Aotearoa vs Bangladesh: The Magic Of The People's Champ (Five Key Things)
Hopefully you didn't get too stressed out after Aotearoa's loss to Bangladesh because the magic of the second Test in Christchurch made it all worthwhile. Aotearoa's Blackcaps bounced back from defeat to resume normal service in Aotearoa, scoring big first innings runs to ensure they only batted once and then take 20 wickets to win the Test. Funny how sliding south to Christchurch flipped the contest around huh? Let's crack into five key things...
The Peoples Champ
Tuesday evenings don't get any more magical than whatever you want to call Luteru Taylor snaring the final wicket in his final Test for Aotearoa. Taylor scored 99 runs in his last 3 innings of Test cricket and the fact that Taylor got starts in each innings (31, 40, 28) only amplified the magic here as we got a wee taste of Taylor's batting mahi, although it never really felt like Taylor was super comfy at the crease. Stretch this out to include the series in India and in this World Test Championship cycle, Taylor has 119 runs in 7inns @ 17avg with a highest score of 40. All of which is to say that a batting fairytale wasn't in the script as Papatuanuku and Ranginui had something far funkier to deliver.
The lack of runs felt sad and folks have been questioning Taylor's future for a while now, pointing to a long lead up where Taylor's batting excellence wasn't on display. That sadness was parlayed into gratitude and cozy vibes since Taylor announced his retirement, which then morphed into a dose of adrenaline as Taylor chuckled with his comrades and teased the crowd by rolling his arm over. Then adrenaline turned into prayer hand emojis as light became a factor and Ranginui (literally the 'Sky Father') stepped in to ensure Taylor bowled. Prior to the third delivery, it all felt lovely. After the third delivery, all those emotions became pure joy
Various players have retired during my time deep in the cricket mangroves and the nature of sport is that only the legends get the luxury of departing on their own terms - some legends don't even get that. No other modern Blackcaps retirement felt like this though with the emotion from team mates matched by emotion from fans at the grounds and around Aotearoa. Luteru Taylor meant something to folk around Aotearoa, he meant something to his comrades and this all felt tangible as skipper Tom Latham snared the winning catch.
I'd love to expand on this, or find a better way to explain it but it's all very fresh and requires many more days of pondering; Luteru Taylor resonated with folks around Aotearoa the most. Taylor meant something to the public, in fact he meant a whole lot to kiwis from every pocket of society.
All hail the People's Champ.
Top Order Batting
The three leading run-scorers for Aotearoa in this series...
Tom Latham: 267 runs @ 89avg.
Devon Conway: 244 runs @ 81.33avg.
Will Young: 175 runs @ 58.33avg.
Those are the top-three batters and that's low key fantastic for Aotearoa cricket. Obviously Latham went deluxe for 252 of his 267 runs, yet the basic premise of Aotearoa's two openers and Conway stepping in for Kane Williamson scoring the bulk of the team's runs leaves the team brewing nicely in Taylor's absence. We know Latham is fantastic and there is a lot of Conway buzz, but don't overlook how slick Young has been in recent Tests.
Young doesn't have the big century to whip everyone into a frenzy, there is an encouraging wrinkle of steadiness with Young and his last five Tests feature runs in different conditions...
vs England (in England): 82, 8.
vs India (in India): 89, 2, 4, 20.
vs Bangladesh (in Aotearoa): 52, 69, 54.
Remember that while England trip over how their batters can't step up from County Championship to Test cricket, Young hit back to back centuries for Durham prior to the tour of England. Young has also been a Central Districts trooper alongside Taylor for many years, probably calling on Taylor for mentorship and guidance. Also funky here is that Young and Conway are both in the Gunn & Moore stable, with Taylor being GM's top-donnie for over a decade.
Seamers Took All The Wickets
32 wickets were taken by Aotearoa in this Test series and Aotearoa's four-headed seam beast accounted for 30 of those wickets. Daryl Mitchell and Taylor each took a wicket, resulting in Taylor taking the only spin wicket for Aotearoa in this series. This is all skewed a bit by losing the first Test and these seamers couldn't quite do the job needed in Tauranga, we then got a Trent Boult 5-for and Kyle Jamieson 4-for while Tim Southee and Neil Wagner both stacked up wickets as well. These lads don't get bogged down and this is evident in how they take wickets in the morning after a long day in the field, as well as how they might dip off in a Test and bounce right back.
There is a vibe of these lads needing plenty of reps to find their groove, especially Wagner. Wagner's last six games of cricket stretch back to the first Test vs England at Lord's and his last 10 games then include four Plunket Shield games from the end of last summer. No white ball cricket there and 10 games played in just under a year. That's great for Wagner's longevity and while the other three require balance in their usage across the formats, Wagner requires balance in finding high quality overs.
Trent Boult: 9w @ 19.33avg/2.49rpo.
Kyle Jamieson: 8w @ 25.50avg/3.09rpo.
Tim Southee: 7w @ 31avg/3.01rpo.
Neil Wagner: 6w @ 34.16avg/2.84rpo.
Giving Tom Blundell Space
Nice wee 57* for Tom Blundell in polishing off the hefty first innings and while it's great for Blundell to score some runs, chill out on poking holes in the line up. Sometimes I'm guilty of looking into matters with the intention of finding who isn't scoring runs or taking wickets and when commentators or your mates chat about Blundell's lack of runs prior to this knock, it's coming from that place of looking for someone out of form.
Looking for the negative instead of the positive is weird first and foremost. The key thing here though is that this is a different phase for the team as they have just started a WTC cycle and the building blocks are being put in place. Yeah, maybe Blundell was in a minor slump. Right now that's all good though and until slumps turn into 'is he good enough?' making changes will only slow down the process. Whether it's Blundell or anyone else who struggles a bit, let them find their way out of the slump and emerge a better player.
World Test Championship Context
Aotearoa now sit 6th on the WTC ladder with a 1-2-1 record. Three of the four Tests played have been in tough conditions for the kiwis, before the kiwi paradise of Hagley Oval. Next up is South Africa who are currently locked at 1-1 with India while the third Test is ongoing and the trio of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen are all under 27-years-old with bowling averages under 23.
Duanne Olivier goes alright too with a Test average of 20 and First-Class average of 23.
Aotearoa has Conway and Wagner coming up against their homeland.
That series should be a cracker, Macca.
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Peace and love.