World T20: BLACKCAPS On Fire
Get off him Luke, he's Kane's bestie.
Twice the BLACKCAPS have batted first in this World T20, twice they have set their opponents smallish totals and twice they have defended those totals with precision and guts. After rolling through India on a deck that provided a trio of spinners with plenty of assistance, Kaptain Kane again showed his nous as skipper as the kiwis as they restricted Australia to 134 off 20 over in pursuit of their 142.
Against India our top order didn't quite set the tone, leaving an experienced middle order to salvage the innings. This time around Martin Guptill (39 off 27), Kane Williamsom (24 off 20) and Colin Munro (23 off 26) all contributed strongly, along with 27 off 20 from Grant Elliott as we were once again treated to a gritty batting display. Besides Ashton Agar, the Aussies put in a strong bowling/fielding shift and it was up to the kiwis to extract whatever runs they could which is where the runs from Guptill, Williamson and Munro were crucial as they eased the pressure.
Game one - middle order grind it out.
Game two - top order do their job.
Nothing right or wrong about either scenario, it's great that the lads have shown the ability to do both.
Batting hasn't been easy in the first two games that the BLACKCAPS have played so it's just about doing what they can to keep their bowling attack in the mix. While Australia weren't bowled out, to defend lower totals you need to take wickets, preferably lots of 'em and in two games the BLACKCAPS have taken 19 wickets, rolling through two stacked batting line ups.
Kaptain Kane has played a large role in this and it's easily been my favourite observation from the two games. Just seeing how Williamson goes about his business as skipper, his selections, how he uses his bowlers and the body language or intent shown by the kiwis has been great, at 2-0, you could argue that Kaptain Kane is the best skipper at the tournament so far.
This time around, Mitchell McClenaghan was brought in for the experienced offie Nathan McCullum who had impressed in the spin trio against India. The Dharamsala pitch didn't offer as much turn, but in a nod to Williamson's cricket smarts, he brought in McClenaghan to make the most of a pitch that still helped the ball rip. McClenaghan has better variations than Tim Southee and Trent Boult, while also being the fiestiest bowler in the whole squad so it was a great move to bring him in to face the Aussies.
McClenaghan took 3/17 off 3 overs, dismissing Shane Watson (13), Mitchell Marsh (24) and Agar (9). McClenaghan's variety showed that there was plenty of funk in the pitch and once again we saw Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi shine, both in terms of taking wickets and keeping things tight. Santner took 2/30 off 4 overs, ripping one past Steve Smith's outside edge, leaving the Aussie skipper halfway down the pitch as Luke Ronchi whipped the bails off. Santner has consistently shown the ability to drift the ball into the right-hander and either turn it away or pitch it up and cramp the batsman.
Sodhi only conceded 14 runs off his 4 overs, that's 3.50 runs-an-over against a strong batting line up in T20 cricket. Who knows what will happen from this point onwards however the confidence gained in the first two games for Sodhi and Santner will be valuable, they can kick it at this level (major international tournament level) and can pose a threat.
Just think of the batsmen they've dismissed in these two games against Australian and India. Against Australia alone, our young spinners sent Steve Smith, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell back to the shed, on ya bikes lads.
A low key performer in the bowling attack has been Corey Anderson, who bowled the second over against India and the first against the Aussies. I remember watching Anderson bowl live in a Plunket Shield and was surprised at how quick he bowled, I got the feeling that he bowled with that 'heavy ball' which is fair enough when you look at the size of him. Throw in a bit of swing and Anderson's a dangerous new-ball option who still has the class and variations to do his job through the middle stages.
Anderson had figures of 0/18 off 3 overs (6-rpo) vs India and 2/29 off 4 overs vs Australia. Others are getting the deserved props, however don't sleep on Anderson's importance in two big wins and the BLACKCAPS' fortunes moving forward.
The BLACKCAPS are on fire, everything is going pretty well and confidence must be high. Against India, I saw an inner confidence that could have been built up in training before the tournament, a comfort in what they wanted to do and how they wanted to play. Now they have results and performances on the board, so their confidence will be simmering nicely. T20 cricket is however very fickle and there are other teams who have put impressive performances up already in an awesome start to the tournament.
Can the BLACKCAPS maintain this level and ride the wave through to a final?