The New Zealand-Australia encounter today promises to be a cracker, and certainly the hype surrounding the match-up is on the higher end of the scale.
The reason for this is the resurgence of New Zealand under the aggressive captaincy of Brendon McCullum. He has taken both his team and batting to a new level. The Australians however have come into the tournament as favourites, so will the teams prepare tactically for the match?
The dimensions
Eden Park, the home of the ever rampaging All Blacks, is more suited to rugby than cricket.
An edge from either end of the ground past the keeper only has to travel 45 metres for a boundary. And a straight hit only has to travel 55 metres.
The square boundaries are comparatively huge at 65 metres, but still small by usual standards. Josh Hazlewood noted this week that, “It’s a bit bigger square (of the wicket) so you might see the bowlers lean towards those”.
That is of course cricketers talk for forcing batsman to drag balls to square leg, trying to generate pace from an off pace delivery. Missed lengths going full will be punished the same as on any ground no matter the size if batsman are good enough to clear the rope comfortably, so bowlers shouldn’t fear getting hit.
The slower bowlers who can force batsman to generate pace and who can bowl ‘to’ the long side of the boundary. Bowlers like Grant Elliott or Shane Watson will prove invaluable. The spinners for either side, Dan Vettori and Glenn Maxwell, will also be allowed to spin the ball away from the short boundary for damage limitation.s.
The former, with his clever subtleties in pace, flight and length will be a key factor.
The match ups
Such are the dimensions of Eden Park, shuffling of the batting order may be very significant.
For example, a right and left handed combination will be the most effective, as it means one batsman can target the short boundary in their hitting zone at any time.
This is especially vital against the spinners as a batsman can easily manipulate their hitting areas.
So if New Zealand are two down for over a hundred and Glenn Maxwell is on or one of the part timers to hurry through a few overs, don’t be surprised the see the powerful left hander Corey Anderson promoted up the order to pinch hit.
Alternatively as Australia don’t have a left handed batsman other than Warner, someone like Maxwell will look to switch hit and reverse sweep a lot to target the short boundary as a left hander would.
With only four fielders allowed outside the circle, all avenues are virtually impossible to protect, especially to players with 360 degrees of range.
The opening bowlers will also have a big say on the contest. Mitchell Starc is a superb one day bowler and swings the ball dramatically into the right handers early on.
This is key as McCullum is savage on width, so with the ball cramping him for room and a field set straight, the Australians will look to frustrate the Kiwi’s key man.
Pat Cummins will likely get the new ball with Starc and swing it away from Guptill and McCullum, with Mitchell Johnson to bowl first change as he did against England.
Alternatively for New Zealand, Tim Southee, who demolished England with seven superlative outswingers in their recent game, will trouble Aaron Finch with the new ball.
The Victorian has had a patchy red ball career, mostly due to poor foot movement to balls on a good length and is susceptible to a moving ball on his off stump. Southee will be relentless.
Adam Milne, the quickest bowler in the New Zealand team, should also get first crack at the returning Michael Clarke, to test out his back with some short stuff.
Clarke can say he’s feeling the fittest he has in five years, but good back or dodgy back, a good short ball still troubles Australia’s captain.
Finishing
Both with bat and ball, finishing the innings off well will be vital the outcome of the contest. Australia bat deep with Brad Haddin listed to come in at 8. Haddin, Mitch Marsh and Glenn Maxwell took 105 off the last 10 overs against England, which amazingly seems about par if you want a strong total in this world cup.
For New Zealand, Anderson, Elliott and ex-Aussie Luke Ronchi can all smack it about too, so dot ball percentages early on in the batting innings will be an area both sides will want the upper hand.
This will force those designated hitters to go harder later than they would hope, thus more prone to making a mistake.
James Faulkner is still out injured for Australia and is Australia’s go-to death bowler along with Starc.
In the recent tri series, he bowled between the 44th and 50th overs in each game (excluding the match he was injured in), and was deployed straight after the first powerplay, during the batting powerplay and at the death in each game. This highlights Australia’s dependence on him and his vast skill set.
Pat Cummins has been preferred to Hazlewood for this game, presumably as he has more variation than the steady Hazlewood. With no game in two weeks and the English game not providing a chance for the Aussie bowlers to practice their finishing, Australia haven’t really had a chance to tinker with their death bowling.
Cummins or the accurate Shane Watson (who may also get a go early if the ball is moving) may get the honours with Starc, who will come around the wicket to right handers and angle it in full at the stumps.
So, who will prevail? It’ll be a ripper.
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