Aotearoa vs West Indies: How Good Is The Aotearoa Test Cricket Team?
One of the joys of being part of Aotearoa is enjoying a Blackcaps team steamrolling their opposition, in Test cricket, in the summer months. While Aotearoa is the best sporting nation in the world, many of the kiwis who compete at a world-class level do so with a lingering sniff of underdog status and there aren't too many athletes or teams who genuinely sit on a perch and oversee their competition on an international level.
Abby Erceg's individual work in a team sport puts her in that top-tier status, the All Blacks obviously and then Israel Adesanya cruising around as one of, if not the biggest combat sports star at the moment. When the Blackcaps play Test cricket in Aotearoa, they are the kiwi bullies - that is to say that they are cricketing bullies with the lovely kiwi vibe and as we flow through wrapping up this Test series vs West Indies, saluting kiwi sporting bullies needs to be done.
The last time the Blackcaps lost a Test series in Aotearoa was back in the summer of 2016/17 vs South Africa in a three-Test series. The Blackcaps have played three of those super expansive revolutionary three-Test series in this period, starting with the South Africa series, then a trip to United Arab Emirates where Aotearoa defeated Pakistan 2-1 and then the tour of Australia last summer. That series vs South Africa was the last series of three Tests in Aotearoa.
Upon reflection, trying to package this whole Test landscape in context, the series win in UAE was a mighty result for Aotearoa. This was the only series win outside Aotearoa since the Blackcaps defeated Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe back in 2016 and thus, the only Test series wins overseas since the start of 2015 have been in UAE vs Pakistan and that Zim series. That would look a wee bit better if the Blackcaps had flipped their 1-1 drawn series in Sri Lanka last year, into a series win.
The recipe for the Blackcaps big donnie status is a two-Test series in Aotearoa. Since South Africa won the three-Test series in 2016/17, the Blackcaps won the following two-Test series in Aotearoa: West Indies, England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England, India and West Indies.
Hence, we have been enjoying the limited dose of Test cricket in Aotearoa to such an extent. Summer vibes and the Blackcaps beating up whoever wants some. I've got nothing concrete to suggest that this is the case, although it feels like the players are enjoying a greater platform and that NZC - despite apparently struggling financially - would be enjoying the steady, bankable dose of a sizzling hot Blackcaps team in Aotearoa. The Blackcaps are pretty damn good at putting on a Test cricket extravaganza and we can add to this recipe a bit of seasoning where the Blackcaps bat first, bat once as they did in both Tests vs West Indies.
Intentionally or not (win or lose the toss) that's the complete recipe of Blackcaps domination in Aotearoa. The wrinkle of development that 2020 has provided is that with Kyle Jamieson emerging has an influential player, this version of the Blackcaps Test team feels as though it is the best team that has been rolled out in the last few years. There are some moving parts here as Will Young probably slips out of the 1st 11 when Kane Williamson is available and then we have to ponder the various options available if Jamieson finds himself ahead of Colin de Grandhomme and Daryl Mitchell as the best all-rounder.
It's not just that Jamieson moves the ball both ways like his senior seam bowling homies, nor that he's a fairly legit batsman. Jamieson's also provides an opening for a spinner to be played alongside this current four-headed seam bowling beast, or an extra seamer/all-rounder. When grooving through the tools needed to win Tests in any conditions, these little tweaks and options are crucial.
Here's how the seam bowling group performed in 2020 and this should serve as some Tim Southee appreciation...
Tim Southee: 8inns, 26w @ 15.73avg/2.94rpo.
Trent Boult: 8inns, 16w @ 27.25avg/3.15rpo.
Neil Wagner: 8inns, 14w @ 23.64avg/2.80rpo.
Kyle Jamieson: 8inns, 20w @ 14.55avg/2.64rpo.
This has been the single best year of Southee's career, while Southee's two best calendar years have been 2018 and 2020.
Not everyone scored runs, not everyone needs to and judging Blackcaps Test batting form has to be sussed out across multiple series or a whole summer. Tom Blundell had two scores of 14 in two different roles, while Ross Taylor and BJ Watling didn't put up a hefty score in their opportunities. Will Young and Daryl Mitchell didn't pass 50, yet they did put up scores in the 40s and this is to suggest that while blokes didn't star with the bat, it's completely all good.
Kane Williamson batted once and finished as the leading run-scorer for the whole series. Tom Latham was joined by Jamieson and Neil Wagner in chiming in with runs, while Henry Nicholls may have played the … hmm … most interesting knock of the series. Williamson's double-banger was pure Williamson wizardry, Nicholls' 174 in the second Test was lucky, rugged, crafty and eventually lovely.
What has crept under the radar, is that while everyone can rattle off how many innings Nicholls hadn't passed 50 in Test cricket, Nicholls has been guzzling runs in different formats, in sporadic appearances. Not scoring Test runs suggests being out of form, scoring runs when playing regularly suggests being in form and that's amplified when a batsman is cruising through the formats scoring runs in the space of a month or a summer. Nicholls though, has been scoring runs in any format, whenever he plays...
Nicholls' previous 50+ score in Test cricket was a century vs Bangladesh early in 2019.
Nicholls then had scores of 8, 0, 28 and 55 in the World Cup.
Last summer, Nicholls had 4inns of Plunket Shield cricket with a century and also had one century, two halfies in his three Ford Trophy games (3inns, 237 runs @ 79avg/90.11sr).
Three ODIs vs India for Nicholls last summer and he was the leading Blackcaps batsman with 199 runs @ 66.33avg/81.55sr.
Nicholls had scores of 17, 14 and 5* in the Test series vs India.
Slide into this summer and Nicholls had a Plunket Shield 87, then 76 in a tour game vs West Indians, the 43* (@ 107.50sr) in his lone Ford Trophy game before this Test series. That translates to Nicholls playing four-day, 50-over, tour game and Tests so far this summer with some kinda score in all of those formats ... within the space of a month.
"Which park are y'all playing basketball, get me on the court and I'm trouble, last week messed around and got a trouble-double"
As Ice Cube laid out in 'It Was A Good Day' when the Blackcaps are playing Test cricket in Aotearoa, they are trouble and they're so good in Aotearoa they'll mess around at jack up hefty stats. Ice Cube feels like he can take his triple-double baller antics to any Los Angeles basketball court, mess around and get a triple-double; we simply don't know if the Blackcaps can take all this amazing Test cricket work in Aotearoa to someone else's home court.
That's exciting because I'm fizzing to see what this current version of the Blackcaps Test team can do with a greater challenge. Remember that West Indies and Pakistan are the teams who have to endure the rigours of overseas touring in 2020, remember that both West Indies and Pakistan have had some sort of brush with the isolation rules and regulation. None of that is easy, all of it is niggly for either team and as that's in stark contrast to how the Blackcaps can roll trough this summer.
The Blackcaps have played just three Test series overseas since the start of 2017; tour of UAE in 2018, tour of Sri Lanka in 2019, Australia last summer. England, Bangladesh and West Indies have toured Aotearoa twice in that period, let alone their other overseas excursions and while we have to celebrate this Blackcaps Test outfit and their bullying/steamrolling nature in Aotearoa, we must also appreciate that their Test schedule has been about as warm and cosy as it gets.
Whether by design or simply by the good graces of the cricketing gods, the Blackcaps have cruised through a rather comfy period of Test cricket and thus, they are nicely poised in the Test Championship and Test rankings. All of which reflects Aotearoa's dominance in Aotearoa and all of which should have kiwi cricket fans eager to see how the Blackcaps move forward in the coming year or two as they venture outside of their comfort zone.
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Peace and love.