Crucket

So, the NZ home international season has now started, with the NZ XI–Zim warm-up match completed.

You’d like to think that a warm-up match – particularly one with most of the home test squad playing – might tell you a bit about the players’ current form and how they might play against each other in the upcoming matches. Unfortunately, a match where 4/5 batsmen in an innings retire and the other team lose loads of their wickets to a player who doesn’t even qualify to be in the test team, is not going to have great predictive potential.

Instead, let’s compare the two squads.

New Zealand

Here’s the squad most of whom played in a team good enough to beat Australia:

• Ross Taylor (c) – 20th ranked batsmen
• Trent Boult – 3/26 in bowling Aus out for 136
• Doug Bracewell – already fulfilling his big destiny in first season
• Dean Brownlie – scores a 50 in every test (admittedly, only 3 so far)
• Martin Guptill – ranked within the top 50 (Don’t think that is impressive? Check out the Zimbabwean squad)
• Brendon McCullum – hitting and missing as an opener
• Chris Martin – 210 test wickets (the Zimbabwean squad has 145 between them)
• Tim Southee – slowly approaching higher mediocrity
• Kruger van Wyk (wk) – not quite good enough for SA, good enough for us?
• Daniel Vettori – fricken’ awesome
• BJ Watling – battling for a gap in the team rather than on his own merits
• Sam Wells – who knows?
• Kane Williamson – not exactly setting the world alight at this level so far

Zimbabwe

And the team that came close to beating New Zealand:

• Brendan Taylor (c) – Wellington’s only Twenty20 centurion (I think)
• Regis Chakabva – 1 test to his name, against us
• Elton Chigumbura – 1449 Facebook likes
• Graeme Cremer – a rhino!
• Kyle Jarvis – a quick with an SR of <50
• Hamilton Masakadza – holder of 2/5ths of the squad’s centuries, i.e. 2
• Shingi Masakadza – test virgin
• Stuart Matsikenyeri – opener of thoroughly modest ability
• Tino Mawoyo – 66th ranked batsman, second only to Brendan Taylor
• Keegan Meth – test virgin and a struggler in ODIs
• Forster Mutizwa – test virgin, not too shabby in ODIs
• Ray Price – 63rd ranked bowler, second only to Kyle Jarvis in the squad with Mpofu injured
• Tatenda Taibu – a genuine keeper/batsman, and a relative veteran with 27 tests
• Prosper Utseya – 1 test, nearly 8 years ago
• Brian Vitori – 88th ranked bowler after 2 tests, but 56th after 1
• Malcolm Waller – hit the winning runs against us at Bulawayo

So

Looking at those two lists, NZ clearly have the wood over Zimbabwe. That Zimbabwe squad is looking very shabby and full of holes, even compared to a NZ squad with more mediocrity than class.

Still, this is the 8th ranked team playing against the de facto 9th ranked team. It isn’t an even contest, but it would hardly be an upset if Zimbabwe made it competitive.

So the Black Caps are now in the United Arab Emirates to play Pakistan in three one-dayers and two 20-20s (dropping an ODI from the plan from the original announcement). In fact, the first game is on Tuesday (Wednesday our time no doubt). I’ve added the series to my schedule here.

The ODIs will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the western-most of the UAE’s seven emirates, while the 20-20s will be played at the Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium, in the next emirate to the east. I recall when cricket in the UAE used to be an annual international fixture. But that was at Sharjah, the third emirate from west to east.

Sharjah used to host a melange of ODI series, with a medley of cups and trophies, under a confusion of sponsors, with e.g. the Pepsi Cup being held one year and the Coca-Cola Cup the next. But there hasn’t been any cricket held in Sharjah for many years. It hadn’t occurred to me that Sharjah had fallen off the cricket map. Apparently, Sharjah has been tainted with the stain of match fixing and the stadium there has been abandoned to the wildlife. I’d somehow managed to miss all that.

But cricket is back in UAE. (And of course, let’s not forget that the ICC has its offices in the tax haven of Dubai.) Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai have built magnificent cricket stadiums and are crying out for top class team to come and play against Pakistan.

This happens to be a home series for the Pakistan team, despite being playing hundreds of miles from Pakistan. Perhaps the only significance in this is that Pakistan get to use their groundsmen to prepare the pitches.

Players to watch

Scott Styris: He hasn’t had a turn at bat in an ODI for over a year. Have the selectors been justified in keeping him out?
Tim Southee: Another player returning to the team. To date, he alone is all the selectors have identified as the future of New Zealand bowling. If this is going to eventuate, he is going to have to make an impact at some point.

Younis Khan: Out and in as captain in the matter of a few days. He’s done it before and has had periods where he refused to take the captaincy. You’ve got to assume he doesn’t like the job, or he just likes to shake the boat.
Mohammad Aamir: Another Pakistan teenage tear-away. Fast, accurate and aggressive. It is usually a curse to have such things said about you, but he could be a new Wasim Akram.

