The almost inexplicable rise of New Zealand cricket

Australia is not in the World Test Championship final because of a run rate penalty, but it is hard to begrudge the Kiwis their place.

New Zealand's stand-in captain Tom Latham holds the trophy as the team celebrates winning the Test series over England Picture: AFP

The most galling thing from an Australian perspective is how New Zealand pushed past Tim Paine’s team to get to the World Test Championship playoff this Friday.

Pushed past a side that handed them a God-awful thrashing a year previous in a Test series in Australia.

They just had no right.

The most inspiring thing from a cricket perspective is how they pushed past all the inherent barriers to success and found their way to the World Test Championship match against India, in Hampshire, this Friday.

They just had no right, but nobody is begrudging them the opportunity, especially after they handed England a cricket lesson in London.

Michael Atherton purred about “the golden age of New Zealand cricket” as the side cruised to a 1-0 series victory against an England side whose reputation was dismantled in the process.

New Zealand’s presence in the historic match against India is the ultimate David and Goliath story. The Kiwis have a population of 4.9m. India’s population is 1.4 billion.

By any measure against any nation the Kiwis adopt the David position.

They are the smallest of the 12 Test playing nations, but they sit on top of the Test Championship and Test ranking tables. They’re similarly well placed on the ODI table.

India’s cricket board operates on an annual revenue of around $700m, the Kiwis operate on about one tenth of that.

England and Australia both operate on close to ten fold the amount the Kiwis have at their disposal.

The Kiwis have, however, learned to do more with less while there is a suspicion their opponents do the opposite.

Chief executive officer David White told the Times recently that “sometimes you can have too much money … you can get lazy in your decision-making, because we are small, we can be nimble and agile”.

The comparisons flew thick and fast as they cruised past England at Edgbaston. The home side fielded an almost full strength batting line up: Joe Root, Rory Burns, Dom Sibley and Ollie Pope populated the top order while a bowling attack with Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Mark Wood rounded things out. Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes were rested.

The Kiwis were, arguably, more undermanned than their opponents, pulling off the win without Kane Williamson, Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson. Weather denied them a win in the first Test of the series, but not even six changes could deny them in the second.

Top-order batsman Will Young came off the bench to score 82 in the first innings of the second Test and showed the sort of application that suggests he is a keeper, but he is almost certain not to play in Friday’s game when the big names return.

The same fate awaits bower Matt Henry whose six wickets earned him player of the match at Edgbaston.

“We’ve got a bigger group and through a mixture of injuries and guys being rested for next week, those guys that came in certainly took their opportunity,” acting captain Tom Latham said after the game.

“Matt has been with the group for a long period and probably hasn’t got the game time he would have wanted. For him to come in and put a performance on the board, that was really important, especially the work that he did yesterday with that new ball.

“It was amazing from a personnel change of six guys (from the first Test). That hasn’t happened for a long time in this group and it has been a hard team to crack in to.”

India is warming up with an intra-squad practice match on the fields next to the Ageas Bowl where the championship will be played.

India edged to the top of the Test Championship table courtesy of a 32-1 win in Australia last summer. Australia slipped under the Kiwis on the table when match referee David Boon docked Tim Paine’s team four points for slow over rates in the second Test against India.

Daily Mail reporter and Wisden editor, Lawrence Booth, noted on social media that since the Kiwi’s last win in England (1999) their overall record before this game against Australia, England, India and South Africa was abysmal.

In those 51 Tests it had won just two.

When New Zealand toured here two years ago they were a disappointment, losing the Test series 3-0 by a total of 822 runs.

To say the side has peaked at the right time is an understatement.

A recent article in The Times by Steve James examined how astute the management and development of players has been in New Zealand where they have, he notes, 116 professional male players (similar to Australia’s first class set up) compared to England’s 400.

James observes that it is hometown advantage which has worked well for the Kiwis who have not been beaten in any of the last 17 Tests played on their own shores.

Their strength is predicated on the bowling talents of Neil Wagner, Southee and Trent Boult with Jamieson performing magnificently in the few Tests he has played. Williamson is one of the greatest batsmen of the current era and one of the best the country has produced. Henry Nicholls and Latham are equally talented, Ross Taylor has played over 100 Tests.

In England they unleashed Devon Conway, blooding him at the top of the order. The South African immigrant has repaid the faith with scores of 200, 23, 80 and 3.

New Zealand have fallen at the last hurdle in the last two World Cups but gained the respect of world cricket by their performances.

This week they will have all but about 1.4 billion Indians on their side and even a few of them will have to acknowledge respect for what they have achieved.