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New Zealand is quite capable of winning the World Cup, but Brendon McCullum’s Black Caps showed scant respect for Scotland in Dunedin yesterday and struggled to beat the minnows by three wickets.
Fresh from a 98-run success over the tough-to-beat Sri Lankans in the opening round, it was reasonably expected the Black Caps would give the Scots a cricket lesson.
And that’s the way it started, when McCullum sent the Scots into bat.
In 4.2 overs Scotland was 4/12, with opening bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult both on a hat-trick, and both had figures of 2/6.
For some unaccountable reason, the Black Caps took their foot off the pedal, with line and length lost by Southee, Boult, and first change paceman Adam Milne – all were guilty.
The lack of pressure allowed right-handed Matt Machan, and his leftie partner Richie Berrington, to get Scotland back in the fight with a 97-run stand in 25 overs.
Southee blew out to 2/25 off eight, Boult 2/21 off six, and Milne, who reminds me of Shane Bond, had 0/32 off seven.
Machan and Berrington were in command, and the longer they stayed together, Scotland was going to make a fist of what loomed as one-way traffic.
Why McCullum left left-arm paceman Corey Anderson out of the attack for so long it defies description.
He was man-of-the-match against Sri Lanka with 2-18 off three, and a quick-fire 75 off 46 deliveries.
The 24-year-old Anderson hits the pitch hard, and extracts more bounce than his colleagues.
In just five deliveries, Anderson had both Machan (56 off 79), and Berrington (50 off 80) back in the shed.
Machan tried to pull Anderson, but the leftie was too quick for him. and a top edge flew to McCullum who had to dive forward at mid-on to take the catch.
Anderson was also too quick for Berrington, and his top edge pull flew to fine leg where Milne took a good catch.
Anderson had 2/8 off two, and in tandem with ageless Daniel Vettori, playing his 288th ODI, the left-arm spinner cleaned up the tail with 3/24, the last two in successive deliveries.
Scotland was all out 142, a walk in the park for the talented Black Cap batsmen.
This time they made heavy weather of the reply.
Martin Guptill (17), Brendon McCullum (15), Kane Williamson (30), and Ross Taylor (9) are four world-class stroke-makers, but they were all gone befor 106, all four playing out-of-character loose shots – gifting wickets to the Scots.
New Zealand eventually stumbled over the line with 7/143 to remain undefeated after two rounds, but it was a major wake-up call.
The next two rounds will define the New Zealand campaign – against England in Wellington on February 20, and the big one against Australia at Eden Park on February 20.
There’s no room for cockiness in either of those games, and it’s better to learn that lesson sooner than later.