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James Neesham can provide more impetus to New Zealand’s weakened batting up the order

New Zealand team sprung a surprise by announcing James Neesham as the opener.

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Jimmy Neesham © AFP
James Neesham is an aggressive batsman and can give good momentum at the start © AFP

Ahead of their three-match One-Day International (ODI) series against South Africa, the New Zealand team sprung a surprise by announcing James Neesham as the opener. Abhijit Banare analyses the decision.

Any ODI series these days is looked from the context of a World Cup preparation. And predictably so, any changes in the team are looked upon with a similar view. Ahead of a short but tough series against the Proteas, the Kiwis have pulled a surprise by bringing James (Jimmy) Neesham up the order. Given their situation, with Jesse Ryder out of form, the Black Caps were forced to make a change at the top.

Why Neesham? The injuries to key batsmen like Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor has left a void at the top of the batting for the Kiwis. Though they have replaced Dean Brownlie and Tom Latham in the respective No 3 and No 4 positions, they need some solidity at the top of the batting. Neesham being named as an opener could be due to two reasons.

a) Perhaps the team management was looking to continue a right-left combination which Ryder-Guptill provided in recent times. And this was a good opportunity to push a relatively experienced player (in the absence of Williamson and Taylor) to push up the order and retain a similar combination. Neesham is an aggressive batsman and can give good momentum at the start.

b) Moreover, skipper Brendon McCullum has had a belief in Neesham’s abilities and also praised him during the tour of West Indies in July 2014 where he was the third-highest run-getter. McCullum and coach Mike Hesson had also stated about the possibility of Neesham playing a role up the order in future.

The opening scenario for New Zealand:

Since January 1, 2013, the Kiwis have used eight batsmen to open in a total of 28 matches. The only regular face at the top has been Martin Guptill who has opened in 19 of those matches. During this time, Guptill has averaged 44.25 which makes him a certainty at the top of the batting order going in to the World Cup. However, Ryder who has been the more regular of the remaining in the list as the other opener has averaged a mere 29.11. However, to his credit he did score well in the ODI series in West Indies.

No

Batsman

M

R

1

Martin Guptill

19

708

2

Jesse Ryder

9

262

3

Anton Devcich

6

93

4

Luke Ronchi

6

47

5

BJ Watling

5

42

6

Tom Latham

4

142

7

Hamish Rutherford

4

15

8

Rob Nicol

1

4

Down the order: With Daniel Vettori returning and along with Luke Ronchi, New Zealand have a reliable pair of batsmen at No 7 and No 8. And the Kiwis always have the services of the hard-hitting batsman in Corey Anderson. Hence it made sense to push Neesham as an opener.

With 15 ODIs ahead of them, the Kiwis have ample time to assess Neesham’s performance as an opener. The Kiwis will be played five ODIs in UAE and seven at home against Sri Lanka which would be enough to test the left-hander.

Complete coverage of South Africa tour of New Zealand

(Abhijit Banare is a reporter at CricketCountry. He is an avid quizzer and loves to analyse and dig out interesting facts which allows him to learn something new every day. Apart from cricket he also likes to keep a sharp eye on Indian politics, and can be followed on @AbhijitVirgo)

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