Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Black Caps greatest ever

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Colin De Grandhomme (front) and Henry Nicholls walk off after guiding their side to a super win on Tuesday night. Photo BlackCaps.

Having set a New Zealand record 11 consecutive wins in all forms of cricket at Seddon Park, Hamilton, on Tuesday, some critics believe the current Black Caps have passed their 1980s predecessors as the best team ever.

Certainly under astute coach Mike Hesson they have exceeded expectations although many, including the late great Martin Crowe, were outraged at his decision to replace Ross Taylor as captain with the pugnacious Brendan McCullum.

Certainly in current captain Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and Trent Boult, they have three players who would grace an all-time New Zealand team in all three forms of the game.

My 11 to cover all formats would be opening batsmen Bert Sutcliffe and Glenn Turner, followed by Williamson, Martin Crowe, Taylor, McCullum, Chris Cairns, Ian Smith, Daniel Vettori, Richard Hadlee and Boult.

Given his superior experience, Crowe would be my captain ahead of the impressive Willliamson who looks set for a long, bright future as the current Black Caps skipper.

It’s a team that has five champion top order batsmen, two middle order blasters in McCullum and Cairns, a champion wicketkeeper/batsman in Ian Smith and classy bowlers in Vettori, Hadlee, Boult and Cairns.

Others like John R Reid, Jeremy Coney, Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle, Martin Guptill and Tim Southee are worthy contenders who, in the eyes of some fans, would win preference to some of the players I have chosen.

There was no ODI or T20 cricket in Sutcliffe’s day, two forms of the game in which Guptill excels compared to his more recent dismal returns at test level where Sutcliffe performed so splendidly.

Remember Turner scored more than 100 centuries in English county cricket. And it was his hard fought battle for better pay against the national body led by Walter Hadlee that later handsomely benefitted Hadlee’s son, Richard, and others of that era.

Hadlee remains this country’s greatest bowler. A right-arm bowler, he was a hard-hitting left-handed batsman who fully deserved his allrounder status. The same could be said for fellow seamer Cairns and leg spinner Vettori who were also world class.

Meanwhile in leading the ODI series 4-0 against the Pakistan Champions Trophy holders, the Black Caps have once again shown how much better they perform on home soil.

The low and slow nature of the Dunedin wicket for the third ODI made free-flowing scoring extremely difficult, yet a patient Williamson still managed 73 from 101 while Taylor 52 (64) and Guptill (45) were the other main contributors to the 257 total.

Starting with Henry Nicholls’ duck, the final six batsmen totalled a measly 36, with only No 11 Boult (13) reaching double figures.

Fortunately Pakistan fared no better and a lot worse, thanks to the brilliant swing bowling of Boult whose five for 17 routed the visitors. Colin Munro atoned for his cheap dismissal with two for 10 and speedster Lachie Ferguson took two for 28.

Better was to follow in Hamilton where chasing 262, the Black Caps snatched a comfortable five wicket victory from the jaws of defeat, thanks to Colin de Grandhomme’s magnificent 73 off 40 balls with five sixes and seven fours.

With Howick Pakuranga clubmate Munro returning to form with a sharp 56 and Nicholls contributing a sedate unbeaten 52, the Pakistani bowling threat was extinguished with 4.1 overs to spare.

  • Ivan Agnew is an award-winning sports writer and author

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