History Shows You Can Never Write Off The Efficient Kiwis

Derek Pringle dissects the New Zealand side and picks out the threat that the Black Caps may pose Eoin Morgan’s men at Lord’s today

You cannot out-psyche New Zealand with words as they have heard it all before. Perennially underestimated, they have, over the years consistently outperformed their ranking, their strength on paper and even the expectations of their mothers.

Yet their achievements should be more respected. After all, this is the second World Cup final they have reached in succession, a feat only managed this century by Australia, their noisy neighbours across the Tasman Sea.

An inspired semi-final win against India is what brings them to today’s final against England at Lord’s, though in truth they have reached the pinnacle firing on two cylinders at least with the bat. This makes them dangerous opponents as they have capacity to improve, such as getting their destructive opening batsman Martin Guptill into form.

Although still contributing in the field, it was Guptill’s wonderful direct hit to run out MS Dhoni that ended India’s hopes in the semi-final, he has had a stinker with the bat. In his last eight innings in the World Cup he has scored 104 runs at 13, not the numbers you want from a batsman whose career average in the 50-over game is 42.3.

But how do they get him right so he gives England’s trident of pace bowlers, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood their own hurry up? Under the enlightened captaincy of someone like Jeremy Coney, busy commentating at this World Cup, he have been sent not into the nets but the fleshpots of Soho for a massage with a happy ending. The modern way though is to hit balls, endless buckets of them via a bowling machine, grooving the shot and the mind and then hoping the opposition bowlers are as predictable.