McCullum and Taylor the only shining lights of a Black Caps team going nowhere

Bat and ball / Andrew Hughes / 11 January 2008 / 1 Comments

Andrew Hughes explains why New Zealand cricket is in a rather sorry state which it's unsure how to get out of

In order to fully appreciate this article, I need you to relax; empty your mind of all thought (if it helps, pretend you're Kevin Pietersen) and think back to the summer of 1988. It has been raining. Again. Worcestershire are winning the County Championship. A young Graeme Hick is thrashing all comers into various parts of Somerset. Every county team contains four or five seamers. Every pitch is a cabbage patch on which the ball never rises above the knee roll and every batsman instinctively plays forward. The national team is a disgrace.

Now open your eyes. Unless you are a Kiwi. For you, the nightmare is a reality. The resemblance of the New Zealand domestic game to the dog days of English cricket is uncanny, even down to the green, soft pitches that allow the innocuous pie-thrower to thrive at the expense of the genuine quick bowler or spinner. And, unused to pace or bounce, New Zealand batsmen cannot venture onto any foreign field without copping a fearful battering such as the one administered by Dale Steyn last November.

When it comes to technique and temperament, New Zealand domestic cricket is a poor preparation for Test matches and the failure rate for players stepping up is high. The current list of centrally contracted players is not so much a pool of talent as a puddle of mediocrity, most having passed thirty without ever securing their places. In this climate, youngsters rarely find the support they need to flourish. All of this is exacerbated by the failure of the New Zealand Academy and the age-old problem of a relatively tiny population.

Which makes it all the more remarkable that they have produced so many world-class players, from Hadlee to Fleming, from Crowe to Bond. In fact, given what they have to work with, perhaps we shouldn't criticise them at all and accept their current state as an inevitable hiatus as the last half-decent team passes into history and a new one is yet to appear. So with Astle and Cairns gone already, the sun of Shane Bond's career slipping into the gaudily lit twilight of the Indian Cricket League and Fleming soon off to join the other oldies in the rival IPL, are there any players offering hope for New Zealand cricket?

I would nominate just two. 26 year old Brendon McCullum is a tall hard hitting keeper, initially compared with Gilchrist, but now with more realistic expectations. He opens powerfully in the one-day game and offers middle order backbone in the Tests. Ross Taylor, at 23, has been 'promising' for a year or two now and needs to build on a slow start, averaging only 11.00 from two Test appearances but having the timing and aggressive instincts to replace Fleming as the mainstay of the top order. Beyond these two, there is a cluster of older players who might one day belatedly fulfil their potential. Just like Graeme Hick.

Still, in the middle of a lean spell, what better tonic than a visit from Bangladesh. After administering a spanking in Dunedin, the hosts will hope to do the same at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, surely the windiest ground in the world. I doubt the young Bangladeshi seamers will relish charging into a howling gale and it is asking a lot for the visitors to double their tally of Test wins in such alien conditions. Though [36.0] is a huge price in a three horse race, I can't see them winning. One Test soon this young and talented side will surprise us all and at a huge price. But this isn't the one.

Bangladesh's weakness keeps the draw high at [8.8]. But if you do fancy the stalemate, perhaps to lay off later on in the match, there is a history of rain affected draws here and though the forecast is fair at the moment, the weather in those parts is notoriously changeable. The risk inherent in such a strategy, of course, is that Bangladesh bat first and get skittled out before tea on the first day. The choice is yours.

Comments (1)

1. maaz | 11 March 2009

   this is my fevourite batsman i love him i love u brendon