World T20: Onwards, Upwards For BLACKCAPS And White Ferns
Jason Roy is just another English/kiwi cricketer born in South Africa.
I don't know about you but I'm gunning for Aotearoa to be the best cricketing nation in the world. We don't have the numbers, we don't have the resources, we do have a kiwi spirit and well, what's the point if we're not trying to be the best?
For all the warm fuzzies gained through the group stages, both the BLACKCAPS and White Ferns were severely out-played in their respective semi-finals. As you would already know, T20 is a volatile format in which it doesn't take too much to swing things in favour of a team. England's men and West Indies' women showed up and played some of their best cricket of either tournament, that's okay, cop that on the chin.
What has me bummed is how the lads and lasses saved their worst performances of the tournament for when it mattered most. Instead of stepping up in the big moments, demanding glory and showing a certain level of clutch or class, we saw our kiwis wilt under the bright lights.
Sure, there were great individual performances from Colin Munro (46 off 32 balls) and Sophie Devine (4/22 off 4 overs), collectively though we saw two performances that differed greatly from what went down in the group stages.
Ross Taylor, Luke Ronchi and Grant Elliott - as the experienced engine-room of the BLACKCAPS - combined for 13 runs. Only Ronchi managed a strike-rate north of 80 (100).
3 sixes were hit by the BLACKCAPS, Jos Buttler hit 3 sixes himself.
Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner had tournament economy-rates of 6.10 and 6.27 runs-an-over. They went at 10.50 and 8.84 in the semi.
Leigh Kasperek went wicket-less, conceding 10 rpo in the process.
Suzie Bates scored her first score below 20 of the tournament with 12.
Bates and Rachel Priest combined for their lowest opening stand of the tournament with 11 ... their opening partnerships were 64, 19, 58, 57.
Let's not dwell though, life is such in international tournaments that you come across a team who wakes up on the right side of the bed, ready to perform. When you consider the teams that weren't even in the semi-finals, especially on the men's side, there's no shame in not going on to the big dance. My biggest gripe is just how both teams didn't put their best foot forward, they both left a lot out there on the field, just to keep the cliches flowing.
How do we move forward, with positivity in mind (that both teams went undefeated in the group stages isn't a positive)? There were no real breakout performances in either team, not for smart cricket folk anyway. Santner and Sodhi have been simmering for a while before this tournament; Santner's class is blatantly obvious and Sodhi can spin the ball both ways, in India these guys were always going to be tricky.
We knew before the Women's World T20 that Bates and Kasperek were borderline cricketing deities, they were just continuing on their fantastic work of the past six months. And to be completely honest, so were many other White Ferns as they were awesome through our summer and this is where I settle on the Ferns.
The Ferns are one of the best cricket teams in the world, regardless of the format (women's Test cricket, oi ICC, do it yeah!?). There's the backdrop of a rather epic six months for women's cricket as we enjoyed the first Women's Big Bash League and now this. As women's cricket rises to it's rightful spot alongside the men, our Ferns are near the top of the pile and are going to be key figures in how women's cricket kicks on from this rather lovely point.
That women's cricket is on the rise is exciting, that our Ferns will play a role is even better. Bates found a spot in a Nissan commercial alongside Andre Russell and Rohit Sharma, a nod to her influence in women's cricket and there's no reason why other Ferns can't lead the elevation in profile of women's cricket.
Regarding the BLACKCAPS it's much more specific to this team. With all due respect to a group of highly talented lads, there's no star player, there's no one who can destroy an opposing team and then demand attention off the field with what they say or do. Kane Williamson's amazing, but he's just Nossy from Tauranga and the reason we love him is that he's a mellow kiwi lad and even on the field, Williamson doesn't exactly bombard a bowling attack with sixes. Williamson is gorgeous with willow in hand, not destructive.
There's no super-star, there is however a group of lads who combined extremely well and portrayed an inner confidence or belief that to me, won them a few games. This was of course our first glimpse at the 'Caps sans Brendon McCullum, something that would have been unthinkable 8-12 months ago and this World T20 effort has reinforced my belief that the 'Caps will be fine without McCullum (which is a credit to McCullum).
You'd need to be a bit silly not to note Williamson's cricket know-how, what I learned from this WT20 though is that Williamson can lead. Older blokes like Taylor and Elliott bent over backwards for Williamson while younger lads, understandably bought in to what Williamson's offering in terms of culture and tactics. Williamson has inherited a team that already has it's own vibe, a strong foundation and plenty of talent, which has me excessively excited about the prospects of this BLACKCAPS group moving forward in all formats.