Blackcaps vs Bangladesh: Test One Preview
Where's South Africa at for some ruthless Test cricket?
When do they get here?
Heck, I'm frothing for that Chappell-Hadlee return leg.
To be honest, that's how it feels after the limited overs leg of Bangladesh's tour of Aotearoa.
Right now there's more interest for me - as a cricket nerd - in how Bangladesh perform in the Test series than how our Blackcaps go. Bangladesh are in a beautiful position where they are bringing through a wave of youngsters into their national team, alongside veterans who have held things down for the Tigers over the past few years.
As we saw in the limited overs stuff, those veterans are sound but not in the same league as the world's best. Blended in with talented youngsters who are still very much learning their craft and we've got an exciting, yet extremely patchy Bangladesh team.
The cheerleaders won't say it; Bangladesh has served their purpose for kiwi cricket.
Of course, this tour is a serious step for Bangladesh in their continual development so from their perspective every game and less learned is crucial.
For kiwi cricket though, Bangladesh has given our batsmen and bowlers plenty of confidence. Bangladesh were also (keeping it super 1-hunnit) the circus-act, giving the Blackcaps opposition that wouldn't be overly competitive, allowing for great performances and a joyful crowd to give NZ Cricket what they want ($$$$$$$$$).
Tom Latham (54.33avg) and Kane Williamson (70avg) both scored ODI runs, after struggling in Australia. Neil Broom dominated against Bangladesh, in Aotearoa as we should expect him to. Along with Colin Munro (45avg), that's four of the Blackcaps' top-six batsmen, four of the top-six run-scorers from this series.
The T20 series not only planted the seed of a future ATM for NZC, it also saw Williamson (72.50avg), Corey Anderson (55.50avg) and Munro (33.66avg) finish as the top-three run-scorers.
Rubel Hossain took the most wickets in the T20 series (7), yet his 9.25rpo was more expensive than the next six top wicket-takers, all of whom were Blackcaps.
Shakib Al Hasan partnered Tim Southee with the most wickets in the ODI series (5), yet he had a higher average/rpo (33.80/6.03) than Southee, Williamson and Neesham. Five of the top-seven wicket-takers were Blackcaps.
This Bangladesh limited overs series taught me a few things...
Any bad vibes from the Chappell-Hadlee series were quickly dispatched.
NZ Cricket enjoyed the flow of good vibes and injection of moolah that came with it.
NZ Cricket still managed to somehow offer up nek-level stupidity, headlined by how King Rossco is being treated.
Never judge a Blackcaps player, or the Blackcaps on what they do against Bangladesh in Aotearoa ...
... So I didn't learn anything about the Blackcaps or a specific Blackcaps player in this limited overs series; of course Colin Munro can beat up an average international bowling attack, of course Kane Williamson is in cricket's upper echelon of batting, of course Tom Bruce hits the ball really well, of course Neil Broom scores runs against Bangladesh in Aotearoa, of course Tom Latham's a classy opener, of course Colin de Grandhomme absolute smokes a cricket ball, of course we have young talent dummy!, of course Tim Southee is going to do damage against sub-continent batsmen, of course Ish Sodhi was a stand-out in T20 cricket...
Ah, but we did learn that Williamson is back bowling and bowling very well. Williamson's 8.33avg/4.16rpo was the lowest of any bowler in the T20 series, as was his 11.50avg/3.53rpo in the ODIs. We already know that Mitchell Santner is an incredibly solid spinner in all formats, so the Santner/Williamson spin-combo is a well timed splash of funk ahead of the Chappell-Hadlee series.
So about that Test series.
I am eager to see what Bangladesh dish up, if only to see how they have adjusted to kiwi conditions and whether they are able to implement specific plans as they did in the limited overs series. There's always hope there, I don't think they'll win a Test or anything but Bangladesh just need solid performances, especially from their young players to keep me encouraged about their future ... I mean Pakistan got touched up here (and in Australia), so we need to hit pause on any expectations of touring sub-continent teams until they suss things out, just as we need to suss out how to play in the sub-continent.
One bloke I hope we see bowl is Mehedi Hasan. He's a 19-year-old offie who took 19 wickets in two Test matches against England (in Bangladesh) and I'd suggest that the reason we didn't see him in the limited overs stuff is because Bangladesh were keen to keep him up their sleeves for the Tests.
From a Blackcaps perspective...
Expect King Rossco to score runs.
There's nothing certain about Colin de Grandhomme's Test future, not with Neesham lurking and Corey Anderson hoping to bowl sometime soon. Even if de Grandhomme dominates with the ball again, he would have done all his damage against touring sub-continent teams in kiwi conditions and there's many typically kiwi medium-pace bowlers who have done that before.
I'm very interested in how Henry Nicholls goes, if he's given a shot. Nicholls was the 3rd best run-scorer in the Super Smash and finished with a average of 48 which was better than Mahela Jayawardene's 45.87, Glenn Phillips' 46.12 and Tom Bruce's 47.16, only making you wonder what Nicholls didn't do to be held back in the limited overs stuff.
Nicholls is in Aotearoa's top-three (at least top-five) T20 batsmen and he's coming into this Test series floating on a cloud of runs, although he's yet to really suss out consistent runs in Test cricket. In saying that, the perception of Nicholls in Test cricket is a bit weird as his two half-centuries have come against Australia and South Africa.
There's always the Ford Trophy to spice things up if the Blackcaps put Bangladesh to the sword again. If only you could actually watch every Ford Trophy game, right NZC??