Aotearoa Blackcaps vs Australia: Guppy Gang
Series decider, clutch moments, big game players and a T20I series win over Australia for Aotearoa's Blackcaps. The fifth and final game featured a strong through-line from the previous four games as Ish Sodhi kept on taking wickets in combination with Mitchell Santner and Martin Guptill kept on having a geeze at the molecules of dirt as his various sixes sailed into the yellow-seated abys.
A lot was different in this final game though for the Blackcaps. Devon Conway was bumped up the order to open alongside Guppy with Tim Seifert moved down the order, plus Mark Chapman replaced Kyle Jamieson after plugging a hole when Mitchell Santner was unavailable mid-series. These tweaks are against the backdrop of a T20 World Cup in India, where every batsman who can roll the arm over will be getting their net-reps up as the Wellington pitch was nicely aligned with the funky spin conditions that will be found in India.
Blackcaps success has sprouted from adaptation, specifically in major tournaments. World Cups flip into a bit of a grind, although every game is a wee bit different as teams travel around a country and play in different conditions, on different pitches, against different opponents. In England, the Blackcaps weren't the sexiest team and yet they rolled through the 2019 World Cup constantly adapting to their next challenge.
In the decider, the Blackcaps adapted further. Glenn Phillips had a bowl, going for 10.50rpo off his 2 overs and while that was a bit extravagant, the trio of Santner, Sodhi and Mark Chapman executed their roles. In Tim Southee and Trent Boult, the Blackcaps had two seamers who have shown how to move the ball both ways in Test cricket and in slower, spicier conditions they have a full quiver of tricks. At the scent of such spin, the Blackcaps swiftly shuffled their cards and ended up in a stronger position than the Aussies.
Seifert's move down the order and Jamieson's exit from the 1st 11, conveniently came under umbrella not named 'dropped'. Maybe the 'convenience' umbrella as Seifert and Jamieson weren't performing close to their best, leading to Seifert making way for Conway as Conway's a better player of spin and Chapman came in for Jamieson because he bowls spin. That's fair and understandable.
Also applicable is the fact that Conway might be a better opening contender than Seifert.
And if Jamieson isn't attacking the stumps, then his length gets a bit too juicy in T20 cricket.
The Conway/Seifert bit is rather interesting as Seifert's the wicket-keeper, while Conway can play as a wicket-keeper. Phillips has done so in the past as well. Conway's move to open and generally looking like a uber-classy international batsman is the biggest shake up of this series; only one 50+ score in this series, but Conway hit 192 runs in 5inns @ 140.14sr without much stress.
Early days but damn, Conway is slick.
The key performers in the decider were the same lads who were good throughout the series. Everything was the same, except it wasn't and these tweaks to the line up could prove intriguing heading forward.
Sodhi finished with 13w @ 12.07avg/8.26rpo/8.7sr.
Sodhi was the only bowler with 10+ wickets and a strike-rate below 10. Santner took a decent 6w @ 16.16avg/15.5sr and Santner's economy rate of 6.25rpo was immense considering that it was the cheapest of the notable bowlers. Ashton Agar came in at 6.88rpo and Chapman chimed in with 4.50rpo in the last game. This is kinda what we've all pondered for Aotearoa spin matters as Sodhi's the weapon, Santner keeps things tidy; spin bowling yin-yang stuff.
Most notable though is the bag of tricks. During recent Test cricket, I basked in the seamers moving the ball both ways and the Sodhi/Santner combo are doing the exact same thing with spin bowling.
Sodhi has his leggy, wrongy and slider. Pace variation and while he might drop short, his pitch control has improved to where he can tie up a right-hander with his doosras and vice versa.
Santner bows lefty spin and lefty seam. In the decider, Santner dried up Marcus Stoinis with deliveries that appeared to bounce as much as they spun sideways and as Stoinis muscles boundaries, there was a clear plan to use pace and bounce to tie him up.
This all comes back to Shane Jurgenson as bowling coach. Santner and Sodhi chat through details on the pitch and will break down plans with each other off the pitch - as Southee and Boult do. Jurgenson is the bloke facilitating this off the pitch and creating an environment where skills are development, then executed at a high level.
When pondering what coaches do, focus on the skill development of players and whether they are improving.
The quartet of Southee/Boult/Sodhi/Santner is a tight T20I bowling unit. After casting the T20I net far and wide, this is the concentrate that has the most flavour and as I highlighted earlier in the series, these lads are certified world-class.
Most T20I Wickets All Time
Southee: 3rd - 93 wickets.
Sodhi: 9th - 69 wickets.
Santner: 18th - 60 wickets.
Boult: 44th - 46 wickets.
Best T20I Averages All Time
Santner: 44th - 21.45avg.
Sodhi: 47th - 22.08avg.
Boult: 61st - 23.34avg.
Southee: 84th - 26.04avg.
As for Guptill...
Guptill is 2nd in T20I runs, roughly 100 runs behind Virat Kohli. Guptill has the most T20I runs of any kiwi and his average of 32.26 is ranked 25th all time, with Brendon McCullum (35.66) the only kiwi ranked ahead of Guptill. Here's hoping that Williamson is in tact as captain for the T20 World Cup because Guptill's form may simply come down to who his captain is...
Williamson as captain: 39.62avg/150.59sr.
Southee as captain: 16.69avg/143.70sr.
Everything is more fun when Guppy's banging those boundaries right?