2023/24 World Test Championship: Blackcaps vs Bangladesh Second Test Debrief
Aotearoa's Blackcaps have burst up the World Test Championship ladder with their win in Bangladesh, bouncing back after a loss in the first Test. New Zealand and Bangladesh took 12 points each from this series which gives them a 50 percent win rate, good enough for these two teams to be tied for third spot. The win in Mirpur, Dhaka was crucial for Aotearoa as it gave them a rare win away from home and a win ahead of a tricky summer with South Africa and Australia touring New Zealand.
This was the first Test win overseas for Blackcaps since the World Test Championship final in 2021. Since the dose of WTC glory, Blackcaps have lost five Tests and drawn three overseas. The three draws came in tricky Asian conditions with one draw in India and two in Pakistan, while Blackcaps had a loss in India, three losses in England and the loss in Sylhet.
Blackcaps made a change to their playing 11 with Mitchell Santner replacing Ish Sodhi. Santner snapped up his opportunity with 6w @ 19avg/2.9rpo and 35* batting with Glenn Phillips to seal the win. Phillips had scored of 87 (120sr) and 40* (83sr), plus his 3w @ 2.5rpo in the first innings. Phillips finishes this series with the most runs for Aotearoa and his 181 runs @ 60avg/87sr makes him the only Blackcap to score 140+ runs, also finishing as Aotearoa's second best wicket-taker with 8w @ 16avg/2.9rpo.
Folks love to moan about Blackcaps selections, yet the selection of Phillips in the 1st 11 for both Tests and then giving Santner a crack for the second Test is a positive wrinkle. Everyone wanted Rachin Ravindra in the team after his World Cup exploits but Phillips and Santner were given game time ahead of Ravindra. Phillips and Santner were crucial in this win, with Santner adding a skillful, accurate spin presence. Phillips and Santner both averaged 30+ with batting strike-rates over 75, as well as operating below 3rpo with the ball.
In a Test where neither team scored over 180 runs, the batters obviously struggled and the bowlers stepped up. Despite the loss in Sylhet, Blackcaps bowlers never allowed Bangladesh's batters to stretch out big leads in either Test. One would expect the hosts to enjoy an advantage batting in their conditions and yet two innings of scores below 350 in Sylhet were followed by Blackcaps bowlers restricting the hosts for less than 180 runs in Dhaka.
Ajaz Patel was the best bowler for Aotearoa with 8w in the second Test taking him to 14w @ 23avg/3.5rpo for the series. Patel operated as the leading spinner for Blackcaps, churning out 95.4 overs while no other kiwi bowler served up more than 45ov. This is a major boost for Patel as he had tallies of 0w, 2w and 3w in the Tests that followed his Mumbai magic and he is a key figure in Aotearoa's overseas cricket; Patel averages 28 in Tests outside Aotearoa and doesn't have an average in Aotearoa as he hasn't taken a wicket in 49ov.
Patel, Phillips and Santner all took at least 6w in this series. Conditions were clearly favourable for spin bowling but skipper Tim Southee played his role nicely with an epic 1w @0rpo in the first innings of the win, finishing as Aotearoa's most economical bowler (apart from Daryl Mitchell's 1ov @ 2rpo) in the series. Southee took 4w @ 25avg/2.49rpo and despite Kyle Jamieson not being required for much mahi, he also played his role with 4ov @ 2rpo in the first innings.
This bowling performance is enticing because the best Test bowlers for New Zealand this year weren't playing in Bangladesh. Prior to the second Test, five Blackcaps had taken 10+ wickets in Tests this year and Southee was the only lad playing in Bangladesh. This has grown to six bowlers with 10+ wickets as Patel entered the equation, playing in his second and third Tests of the year.
Phillips and Jamieson played their first Tests of the year in Sylhet, while Santner's first Test this year came in Dhaka. Blackcaps went to Bangladesh with Phillips, Jamieson and Santner making their first appearances this year and performed admirably. Meanwhile the Blackcaps ODI squad features a bunch of bowlers outside the Test mixer and others like Lockie Ferguson, Henry Shipley and Ben Lister are unavailable. Aotearoa has depth for all conditions and they usually find a way to be effective.
