Tom Latham – Bulletproof Truth

Time, at last, for cricket’s World Cup to shine

“The result against Pakistan could have been different, and then we’d be having a different conversation. If we do it again and again we’ll start to accept that we’re getting better at winning key moments in pressure games.” — Rob Walter

Telford Vice / Pune

RUGBY is a bigger deal than cricket in New Zealand and South Africa. Small wonder: the All Blacks or the Springboks have won seven of the 10 men’s World Cups yet played, even though the Boks weren’t at the first two because of apartheid.

So there will be no avoiding in Pune on Wednesday the echoes of this year’s final between rugby’s giants, which was played in Paris in the early hours of Sunday morning (IST). The South Africans claimed a record fourth triumph, winning a thunderous, controversy-strewn classic by a single point.

Men’s World Cup matches involving the countries’ cricket teams have have been spiced with drama — the 2011 quarterfinal and 2015 semifinal, for instance — but this rivalry isn’t as keen as it is in rugby. Maybe that’s because New Zealand have beaten South Africa six times in eight meetings. It isn’t much of a rivalry if one side wins significantly more often.

But the South Africans will believe they are capable of pulling one back this time. They are among the biggest batting teams at the tournament, and in Chennai on Friday they offered evidence that they have found a way to play under pressure by hanging tough to beat Pakistan by one wicket in the first close match of this World Cup.

The complication, for South Africa, is that the New Zealanders are themselves not averse to piling on the runs. And, of course, Friday’s match was not a knockout game — which have tended to prompt meltdowns in the team now led by Temba Bavuma.

The complication, for New Zealand, is that Lockie Ferguson, Kane Williamson and Mark Chapman are carrying significant injuries. Those are problems in three important areas that have made them a competitive team.

The other complication is that, with the semifinal line-up solidifying with each passing match, this game is more about who goes where in the final four than anything else. Both teams will be reasonably confident of making the play-offs, but will they play Australia or India in the semis? Winning, and losing, on Wednesday will go some way towards answering that question.

New Zealand’s other remaining opponents in the league stage are Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They should have the measure of both. But South Africa will be at Eden Gardens on Sunday for a clash with unbeaten India. They won’t want to be thinking about what went wrong in Pune as they take the flight to Kolkata.

Cricket matches between New Zealand and South Africa are often distilled to a tussle that pits the former’s famous flintiness against the latter’s supposedly superior strength. That narrative will again be afoot in this match, but so will something else.

When you grow up in the shadow of rugby and play cricket instead, and you know you have picked the sport that doesn’t grab your compatriots’ attention nearly as much as the other, you also know you need to take every chance to show them why you have made the right choice. This, for all involved, is one such chance.

When: November 1, 2023 at 14:00 IST

Where: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune

What to expect: A small target — 260 wasn’t reached in either of the first innings in the two matches played here in the tournament — despite the decent pitch and small outfield. Hot and dry, but less humid than other venues.

Teams:

New Zealand

The Kiwis are awaiting news on Lockie Ferguson’s Achilles, Kane Williamson’s thumb and Mark Chapman’s calf. Tom Latham was particularly non-committal about them at his press conference on Tuesday.

Without certainty on those players it’s difficult to see which way New Zealand will lean to pick their XI. That said, all three trained on Tuesday.

Tactics & strategy

New Zealand have made four of the top 20 totals in the tournament, and Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway have scored centuries. So we can bank on them being competitive with the bat. Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry are their two most successful bowlers and are among the top 10 wicket-takers, and then there’s Glenn Phillips, whose off-spin became less part-time and more frontline every time he gives it a whirl.

Probable XI: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (capt), Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson

South Africa

Kagiso Rabada missed the match against Pakistan in Chennai on Friday because of lower back spasms, but should be good to go on Wednesday. South Africa’s only other question is whether to pick Tabraiz Shamsi as a second spinner rather than Gerald Coetzee, their fast bowling enforcer.

