Blackcaps now have three wins to start their World Cup after a comprehensive victory over Bangladesh. Bowling first, Aotearoa restricted Bangladesh to 245/9 with the three main seamers all snaring 2+ wickets. Trent Boult took 2w @ 4.5rpo, Matt Henry took 2w @ 5.8rpo and Lockie Ferguson took 3w @ 4.9rpo. Add in another tidy display from Mitchell Santner who took 1w @ 3.1rpo as the most economical kiwi bowler and 1w @ 6.5rpo for Glenn Phillips.

Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell also had a trundle as part of the seven-geezer bowling attack. Ravindra was dismissed early in the batting innings up top with Devon Conway working his way to 45 runs before he was dismissed. Kane Williamson scored 78 runs in his return to international cricket in conjunction with Daryl Mitchell's 89* @ 132sr to ensure victory for Blackcaps.

Williamson suffered an unfortunate blow to his thumb that resulted in him retiring hurt, despite the tough bugger trying to battle on. This allowed for a 16* @ 145sr cameo from Phillips while the inclusion of Williamson came at the expense of Will Young, with Ravindra sliding into the opening slot.

Blackcaps have now rolled out three different teams in their three wins. Jimmy Neesham played the first game and was then swapped out for Ferguson for the win over Netherlands, before the Williamson for Young swap. The quality of players who are yet to grab a game in Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi, plus wrinkles like Ravindra's contributions and Young scoring effortlessly before making way for Williamson highlight the talented depth in this Blackcaps squad.

Ferguson took 3w in ODIs for the first time in almost a year. The last time Ferguson took 3w was November 2022 against India and that's a few years along from his previous 3-wicket haul which was the World Cup final in 2019. This can be sliced differently as Ferguson's career average of 31.5 increases to 47.4 since the 2019 World Cup final. Ferguson is conceding 4.5rpo at the World Cup and this makes him second to Santner's 4.23rpo as the most economical Blackcaps bowlers.

Regardless of whether Ferguson can snare a flurry of wickets or not, his accuracy and skill helps him contain opposition batters. Blackcaps have multiple wicket-taking options and Ferguson can be one of them with his pace, but the ability to build pressure as part of the bowling unit while not taking wickets is a strength of Ferguson and the Blackcaps group.

Santner and Henry both have 8w as the leading wicket-takers so far. Henry is conceding 5.1rpo and the balance of mahi is also evident in Boult being slightly more expensive than Ferguson, taking 3w @ 4.53rpo. Boult has 13w @ 21.92avg/4.89rpo in ODIs this year with a strike-rate of 26.8. 2023 is Boult's third best year of ODI bowling and follows on from 2022 which was his most efficient year of ODI bowling; two of his best ODI bowling years are 2022 and 2023.

The most efficient Blackcaps bowler is Phillips though with 3w in 7ov with a strike-rate of 14. For context, Phillips has the second best bowling strike-rate of all players at the World Cup and along with Bangladesh's Mahedi Hasan, they are the only bowlers (as of Saturday morning) with strike-rates below 15.

Williamson doesn't seem like a bloke who will allow this thumb injury to limit his World Cup mahi. Hopefully he can tap into the same healing process that helped him recover from a major knee injury for this World Cup because like Boult, Williamson is somehow in a career-best ODI pocket. Williamson has three 50+ scores in four innings this year and his 80.66avg in ODIs this year is his highest yearly average since his debut in 2010.

Let's take a moment to saviour Williamson's excellence...

Recent scores: 53, 43, 6, 0, 4, 132, 1, 121*, 215, 54*, 37 (retired), 78* (retired)

Last five years of ODI batting...

2018: 46.8avg
2019: 59.25avg
2020: 20.5
2022: 54.25avg
2023: 80.66avg

Last six years of Test batting...

2018: 59.18avg
2019: 51.4avg
2020: 83avg
2021: 65.83avg
2022: 74avg
2023: 69.5avg

Meanwhile, Mitchell now averages 50+ in Test and ODI batting. Here are the three best Blackcaps batters in ODIs this year...

Daryl Mitchell: 789 runs @ 49.31avg
Devon Conway: 678 runs @ 61.63avg
Will Young: 648 runs @ 43.2avg

And here are the three best Blackcaps bowlers in ODIs this year, excluding Henry Shipley's 15w @ 23.93avg as he isn't in the World Cup squad...

Matt Henry: 22w @ 27.18avg
Rachin Ravindra: 14w @ 40.42avg
Trent Boult: 13w @ 21.92avg

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— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) October 12, 2023

Highest batting strike-rates of Blackcaps World Cup batters in ODIs this year...