Ahead of their tour of Pakistan, Blackcaps made a few tweaks to provide a fresh Test and ODI group. This freshen up was part of a wider Blackcaps pivot as a few lads retired and others gave up their contracts to drift off into T20 oblivion. Now Blackcaps are rolling through a development tour of India where their best players aren't in action and the impressive depth of kiwi cricket gathers experience in a tricky environment.

The Tests in Pakistan were part of the World Test Championship and then the three ODIs featured as part of the World Cup Super League. Blackcaps appeared to lay out their priorities as their two best players in Kane Williamson and Tim Southee returned to Aotearoa after their Pakistan excursion.

Blackcaps needed a freshen up because they are 8th in the WTC. Pakistan is one spot ahead of the kiwis and while teeny-weeny margins could have swung this series in favour of either team, a drawn series overseas against in an evenly poised match up was a fair result.

Aotearoa cruised through ODIs against Netherlands, Ireland and West Indies in the WCSL before being swept by Australia. The next WCSL series was against India in Aotearoa and Blackcaps won the first game before Papatuanuku/Ranginui had their say in the remaining two games. Test softness crept into Blackcaps ODI cricket and the kiwis needed to bag some wins in Pakistan to reclaim mana, while also climbing up the WCSL ladder.

In the Test series debrief it was noted that Pakistan had won eight consecutive ODIs and as of January 28th, Pakistan join India as the only WCSL teams with 13 wins - Aotearoa leads the WCSL with 14 wins. While there is plenty of value in the Indian tour, the reaction to the ODI series loss was strange considering that Blackcaps had won crucial WCSL games in Pakistan a week earlier ... and are 1st on the WCSL ladder.

When Blackcaps or any other kiwi sports team stinks, we'll highlight their woes. Blackcaps have been pretty damn stinky in Test cricket since the WTC and their ODI performance in Australia was equally as stinky. Blackcaps are shifting between eras and despite what you may observe over the past week, the pre-Pakistan freshen up and greater Blackcaps pivot appears to be working.

The most obvious shift saw Kane Williamson replaced by Tim Southee as Test skipper. Williamson and Southee have played together since their days as Northern Districts juniors, so there wasn't going to be any ego-niggle between these two. Williamson still operates as the ODI and T20I skipper, highlighting a collaborative approach between the two. The captaincy situation didn't impact their cricketing mahi as Williamson and Southee were Aotearoa's best players in the ODIs vs Pakistan, among the best kiwis in the Tests; Williamson hit a double-banger, Southee was the leading seamer.

Southee's promotion to Test captain may have led to Ish Sodhi's selection and busy mahi in the Pakistan Tests. Perhaps the need to freshen up the Test team was evident in rolling with a funkier, more attacking style via Southee. Sodhi is the most attacking spinner in Aotearoa and he returned the favour with crucial runs down the order, the most wickets of Blackcaps bowlers (13w @ 25.15avg) and he was given the most overs of Blackcaps bowlers (102.5ov).

Bumping Devon Conway up to open alongside Tom Latham was another intriguing move that coincides with the change in captaincy. Will Young has 1st 11 Blackcaps talent and an opportunity will swing his way when Blackcaps return to Aotearoa, but Conway is a world-class batter who gave the Blackcaps a fabulous top-order alongside Williamson and Tom Latham.

Those changes were low key moves, while retirements and players dipping out of contracts whipped up headlines. Trent Boult would have helped the Test and ODI teams in Pakistan but it's tricky to assess his impact in such spin-heavy conditions. Boult was already managing his workload prior to his contract release and not much has changed in that regard - Boult probably would have joined Williamson and Southee in skipping the Indian tour.

Don't fall for the old guys chatting about Boult unfairly taking someone's spot when he wants to return, or NZC chatting about 'contracted players getting first priority'. Boult is still Aotearoa's most efficient wicket-taker in the WTC and WCSL. Boult is still the second best bowler Aotearoa has ever produced and should waltz back into 1st 11 mahi when he wants to.

The most interesting Blackcaps pivot is moving from Colin de Grandhomme and Jimmy Neesham to Michael Bracewell and Glenn Phillips. De Grandhomme was a steady 1st 11 ODI player during the 2019 World Cup phase and slowly fell out of Blackcaps cricket, while Neesham was still being selected up to the ODIs in Australia and T20I World Cup without a contract. Neesham was also a consistent presence in the 2019 World Cup group.

