When Will The Lure Of BBL Cricket Entice Colin Munro (And Others)
Soon enough Jack.
What's if I told you that there was a bloke in Aotearoa who is a sizzling innings away from owning strike-rates over 100 in First-Class, List-A and T20 cricket?
Your reaction would probably be exactly the same as anyone else when they take a geeze at Colin Munro's ESPNCricinfo profile and see that he also owns a FC average of 52.27, while striking a staggering 98.90sr. This season could mark the moment when Munro ticks that FC strike-rate over 100 and with a LA strike-rate of 108.85 and a T20 strike-rate of 142.95, there's no reason to think that Munro can't hold on to that crazy achievement for a decent period of time.
Not too shabby for a bloke who batted No.11 when he made his FC debut for Auckland back in 2006. Now Munro routinely has his name brought into the 'why isn't he always playing for the Blackcaps' conversation on the back of his impressive stats and when you combine this with a FC bowling record of 26.77avg/2.74rpo, we may have the best FC cricketer to ever play in Aotearoa on our hands.
Ultimately though, this hasn't quite translated into international cricket as well as some would expect. While Munro has flirted with consistently holding down a Blackcaps ODI spot, he has been one of many cricketers to fall victim to the inconsistent selections of Lesson and when you ponder the in and out nature of this selection style, it's no wonder why these players struggle to perform consistently. Munro's style doesn't lend itself that well to regular runs though, which is reflected in his ODI record of 25.26avg/99.37sr and the buzz around Munro has always been countered in my mind by the eye-test; Munro can often look out of his depth against quality international bowlers.
These bowlers just tie him up and Munro then tries to work his way out of that pickle by having a whack. If Munro hasn't been able to middle a few to the boundary, this subsequent whack usually results in his dismissal. Hence I've never been overly high on the scope of Munro's international career.
That doesn't mean I don't find Munro super interesting though. Munro's bully-style FC batting doesn't translate well to Test cricket and Munro is highly unlikely to add to his one Test appearance, while I'm also doubtful of whether Munro will be in the Blackcaps squad for the next World Cup. Munro has been mentioned as a possible pinch-hitting ODI opener which makes some sense, although it's very weird as well and many folk are caught up in the Brendon McCullum zone as they think Munro can do the same job.
Munro isn't B-Mac, let's get that crystal clear for starters and we definitely should not think that just because Munro gives it a whack, that he can do that job as an opener in ODI cricket. Munro is yet to prove he can consistently score runs in ODI cricket, yet we expect him to be able to chip the in-field or find gaps (with fewer boundary-riders even) against the new-ball; that's disrespectful to B-Mac's unique ability.
And I'll put Phillips in that category as well. I don't think Munro can do it because he's not B-Mac, while Phillips can't be expected to consistently do that job with his lack of experience. If Phillips is playing ODI cricket, I'd advise y'all to take the good with the bad while he figures out how his style translates to the ODI arena. Especially as teams start to prod at his weaknesses after seeing him play more often, thus building their video-vault, as has kinda happened with Munro.
All of this results in me not being overly high on Munro's Test or ODI future and as I couldn't give a rat's backside about T20 internationals, I couldn't care less about how Munro (or the Blackcaps outside of the World T20) performs there. What I'm definitely intrigued and excited about is Munro's future in T20 franchise cricket, which adds to my belief that Munro doesn't have much of a future in ODI cricket as he'll soon be better off playing an entire BBL.
It's safe to say I'm fascinated by the future of franchise T20 cricket, especially as NZC are directly competing with the BBL specifically. As long as NZC are scheduling ODI/T20 cricket at the same time as the BBL, they are forcing players to chose between the two. Munro doesn't have much of a future in Test cricket and ODI cricket is losing relevance (outside of World Cup/Champions Trophy) rapidly, thus making for a fairly easy decision for someone like Munro - as long as his performances demand T20 contracts.
Same goes for Mitchell McClenaghan; is it better for him to try play ODI/T20I cricket or make himself available for a whole BBL campaign?
I focus on the BBL because unlike the T20 Blast (England), IPL (India) and CPL (Caribbean), the BBL is at the same time as the peak of the kiwi summer. Munro and Colin de Grandhomme are players who will be put in this predicament next, plus I'd suggest that the way NZC are treating Ross Taylor isn't exactly enticing Taylor to ignore BBL interest to play ODI cricket. Or even Ish Sodhi, who already has a relationship and proven success with Adelaide Strikers and has no consistency around his ODI future.
I believe we will reach a point where the best players are playing BBL cricket and players in the Blackcaps ODI/T20 teams during this time will be players who weren't good enough to earn BBL contracts. We can even forget about the circumstance around Sodhi (yo-yo) and Taylor (politics) and purely put this down to the benefits of playing an entire BBL tournament vs ODI cricket in Aotearoa. BBL cricket looks way more fun than meaningless ODI/T20I cricket and will be much more beneficial for these players.
Munro is the bloke to watch though, because he isn't tied down with Test cricket like the others. Thus making his decision purely between ODI/T20I and BBL, a situation that NZC have created. This is bloody fun as well and shouldn't be viewed as a negative, I want to see the best kiwi cricketers in the BBL for my own reasons as well as them taking part in the success of the BBL.
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