In a year that had a plethora of absolute shenanigans from Lesson and NZC, perhaps the most puzzling decision or cluster of decisions came around the Champions Trophy squad Lesson selected. I found this to be the most bogglin' because there appeared to be zero planning for a major tournament and if there was planning, team selections during the kiwi summer did not set the Blackcaps up for Champions Trophy success.

How can you genuinely prepare for a major tournament when there is a large (or any) turnover of players from the kiwi summer to the major tournament a few months later?

Why was the pre Champions Trophy tri-series used as an opportunity to give fresh faces ODI game time instead of actually nailing down how the Blackcaps were going to play their cricket?

How the Blackcaps performed at the Champions Trophy tells you all you need to know about the strategy in preparing for that tournament. Instead of playing to their potential, Pakistan-like potential, the Blackcaps were typically mediocre and life went on without much of a kerfuffle made surrounding this disappointing campaign. Players always have to cop some responsibility for not executing, yet in this case it felt as though players and the team were not best prepared for success.

The team is not best prepared for success when they haven't played any cricket together, fine-tuning a style of play/strategies etc leading up to a major tournament. That's literally what happen as the Blackcaps team that played in the kiwi summer was very different to the Champions Trophy squad selected and the best Champions Trophy Blackcaps XI only played a few warm up fixtures as many were unavailable for the tri-series. 

Adam Milne and Corey Anderson were selected from the IPL and while I don't doubt their cricketing abilities, that doesn't smell like preparation for ODI success. Take Anderson for example who was selected alongside Jimmy Neesham in what was supposed to be the dynamic all-rounder duo that all kiwis have been hoping for, a plan that was optimistic and encouraging. Although, it wasn't much of a plan because - for a variety of reasons - they were not given the opportunity to stack up games in preparation ahead of the tournament. 

We can debate the value of this Anderson/Neesham tandem all day, but it's weird that Lesson believed in it without actually allowing Anderson and Neesham to suss this role out in the summer. Anderson wasn't actually fit to bowl over the summer and that's not a good sign, meaning that Lesson had no basis to believe that an Anderson/Neesham combo was the best selection and as Anderson and Neesham never got consistent game time playing this role, they were being led down a path to failure.

This is awfully similar to Aotearoa's Rugby League World Cup campaign in which coach David Kidwell decided to bring the team into camp a week after other teams, after other teams had already played a warm up game. Can you feel that? That's the earthquake of 'preparing to fail' rattling your bones.

I'm all for rotating a squad to spread game time and give players who will feature in the future meaningful opportunities; it's called finessing. You could quite easily finesse Josh Clarkson or Mark Chapman into the Blackcaps set up for T20 games against West Indies and you could very easily finesse Chapman (or Tim Seifert, Tom Blundell, Tom Bruce, Jacob Duffy) into the Blackcaps ODI team by giving them games against a reasonably crappy West Indies team. There's a way to rotate players in and out, Lesson ain't finessin'.

The Lesson way is to yo-yo players in and out of the playing XI and the squad, without rhyme or reason. Last summer Matt Henry, Colin Munro, Lockie Ferguson and Ish Sodhi could barely string together back to back ODI appearances, thus limiting their ability to improve on their previous outing. I'll put it out there that I'm not a huge Todd Astle fan and I can't see Astle playing a role in the next World Cup, but I respect his domestic work and that he's been given an opportunity; Astle gets royally fucked over every time he's selected. 

Astle hasn't been given a decent crack to show us if he's genuinely capable of performing against quality opposition. And he's joined by George Worker as a domestic cricket monster who is in and out of the Blackcaps despite steady international performances. We have cricketing depth in Aotearoa, meaning that Worker and Astle can't fit into the playing XI all the time, but when you select them, actually roll with them for a couple series' and see what's cracking. 

We can bring this back around to preparing players to fail, or I'll continue with the less abrasive 'not best preparing players for success'. Players will not perform to the best of their ability if they understand - to whatever extent - that they could very easily be dropped for the next game or series regardless of how they perform. Players can not perform to the best of their ability when they are not given time to suss out international cricket.

A team can not perform to the best of its ability when inconsistency in selections subtract cohesion and chemistry from the equation. A team can not perform to the best of its ability when there is a culture of fear.

When Brendon McCullum was captain, the absence of fear was a staple of the Blackcaps identity. I perceived this to mean that under McCullum, players were encouraged to play their natural game without concern of repercussions - being dropped. 

'Don't be scared of having a bad game, because I have confidence in you that you'll be better in the next game ... if you have few bad games, well then it's someone else's turn'.

That folks is Leadership 101 and it's no wonder that players loved playing under McCullum as they could feel that their skipper was supporting them, taking the fear out of their performances. I don't go down this route to highlight Kane Williamson's weak points as a captain, he's learning and he doesn't wield any power to influence matters like McCullum could. And this isn't just a case of having fear for bad performances.

Lesson has laid now laid down a history of selections in which a player could do their job and actually impress, yet be dropped for the next game or series. Many players over the past 18 months haven't had to deal with what might happen if they don't do their job, they've played knowing that a good score could be followed by not playing for Aotearoa again until the yo-yo cycle swings back in their favour. That's a culture of fear, like nek-level fear.

Players have no choice and while I'm sure many of these players scratch their noggins, pondering where they sit with the Blackcaps, they toe the line for obvious reasons. I definitely think that as other influences such as Big Bash League flow into this equation, such a lack in logical and common sense could push players away from the Blackcaps, for now though players still do their best and roll with the punches; the best way to counter any shenanigans is to pile up runs and wickets.

What all of this has the most impact on is preparing a team to win ODI games overseas and perform well at major tournaments. Don't let the fluff of performances in Aotearoa, against weaker opposition cloud your judgement that the Blackaps severely under-performed in the Champions Trophy. The most frustrating aspect of this is that we can all see that kiwi cricket is in a lovely spot, with an abundance of talented cricketers who are all competing for Blackcaps spots, in theory building an immense Blackcaps ODI team capable of consistently making the final of major tournaments.

The level of cricketing talent in Aotearoa is such folks that our expectations should be winning shit. Yet this is held back by external forces that impact team selections and the mindset of players, which smacked me in the face last summer in preparation for the Champions Trophy and during the Champions Trophy.

Now we are embarking on the journey to the next major tournament and NZC has specifically designed a buffet of ODI cricket to prepare for the World Cup in England. Everyone involved has an opportunity to learn from that Champions Trophy shambles and prepare the Blackcaps for World Cup glory. I've learned the positive vibrations and optimism are my foundations as a human; I'm optimistic that folks who are employed for their cricketing have learned from their mistakes. 

Hit an ad to show your support to the homie and thanks for all your support in 2017.

Peace and love 27.