Tactics & strategy

Like their opponents, South Africa own four of the 20 biggest totals at this World Cup. Quinton de Kock has scored half of their six hundreds, and Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen and Rassie van der Dussen the others. Runs are not the issue, and they showed against Pakistan that they can chase. Also like the Kiwis, the Saffers have two of the leading 10 wicket-takers in Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee. But they have been liable to leak a few too many runs.

Probable XI: Temba Bavuma (capt), Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Lungi Ngidi

Did you know?

— Two of the three centuries in World Cup games between the teams — Herschelle Gibbs’ 143 and Stephen Fleming’s 134 not out — were scored in the same match, at the Wanderers in 2003.

— Jacob Oram’s 4/39 in the 2011 quarterfinal in Dhaka is the only instance of a bowler claiming more than three wickets in World Cup matches involving these teams.

— Two of the Kiwis’ six World Cup wins were in knockout games: the 2011 quarterfinal and the 2015 semifinal.

What they said:

“There were two special sporting events going on, and one’s just finished. But we feel the support we have back home. We certainly understand the country is right behind us and hopefully we can make them proud.” — Tom Latham says his team can feel the love despite the nation’s obsession with the rugby World Cup.

“The result [against Pakistan] could have been different, and then we’d be having a different conversation. But the important and heartening thing was to see how some of the guys played under pressure, and that we managed to find a way to get over the line. If we do it again and again we’ll start to accept that we’re getting better at winning key moments in pressure games.” — Rob Walter on South Africa’s relationship with tight contests.

Squads:

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt),Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Will Young

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (capt), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lizaad Williams

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No Taylor, Williamson, Boult. No worries?

South Africa would be well advised not to expect a lesser examination in the absence of the supernova stars.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

TWO New Zealanders walk into a bar. One sits down at a table near the door, and says to the other, “Get us a beer, will ya?” The other replies, “Mate, your legs aren’t painted on.” Translation: what makes you so special that you don’t have to walk to the counter to order your own drinks?

Kiwis seem to be born with an innate sense of equality. We’re all the same, mate. No-one is better than anyone else, and we’ll bloody-well make sure they know it. No-one is spared. Martin Crowe, for instance, was a victim of “tall poppy syndrome”, which demanded that prominent figures be taken down a peg or two. That happened because, along with his specialness as a cricketer, Crowe was unusually and unapologetically unorthodox in his way of being part of the wider world. Can’t have that, mate. The corrective action involved slurring Crowe with the term used by New Zealanders who don’t live in the country’s biggest city to denigrate those who do: “Jafa”. It stands for “just another fucking Aucklander”.

Happily, this unhealthy tendency has diminished. New Zealanders seem to have come round to the idea that while stars shouldn’t be polished beyond their deserved lustre, they should be allowed to shine their natural brightest without being cynically tarnished. Recalcitrants will be tested during the Test series against South Africa in Christchurch, which starts on Thursday. Because Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson and Trent Boult, the supernova stars of this generation of New Zealand’s players, will not be in the XI. Taylor has retired, Williamson is nursing a chronic elbow injury, and Boult is about to become a father and will miss the first of the two matches.

Since Taylor, the senior among those three, made his debut in November 2007, he and Williamson have scored more than a quarter of their team’s total runs. Williamson’s 7,272 and Taylor’s 7,046 allow them to tower over the third name on the list, Brendon McCullum, who made almost three-quarters of his career aggregate of 6,453 once Taylor’s career had begun. Taylor and Williamson are, in that order, New Zealand’s all-time highest run-scorers. New Zealand haven’t played a Test without both of them since January 2008. That’s 117 Tests ago, of which Taylor has featured in 110 and Williamson in 86.

No New Zealander has taken more wickets than Boult’s 301 — more than a fifth of the Kiwis’ total during his career — since he made his debut in December 2011. Boult is behind Richard Hadlee, Daniel Vettori and Tim Southee on New Zealand’s all-time list of wicket-takers, but he has bowled between 11,963 and 2,137 fewer deliveries than them. Remarkably for a fast bowler, Boult has missed only 11 of the 86 Tests New Zealand have played since he earned his first cap.

