Are the Kiwis really prepared for a tough challenge?

Recently, the cricketing fraternity experienced a weapon of mass destruction that demolished/battered/clobbered (take your pick!) a hapless Zimbabwean side in all three formats of the game. The annihilation process started with them thrashing the minnows by an innings and 301 runs; bowling them out twice in a day in the one-off Test; then clean-sweeping the ODIs 3-0 by heavy margins of 90, 141 and 202 runs – in the last two ODIs, they scored in excess of 350. Finally, the torture was complete as they delivered the knockout punch by winning both the T2OIs comfortably.

So what conclusion can we arrive at? Is New Zealand the new super power of international cricket? Or are they the most dangerous side you would ever want to face?  Well, they might have exterminated Zimbabwe in their own backyard but with a strong team like South Africa visiting their den in a few days, are they ready for the real challenge?

New Zealand’s ODI record since January 2010

New Zealand hasn’t enjoyed a great time in the ODI arena in the last two years. Since January 2010, they have played 41 ODIs, lost a staggering 21 of them and won just 18 with 2 no results. That brings their win/loss ratio to a poor 0.85. What makes the ratio look more abject is that since that period, they are placed 7th, just above West Indies (0.59) and Bangladesh (0.46) in the top ten Test playing nations’ win/loss ratio list.

Even more concerning is their performance in ODIs against top playing nations. Have they performed to their potential in the last two years?  Let’s have a check.

They started off 2010 with three-match ODI series against a weak team in Bangladesh at home and beat them convincingly with a thumping margin of 86 on the Castrol Index. Their next assignment was a five-match ODI series against the then World Champions Australia at home and they couldn’t carry forward the same momentum in the high profile series as they lost 3-2.

But what followed was more appalling as they finished third in the triangular series involving India and Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, winning just one of the four matches played. Skipper Daniel Vettori’s incessant streak of losses continued as they put in their worst performance of the season being whitewashed by Bangladesh 4-0 (5-match series) and then by India 5-0 away. They lost by an overall margin of 27 points against the Bangla Tigers and 43 points against India on the Castrol Index.

During the period between 13th August 2010 and 31st December 2010, the Kiwis did not win a single match having played 12 matches and lost 11 of them with one no result – 11 consecutive losses were nothing short of disgrace. John Wright replaced Mark Greatbatch as New Zealand’s coach but the losing juggernaut continued as they lost 2-3 to Pakistan in the six-match home series. The repercussions of the poor performance meant that there was a sense of anguish among the fans with crowd numbers going down. The World Cup was just a month away and the Kiwis were in absolute tatters.

They did reach the semi-finals of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup but without facing a daunting challenge as they played eight matches, won five and lost three. Of the five wins, three were against minnows like Kenya, Zimbabwe and Canada. The result being they finished at a mediocre 5th position on the Overall Index, well behind Sri Lanka, India, South Africa and Australia.

Ross Taylor, the new captain, started off on a positive note winning the first two games of the three-match away series against Zimbabwe but a dismal performance saw them lose the last ODI as they couldn’t defend a humongous target of 328.

New Zealand’s ODI record against minnows and top teams since January 2010

After the recent 3-0 ODI whitewash of Zimbabwe at home, they have won just 18 of the 41 games played since January 2010 but out of those wins, 11 of them have been against the minnows. And all their three series wins out of the eight played have been against the lower ranked sides, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Their last ODI series win against a top team was way back in November 2009 when they beat Pakistan 2-1 in the three-match series in the UAE. So with a big South African challenge ahead at home, have the Kiwis achieved the much needed competitive practice by winning against minnows like Zimbabwe?  They are seventh in the current ODI rankings and up against a side who has won five out of seven ODI series in the last couple of years. With their fast and bouncy tracks conducive to seam bowling and with the likes of the deadly Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Lonwabo Tsotsobe,  and in-form batsmen like Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis , AB  de Villiers in the South African ranks, it will be a different ball game  altogether.

Inspite of being termed as highly capable, this promising side has always underperformed. They have a new refreshing team with an injection of talented young blood. It’s high time they show their real worth to the cricketing world and doing it with a series win against the mighty Proteas would be the best way to answer their critics.