2020/21 Plunket Shield: Blackcaps Update
Two rounds of Plunket Shield cricket are in the scoring books, which means we have two rounds of glorious four-day cricket for Aotearoa's Blackcaps and that smells like a nice moment to take stock of what's cracking. Not all the Blackcaps are playing and this provides low key funk to keep stored away in your noggin' as the current Blackcaps Test spinner Ajaz Patel and Henry Nicholls have missed both rounds due to injury.
Depending on their availability moving forward, this may have repercussions as far as Blackcaps Test selection goes. It's best to sit back and wait for Patel and Nicholls to get back into the swing of domestic cricket as opposed to trying to forecast selection conundrums, meanwhile Trent Boult, Kane Williamson and Lockie Ferguson are notable Test jokers currently playing Indian Premier League; Ferguson's looking to grab consistent Test selection, then the Boult/Williamson duo are locked in for any Blackcaps Test cricket. Here are the IPL stats as of Wednesday morning for these three lads...
Trent Boult
51.2 overs, 20w @ 20.90avg/8.14rpo.
Kane Williamson
9inns, 200 runs @ 33.33avg/135.13sr.
Lockie Ferguson
19.5 overs, 6w @ 24.66avg/7.46rpo
In the Plunket Shield, Tom Latham is the only bloke stacking any runs as his Test opening partner Tom Blundell, as well as Ross Taylor and BJ Watling have struggled early this summer. The Blundell/Taylor/Watling trio have scored a combined 116 runs so far in the Plunket Shield and that combined tally would have this three-headed beast ranked 11th in the current Plunket Shield run-scoring ranks; a spot behind Doug Bracewell.
Here's how the batsmen stats look...
Tom Latham
3inns, 145 runs @ 48.33avg/65.61sr.
Tom Blundell
4inns, 28 runs @ 7avg/43.07sr.
Ross Taylor
3inns, 48 runs @ 16avg/88.88sr.
BJ Watling
2inns, 40 runs @ 20avg/46.51sr.
Taylor is the kaumatua of the Blackcaps and his mana is borderline infinite at this stage, so no dramas there. Take a step down and Watling won't be in any danger as we know the Blackcaps culture under Kane Williamson revolves around veteran faith, although after scoring 105* (Sri Lanka), 205 and 55 (England) in three consecutive Tests early last summer, Watling recorded six scores under 20 in his next 8inns along with scores of 22 and 40. Aotearoa isn't short on handy wicket-keeper/batsmen and Watling has taken those post-England struggles of last summer into this early stanza of Plunket Shield cricket.
No dramas for Watling though, just a cautious eye on how his summer develops. Take another step down and after owning the Wellington Firebirds middle order, then earning a promotion as an opening batsman for the Blackcaps Test team, Blundell has struggled in his first decent crack at opening for the Firebirds. Blundell wasn't exactly selected as a Blackcaps opener based on being a nifty Firebirds opener and that created one of the weirder situations in Aotearoa cricket - we haven't lacked weird NZC antics in the past five years.
Unless Ed Nuttall is bowling for West Indies, this may not quite be as grimey as it appears. For whatever reason, Wellington have played Canterbury in each of their first two games, first at the Basin Reserve then at Hagley Park and Canterbury have won both games fairly comprehensively; 8 wicket win, then a win by an innings and 19 runs.
That's 4inns for Blundell against Canterbury and Nuttall dismissed Blundell three times. Blundell's first dismissal was an eager pull shot, up and under styles which doesn't look like a good trait for an opening batsman and then Blundell's fiddling outside the off-stump for his next two dismissals via Nuttall and one via Will Williams...
This is how a weird scenario gets weirder: Blundell earns Blackcaps Test opening promotion through his runs scored in the Firebirds middle order and scores Test runs, Blundell then open for Firebirds and struggles. That's so bonkers, it might end up all good and no dramas.
At this stage, I've got Kyle Jamieson in the genuine Blackcaps Test squad (a level above being in the 'mix'). Jamieson is the most dominant force in kiwi cricket right now, not named Conway the Machine and we've got plenty of reading for you with regards to Jamieson. As we discussed on this week's episode of the Niche Cast, the injury to Matt Henry and limited game time for Patel is working out rather nicely for Jamieson and even if Patel's healthy - or another spinner pops up - we know that the Blackcaps Test team loves to live without the spin funk.
And why would you when you're playing Tests in Aotearoa with a seam attack filled to the brim with exceptional kiwi bowlers. Not quite on the Jamieson level, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner have both been super solid in their first two games of the season for Northern Districts Knights and there is no evidence to suggest that these two have fallen away in any capacity. Their Knights comrade Colin de Grandhomme hasn't taken a wicket in 28 overs, although de Grandhomme did whack a 60 and his overall strike-rate of 98.14 isn't just the best for batsmen who have scored 50+ runs, it's the only strike-rate over 90 for those 24 batsmen with 50+ runs.
Kyle Jamieson
55.5 overs, 15w @ 8.80avg/2.36rpo.
Tim Southee
46 overs, 7w @ 19avg/2.89rpo.
Neil Wagner
37 overs, 7w @ 21.85avg/4.13rpo.
Colin de Grandhomme
28 overs @ 3.14rpo.
3inns, 106 runs @ 35.33avg/98.14sr.
Of course, Wagner is taking wickets with his short stuff, but like Jamieson's skill in moving the ball to go with his height/bounce package, do not sleep on Wagner's ability to move the ball. When Wagner is swinging/nipping the ball, it's a nightmare for the batsman as they are well aware of what Wagner does to Test batsmen and that naturally gets batsmen slightly on the back foot; in precarious positions to defend fuller deliveries or pounce on a juicier delivery.
Wagner took 4w in the first innings of the Knights round two win over Otago Volts and this sums up Wagner at the Plunket Shield level as he took 2w with shorter deliveries and 2w will full deliveries that must have swung/nipped; Wagner moved on back into righty Camden Hawkins for an lbw and away from lefty Max Chu to catch the off stick.
Again, that's likely possible because Hawkins and Chu - two younger batsmen - will know that Wagner's short stuff is the danger and then if Wagner's able to move the ball it's a double whammy. Prior to Wagner bullying the Volt batting line up, Wagner snared experienced Central Districts Stags opener Greg Hay lbw on 93 and then dismissed Ross Taylor with the next ball. Two lbws, consecutive deliveries against two experienced campaigners...
We can't see much there as far as gauging ball movement etc. What that clearly shows are two different approaches; Hay is set at the crease and while he starts on about middle, he ends up to the left of the ball while Taylor's new to the crease and opts to start on off stump, smothering the ball. All of which is to highlight that Wagner's busy, working over domestic batsmen and while he nor Southee are doing Jamieson things, they are showing their stuff and getting quality reps in.
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Peace and love.