New Zealand have won 44 and lost 41 of Taylor’s Tests. Those figures become 37 and 28 for Williamson and 38 and 23 for Boult. But it’s as part of a united force that the three players’ worth is most apparent: the Kiwis have won 35 and lost 17 of the 64 matches in which their XI has been studded with Taylor, Williamson and Boult. That’s a winning percentage of 54.69. Before the Taylor-Williamson-Boult era, New Zealand won just 18.76% of their Tests. In before and after terms, they are 36.02% more successful when the trio have been in action compared to previously. Pertinently, they featured in seven of the nine victories New Zealand earned in the 16 matches they have played in the World Test Championship (WCT). With weird symmetry, Taylor and Williamson are both sixth on the list of run-scorers worldwide measured from their debuts, and Boult is sixth among the wicket-takers.

Whichever way you spin the numbers, the three Kiwis are giants of the modern game. But New Zealand are hardly pushovers when those players don’t make their presence felt more strongly than their teammates. That much was made plain during the inaugural WCT final in Southampton in June last year. Boult was tight but not especially successful in taking 2/47 in India’s first innings of 217, in which Kyle Jamieson claimed 5/31. Williamson and Taylor made 49 and 11 in their side’s reply of 249, which was led by Devon Conway’s 54. Boult took 3/39 in the second innings, but Southee banked 4/48. Even so, Williamson and Taylor did show their class in chasing down the target of 139 with an unbroken stand of 96. Williamson made 52 not out and Taylor was unbeaten on 47.

So the South Africans would be well advised not to expect a lesser examination on Thursday. By the sound of bowling coach Charl Langeveldt’s rumination on Hagley Oval’s famously green and grassy pitch, the visitors are indeed wise to the subtleties of the challenge ahead of them: “It can be misleading. That’s how New Zealand wickets are. It looks green, and probably with the new ball it will swing and seam. But it gets easier once the ball gets old. We spoke long and hard about it when we got here. The discussion was about getting used to the overcast conditions, too. When the sun is out, it’s easier [to bat] — the ball doesn’t swing and nip, the colour of the grass changes. But we will focus on bowling fuller. We need to make them play with the new ball. It’s all about being adaptable.”

Even the fact that Tom Latham has presided over only three wins in his six Tests as Williamson’s understudy as captain shouldn’t be taken as an obvious chink in the home side’s armour. In January, six days after Latham had scored one and 14 in Bangladesh’s shock eight-wicket win in Mount Maunganui, he led his team to victory by an innings at Hagley Oval, his home ground. Latham made 252, his sixth century and second double hundred in his last 39 Test innings. Clearly, his legs aren’t painted on.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Hairy times at Hagley Oval

“They’re fierce competitors, just like South Africans. We’re there to win. So are they. They’re a world class cricket team and they’re going to come out with all guns blazing. So are we.” – Dean Elgar

Telford Vice | Cape Town

DEAN Elgar may want to swing past the curator’s shed on his way to the middle for the toss before the first of two Tests at Hagley Oval starts next Thursday. Not to find out what the pitch might do, but to borrow a lawnmower.

When Elgar appeared at an online press conference hours before he and his squad left for New Zealand last Wednesday, he was recognisable as South Africa’s captain. Eight days on at another presser, this one beamed from his hotel room in Christchurch, he looked like someone else. The bottom half of his face had become a bonsai baobab.

Even in New Zealand, where extravagant public displays of male facial hair are as common as chewing gum is not on the streets of Singapore, Elgar and his beard would stick out. If only he was allowed to stick out.

Except for training and scheduled gym visits, the South Africans are confined to their rooms as per strict Covid-19 quarantine regulations. That could explain Elgar’s hurrying hirsuteness: “It’s a combination of boredom and maybe frustration. And maybe I’m a bit lazy to shave it off. But I’ll see how long I go with it.”

The squad’s 10 days of quarantine end on Monday, negative tests permitting. After they make good their escape, and unlike cricket teams in other countries, including South Africa, they won’t be restricted to a bio-bubble. Maybe then Elgar and his wondrous whiskers will take to Colombo Street, Christchurch’s main drag.

