Thursday, June 4, 2009

Preview – New Zealand


New Zealand, probably have the best set of players when it comes to T20 cricket. They have just the right set of players which are tailor made for this format of the game. They have bowlers who can bat, batsmen who can bowl & genuine all-rounders too. No one can write off this team when it is a limited overs business.

New Zealand are in Group D with South Africa & Scotland, which means they should not face any trouble, whatsoever, to get to the next round, though they would be looking to finish on the top spot in their group.

Strengths

All rounders & other utility players: New Zealand have many utility players who can chip in with a handy spell (who are basically batsmen), like Jesse Ryder, Bowlers who can play devastating innings in death overs like James Franklin, Daniel Vettori & Kyle Mills, genuine all rounders like Jacob Oram & Scott Styris.

Bowling: They hae A-grade slow bowlers. The job which was done for many years by Gavin Larsen & Chris Harris is now being done by Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris & Jacob Oram.

Batting: With Jesse Ryder & Martin Guptill – the two new dashing openers are pretty capable of hitting the bowl hard & long.

Weaknesses

Kiwis always have a nag of losing when it matters the most, like the 1992 World cup & same result was witnessed in the 1999 World Cup. On both the occasions, they were knocked down by Pakistan.

Bowling: If Vettori goes for runs, very few bowlers would be able to control the opponent’s batsmen. Their last T20 world cup hero – Mark Gillespie is not available this time. Also the last time dudes – Shane Bond & Chris Martin are also not their to restrict the opponent’s batsmen. This time bowling can be handy but not fearsome.

Opportunities

To show the world that Kiwis can win big tournaments also. Though, they have done that in 1999 when they beat India in the finals of ICC Champions Trophy. That was the first big tournament won by the Kiwis.

Threats

If McCullum & Ryder fails to deliver, then the middle order, which is not so strong apart from Ross Taylor & Scott Styris could prove vulnerable. Ross Taylor plays spin very well, but what about others?

Squad

Daniel Vettori (capt), Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (wk), Nathan McCullum, Peter McGlashan (wk), Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor.

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