That 2019 World Cup was in England and the 2023 World Cup is in India. Even the most basic cricket folk can smell the seam vs spin difference between these World Cups. The wee nation of Aotearoa has made four consecutive World Cup semi-finals and three consecutive T20 World Cups semi-finals. Blackcaps are obviously doing something right here and deserve the benefit of any doubt when it comes to World Cup planning. Having tracked Test and ODI softness, as well as these changes, there appears to be a clear plan to develop spin-bowling all-rounders for the upcoming World Cup in India.

Bracewell and Phillips give Blackcaps more batting which will be crucial in hitting/chasing big totals. Both can chime in with overs of spin alongside Mitchell Santner and Sodhi. Sodhi was the best Blackcaps bowler in the Pakistan Tests, then he missed the first ODI against Pakistan which Blackcaps lost. Sodhi took 3w @ 29.33avg/4.88rpo in the next two ODIs and Aotearoa won the series.

Given the messaging Blackcaps sent with selection across the Pakistan and India tours, Sodhi's absence in the ODIs against India may fall in the 'conveniently injured' basket. Sodhi seems likely to earn World Cup selection and this gives Aotearoa (the land of the long white cloud and seam) four spinners competing for 1st 11 Word Cup selection, perhaps all four can play in the same team.

Rolling with Bracewell and Phillips gives them time to develop in their roles, which is precisely why Finn Allen is now opening in ODIs and T20Is. Allen entered the Blackcaps mixer as a T20 slugger and grabbed ODI selection as part of an extended squad that toured Europe in 2022. Allen then opened alongside Martin Guptill in the West Indies where Allen's 124 runs @ 41.33avg was tied for the most Blackcaps runs and Guptill scored 84 runs @ 28avg.

Guptill was given first crack in the Aussie series and he scored 8 runs in 24 deliveries. Allen only scored 35 runs in his opportunity, but he was typically frisky with the highest strike-rate of the top-four batters from either team in the third ODI. We'll breeze over how NZC celebrated Guptill with their T20WC squad announcement at his old school, then didn't give Guptill any game time at that event.

Allen earned his T20I opening gig through consistent Super Smash slugging. Those who have watched Allen in Super Smash, know what he can do and how he does it. That was on display against Australia at the T20WC and the reaction to that knock was interesting as Allen was simply doing Finn Allen things. This has now flowed into interesting reaction to Allen's ODI mahi in India as his role doesn’t lend itself to consistent run-scoring.

Blackcaps probably want Allen to generate momentum in favour of the kiwis. Allen is learning his 50-over craft and needs to develop his defensive tools in longer formats. His role in this team is do spark up the innings and Allen's 40 runs @ 102.56sr in the first ODI against India is a solid example of this. There is a hefty difference in playing that role with Williamson batting third compared to Henry Nicholls operating as a false safety net.

Allen has now batted 16 times in ODI cricket with 14 innings overseas. Allen has played series in West Indies, Pakistan and India which are vastly different conditions to Aotearoa. Allen has five scores below 10 in his 16 innings and his ducks against India is the first pocket of his career with consecutive scores below 10. This is a young lad who is grinding through his ODI development and there seems to be a plan in place to brew Allen in this role for the World Cup.

While Blackcaps have pivoted in preparation for the World Cup this year, the short-term holds immense intrigue. Blackcaps have WTC and WCSL games against Sri Lanka in Aotearoa to round out the kiwi summer. Test wins would bump Blackcaps up to a mid-table spot in WTC, while ODI wins could mean Aotearoa enters the World Cup as the best WCSL team (at least top-three).

First though, there is a Test series against England. While not part of the WTC, this will be a massive Test series for both nations given all the funky wrinkles on offer, let alone the fizz of Test cricket in Aotearoa. Boult may want a slice of this action and Kyle Jamieson is back in the domestic circuit, which could see Blackcaps slide back into their Aotearoa status-quo. The first Test is in spin-friendly conditions of Tauranga, opening up an Ajaz Patel/Sodhi/Bracewell/Santner battle. Young may command a Test recall with dominant domestic batting.

For all the tweaks in this Blackcaps pivot, upcoming Test series in Aotearoa may prove them to be irrelevant. The last few weeks have planted seeds of change in Blackcaps cricket though and as their stale mahi resulted in a Test series sweep to England last year, perhaps the fresh vibes will continue deep into the kiwi summer.

Make a donation via Buy Me A Coffee

Join the Niche Cache Patreon whanau to support our kiwi sports content straight up, get a karma boost and find extra podcasts.

Every Monday and Friday we fire off an email newsletter with bonus content. Sign up here!

Peace and love.