There is a strong narrative in world cricket that New Zealand under Kane Williamson is the best all-around team.
The narrative is based on their record in the ICC tournaments over the past three years.
The Kiwis made it to the finals of the Cricket World Cup in 2019 and the T20 World Cup in 2021 and won the World Test Championship in 2021.
If someone took a high-level look at this record, they would say that the narrative is correct and the Kiwis are the best all-around team in the world.
However, anyone who has followed these tournaments closely may not agree completely. Let’s see why.
Disclaimer: What I say from here on will be one-sided as I play the Devil’s advocate. So, please take the contents in that spirit and add this perspective to your views.
Cricket World Cup 2019
The tournament had a league phase where every team played the other teams once, then knock-out semi-finals and a final followed the league phase.
If a team had made it to the final playing such a tournament, it is fair to say that a losing finalist must be a great team. The Kiwis were not that team.
During the league phase, New Zealand did not beat any big team, i.e. India, Australia, England, and Pakistan.
They qualified to the semi-finals on the back of rain-affected games that eliminated Pakistan while giving the Kiwis a back-door entry into the semi-finals.
(Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images)
In the semi-finals, they made a slow and low score of 239 in 50 overs. The in-form Indian team should have walked that score in the second innings under the Manchester sun.
However, rain intervened and pushed the second innings to the reserve day. So, the Indian batsmen were forced to play the Kiwis’ seam bowlers on a cloudy morning in Manchester.
Anyone who has followed cricket in England would know that a cloudy morning session in England is tailor-made for seam bowling.
The Kiwi seam bowlers ran through the Indian top order and eliminated the league-phase topper from the World Cup.
I did feel bad for the Kiwis losing the final in the most controversial form. But they should realise that they were lucky to be in the final and take the rough with the smooth.
The ICC should adopt the page playoff system that IPL and many other cricket leagues use to determine the tournament’s winners. If they had used it in 2019, India or Australia would have made it to the finals.
It was a mockery to see England and New Zealand play the final at Lord’s while the top two teams after the league phase ended up catching an earlier flight.
World Test Championship (WTC) 2021
If there is a championship format more ill-conceived than the WTC, I would like to see it.
Cricket is one of the few sports where uncontrollable factors like weather, pitch conditions and toss play a massive part in deciding the winner.
So if you want to determine who is the best team in a specific game format, the result has to be based on a broader sample set taken from varied conditions.
However, that was not the case in the tournament format chosen by the ICC. New Zealand qualified to play the WTC final on the back of their wins at home.
On the contrary, the Indian team did the hard yards of beating Australia in Australia and taking Test matches off England and South Africa in their home conditions.
If all this was not enough, the Kiwis got to play the final in England, where conditions are as close to their home as it can get.
(Photo by Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)
To top it, they won the toss and inserted the Indian team to bat under cloudy conditions.
Despite this, the Indian team fought off the Kiwi bowlers and were placed at 3-147 with Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane well set.
The third session in England is usually the best time to bat with the sun out, the ball being older, and the bowlers being tired.
When the Indian team had these things in their favour, bad light forced the game to stop, and the team lost their opportunity to bat 30-odd overs in good batting conditions.
Those 30 overs would have been a big advantage for the Indians in a low-scoring Test match.
However, this break allowed the Kiwis to regroup, come back under favourable bowling conditions the following day and get the Indian batsmen out for a low score.
I agree that the Kiwis are a good enough team to make the most of the luck that came by them.
However, an astute analyst of cricket should not play cheerleader and say the Kiwis are the world champion Test team.
T20 World Cup 2021
Aaron Finch, the Aussie captain who ended up winning this tournament, was large-hearted to accept that winning the toss and batting second was a huge advantage for his winning the tournament.
A quick look into the Kiwis’ wins in this tournament will tell us that they won their key matches batting second.
When they played first, even a lowly team like Scotland came close to beating them.
(Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
I did not hear any of these statements from the Kiwi cheerleaders who have been singing paeans to Kane Williamson’s leadership qualities, their brainy tactics, their good-men image, their world-class bowlers and clutch batters.
All of these adjectives about the Kiwi team are true to a large extent. The Kiwis are a good team with fantastic players, and they are exceptionally well behaved as well.
None of these is reason enough for erudite commentators to raise the Kiwis on a pedestal and run a narrative that this team is the best in business. The final match of this tournament showed these commentators the mirror.
In conclusion, the Kiwis of the past few years are a great team, probably the best team to have come out of their country. They have world-beating players like Kane Williamson and Trent Boult.
However, they have had tremendous luck over the past few years that has elevated this team’s record to a stature that makes them look like a world-dominating team.
@La grandeur d'Athéna brilliant response to this clown of an article mate
Jamieson would walk into the Australian side as a bowler
I wonder if NZ got the chance to play Australia every year or second year like England and India do, that they would have chalked up a couple series wins against the Aussies. A NZ tour of Australia and the Aussies touring NZ for tests, used to be a reasonably regular thing - now all we see is Eng, Aus, and India just wanting to play each other in Test series. It is a damned shame and the ICC are a joke to allow the "Big 3" merry go round to keep going on. If it's all about the money - as I am sure some of you will say - then what is the point of playing sport? Just play one casino versus the other and flick around all the money you want. Ridiculous set of affairs to be honest.
