ICC 2019: Watch Out For Kane Williamson And The Kiwis

Even super-confident teams like India, (now introspecting England after their losses against Pakistan and Sri Lanka) and the gradually peaking Australia will be wary of the Kiwis.

Picture: AFP

In the estimation of this writer, of all the games so far in this cricket World Cup so far, two games involving New Zealand have had a Test-match like intensity where the momentum has ebbed and flowed, and each 10-over session appeared to have a different winner. They have been hallmarks of attrition-driven sportsmanship and were played on wickets that challenged batsmen. These were the Kiwis' games against Bangladesh and South Africa. In both, the Kiwis were tested by a bowling attack that has been on the improvement curve (Bangladesh) and another one with a much better, if not proven track record (South Africa). In both games they chased with success close to the end of the match with few wickets in hand. Even super-confident teams like India, (now introspecting England after their losses against Pakistan and Sri Lanka) and the gradually peaking Australia will be wary of the Kiwis. Their rain washed out tie against India, seems like a mouth-watering clash that all cricket fans were deprived of – a real lost opportunity, for it might have tested India, in ways they really haven’t by the Proteas, Australians, or flattering-to-deceive Pakistanis yet. (As I write, the Afghans seem to be causing a few issues for India). At the centre of these two tight wins for the Kiwis, has been their captain, Kane Williamson. He was a big cog in the wheel in the game against Bangladesh along with Ross Taylor and produced one of the great World Cup innings while chasing against South Africa. In the chase against South Africa at Edgbaston, Williamson played a grinding Test-match like innings, which is his usual wont. South Africa played into his hands by leaving the gap between slip and gully open for him to dab the ball and allow him to accumulate runs to third man. It was a testament to his patience, skill and game awareness, that in a tense situation, in the penultimate over of the game, and needing at least one boundary to whittle the target down to a manageable one in the final over, Williamson who had been fed so many slower balls by the Proteas bowlers, managed to play the latest of late cuts to perhaps the slowest of slow balls from otherwise one of the quickest of quick bowlers in world cricket (Lungi Ngidi), that went past the wicket-keeper and gully for an almost slow-motion four. That stroke showed how under this kind of World Cup cricket tension, Williamson was still watching the ball, was so aware of the field setting and the game situation. In the final over, with no option left, he bludgeoned a six that effectively sealed the game, and once the field was brought in, carved a four to win the Kiwis a confidence-enhancing game. Through this innings, Williamson exhibited Test-match like temperament, dogged application to the task, the ability to fight through very tough patches, where he completely lost his timing, due to the stop-start nature of the wicket and banged away at the very end. Along the way, he had luck go his way with two tough catches being missed, a snick that should have been reviewed and a run out that should have been executed. That apart, this was an innings, that oozed resilience, class, that only a great Test match batsman can summon under enormous pressure in very tough circumstances. The Kiwis have now chased twice under pressure and been successful. The Kiwis’ Hardik Pandya is Colin de Grandhomme, who after having played two seasons for Warwickshire, seemed to know the Edgbaston wicket so well, that he hooked genuine pace bowlers with nonchalance. Their first change pacer Lockie Fergusson seems to have the pace and the guile and the enforcer nature of a Jasprit Bumrah. In their bowling innings, Ferguson set up Faf du Plessis of all players – one of the best batsmen in the world against quick bowling – with a fiery bouncer and followed it up with a fast yorker that destroyed du Plessis’ stumps. More than Kuldeep Yadav’s beauty to Babar Azam in the Indo-Pak game, Ferguson’s castling of Plessis, was the delivery of the tournament so far. On the batting and bowling fronts, New Zealand appear to very close to being as dangerous as India. It has helped that unlike India, they have played on challenging wickets where they have been tested in all departments of the game and have come through on those counts. Even in the One-Day International format in tournaments of such high pressure as the World Cup, you will see cricketers who have excelled in the game’s longest format will prosper, as they know how to play under genuine pressure. Very rarely, have only ODI and T20 stars alone excelled in World Cups, excepting Yuvraj Singh (2011) and James Faulkner (2015). In Yuvraj Singh’s case, he excelled through the 2011 World Cup, but had so-so games in the semis and the finals. The cricket World Cup’s Man of the Tournament or Man of the Match in the finals, by and large, have had very good records in Test cricket and did very well there in order to prosper under the heat of the World Cup cauldron. David Boon and Steve Waugh (1987), Wasim Akram and Martin Crowe (1992), Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda De Silva (1996), Lance Klusener and Shane Warne (1999), Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting (2003), Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist (2007), James Faulkner and Mitchell Starc (2015), have rarely been players who did well only in the short formats of the game (Faulkner is the outlier). It’s the grind of Test cricket that has made them great players. In some games, and in some glimpses, this World Cup too has produced a couple of games of that kind of intensity. As it progresses, you will find more of that happen and watch out for the Kiwis. A few months ago, not many gave them a chance of winning their first Test series against Pakistan in Asian conditions. In at least one of the matches, Kane Williamson’s Kiwis were down and out. They came back from nowhere to win that match and the series: Their first against Pakistan in alien conditions. A good number of those players are part of this World Cup campaign. And their character and determination is showing. (The writer teaches at the Jindal School of Liberal Arts & Humanities)

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