Kiwi County Tour #8 (Sussing Everything)
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Apologies for the brief Kiwi County Tour hiatus, but I'm back behind the wheel of the KCT bus and currently dropping the lads off at their respective T20 Blast teams. Between the end of the Royal London One Day Cup and the start of the Blast, we did have a splash of County fixtures to enjoy and here I will be rolling my arm over those County games as well as sussing out how the KCT lads went in the RLODC.
This will serve as a bit of a 2018 KCT encyclopedia, as the KCT won't be back until after the T20 Blast is finished. I left youz in the lurch for a while there, so I intend to offer plenty of funk and depth into KCT performances below, plus with a little twist of Blackcaps context thrown in for good measure.
As I've highlighted the World Cup and ODI cricket as a major focus for the new coach, with a few low key selection or stylistic conundrums possibly popping up, some 50-over cricket is the best place to start. This is being written prior to the RLODC final between Hampshire and Kent, with fringe Blackcaps seamer Matt Henry taking his sublime form from County cricket into the RLODC; Henry is Kent's joint leading wicket-taker.
From a Blackcaps context perspective, this has worked out perfectly because of where Henry sits in the kiwi seamer pecking order. Henry's ODI bowling average has been one of the most thrown up stats by fans, which was never rewarded with consistent selection by Lesson. A new regime may change that, as long as Henry continues to perform and while his 50-over exploits are the major foucs, Henry's slick RLODC work still doesn't quite match his exceptional four-day work for Kent this year.
You could suggest that Henry has benefited from bowling against Division Two batsmen in County cricket, but as he's also done the job against all batsmen in RLODC, I'm happy to go hundies on celebrating Henry. And I don't think there's that much difference between Div One and Div Two batsmen, oh and Henry's record this season is so astronomically better than any other bowler in County cricket that it blows away any minor points of challenge.
Henry: 6 games, 12inns, 221.4 overs, 49w @ 13.40avg/2.96rpo.
Graham Onions (best in Div One): 7 games, 14inns, 217.2ov, 32w @ 20.43avg/3rpo.
Henry is the only bowler in County cricket who has taken over 35 wickets, let alone 40 wickets, let alone 45 wickets so far this season. That sort of record should form an even stronger case for Henry to feature in the whites sooner rather than later for Aotearoa, but as I'm plodding along this journey to the World Cup; Henry's County numbers only reinforce his 50-over case.
Tied for 2nd in RLODC wickets, Henry has a slightly pudgy average of 30.43 which doesn't fit the yarn of Henry being a dominant force. Kent are the only team to have played 10 games and Henry is the only bowler who has bowled over 84 overs in RLODC, not just that but Henry has bowled a whopping 90 overs. For Henry to average around 25, he'd need to an alien with that sort of workload and 16w @ 30.43avg/5.40rpo in a team that has made the final is simply a case of Henry continuing KCT status-quo.
A status-quo of being the best bowler in County cricket. Keep in mind that the World Cup is in England and Henry not only has a fantastic ODI record, but here he is dominating in England with the red ball and the white ball. That should in itself be playing on the mind of the new coach, once he gets the gig and where Henry could fit in to the Blackcaps ODI set up will be a major point of intrigue.
The only other kiwi bowler in the wider ODI mix is, or was Neil Wagner. Despite Mike Hesson pigeon-holing Wagner as a red ball specialist, Wagner's RLODC stuff for Essex last year along with his sublime red ball record for Aotearoa had me pondering Wagner as Aotearoa's best seamer. Unfortunately for Wagner he was put in a box by the Blackcaps coaching staff and never given a white ball chance, a window that has now been emphatically shut by Wagner himself.
Wagner has been solid for Essex in RLODC; 12w @ 37.08avg/6.35rpo. Like, nothing special and when you consider Wagner's mediocre summer for Otago, there is little hope for Wagner to wiggle his way into Blackcaps white ball cricket. That was just a dream I had for Wagner, which I now release to the universe.
Obviously we all respect Wagner's Blackcaps work and Wagner's locked in as a Test bowler, there could be room for a bit of drama if Wagner continues his KCT mediocrity and the new coach is keen to refresh the Test bowling stocks. On top of averaging 37 in RLODC cricket, Wagner is averaging 46.77 in County cricket, taking 9w in 6inns.
That high County average comes from Wagner bowling 109 overs in 6inns, which is kinda psycho. How effective Wagner is when County cricket restarts later in July will be something to keep an eye on, as it could lead into a tough decision for the new coach.
Runs have flowed far more easily in County cricket than RLODC for Ross Taylor, but there's no need to discuss Taylor's Blackcaps ODI context. There's no need to get your knickers in a twist about Taylor's lack of RLODC runs as he's been trucking along nicely in four-day cricket, hitting a 146 and 74 in his last three games; in his most recent game he did narrowly avoid a pair though with scores of 0 and 1.
Taylor's overall County record: 506 runs in 15inns @ 33.73avg, 1 century, 4 half-centuries.
As of right now, not including any County information, I'm rather cautious about Tom Latham's place in the ODI team and this will be a undercover narrative to follow with the new coach; just cautious, nothing overly dramatic. There's plenty of wicket-keepers putting pressure on Latham and there are also numerous #5 (or opening) candidates putting pressure on Latham, meaning that he'll be under the pump in both departments.
Latham hasn't scored enough County runs to feature in the most-runs rankings, which is a bummer although he has hit two 50+ scores in his last three games. Ranked 44th in RLODC runs, Latham wasn't spectacular in 50-over cricket either; 8inns, 255 runs @ 31.87avg, 2 half-centuries.
That's not a campaign that screams out dominance and I must stress that this winter in England hasn't hurt Latham's standing as the Blackcaps #5 batsman and wicket-keeper, but it sets up an interesting summer for Latham prior to the World Cup. Sound performances from Latham for the Blackcaps is all that is required and he's earned plenty of faith, which the new coach is likely to show him. I'm just cautioning youz that there will be the likes of Tim Seifert, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tom Bruce and George Worker who will be eager to make an impression on the new coach and it's up to Latham to fight off their challenges.
Jeetan Patel was the only other notable KCT performer in RLODC; 8 games, 6inngs, 56 overs, 10w @ 26.60avg/4.71rpo.
In his return to four-day cricket, Lord Jeetz has taken 15w in 6inns for Warwickshire. That's taken Jeetz up to 31w @ 25.80avg/2.95rpo and giving us Henry and Jeetz in the top-four Division Two bowlers. Jeetz was at his brilliant KCT best in his most recent game, taking 9w all up, 3w in the first dig and 6w in the second:
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Peace and love 27.