Every team enters the T20 World Cup with oodles of x-factor and Aotearoa is no different. With the bat we have immense intrigue as to how Devon Conway goes in conditions he is yet to dabble in and he's joined by the low key T20 exploits of Kane Williamson. Chuck in the funky hitting of Glenn Phillips, let alone whatever Martin Guptill wants to do and then the army of bowlers; Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson are all pretty damn good.

One bloke who I've been pondering about is Jimmy Neesham. I have Neesham as the main 1st 11 all-rounder and while we all know what Neesham is capable as a cricketer, there are some signs that bump up intrigue. Neesham has popped up to play two games in the Indian Premier League's second stanza with Mumbai Indians and he snared 3w, then 2w without doing much with the bat.

The key thing with Neesham is efficiency and in cricket that mainly revolves around strike-rates. Neesham will bat in the middle order and that role requires a splash of skill to bat through the innings if the team has lost early wickets, although the crux of this role is smacking boundaries. As a bowler, Neesham is unlikely to work through his full stash of 4 overs but is required to do a job when required.

I'm not here to convince you that Neesham is a certified seamer pushing for Test selection. This is all about Neesham playing his role for Aotearoa and there are positive signs in Neesham's recent mahi that he could execute this role at a major tournament. Well ... another major tournament. Neesham was solid with the bat at the ODI World Cup with 33.14avg/78.91sr and he was one of 40 batters to score 200+ runs in that tournament, while finishing 11th for all bowlers and Aotearoa's second best bowler.

Neesham bowled in nine games with 15w @ 19.46avg/5.35rpo/21.8sr. Only two of the 10 bowlers with more wickets had a better average, while only three had better bowling strike-rates. Neesham operated better than a wicket a game, almost hitting 2w per game in a World Cup. Let's see how that looks in Neesham's recent T20 mahi...

2020 Super Smash: 7inns - 12w @ 7.87rpo/13.3sr

T20 Blast: 12inns - 5w @ 8.50rpo/33.6sr.

The Hundred: 7inns - 7w @ 9.07rpo/11.4sr.

IPL: 3inns - 5w @ 7.33rpo/10.80sr.

Small IPL sample alert and while The Hundred is beautifully aligned with the rest, Neesham's T20 Blast stats balance things out. In all but the Blast, Neesham's snaring at least a wicket per game with strike-rates below 15. This is the third IPL in which Neesham has played and it’s already his best bowling campaign after taking 2w in 2020 and 1w in 2014, both with strike-rates over 45. Combine that with Neesham's T20 International mahi and things swirl around to leave me curious about Neesham's scope at the World Cup...

2019: 3inns - 2w @ 12.80rpo/15sr.

2020: 4inns - 3w @ 10.70rpo/17sr.

2021: 3inns - 2w @ 13.16rpo/18sr.

That's the Neesham who Blackcaps fans are well acquainted with. In all three years Neesham is close to my wicket per game marker and he's also conceding at least 10rpo. Welcome to the Neesham conundrum where Neesham has a sneaky ability to grab key wickets while getting tonked and he's often getting wickets that come from 'loose deliveries'. When Neesham dips down a level to those domestic tournaments listed above, he's conceding fewer runs while maintaining his wicket-taking swag and as he moves up levels such as this year's IPL and then T20I, better batsmen seem better equipped to deal with Neesham.

Regardless of level though, Neesham bags wickets. Neesham has 18w in 23 innings of T20I cricket and 149w in 148 T20 innings, both close to that wicket per game marker.

T20I: 23inns - 18w @ 9.45rpo/17.30sr.

T20: 148inns - 149w @ 9.05rpo/16.80sr.

For context, Tim Southee has bowling strike-rates of 18 (T20I) and 19.30sr (T20). Trent Boult wiggles around with 16.40sr (T20I) and 19.10sr (T20). Southee and Boult operate between 8.27rpo and 8.53rpo across the T20 formats which is more economical than Neesham, but not a vast chasm between Aotearoa's best bowlers and this all-rounder chap. The fact that Neesham's bowling mahi is at least comparable to these two is fantastic and if stats are twisted in a certain way, a stat-loving alien may reckon Neesham's far better.

Neesham hovers around a wicket per game and he's pretty good at smacking boundaries. That wasn't on display in last summer's Super Smash where Neesham averaged 17.80 with 115.58sr. Neesham rectified this with 135sr in the T20 Blast and 142.42sr in The Hundred, while not doing much to start this second stanza of IPL. Here are Neesham's T20I batting strike-rates...

2019: 165.78sr.

2020: 171.05sr.

2021: 200sr.

The niggle there is that all those games were in Aotearoa. Neesham's overall T20I strike-rate in Aotearoa (13inns) is 173.52 and Neesham's strike-rate overseas (9inns) doesn't pass 140sr. Neesham hasn't played a T20I overseas since 2015 and while he's gathering experience in leagues around the world, Neesham is like many of these Blackcaps T20I players who haven't stacked up international cricket experience in foreign conditions.

Which leaves a bunch of uncertainty around what Neesham may deliver at the T20 World Cup. The general premise of an all-rounder who takes a wicket a game, with bowling strike-rates below 20 and has a batting strike-rate over 140 is exciting. Neesham might only bowl an over here, an over there and there is a high chance that he'll snare a wicket. Give Neesham 15 deliveries and he's likely to crack 25 runs if not more.

Neesham is also likely to concede 10 runs per over. We don't know how Neesham will go batting in United Arab Emirates against the best T20 bowling attacks that other nations can assemble. This makes Neesham's T20 World Cup rather fascinating and with plenty of talent in this Blackcaps outfit, Neesham's tournament is likely to be based around specific moments. Neesham's tournament will be about efficiency and we'll be there watching, hoping for Neesham to serve up a handy over with bat or ball.

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