After dismantling West Indies in the Test series, Jeet Raval was back at in a 50-over fixture vs West Indians ahead of the Blackcaps vs West Indies ODI series. Raval went XXL with 169 off 150 balls and such an innings would have a few people pondering Raval's future as a possible ODI cricketer, even Raval stated his intent to a mainstream media as he outlined how he'd like to open in ODI cricket for Aotearoa.

In glorious click-bait fashion, the headline of that article suggested that Raval wanted to stake his claim for a Blackcaps ODI opening gig and then, inside the article, even Raval down-played the idea. All cricketers want to represent their nation in as many formats as possible and Raval's no different, he's also well aware that he hasn't really done anything to demand a geeze at ODI cricket. 

This is coming from Raval and I'm not pulling Raval down, nor am I offering any crazy insight because Raval himself knows he hasn't done enough. In typical kiwi fashion, Raval's aiming high but super humble at the same time.

Raval averages 24.27 in List-A cricket and Aotearoa has Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, George Worker, Glenn Phillips and Tom Latham who are contending for World Cup spots. Throw in whatever youngster or wildcard name you want like Tim Seifert into the mix as well because that's how far Raval is down the pecking order. And it was only a few months ago that ESPNCricinfo published a thing headlined 'My Priority Is Being A Reliable Test Batsman' about Raval.

In that article, Raval said:

"For a few years I've been focusing on Test opportunities. Now that it's come, don't want to let it go by trying too hard in limited-overs formats and lose focus of what I do well," he says. "It's about establishing my place in Tests. I understand I can never be a player who can blast bowling attacks in T20 cricket, but if I can be a batsman like Kane Williamson or Hashim Amla, good strokeplayers, yet capable of batting long hours, that's what I'm aiming for.

"We don't play too many Tests, just four (two each against West Indies and England) over the next 12 months. In the middle, it's all just white-ball. So there's an opportunity for me to put into practice what I want to achieve in the shorter formats. I can probably work on my game a bit more then, but my priorities of being a reliable Test batsman are firmly in place."

That speaks for itself and I definitely don't think Raval has changed his mind, he's merely trying to be the best cricketer he can possibly be; whatever the format, he wants to score runs.

Ultimately, where this all led me after pondering a few angles about Raval was that Raval would be wise to even suggest that he can play other international formats given the amount of Test cricket Aotearoa will play in the coming years.

There's not enough Test cricket on the radar for Raval to get his fix of international cricket. For these blokes, challenging yourself against the best players in the world is a drug and Raval is a dabbler; Raval is your mate who will hit the bong with you, but he'll just take one cone and then he won't smoke any herb for a few weeks and pop up for a cone for whatever reason. He dabbles in Test cricket and Raval gets his sporadic fix.

Imagine working so hard in your come up to international cricket and then, once you get there, you're only play four Tests a summer? While I don't think the financials play any major role in this stuff, Raval is likely to earn less than many kiwi cricketers because he doesn't collect limited overs match payments and he doesn't play enough Tests to make up the difference. 

This then led me down the path of what the future might hold for Raval and the most logical destination is County cricket. When I put my Kiwi County Tour hat on, the lack of Test cricket during the kiwi winter is glorious as it's going to open the door for a few more players to join the KCT and I hope to see Raval make the move at some stage. Raval has proven himself as a Test opener - he's yet to do so outside of Aotearoa though - and the lack of limited overs cricket would make him available for a full County season, allowing County teams to bank on Raval's presence.

The County would be getting an experienced batsman who currently plays Test cricket and no one can say a bad word about Raval; he's a GC. For Raval, this would not only give him the top-level cricket that he likely craves, it would also put him in foreign conditions where scoring runs is more difficult (just ask the Aussies) and could be crucial in Raval's development as a Test cricketer. 

I'd also super low key suggest that Tom Latham might struggle to hold on to his ODI spot over the next few years if he can't keep up with the plethora of young-ish talent in Aotearoa, thus possibly making Latham a Test-only batsman as well. Just a thought.

And all of this led me to ponder about the four-day mercenary, as opposed to the T20 mercenary. This would be a market for players like Raval, who aren't quite tickling the tastebuds in limited overs cricket and solely play Test cricket. But these players want to play as much cricket as possible and while they may be able to showcase some T20 skills to make them attractive for various T20 leagues, their attributes in four-day cricket make them valuable commodities around the world in the longer format. 

Keep the shenanigans of Test cricket in mind and we could perhaps see the rise of more professional four-day set ups around the world as fans and players want to taste their favourite dish. Raval, for example, could play a County season, head to India for some Ranji Cup, pop back to Aotearoa for Plunket Shield and play Sheffield Shield in Australia at some point in the kiwi/Aussie summer. 

I've got no idea how this would play out and it's a thought that I'll ponder a lot more, I certainly think that at some stage there will be a slight move back towards four-day cricket. We're the infant stages of this new cricketing world and we're adjusting to how crazy things now are, sometime soon there will be a little kick back as part of the adjustment process. Maybe this will see four-day players be able to travel the world as strictly four-day cricketers and we'll be able to celebrate their exploits. 

Maybe Jeet Raval might be one of the first.

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Peace and love 27.