His burgeoning beard has certainly been noticed within the touring party, and at least one member has suggested it should go before the first Test starts. By then, and judging by its galloping growth, it could be somewhere past Elgar’s elbows and as wide as his shoulders. Hence the possible need to borrow a lawnmower from the Hagley Oval curator.

Certainly, Elgar will hope there is less grass on New Zealand’s fastest, bounciest pitch than there is currently hair on his chin. That’s as an opening batter. As the leader of a team primed with quality quicks, he won’t want too much of it shaved off. Grass, that is. But he is also mindful of a Kiwi attack that harbours three of the top 10 ranked bowlers in the world: Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner. South Africa’s only top-tenner is Kagiso Rabada. As the No. 2 fast bowler in the game — Pat Cummins is No. 1 — he is higher on the list than any of the New Zealanders. Tom Latham is the only player on either side in the top 10 batting rankings, which would seem to tilt the balance in the bowlers’ favour.

Despite his team having blunted India’s much vaunted pace pack to win a Test series in South Africa in December and January, Elgar knew his batters were in for a stern challenge: “I say this with a lot of respect, but the New Zealand attack are a little down on pace compared to the Indian attack. In saying that, they execute their skills perfectly in their conditions.”

The home side should have a significantly better idea of those conditions than the visitors. South Africa had two 2015 World Cup warm-up matches at Hagley Oval, but their only official game there was an ODI in February 2017. None of the XI in that match are in the current squad.

South Africa last played a Test in New Zealand in Hamilton in March 2017. Elgar, Temba Bavuma and Rabada are the survivors from that XI. The South Africans have played 37 Tests — 13 away in England, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and West Indies — since their last encounter with New Zealand in the format. New Zealand have played 31, 13 of which have been in Australia, England, India, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.

The sides last met at Edgbaston during the 2019 World Cup. Since then South Africa have played 72 games in all formats in eight different countries and regions. New Zealand have played 75 in seven.

“It’s disappointing we don’t get to play against New Zealand a lot, because I’ve loved the series I’ve been part of,” Elgar, who has played in three rubbers against the Kiwis, said. “They’re fierce competitors, just like South Africans. We’re there to win. So are they. They’re a world class cricket team and they’re going to come out with all guns blazing. So are we.”

New Zealand have never prevailed in a Test series between the teams. Three have been drawn and South Africa have won the other 12. But the home side are the inaugural world champions and will start as favourites even though they are without captain and batting kingpin Kane Williamson, who is out with an elbow injury. South Africa’s batting has also taken a hit, with No. 3 Keegan Petersen removed because of Covid.

Almost half of South Africa’s squad of 17 have put their names in the hat for the IPL mega auction in Bangalore this weekend. So, whatever happens in all the bidding and buying, Rabada, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj, Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen and Zubayr Hamza will all have their attention returned to the task at hand by next Thursday.

Elgar, who has played only 81 T20s in a career focused on the red-ball game, was happy not to be among the anxious eight: “I’m definitely not in that auction because I can’t stand another year of disappointment and not getting the satisfaction of retiring in a few years’ time because of a million-dollar contract. I’m a lot more optimistic than that.”

But he understood the importance of the moment for those looking to land a big deal: “Some guys might have the auction go their way, and I’ll be the first guy to congratulate them because I’ll know the beers are on them. It’s an opportunity for someone to have their life changed because they’ve played extremely good cricket throughout their international careers. If a player does pick up a big deal we’re going to still pull him into line because he’s got to play for us. Playing Test cricket for your country is the ultimate.”

Perhaps. But not for much longer. And nevermind the beers: could one of those freshly minted millionaires buy Elgar a barbershop shave?

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Stokes wins closest ever World Cup final for England

Good luck to the keepers of cricket’s annals, who will struggle to smuggle this scoreline neatly into their records.

TMG Digital + Print

TELFORD VICE at Lord’s

BEN Stokes played a charmed innings to mastermind England’s triumph in the most closely fought final in men’s World Cup history.

England, who played in their fourth final, claimed the trophy for the first time by beating New Zealand, who had reached in the decider for the second consecutive time.

