You know how people were saying that New Zealand had a great chance of beating the Aussies in Australia this winter? Hmmmm. Turns out not so much. Our resident Kiwi, Pete Cresswell, tells us where it all went so badly wrong for everyone’s second favourite Test team.
In November 2019 the Black Caps were riding at possibly their highest ever (test match) tide. They dispatched the touring England side (comfortably winning the boundary count-back) to win their 7th consecutive home test series. What’s more, they were second only to India in the test rankings following some good recent away results in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Next stop was a three-test series in Australia, including New Zealand’s first Boxing Day test appearance in Melbourne since 1987. Fans were excited. Fans were optimistic. Highlight reels of NZ’s Hadlee-dominated series win in Australia in 1985 were rating well on Sky NZ, and over 20,000 New Zealanders crossed the Tasman so they could witness the humbling of the Aussies first hand.
The reasons for this confidence were clear. Batting-wise, Kane Williamson was very much a member of the Big Three alongside Smith and Kohli. The Aussies had their star batsman but so did the Kiwis. Meanwhile, Tom Latham, Ross Taylor & Henry Nicholls had all posted impressive scores in recent times and were averaging over 40 in Test cricket.
Meanwhile, in BJ Watling NZ had a very tidy keeper who specialises in tough runs. He seemed to have the edge over the much maligned Tim Paine, who can hardly muster a decent sledge let alone valuable runs for his side. All rounder Colin de Grandhomme was also proving a tidy #7 batsman, averaging 40 and contributing regular wickets at as a 4th seamer. The only question mark hung over the out of form opener Jeet Raval.
When it came to the bowling, the Black Caps were also in good shape. Trent Boult, Tim Southee & Neil Wagner comprised one of the finest seam attacks around. And then there was the searing pace of Lockie Ferguson waiting in the wings. New Zealand were well equipped to fight fire with fire. Only the spin department, where Mitch Santner had clung to the job ahead of Todd Astle partly thanks to his century against England, looked less than stellar.
Basically the signs were good. New Zealand had a talented and balanced XI ready to take the next step – a step that could earn them legendary status.
And then the wheels fell off.
Australia is a tough country to tour, with conditions very different to anywhere else. The locals’ bowling ranks looked ominous, with Pat Cummins in peerless form backed by Starc, Hazlewood, Pattinson, and of course the GOAT Nathan Lyon. David Warner had re-found form after his dreadful awful Ashes, and Labuschagne & Smith loomed in the middle order.
Teams that win in Australia tend to need both luck and skill to succeed. NZ’s luck turned out to be extremely bad. And a lot of their skill deserted them.
We went into the day/night test in blistering hot Perth without playing a warmup match – never ideal – and without the injured Trent Boult. Tim Paine won the toss and batted, Locke Ferguson broke down after 11 overs, and the writing was on the wall.
Although it must be said that Hazlewood also broke down in the match, the other Australian bowlers were fortunate enough to hit the heat-addled NZ batsmen in the twilight session with a new pink ball. Typical eh. And that was all she wrote. The result was a near-300 run loss.
Melbourne saw Boult return, and Tom Blundell pushed into service as make-shift opener in place of the hapless Raval. Unfortunately Williamson opted to bowl first on winning the toss – he must have been taking advice from Nasser Hussain – and once the early green tinge burnt off the Aussies marched past 400 again.
Clearly rattled, New Zealand’s batsmen under-performed again in their first innings and the team ultimately capitulated to a 250-run loss. Wagner’s bowling & Blundell’s 2nd innings ton were the only on-field highlights.
Off the pitch at least the Kiwi supporters were holding their own though. Travelling Kiwi fans (including yours truly) pushed Melbourne crowds up to their best non-Ashes total since the West Indies in 1975. The banter between the Richies & the Beige Brigade was also evenly matched and remained at “friendly” level.
New Zealand’s injury hoodoo bit again when Boult’s broken hand ruled him out of the 3rd test in Sydney. And to add to our woes, Kane Williamson, Henry Nicholls & Mitchell Santner succumbed to an England-esque flu bug (granted Santa’s Little Helper was likely to be dropped anyway). Once Tim Southee was rested in favour of Matt Henry’s extra pace, NZ went into the game shy of 11,000 test runs, 294 test wickets & 267 caps. Hardly ideal.
Tim Paine won the toss, Australia posted over 400 yet again on the back of Labuschagne’s runs (across 5 tests this home summer he posted 896 runs in 8 innings at 112), and then guess what? Matt Henry broke a finger. You couldn’t make it up. More feeble batting saw NZ succumb by 279 with Lyon picking up 10 wickets. Ouch.
