Blackcaps vs England: Blackcaps Test Squad
Aotearoa Blackcaps have dropped their first Test squad of the summer, which apparently doubles up for the series vs England and then Australia. As the Test team is rather settled, there are only a few spots up for grabs and with that in mind, having a squad of 15 named provides a splash of wiggle room for a funky selection or two. As always though, depending on your perspective, there are the mandatory Blackcaps head-scratchers that we all love.
The major inclusions are Lockie Ferguson and Todd Astle. It feels as though everyone is hopping on the red-ball Fergy-Ferg wagon now that Ferguson is one of the premier talents in kiwi cricket at the moment, but long-form cricket has been Ferguson's best format for quite some time. Maybe it was way back in the 2014/15 Plunket Shield when Ferguson bowled 144.2ov with 21 wickets @ 23.38avg?
Maybe it was the 2015/16 Plunket Shield in which Ferguson bowled 224.1 overs with 31w @ 22.12avg?
Maybe it was the 2016/17 Plunket Shield when Ferguson bowled 229.4ov with 30w @ 22.03avg?
Maybe 2017/18 Plunket Shield when Ferguson bowled 164ov with 33w @ 17.39avg?
Ferguson has been commanding long-form selection in my noggin', throughout that period and as per the Blackcaps machine, those who excel in all domestic formats tend to go through the Blackcaps T20I and ODI pipeline. The low key note about those Ferguson stats is the workload and while Ferguson isn't pushing Ajaz Patel's 400+ over count in 2016/17, Ferguson has consistently shown the ability to churn out overs.
It's one thing to get through plenty of overs, locking in on a top-of-off zone at 130km/h. It's a whole new beast to steam in, bowl fast and average in the low-20s, while leading the Auckland Aces bowling attack. Of course, simple minds will highlight the need for Ferguson to bowl short spells and question his ability to bowl heat at 5pm after a prickly day of Test cricket; my insight to youz is that Ferguson's been doing this in long-form cricket for a number of seasons now.
The challenge will be in whether the threat of Ferguson translates to Test cricket. Again, it's simple to suggest that Ferguson is unique because of his pace, but the real funk is in Ferguson's natural movement into right-handers, away from left-handers. Having a joker bowl 145ishkm/h, while hooping the ball into your off-stump is a nightmare for domestic batsmen, especially when the next delivery might be curling back to smash your toes or, have you on your tippy-toes dealing with a bouncer.
Is Joe Root going to be weary of that though? I believe that Ferguson's control, movement and a 'witness the fitness' level of stamina have him nicely poised to establish himself as a Test bowler. These tools, on top of Ferguson's pace will help him and if Ferguson could only bowl fast without his subtle tricks, I would be far more cautious.
As for Todd Astle, he once again will be in a Test squad and get sporadic game time. The major nod for approval in selecting Astle is that he's a nifty batsman, who is averaging 30 in the Plunket Shield this season after three rounds. Unfortunately, kinda for all involved in this process, Astle is averaging 53.66 with the ball. Wait on...
Astle is the only spinner in Plunket Shield, who has 2+ wickets and averages over 40 ... let alone 50;
Will Somverville (Auckland - 29.50avg), Josef Walker (ND - 35.33avg), Dean Foxcroft (Otago - 24.50avg), Brad Schmulian (CD - 10.25avg), Ajaz Patel (CD - 25.85avg), Michael Rippon (Otago - 10.33avg), Malcolm Nofal (Wellington - 16.13avg).
Somehow Astle has commanded selection. Astle was part of the squad that toured Sri Lanka, but he didn't play a Test in that series, meanwhile Patel took the most wickets of any bowler in that series and Somerville wasn't too far behind. Not only are the two incumbent spinners ignore, the two spinners who didn't take a wicket in the Sri Lankan Test series have been selected.
But Astle can bat? As it stands in the Plunket Shield, both Patel and Somverville each have more runs than Jeet Raval and aren't even 20 runs behind BJ Watling. This isn't anything new for the Blackcaps and if you appreciate Astle's work, this great news for you. What I find weird is how being a spinner isn't exactly celebrated with these kinda selections as it's less about who is the best spinner and more about who can bat a bit as a spinner.
This applies to Santner as well, who has cashed in on his free ticket to Blackcaps Test selection. Santner was out injured and lost his ticket, but he's back. Santner at least put up solid performances in the T20I series vs England, the complete opposite format to Test cricket and this sets up one of our favourite ideas of the past few years; is Santner legit good at Test cricket?
Santner seduces with bat and ball. His talent makes you think 'damn, get him in there!' and then you realise that his all-rounder average is the wrong way round (24.34 with the bat, 39.08 with the ball) and that Santner hasn't taken more than 2 wickets since October 2016. This is relevant because Santner has played 18 Tests and the first nine Tests saw Santner take 3+ wickets in five of those nine Tests, taking 24 wickets during that period. In the second-half of Santner's career, he is averaging 57.50 and yup, straight back in.
Now we are presented with a solid sighting of what Santner may be genuinely about. Stacking the bowling attack with seamers, against an England team who face plenty of seam bowling in England, doesn't feel right and so I reckon Santner or Astle will get a run in the spinning role. I'm very interested to see how this plays out because Aotearoa isn't lacking for depth in this role and it feels like Santner and Astle have been selected on what they might do. Now we'll find out what they might do.
Coming in from Plunket Shield presents other weird narratives..
Jeet Raval has 24 runs in 3inns in Plunket Shield, not enough to put Raval on the top-50 leaderboard for runs.
BJ Watling has 100 runs in 5inns, averaging 20.
Henry Nicholls at least has a century in his 4inns. Since his 103 in the first Plunket Shield game, Nicholls has scores of 16, 15 and 0. Warm-ish form.
Neil Wagner leads all wicket-takers in Plunket Shield with 17w @ 24.11avg.
Matt Henry has had to work hard for his 9w, averaging 39.55 and his 115 overs are second to Wagner's 120.4ov.
The Niche Cache is on Patreon! Where you can support the Niche Cache directly and join the whanau.
Peace and love 27.