Blackcaps in UAE: The Test Squad ft. Ajaz Patel
Upto Kane bhai.
If you've missed having the Blackcaps shenanigans of Lesson in your life, Mike Hesson and Gavin Larsen combined one last time to squeeze out Blackcaps Test, ODI and T20 squads as well as an Aotearoa A squad, all of which will tour United Arab Emirates later this year. This was Hesson's last act as Blackcaps coach and because four squads were named, there was actually very little in terms of one last hoo-rah for the mad dawgs Lesson.
Below, you'll find my thoughts on the Test squad specifically. I'll suss out the Aotearoa A squad in the coming days and then flip my attention to the white ball squads - which aren't all that interesting. Overall, most of these selections speak for themselves as you'd expect with such large numbers involved and ... we've got an 'A' tour!
Apparently the A program will be amped up which is lovely and the selection of someone like Wellington batsman Rachin Ravindra in the A squad is a nice example of the A team's benefits. Ravindra is 18years and yet to play domestic cricket, but has been identified as a kid who ticks the boxes and now he has a chance to tour, play in weird UAE conditions and get better.
As great as this is, the question really needs to be asked about what happened to the A program under Lesson's regime? Ol' mate Gavin said that NZC was placing a greater emphasis on Aotearoa A cricket - something that should always have been done. There shouldn't be a need for greater emphasis, Aotearoa should have a thriving A system that prepares our youngsters for cricket overseas. Level up your standards.
Ajaz Patel is the newbie in an otherwise settled Test squad, with Tom Blundell also being selected as wicket-keeping cover for BJ Watling. I don't see any issues with Blundell being the chosen one to take over from Watling and it's wise to keep Blundell in the group to best prepare him for his return to Test cricket.
My warning is that don't assume that Blundell is the guy, simply because we've got an abundance of wicket-keeper/batsmen. Tim Seifert, Dane Cleaver, Cameron Fletcher and even Blundell's Wellington comrade Devon Conway will be putting pressure on Blundell this summer. A Test century and a century in the glorified net-session against England for Aotearoa XI from Blundell is countered by Blundell being the worst-performing wicky in the Plunket Shield last summer.
Blundell thoroughly deserves to be there, yet regular readers know that this wicket-keeper situation is bonkers in Aotearoa right now. Don't assume things will play out any type of way and remain open to the possibilities.
The first thing I love about Patel earning selection is that there are three kiwi-Indians in this Blackcaps Test squad; Patel, Jeet Raval and Ish Sodhi. All three are initially from Auckland as well with Patel playing for Suburbs New Lynn CC before moving down to Central Districts and Sodhi coming through Papatoetoe CC before moving to Northern Districts.
With Ravindra now also in the wider Blackcaps mixer, there are four kiwi-Indians in that bucket and enough from the domestic circuit to form a kiwi-Indian 1st XI:
I don't need to harp on about Patel's credentials here, that's for the mainstream media to do as they acquaint themselves with Patel. Patel has been a superstar of the Niche Cache's domestic cricket coverage and there aren't too many kiwi cricketers who are more deserving of a Blackcaps call up than Patel. This is a case of demanding selection and given the journey Patel has been on to get to this point, it's a cool tale for any cricketer or athlete in Aotearoa to absorb and be inspired by.
Mitchell Santner is out injured, opening the door for Patel and we may have to open ourselves up to the possibility of Santner having a wee bit more competition for his spot in the Test team. The bloke who is replacing Santner has taken 40+ wickets for three straight Plunket Shield campaigns and without Santner, there are still three decent spinners to fill the void. If Patel can prove to be effective early in his international career, the pressure goes on Santner to perform and the situation around Santner basically being a certain selection will change.
Will Patel play though?
The last two Pakistan Test series in UAE were dominated by spinners; Yasir Shah was leading wicket-taker vs West Indies and then a smidge below Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath in the most recent Test series there. Apart from the wealth of experience, Patel isn't too different from Herath as they are both lefties and aren't the tallest blokes either.
Two spinners should be the way to go and also working in Patel's favour is that Sodhi and Todd Astle are both leggies. Playing two leggies would be kinda weird, otherwise one of these three could be selected with Kane Williamson stepping up with his offies and Colin de Grandhomme exploring his full arsenal of variations. There's a full seam-bowling contingent in this squad; de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner, Matt Henry. Taking so many seamers to UAE isn't going to be overly useful, but it's good to have them on deck.
Either Sodhi or Astle alongside Patel, seems like the most logical option though. Until Patel actually makes his debut, we won't know for sure that we've got our latest Blackcaps Test cricketer. Also adding some funk into the situation is that there might be a new coach by this time and touring UAE could be his first job as Blackcaps coach. Maybe the new coach has different thoughts on Patel, Sodhi, Astle or the make up of the bowling attack than Hesson did.
Hesson has selected a squad for a different coach. Larsen is the common factor though which eases (or raises) any concerns with that situation, but in all honesty there wasn't much room for shenanigans here. A lefty spinner is out injured, so they promoted the best spinner in Aotearoa who is also a lefty. Simple.
Naming four squads on the same day with all these moving parts of players joining squads from here, there and everywhere isn't simple though. The Test squad is settled and you'd be a fool to mess with that simplicity. Overall, this feels confused and that is to be expected at the moment as all the Blackcaps cards (players) have been laid out on the table for the new coach.
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Peace and love 27.