Image Credit- Getty
It’s difficult to let go, particularly when it’s the best thing you’ve ever had.
Over the previous ten years, New Zealand’s men’s Test squad just hasn’t suffered defeats like the one on Sunday. There have been two innings losses since 2014, but they are both far lighter than this Galle loss. One of the great disappointments of the great New Zealand years is that they never managed a Test series triumph over the opposition they love to beat most. The first came against Australia in Brendon McCullum’s farewell series in 2016, which, okay, qualifies as a horror-Test. The other innings loss, however, came in a 2018 series that New Zealand won 2-1 in Dubai against Pakistan.
And yet in their most recent game, New Zealand lost by an innings and 154 in a series they lost 2-0, as if crossing off a bingo board of Test sorrow. take five wickets at most in a Test match while they lose twenty. Bowl so many overs in one inning that they were forced to use the third fresh ball available, which was an embarrassment. Have their bowlers become so much fodder that they were bowled out for a two-digit score in the first innings, and that part of the match (the overs after tea on day 2) was little more than an opposition milestone-getting exercise?
All of this for a team that, in addition to winning the World Test Championship in 2021, was perhaps the most skilled squad over the previous ten years. Only seven times in 147 innings since 2014 has New Zealand fallen short of 150, a percentage of 4.76 that is the lowest of any Test team. Additionally, they had never given up 600 runs in 160 bowling innings—a feat that every other WTC side had at least once. That is, until this Test, when they both gave up 602 for 5 and were out for 88.
When you add it all up and look down at the ages of many of the guys on this team, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that this is just the beginning of something very amazing. Naturally, though, one poor series does not constitute New Zealand a horrible squad. However, they have now lost four straight Test matches after losing 2-0 to Australia earlier in the year.
What are they planning to do? Three tests in India, huh? Essentially, what is the hardest task in cricket? Only Australia and England have triumphed over India at home since 2014. Even still, these are isolated victories in series that India has largely controlled.
And you wonder most about one of New Zealand’s finest heroes. Leading this team is Tim Southee, the second-greatest wicket-taker in the history of his country. He has averaged 38.86 across 21 games since the beginning of 2022—a fifth of his playing career.
Does Southee’s captaincy serve to solidify his position on the team? Since the beginning of 2022, Matt Henry has averaged 23.56, even if his success has mostly come from dominating at home. But is he more likely to be a danger in India than Southee? We are reaching walking-on-eggshells territory for everyone, even, you assume, for New Zealand’s selections.
Generally speaking, this seems like a squad that will be under increasing pressure to introduce new concepts, new players, and new tactics at cricket’s newest cutting edge, which they no longer appear to be at, even though not that long ago they were completely changing the game’s landscape.
However, things do alter. The world goes on. It’s difficult to let go when you’ve had something as wonderful as New Zealand has for such a long time.