New Zealand’s prolific batter, Kane Williamson, missed the entire red-ball tour against India due to a groin injury he picked earlier during the team’s tour of Sri Lanka. However, he is ready to get his spot back on the team as the injury becomes a matter of the past for him. He announced his comeback with a 122-ball-60 knock in New Zealand’s domestic red-ball competition, Plunket Shield.
With Williamson back all nice and new and the three-match Test series against England inching near, New Zealand face a crazy little problem. In Williamson’s absence, Will Young was phenomenal at keeping Indian bowlers at bay at their home. He scored 244 runs across three Tests, including the all-important 71-run knock in the first innings of final Test that kept the Kiwis floating. Kane Williamson’s return means that Young will have to sit out and if he does not sit out someone else will need to step aside, which is, as termed by their head coach Gary Stead, a selection headache for the Black Caps.
“Obvious Kane will come back into the side. He’s a superb player as we know and that creates some selection headaches for Tom and I to get our heads around in the next day or so.” Gary Stead said.
“Kane is one of the best in the world, so he will be playing somewhere in that line-up. It’s just how we manage to shape the rest of the team around that.”
Besides this batting conundrum, Gary Stead and New Zealand’s captain, Tom Latham, have another problem to solve. The first game will be played at the Hagley Oval, which is traditionally a place tailored for pacers, hence, the Kiwis want to field four pacers.
“Going on traditional Hagley wickets, I imagine there’ll be four seamers out there,” Stead revealed the Kiwis’ plan of going pace-heavy.
The regulars/almost regulars take the first three spots, including Tim Southee, who will be playing his last Test series, Matt Henry, and Will O’Rourke. In the absence of injury victims Ben Sears and Kyle Jamieson, Blackcaps have bowlers like Nathan Smith and Jacob Duffy, both of whom are uncapped but boast a decent First-class average. The decision will require plenty of thinking, which the New Zealand management will have to do in the next couple of days.
The tour against England holds the answer to whether they will stay in contention for what will be their second WTC final. Currently, the Kiwis are fourth on the table and a 3-0 win against England will adorn things substantially for them. Before the start of their three-match Test tour against India, New Zealand’s chances of boarding the train to London for the WTC final were pretty faint. However, defeating India 3-0 turned the tide for them and they would attempt to do whatever is asked to stay relevant for as long as possible.
Gary Stead said that while such wins boost confidence several notches up, they define how competitive the championship has made the teams.
“No doubt it gives you confidence as a group but it shows the ebbs and flows of international cricket,” Stead was quoted as saying. “You can see what’s happening in Perth [in the first Test between Australia and India], I’m not sure anyone would have written that script either. The WTC has made teams extremely competitive, teams try and get somewhat of a home advantage to pick up your points there.”
New Zealand will begin the three-match Test series versus England on November 28 at the Hagley Oval and their coach believes it is going to be ‘a cracker of a Test series (where) we’re going to see some fireworks I would suggest.’