But it needed a super over to separate the sides after the match was tied — New Zealand totalled 241/8 and England were dismissed for 241.

Even that wasn’t enough to decide the issue: both teams scored 15 runs in the super over, so the equation was further distilled to which side had hit the most boundaries.

All told, super over and everything, New Zealand hit 14 fours and three sixes.

England? Twenty-four fours and two sixes.

Arise, World Cup champions. And good luck to the keepers of the annals, who will struggle to smuggle that scoreline neatly into their records.

New Zealand have batted first only three other times in their 11 games in the tournament, and twice in those matches they have made smaller totals than Sunday’s 241/8. They won one of those games and lost the other.

Their most dependable batters, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, who between them had scored both of the centuries and five of the 11 half-centuries the Kiwis have made during the World Cup going into the final, were dismissed for 30 and 15.

It was left to opener Henry Nicholls, playing only his third match of a tournament in which his 28 against India in the semi-final at Old Trafford, to provide stability with his 77-ball 55.

Williamson helped Nicholls add 74 for the second wicket, the only half-century stand of the innings, and No. 5 Tom Latham’s 47 was New Zealand’s next best effort.

Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer used the new ball effectively for England, and Woakes took 3/37.

Liam Plunkett claimed 3/42, taking all of his wickets with cross-seam deliveries.

Of England’s six bowlers, only Stokes, who went wicketless for 20 off three overs, conceded five or more runs a ball.

New Zealand defended a lower total as recently as Wednesday, when they made 239/8 in their semi-final against India at Old Trafford and won by 18 runs.

But they reduced the Indians to 5/3 in the first 19 balls of the innings — the like of which they couldn’t repeat on Sunday.

Instead Jonny Bairstow stood firm through stands of 28 with Jason Roy and 31 with Joe Root.

Roy was fortunate to survive, by the slimmest of “umpire’s call” margins, which was handed down after South Africa’s Marius Erasmus decided the Englishman was not out, when the New Zealanders reviewed Trent Boult’s shout for lbw off the first ball of the innings.

Then Colin de Grandhomme dropped a return catch Bairstow offered in the 11th, when he was 18 and England were 39/1.

Root gave De Grandhomme some solace six overs later when he flashed at a wide delivery and was caught behind.

Bairstow went for 36 three overs after that, dragging Lockie Ferguson onto his stumps.

And when Ferguson roared in from the cover boundary to catch, centimetres from the turf, Jimmy Neesham’s first ball of the match — which had been hammered there by Eoin Morgan — England were 86/4 and reduced to their last pair of proper batters.

But they were Stokes and Jos Buttler, and they clipped 110 runs off 133 balls in a largely controlled partnership that endured into the 45th over and took England to within 46 runs of victory.

It ended when Buttler hammered Ferguson to deep cover, where substitute Tim Southee held a fine sliding catch. Buttler’s 60 came off 60 balls and included six fours.

That started a slide of six wickets for 45 runs, but Stokes survived for an undefeated 84 off 98 balls with five fours and two sixes.

England were 220/7 with Stokes 63 not out and in the 49th over when he smashed Neesham to the midwicket boundary — where Boult fell over the boundary and turned a catch into a six.

England needed 15 off the 50th over, and Stokes lofted Boult for six over midwicket.

That narrowed the equation to nine off three — clearly in the Kiwis’ favour.

Stokes smacked Boult to midwicket along the ground, and Martin Guptill’s throw hit Stokes as he dived to make his ground.

From there, it scooted over the boundary to earn six runs off one delivery.

That meant England needed three runs off two balls, but only two were added as Adil Rashid and Mark Wood were run out in the process.

That tied the scores, prompting the super over.

Stokes and Buttler returned to club 15 runs off Boult, each of them hitting a four.

Neesham and Guptill came out to face Archer, and Neesham lifted a massive six over midwicket off the second ball.

Two were required off the last ball, but Guptill was run out by Roy’s throw to wicketkeeper Buttler scrambling back for the second.

That tied the scores again, but for only as long as it took to tally up the boundaries.