Targa
Roar Rookie
Still got the world's 2 best players in Kane and Kyle.
Republican
Guest
.......red rag to a bull that. NZ will be happy to wait for the next Test series v Australia to prove just how superior a Cricket side and nation they are. Typically, we continue to delude ourselves with self ingratiating platitudes, resting on our laurels with tall tales from the legendary past (as we did in Tennis) while believing the world stands still and that our solitary title in the hit and hope WC, justifies such a misplaced hubris.
Republican
Guest
Australians still can't accept that a nation of 5.5 million is ranked higher than we are, across all versions of the game, despite Cricket apparently considered by many, as our national sport. NZ haven't even had to leech off our domestic comps as in other codes ( i.e. Rugby League), to achieve this. Pound for pound NZ are a far stronger sporting nation than we are and it's high time we ceased our denial of this fact, a trait that defines this nation in sport, socially, politically, economically et al.......
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
I find it interesting that harsh criticism is made of a team which makes a Final and loses. I get frustrated responses from team fans who feel they missed their shot, but when momentum, a poor day out, etc affects an outcome then why be unnecessarily harsh for the only other team good enough to be in a position to win? As for losing on a count back of 4's and still being considered underachievers, that just seemed ridiculously harsh.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
Waugh and Ponting are retired. Move on. Aus lost to India at home. Thats very average. I dont care if you think NZ is 1st or 20th on the world Test stage as they won the 1st ever test championship final. Read the trophy. Its NZs name on it. Not Aus, not India, not England. NZs name is there for all to see and always will be no matter how bad they get in the future.
whymuds
Roar Rookie
Jacko - removing any good fortune NZ may have had in the WTC final, based purely on results, you can't conclude that NZ is the definitive best team in the world (I'm talking tests here, not limited overs). They haven't won in India (yet), they drew last time in Lanka and are yet to beat Aus on their home soil. And the last time they played SA in 2017, they lost the 3 test series. Ind has had the best W/L ratio in tests over the past 5 years or so but never during that time would I consider them to be the outright top team, because of their inability to win in NZ, SA and Eng. Right now, NZ is amongst a pack of 3 top teams. Perhaps that can change if they win the series in Ind. No team dominates world cricket like Aus under Waugh and Ponting. And this close competition is a bloody good thing for cricket and it's produced some classic test matches in recent times.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
As your disclaimer stated, your opinion, Tsat, fair enough. Harsh assessment though. I agree the WTC needs tweaking, but you rightly point out that India took a Test off England in England, so no reason they couldn't do the same against NZ at a neutral venue. As for 'But they should realise that they were lucky to be in the final and take the rough with the smooth.' regarding the CWC50 is strangely harsh! Again, you rightly point out the game is massively affected by conditions, none of which were of their making, nor was the scheduling. The same could easily have happened to any team. What is important is playing to peak performance when required and they more than held their own against the Poms in the final, which was their 2nd successive CWC Final appearance. Any tournament has peaks and trough's of performance for team and individual. Their consistency to be in position to take advantage of the luck every team has a shot at, should be praised, not to mention to keep a high standard to actually be in the number of Finals.
Mat Harris
Guest
Huh?
Lara
Guest
How much luck can you get ? You win a toss, it rains when u need it too, the pitch conditions suit your team, the umpire give u a favourable decision n the opposition decide not to review, the opposition has injuries, results go your way n this goes on for a period of time n you fall into the number one spot……sounds like a Forrest Gump movie …….Jenny.
Jim Wallis
Guest
New Zealand clearly would have won the t20 final if they won the toss. Both sides had the benefit of bowling first in key games and literally 10/10 games were won by the team batting second in the dew in Dubai. The average score was 120 batting first and average winning margin 8 wickets. New Zealand did brilliantly to make 170odd as Pakistan did in the Semi. Very average Australian side who has done nothing away from home for decades. Only big wins are ever at home.
matth
Roar Guru
The lack of acceptable alternatives has added to that. Whether politically acceptable, or lack of leadership experience
matth
Roar Guru
It would be good if it actually worked like a title belt in boxing. You hold it until someone takes it off you, then they hold it.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
I agree Paine was right at the time for our needs. But there is no way he should ever have stayed as long as Mark Taylor, arguably our best ever skip. That's where we have lost all perspective re Paine.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
I think Aus is struggling to maintain the strength of past generations at the moment. I thought Paine was a very good choice to be captain when he came in but thats a fair while ago now. Time for some generational changes I think but rebuilding phases like Border had to do arnt really accepted these days.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
That was a very poor performance for sure, and we have a sh-t captain, on field tactics wise. We did beat NZ 3-0 a year before that who then lost to NZ and were hot and cold against England. All current teams are up and down.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
So if Aus is ranked above NZ then they dont have to beat NZ for it to be true but if NZ is ranked above Aus then they have to beat Aus for it to be true????? Perhaps instead of worrying about whether the test series was 5 tests or 2/3 tests you should of just beaten a very weakened India at home. But you didnt so you fairly forfiet the ranking points as all teams do..
Jacko
Roar Rookie
Anyone who knows the game would find it hard to dismiss anything you said. What a rubbish line. So we either agree with this extremely inaccurate anti NZs achievements article or we dont know the game???? Id say...Anyone who knows the game would find it hard to see any commonsense or accuracy in this article"