Cricket: The fast and the furious

There might be a shortage of potential test fast bowlers coming through New Zealand cricket ranks but allrounder stocks are plentiful.

The New Zealand under-19 team will have pace bowlers batting at three, four, six and eight when their World Cup kicks off on January 16 against Canada in Christchurch. In the batting order, they'll come in as Jimmy Neesham (Auckland), Corey Anderson (Canterbury), Doug Bracewell (Central Districts - son of Brendon) and Logan van Beek (Canterbury), giving coach Chris Kuggeleijn plenty of options.

"I can only work off what I've seen from talented cricketers in my 34 years playing and watching first-class cricket," says Kuggeleijn. "There are kids here as good as any I've ever seen. All those four bowl a heavy ball and hit the bat hard. I've never seen such an athletic group. And if there's a side that can field better, I'd like to see it."

Auckland's Craig Cachopa will captain the side. Kuggeleijn's been impressed with his credentials.

"He's a born leader. He's led most sides he's played in and is a good thinker. Craig's a pro-active person, not one of these reactive people who feels they 'have to' make a decision."

However, Anderson, who has just turned 19, is also charged with extra responsibility. Like Michael Bracewell (Otago - son of Mark) and Harry Boam (Wellington), he helped take the team to the 2008 semifinals in Malaysia, where Tim Southee emerged as the player of the tournament.

"It's handy to have that knowledge to pass on what's expected," says Anderson. "It will be easier getting accustomed to the conditions. There can be no excuses this time regarding the heat.

"I know it's a reasonably big role but there are other guys in the side capable of doing the same thing - destroying teams on their day and getting teams through to victory. We bat deep and have plenty of bowling options. Quite a few guys (three: Anderson, Boam and Doug Bracewell) also have first-class experience."

Anderson says more than anything, he's pleased to be back at the bowling crease, including a one-day bag of 5-26 from seven overs against Northern Districts.

"It's nice to have that confidence going into a World Cup. I had shoulder surgery at the end of the previous season. It stopped me bowling throughout the next one [2008-09]. It felt a bit naked not being able to do everything you normally do."

There was some concern in the New Zealand under-19 ranks that Anderson might be forced to stay with the Canterbury provincial side in the domestic Twenty20 competition until the World Cup campaign proper. But Kuggeleijn has ruled that out: "No, no, no ... I don't know how that came about, we've got to piece together a unit. Corey joins us early on New Year's Day in time for the warm-up matches in Blenheim after playing a one-dayer for Canterbury the previous evening."

Anderson's glad the decision was made for him because he didn't want to play favourites.

"It's an honour to play for your country, so that weighs heavier," he said. "In saying that, all the Black Caps are back for the Twenty20, so it's tough, but you've got to find a happy medium, you can't have the best of both worlds. At the moment, I'll be playing in the World Cup, so I'd rather focus on that."

The team's preparation has been running alongside the successful, late hosting bid by New Zealand Cricket (NZC) after the venues of official host Kenya were judged to be below standard, with too little time and too few resources to right matters.

NZC operations manager Tim Murdoch says action was required immediately: "We have a good reputation for delivering events - we're seen as a safe pair of hands. The ICC had the confidence they could transfer it reasonably late to us - it can't hurt our build-up to the 2015 World Cup either."

There will be only four cities used as venues - Christchurch, Queenstown, Palmerston North and Napier - but more than one ground will be used in those locations for each pool.

"We had to be careful with so much other cricket happening around New Zealand. One of the ICC's specific requirements was that we had to avoid areas which would be influenced by domestic cricket in January."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY