Kane Williamson and Mark Craig must not be underestimated...
Tuesday 19 May 2015 13:21, UK
England will come up against a buoyant New Zealand side in both Test and one-day cricket this summer. Here’s our guide to the Black Caps...
Brendon McCullum is New Zealand’s talisman with his attacking brand of captaincy and brutal strokes with the blade, two aspects that have really come to the fore in recent years.
The Dunedin-born player showed those qualities at the World Cup as he plundered 328 runs - and 17 sixes - and guided his country to their first final.
Yet McCullum also dazzled in the Test arena in 2014, crunching THREE double hundreds – 224 and 302 against India and a 202 versus Pakistan – as well as 195 off 134 balls in a clash with Sri Lanka as he compiled a whopping 1164 runs in total.
Those staggering feats helped the Black Caps win three and draw one of their four Test series last year – but McCullum had ample support from his Antipodean pals.
Kane Williamson chipped in with four hundreds and two fifties and the Black Caps No 3 began 2015 in stellar form, too, notching a career-high 242 not out against Sri Lanka in Wellington.
Premier pacemen Trent Boult (34) and Tim Southee (33) snared a truckload of wickets in 2014, while off-spinner Mark Craig proved there was life after Daniel Vettori in the twirl department with 26 scalps from seven matches.
McCullum, Williamson, Southee and Boult, as well as Matt Henry, a right-arm quick who will be hoping to make his Test debut in England, will all hotfoot it to Britain once they have fulfilled their IPL commitments.
The majority of the Black Caps party are already on these shores, though, including wicketkeeper-batsman BJ Watling, fast bowler Doug Bracewell – the nephew of new Ireland coach, John – and opener Tom Latham, a man who procured two tons in his maiden year as a Test cricketer.
England know all about Latham’s potential partner at the top of the order, Hamish Rutherford, with the left-hander scoring an impressive 171 against them in Dunedin two years ago.
But Rutherford could be ousted by Martin Guptill, with the 28-year-old rewarded for his superb World Cup – Guptill finished as the tournament’s top run scorer and hit 237 not out against West Indies – with his first Test call-up since 2013.
New Zealand’s five-day squad is completed by uber-reliable batsman and former skipper Ross Taylor, left-arm bowler Neil Wagner, back-up gloveman and one-time Australia international Luke Ronchi, and, if he overcomes a finger injury in time, game-changing all-rounder Corey Anderson.
Craig, Watling, Bracewell, Rutherford and Wagner will depart before the limited-overs leg of New Zealand’s tour, with Grant Elliott – the veteran who smashed the six that took the Black Caps into the World Cup final – one of the players to come in.
The other McCullum, Nathan, will give the visitors a spin option in the one-dayers and Mitchell McClenaghan and the rapid Adam Milne will augment the pace attack.
Plus, relatively unknown batsman and spinner Mitchell Santner – one of the top run scorers in New Zealand's domestic one-day competition last season for Northern Districts – will be seeking his international bow.
Watch New Zealand’s two-Test series with England live on Sky Sports, starting with the opening game at Lord’s on Thursday.