So India come to New Zealand even stronger than last time. All the talk is of them nabbing the no. 1 spot in the near future. And we’re well aware of where we sit in the rankings. However, the Indians have been notably short in bluster in the lead up the series. All the talk has been coming from Andy Moles. A tour of New Zealand is just the sort of experience that can bring a team back down to Earth. And the Indians are well aware of that and are perhaps even – could I be right in saying – a little scared.

Regardless of how the pitches are prepared, conditions in New Zealand will not favour India. This will go some way towards evening the odds. Suhas has made predictions for the results in the various rubbers. He’s probably got them all right. I am hoping that we can steal a test, but I’m not sticking my neck out and predicting that.

Players to watch

Martin Guptill/Tim McIntosh: I’m making a bold prediction of our test openers here, but both these players have impressed earlier in the season. What sort of a difference will it make to our test performances if we could build some decent opening partnerships?
Chris Martin/Kyle Mill/Mark Gillespie: If we have exciting promise at the top of our batting line up, our opening bowling spot is practically non-existent. A serious problem.

Ishant Sharma: He’s still learning the game really, but even his natural ability – and his height (1.95 m) – could make him devastating in bowler friendly conditions.
Virender Sehwag: Has been down in form over the past couple of years but has been keeping in touch with some massive scores. Averages 27 against New Zealand, so needs a lot of runs to fix that.

So Andy Moles is confident that we can take it to the Aussies in next week’s Chappell–Hadlee. As well he should, it is our turn:

04/05: drawn (1-1)
05/06: Australia (1-2)
06/07: New Zealand (3-0)
07/08: Australia (0-2)

And I reckon we can do it. Australia are a team on the slide. They’re being creamed by South Africa (222 all out in the 4th ODI). Their lineup is in upheavel (only 7 of the squad from the last Chappell–Hadlee remain in the current squad). Their fans are turning against them. And, y’know, my 3-year old gets a lot of Aussie DVDs out of the library – the Wiggles, Raggs, the Hooley Dooleys – and if they’re anything to go by, your typical Australian is childish and annoying and likes dressing up like a goofy animal… Ah, who am I kidding?

The Aussies will be all over us in the Chappell–Hadlee. We’ve slid at least as far the Aussies – I mean, we’d love to be as competitive with South Africa. And only 5 of our squad were in the last C–H series.

Still, it should be a great series to follow. There’ll be 5 whole matches. Australia will have a few weaknesses to exploit and we’ve got some players who we still haven’t had the opportunity to see perform under pressure.

Players to watch

Kyle Mills: Has had a very disappointing season in the test series, but remains very strong in ODIs. Has something like six times as much experience as Southee, the next most experienced strike bowler, so will be the pivot of our strike bowling team.
Martin Guptill: McCullum, Ryder and Taylor should be the most entertaining batsmen to watch, but Guptill’s performance will be interesting as he could be playing for a long-term position in the team.

Mitchell Johnson: Playing terribly against SA, but destroyed us in the tests last year. Which Mitchell is going to show up?
The new openers: Shaun Marsh and David Warner; they have a difference of 35 in their strike rate (in Warner’s favour) and abut 15 in their averages (in Marsh’s favour). I’m intrigued to see which approach better pays off.

It’s the trend these days to name series after big names of old from the two teams. E.g. Chappell–Hadlee, Border–Gavaskar. There isn’t a grand history between NZ and the Windies as there is between many other pairings of sides, so who could we choose to name the series after? Would the Goodall–Croft Trophy be too uncharitable?

Whatever we might call it, this test series is the battle of the cellar dwellers – the 7th and 8th ranked teams battling it out for that coveted 7th place. (While just across the Tasman the battle of the table toppers is about to get underway. Is there any symmetry there, or is it just coincidence?)

The recent head-to-heads go pretty solidly in NZ’s favour. In the last 10 years through three series we’ve won five tests and they’ve won none. Since the last series in 05/06, the Windies have done nothing much, whereas the Black Caps roller coaster has taken a dive. We’re starting this series more evenly matched that we have been since the 80s.

There’s a good deal of optimism around the traps. Adam Parore reckons we’re the better team. Are people too quick to forget the Aus series just a couple of weeks back? Aus are of course a stronger team, but barring one strong innings each from Bracken and Lee, the capitulation in Australia was due almost entirely to our own fragility. This home series is going to be even and it’s going to be close. After looking at our form this year, I’m picking 1-1.

Players to watch

Tim McIntosh: He only cashes in one innings in four, but when he cashes in he cashes in big. With four innings in prospect, he’s odds on for one big one.
Andy Moles: The other debutant in the team. How quickly can he turn the team around?
James Franklin: I’ve been hanging out for his return. If he bowls to his old standard, he’ll be our biggest wicket taker. Chances are though he’s sacrificing some of bowling strength for some batting strength.

The haves: Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Benn, Taylor and Powell all won big in the final of the Standford 20 for 20. Are they worth a million dollars each?
The have nots: Baker, Baugh, Chattergoon, Edwards, Johnson, Marshall, Nash, Ramdin and Roach were not lucky recipients of the Stanford windfall. Can they prove themselves against their more illustrious team mates?