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Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Anendra Singh: Debate over captain abysmal

Anendra Singh
Anendra Singh
Sports editor·Hawkes Bay Today·
27 Sep, 2012 08:48 PM3 mins to read

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By the time you read this everyone should know if the Black Caps came through unscathed overnight in the trial by spin in their opening Super 8 clash against hosts Sri Lanka.

The dizzy spells, unfortunately, will continue for coach Mike Hesson and his merry men well after the Twenty20 World Cup dust settles in the subcontinent.

The New Zealand cricket team will embark on a tour of Sri Lanka, playing a T20 match, then five one-day internationals (ODIs) and two tests.

Any team worth their salt have decent tweakers in their squad and, no doubt, batsmen who possess a modicum of ability to counter spin attack.

All the Black Caps needed was ambiguity from their coach on whether Ross Taylor would remain at the helm of the mothership trying to avoid the Bermuda Triangle.

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The media didn't need a second invitation as the speculation kicked in on whether Devon Hotel Central Districts Stags batsman Taylor should continue to bark commands from the first slip or hand the stripes over to, obviously, part-time wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum who also hovers at third slip in test matches.

If Captain Taylor reaches out for the panic button on the bridge then chances are those baying for his blood even before he was appointed will stick in the knives.

Hesson's timing is as impeccable as Kevin Pietersen's when he sent text messages to South African players to vent his spleen on the England cricket team's misgivings.

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Former Otago coach Hesson was always seen as accidental instigator of a possible face-off between Taylor and McCullum after the latter's disappointment in missing out in an almost TV debate-like political election was undeniable.

Whether the coach plays the misinterpreted card or unwittingly becomes a catalyst to any change, only time will tell.

The reality remains the World Cup is, after all, only a hit-and-giggle exercise, albeit one New Zealand Cricket sees as the most plausible avenue to put the Black Caps as a blip on the international radar.

More importantly, to make Taylor the sacrificial lamb for any perceived sense of mediocrity will be nothing short of a joke.

Fat and furious the T20 cup may be but it's also as fickle as the Sri Lankan weather, which has turned the competition into a farce.

The Duckworth-Lewis method, which was never embraced with any degree of certainty, remains the yardstick for determining who qualified for the Super 8 stage.

What does it say about a World Cup where a team, the West Indies, progress to the play-offs without having won a game?

But I digress. Taylor was thinking of a bowling change, after consulting McCullum, when he had the whoopsy daisies before dropping a crucial catch against Pakistan.

Effectively that's the price you pay for thinking - your head will roll.

Arguably you could ask: "Were Kyle Mills and McCullum thinking when they chased the ball before a horrific schoolboy collision left them writhing in pain against Bangladesh?" Gloveman always has the first go but did Macca yell out?

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Hey, the overall fielding hasn't been flash, either, so is that Taylor's fault?

In juggling their batting order the Caps have kept the opposition guessing, especially as they have become typecast as a side who will grapple with spin.

It might take only a few tweaks to turn a 13-run loss into victory against Pakistan, who are my pick to clinch the title.

Consequently the Black Caps can't be too far off if they get their act together.

With the tour soon after, showing incremental improvement is paramount to planting seeds of disharmony.

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