How Blackcaps Softness Became A Trend
The losing record against Australia in ODIs is cute and maybe Aotearoa is scared of the Aussie cricket team, but Blackcaps softness is a far greater trend than being swept by Australia. Being swept is unfortunately part of this trend as Blackcaps have been swept by England in Tests and now Australia in ODIs, among other concerning wrinkles which now require an adjustment to Blackcaps expectations.
Prior to being swept by Australia, Blackcaps had rolled through white ball series against Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands and West Indies. After facing weaker European nations, touring West Indies for T20I and ODI games saw Blackcaps depth funneled into a strong group, the best available group. Aotearoa not only had their best players humming ahead of ODIs against Australia they also gathered experience in tricky, spinny, tacky conditions. All of this felt like lovely preparation for an enticing series.
Blackcaps were rarely under pressure during this elongated tour, in fact Blackcaps have rarely been under pressure in ODI/T20Is this year. In Test cricket, Blackcaps have lived under pressure as they had a niggly tour of India followed by Test losses to Bangladesh and South Africa in Aotearoa. Blackcaps faced immense pressure against a sizzling England outfit and were swept aside.
Test cricket is a format that allows teams to bat and bowl twice. After World Test Championship glory, Blackcaps have lost six out of seven Tests where they are required to bat twice. Batting twice isn't a horrible task and is part of Test cricket, yet Blackcaps seem to struggle with basic Test mahi. The only Test that Blackcaps haven't lost when batting twice was the first Test vs India where Aotearoa put up scores below 300. They were then rolled for 62 and 167 in the second Test.
When everything is lovely, Blackcaps can dominate their opponent. Aotearoa loves the premise of batting once and going large, then skittling a touring nation twice. This is similar to a rugby league team wining when their completion rate is 90 percent, or winning a rugby/football game with over 55 percent possession. When everything is lovely, Blackcaps enjoy domination.
In this WTC cycle, everything has been lovely in two of nine games though. When Blackcaps are forced into a more regular flow of Test cricket they have been soundly defeated, losing by 8 wickets to Bangladesh as well as a margin of an innings and 276 runs to South Africa. Blackcaps have one draw in these nine Tests and they can barely grit through adversity to snare a draw.
This background context can be easily overlooked and I overlooked some of these wobbles. Blackcaps have had high turnover in their squads and depth has been tested, which left me curious about the sharpening phase. Now things are falling into place, providing divine alignment of soft and timid Blackcaps antics.
Highlighting an individual's struggles such as Martin Guptill's form is the epitome of overlooking Blackcaps context. All the individuals who played against Australia combined for a soft vibe in the same way that two rather different playing groups in ODIs and Test cricket have combined for softness. Against Australia, Blackcaps found themselves in the same situation with an advantage only to let it slip. Early wickets led to nothing and hard mahi from batters to start their innings saw them dismissed with Test strike-rates; Kane Williamson scored 89 runs @ 48sr for example.
Daryl Mitchell has been a sizzling batter this year and he grabbed 52 runs @ 60sr. This isn't about one player or dropping this player to open that thing up. This is about a Blackcaps team that has seen a ruthless winning edge vanish and with Luteru Taylor retiring, this has exposed a soft white underbelly.
To further clutter this situation, Trent Boult was Aotearoa's best bowler against Australia and also took the most wickets in ODIs vs West Indies. This is Boult's best year of ODI bowling (18w @ 12.38avg) and in Test cricket, Boult is having one of his best years (25w @ 25.48avg). The bloke who offers the most hope right now has opted to make sporadic appearances for Aotearoa.
Cracking the T20 World Cup final last year saw Blackcaps make T20 and ODI World Cup finals, wining the WTC between those tournaments. Everything after that T20 WC has been fairly wonky and the upcoming T20 WC in Australia provides an intriguing juncture for Blackcaps. Blackcaps will face Bangladesh and Pakistan in T20Is ahead of the World Cup which will inform us about their turangawaewae, but the World Cup will provide further education.
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Peace and love.