Cricket: Battle of the captains looms in Chappell-Hadlee Trophy

Reporter·NZ Herald·

3 Dec, 2016 07:05 AM3 mins to read

It's the duel which could go a long way to settling the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy - skipper vs skipper, two of the best batsmen in the game aiming to carry their team to victory.

Steve Smith and Kane Williamson are in an elite group of international batsmen and, along with England's Joe Root and India's boom hero Virat Kohli, vying to be top dog.

Right now - and this changes from series to series - Australian skipper Smith is No 1 in the test rankings, Williamson sits fourth.

In ODI cricket, Williamson sits at No 5 and Smith a surprisingly low No 16.

Indeed two other key batting figures in the series starting at the Sydney Cricket Ground today, are higher than Smith - Australia's quickfire lefthander David Warner is No 3, New Zealand's Martin Guptill at No 8.

It's a contrast in styles at the crease - pitting Williamson, the calm, methodical operator who works the about around the field in almost unhurried fashion, against one of cricket's great fidgeters.

An Australian TV channel last season counted the number of fidgets, tugs and pulls of his pads, protector, shirt, collar and gloves Smith produced while waiting for one ball, and the count got to 23.

There is solid endorsement of each other's abilities.

''A lot of the time they bat around Kane. He's the glue in their middle order," Smith said today.

''He's a quality player and we know he's capable of scoring big runs.

''He's certainly one we'll need to get on top of if we want to have success in this series."

Smith's style is distinctive but Williamson is clear in his praise for his opposite.

''He's a world class player and he's done it for years in all formats. There's no surprise why he's ranked so highly, and to do it is his own style is unique.

''He has a unique technique that really works and the confidence to go out and be as consistent as he is, is something for a lot of players to follow."

Intriguingly neither player have been at their best against each other.

In five ODI innings against New Zealand, Smith has mustered just 101 runs at 25.25, his one significant score the unbeaten 56 which helped carry Australia to the World Cup final victory in Melbourne last year.

Williamson has batted six times against the Aussies for 153 runs at 38. His best score was 60 at Westpac Stadium during last summer's Chappell-Hadlee series.

His most celebrated innings however was his unbeaten 45, finished with a six off Australian quick Pat Cummins to get New Zealand home by one wicket in their pool game during the World Cup at Eden Park.

Now boil them down in captaincy terms.

Williamson has led New Zealand in 24 ODIs, winning 11 of them. His batting average jumps to 51.09 when he's been in charge.

Smith has skippered Australia in 30 games, winning 16. His batting average also climbs when he is leader, up to 46.03.

To which an argument could be made that captaincy brings out more of them as batting talismans.