they progress into the second ODI. The gulf in class between the two teams existed because the kiwis have assembled a team that could develop into being a high-quality ODI team, while Australia are there already with Travis Head being the only fresh face in a grizzly ODI group.
In that regard, the Blackcaps fought hard and put up a strong challenge. This game did pan out as expected to some extent, especially as it was the first game of the series and it'll be interesting to see how the Blackcaps respond as I'd suggest that they would have gained some confidence - via experience and knowing they can play a lot better - which could see them be more clinical in Canberra.