In tough batting conditions, one would expect the best batters to shine. Kane Williamson and Mitchell kinda did that with 130-odd runs each as the only other blokes to register 50+ scores aside from Phillips. Phillips, Santner, Southee and Jamieson all scored 50+ runs in the series as lower order batters and Tom Latham just passed this marker with 51 runs. Latham averaged 12 though, Devon Conway scored 47 runs @ 11avg, Henry Nicholls scored 25 runs @ 6avg and Tom Blundell hit 14 runs @ 3avg.
Nicholls is in a precarious position having been graced with faith for the second Test. This isn't as clear-cut as it seems though, given how most of the Blackcaps batters struggled and Nicholls' lack of runs is aligned with Latham, Conway and Blundell. As everyone loves to highlight, Nicholls doesn't score many runs outside of Aotearoa with his Test average of 37 dropping down to 24avg in Tests outside of NZ.
Nicholls does have a Test century outside of Aotearoa though, in fact he has three 50+ scores outside of NZ which all came against Pakistan in United Arab Emirates. This was back in 2018 and doesn't really apply here, but it does offer a detail when folks are chatting about Nicholls batting home vs away. Nicholls does have runs overseas but they are listed at a 'neutral' venue and not 'away' deep in the Cricinfo stat mangroves.
More importantly, Nicholls averages 48 in Aotearoa and the next four Tests will be played in Aotearoa. Dropping Nicholls based on his lack of runs outside of NZ for the home Test summer doesn't make much sense, especially because Nicholls is pretty good in Aotearoa. Nicholls scored 200* in his final outing of the kiwi summer earlier this year and many batters around the world would love to have a Test century in each of the last seven years as Nicholls does.
Nicholls looks the least confident of the Blackcaps batters and he felt like an easy wicket each time he went out to bat in Bangladesh. There are a bunch of options available to replace Nicholls for upcoming Test summer including a more prominent role for Phillips as the seam stocks are replenished for home conditions. Other options like Ravindra and Will Young haven't built a compelling case in Test cricket yet with Ravindra averaging 14 in Tests with scores of 4 and 16 for his Test appearance in Aotearoa, while Young averages 26 in Tests with an average of 24 in Aotearoa.
Nicholls hasn't been out of form either. Prior to the World Cup, Nicholls had four consecutive ODI scores over 40 which included scores of 44, 49 and 50* in Bangladesh. Nicholls returned to Aotearoa to play Plunket Shield where he had scores of 124, 61, 120, 30, 28 and 30. Nicholls was the only batter who had two centuries in the first stanza of Plunket Shield and he missed a game, while every other batter with 250+ runs played all four games.
This isn't a passionate defence of Nicholls, just a few nuggets to suggest that this is more complicated that it seems. Blackcaps have been successful because of their culture and how players are developed, then given time to work through niggly patches. Nicholls also plays his role in a team of more productive batters and some of those more productive batters have notable dips in form.
Devon Conway averaged 63 in 2021, then 49 in 2022 and he finishes 2023 averaging 32. Tom Blundell averaged 58 last year and has dropped to 36 this year. Latham averaged 42 last year and this dips to 33 this year. Mitchell averaged 58 and 68 in the last two years before dropping to 42.
Even Williamson who hit four centuries this year wasn't quite as efficient as he was in the previous three years. Williamson averaged 83, 65 and 74 before his 57avg this year. All of which suggests that Blackcaps batters haven't been as good this year as previous years and Nicholls fits into this trend rather than being lone figure struggling to put up a score. Williamson also had scores of 13 and 11 in this Test win, while funky Phillips and the bowlers were more effective. If Aotearoa's best batter ever looks uncomfortable and it takes quirky Test batters to score runs, the chances of Nicholls and others piling up runs aren't good.
The strength of Blackcaps cricket is that the teams selected for Tests in Aotearoa later this summer could look completely different to the team who played in Bangladesh, in fact it should look different. Blackcaps don't need three spinners and if they have a spinning all-rounder like Phillips, Santner or Ravindra then there is less need for a certified spinner like Patel. Blackcaps have tools for different jobs and there is now a competitive selection battle for a sneaky epic summer of Test cricket.
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Peace and love.