Source: Radio New Zealand
Black Caps batter Glenn Phillips www.photosport.nz
The Black Caps can secure their place in the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup with victory over Canada tonight and shouldn’t have too many problems achieving it.
However, there remains some concern about how the New Zealand side will perform against the top teams later in the tournament.
New Zealand were beaten 4-1 by India in last month’s T20 series and while they opened the world cup with wins over Afghanistan and the UAE, they crashed back down to earth with a seven wicket loss to South Africa in their last game.
The Black Caps weren’t at their best batting against South Africa, particularly in the power play. They were four down by the seventh over, leaving plenty of work for the middle order to do. The bowlers also struggled to make inroads into the Proteas batting line-up.
All-rounder Glenn Phillips didn’t think the inconsistency they showed in the series against India and the loss to South Africa is a major issue.
“There’s not necessarily been a pattern per se,” Phillips said.
“If our top order’s gone down, then our middle order stepped up. And, sometimes it just happens to be the way that the top order gets off to a start and then the middle can’t go through. So that’s just the nature of T20 cricket when you’re trying to keep the momentum going the whole time.
“If you look at the options the boys took, they’re in really clear mindsets. Obviously, it just comes down to execution at the end of the day.
“And then with the ball as well, we’re just trying to make sure that we’re hitting our straps as much as possible. If we didn’t bowl as well as we have on previous days, then we look at that and we go, we can be better on the next day and that’s fine.”
If New Zealand bats first against Canada in Chennai they would like to get close to setting a target of 200. A score they haven’t managed to score yet in the tournament.
With victory expected in this game the selectors may consider rotating a few players, however they may also be keen to play some of their regulars back into form.
The two sides have met three times in ODI World Cup’s with New Zealand winning all three, but this is their first clash in T20I’s.
New Zealand will be without Lockie Ferguson for the match as he has returned home for the birth of his child. Kyle Jamieson could take his place in the side, while spinner Ish Sodhi is another option.
Meanwhile, tournament organisers have approved the inclusion of off-spinning all-rounder Cole McConchie into the Black Caps squad as a replacement for the injured Michael Bracewell.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
