Kane Williamson talks to Brendon McCullum after the loss to England. Photo / Photosport
Kane Williamson talks to Brendon McCullum after the loss to England. Photo / Photosport
COMMENT:
Some of the criticism levelled at Kane Williamson, in the wake of the Disaster in Durham, has been grossly unfair.
Yes, he might be slightly more cautious and less obviously aggressive than Brendon McCullum but that doesn't mean he's a boring captain and it certainly doesn't make him anyless competitive than his predecessor.
What is beyond debate, is that that the Black Caps were nowhere near good enough in their 119-run defeat to England - their third in succession at the tournament - and that Williamson must shoulder some of the responsibility.
But to compare him to McCullum at the 2015 tournament is unfair - they're two completely different characters, at the helm of two completely different teams in a cricketing landscape that has become almost unrecognisable in four short years.
There's no one right way to lead a side and what works for one team, doesn't necessarily resonate with another. Remember how McCullum was chastised after the 2015 final for getting out off the third ball of the match when trying to get on top of Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc? Then he was called "reckless" by the same people now accusing Williamson of being overly circumspect.
Ross Taylor is run out by Jos Buttler during the Black Caps 119-run defeat to England in Durham. Photo / Photosport
The 2019 Black Caps are clearly not in a good place at the moment. The batsmen aren't firing and it's reached the point where you have to admit that we have been lucky to make it to the semifinal stage.
There hasn't been a single "complete" performance all tournament – something the players themselves admit and their confidence will be dented heading into the semifinal.
It's the exact opposite to 2015 when we had come off an unbeaten group stage and were brimming with form and confidence. Every player had put in at least one big performance and we knew that someone would deliver with the bat when it mattered.
This team will be heading to Manchester hoping for a performance we haven't seen – and, to be honest, hasn't looked likely – over the past five weeks.
How did it get to this point?
Well, in hindsight our preparation was far from ideal. Losing Mike Hesson as coach less than a year out from the World Cup turned everything upside down and having key players – the likes of Tom Latham, Tim Southee and Henry Nicholls - all injured leading into the tournament didn't help.
Does this mean we can't beat what will likely be Australia in the semis? It most certainly does not.
Coach Gary Stead and captain Kane Williamson have some thinking to do ahead of a probable semifinal. Photo / Photosport
It's up to Williamson and coach Gary Stead to pull the right levers with every player in the squad. They'll all respond differently to being under the pump like this - some guys like to literally train their way back into form, hitting more balls in the nets than ever before, while others prefer to get away from the game altogether – even if it's just for a day.
After suffering back-to-back-to-back losses, we'll be huge underdogs, no matter who we face next but we don't mind that tag. Anything can happen in the pressure cooker of a knockout match and the big players tend to lift their games.
Who's to say Williamson doesn't get another hundred or we see a repeat of Martin Guptill's double century from the quarterfinal against the West Indies four years ago?
The guys will also know there's no point playing it safe, we might as well take the game to the opposition and try to dominate. We only need one match-winning performance to get us through and the Black Caps have plenty of match-winners.
If the 2015 semifinal against South Africa taught us anything, it's that the pressure of a knockout game does strange things to even the most experienced players. It is an opportunity for someone to become a hero.