The series positives for NZ were meagre after a 0-3 loss. Neil Wagner bowled tirelessly, bouncing Steve Smith out 4 times in a row (Smith “only” averaged 42 in the series). Leg spinner Todd Astle showed glimpses of potential in Sydney, while Tom Blundell earned himself a run in the team as an opener, particularly with alternate options Will Young (returning from injury) & Devon Conway (not yet residency qualified) unlikely to face India in March.
The negatives were plenitful. Kane Williamson looked at times to be struggling with his workload and in need of a rest. We also seem to lack depth in a number of areas – as is the norm given NZ’s small player base.
The crowds at least were brilliant. Kiwi fans belied their dour reputation by turning out in numbers & supporting the team to the end. Hopefully this support means it won’t be another 32 years before New Zealand play their next Boxing Day Test.
Overall Australia looked serene at home – the utter bastards – and it’s very hard to see any team winning there soon. Although having said that, England seem to be building a competitive team quite nicely. Perhaps you guys will be the ones to dethrone the mighty Aussies in 2021/22?
Just kidding folks. You’ve got no chance either.
Pete Cresswell
Well done for quoting Proverbs 16:18 correctly (apart from “an” – assuming the KJV) – I have lost count of the occasions when it is given as “pride goes before a fall”.
Actually Pete got the whole thing right! I was unfamiliar with the proper quote and edited ‘an’ to ‘a’ because I thought it was a typo. I’ve now changed it back :-)
In fairness, I googled the exact quote then copied & pasted 😉
(Ps, James, my fat fingers just hit “report” instead of “reply” above, apologies for any inconvenience caused)
I was more impressed by the paraphrasing of Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, a great literary character.
I have to give due credit to Google there …
The Williamson overload sounds familiar among the very top players who play all forms of the game. I have always taken the view that at the top the idea of Red Ball specialists and White Ball specialists is nonsense. If you can play you can play and Kane is an example. However that is not to say that the crowded fixture list shouldn’t in itself lead to some specialisation or careful selection. If I see an England team I want Root and Stokes in it whether it’s 5 Days or 40 overs. For Kiwis the same with Kane or Edwards. For Aussies Smith or Warner. But England in South Africa is playing four Tests followed in short order by three ODIs and three T20. Too much. It’s the greedy Boards arranging too many fixtures on top of one another that’s the problem. I have every sympathy with the great players who buckle under this and burn out a bit.
A good analysis but from the word go I wasn’t optimistic, despite, or rather, because of, being an inveterate Kiwi supporter. I was a very young and very new cricket supporter when NZ won in 85/86 but off the top of my head the Kiwis have only one other test match in Oz in all the years since (albeit Danny Morrison’s wrongly denied lbw appeal robbed us of a shared series … ok enough).
The reality is that Australia is extremely formidable at home and always have been, which makes everyone – not just NZ’s – wins on their soil precious memories. In 2003/4 India took one of the strongest batting lineups in modern history and batted a Warne and McGrathless Australia into the dust, yet still only drew the series. Warner can’t get a run for love nor money in England but he’s a run machine elsewhere.
Generally speaking you need to possess a team like Clive Lloyd’s or hope to catch the Australians on a rare dip to get a win there. Damn it.
Attacks based on fast medium seam and part time spin tend not to do well in Australia. I’m a bit of a broken record on that (and on saying England actually have a chance next time if Archer is fit and they have Wood or someone like him backing him up, and Leach/Bess keep progressing and get picked). If you field for 140 plus overs every first innings any batting lineup can fall apart
“Attacks based on fast medium seam and part time spin tend not to do well in Australia”.
England’s last three Ashes’ winning key seamers were Anderson/Tremlett/Bresnan in 10/11, Dilley/Botham/Small in 86/87 and Hendrick/Botham in 78/79. Hardly express pace! Finger spinners played key roles. You really have to go back to Snow in 70/71 to find pace playing much of a role in England winning Done Under.
It was a great shame not to see NZ do better in Australia – although more for the health of Test cricket than for wanting any particular result.
Boult’s injury didn’t help but his record in Australia isn’t great and he’s not looked at his best for a while. Williamson also looked to be struggling with his technique against England which being dropped three times while making a hundred rather masked.
Going from playing on sluggish NZ pitches to playing in Perth with no acclimatisation was a recipe for disaster. The NZ board should never have agreed such an itinerary and, having done, should never have prepared those pitches for the England matches. Unless they only care about home wins….
Tim Paine – best wicket keeper in the world, great sledger and proving to be a very good captain (excluding his DRS failings).
The next Ashes in Australia is 2021/22, so I suspect Broad and Anderson will be retired, Wood finally broken down for good, Archer probably sulked off to 20/20ville, so England had better find some pace and soonish. If England want to succeed down there, then they need raw extreme pace and some brains behind it (Archer lacking that at the moment).
So England has to find all of that, plus a captain and a couple of top order bats – can this be achieved in 22 months?