World Cup: Williamson is class but New Zealand’s brittle core exposed at business end of group stage

New Zealand played two frontline spinners during their Trans-Tasman derby last week. Kane Williamson, who, many years ago was suspended from bowling altogether goes on for as many seven overs. Mind you, before playing Pakistan at Birmingham few days earlier, the skipper had not rolled his arm since January this year.

Against Australia at Lord’s, the 28-year-old finished with more overs under his belt than Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.

It was a clear indication that Williamson had decided to drive his team single-handedly, almost like Lionel Messi receiving the ball at the half-way line and deciding to dribble past several defenders all by himself, just to set the standards for his Argentina teammates.

He had done that with the bat against West Indies and South Africa but his failure to convert the starts in big scores against the likes of Pakistan, Australia and England in the last three games have exposed the struggles of New Zealand batting line up.

For a tournament that started with so much promise, the wheels are slowly beginning to come off in the New Zealand gravy train that took off in emphatic fashion on June 1 in Cardiff.

Inflicting a rare defeat on India – who had tormented them earlier in the year – in a warm-up game would have given them belief. After pummeling Sri Lanka, few would have not seen the Black Caps as semi-final hopefuls. Now, because of Pakistan’s inferior net run rate and the slim chance of Bangladesh being shot out with no runs on the board, Kane Williamson’s side will sneak into the semi-finals as the fourth team.

This would also mean that they still managed to have a better World Cup than Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa. But, is that a fair reflection of where they stand as a One-day International side?

After their first six games, they were on top of the pile with five wins and a rained out match against India. Crunch situations, battle-ready opponents, semi-final spot at stake....and New Zealand went missing. That they would succumb to defeats against Pakistan, Australia and England – their worst sequence of consecutive losses in a World Cup – proved some of their critics right in the sense that the fixtures were kind on them at the start.

In two of their matches – against Bangladesh and West Indies – the Kiwis held their nerve at the death to claim two points. One wonders, though, about the India game. Would they have defeated a team that had inflicted a 1-4 ODI series loss on them at home not so long ago?

Pakistan also couldn’t take the field for one of their games due to rain. Bangladesh also met with the same fate. Sri Lanka were the hardest hit with the rain gods venting their fury twice. Would New Zealand still have had a safe passage to the semis had, say, Pakistan had managed to bag two more points with a game in hand?

The ifs and buts notwithstanding, Williamson’s side will have the least settled of batting lineups in the last four stage – for which Pakistan has the slimmest chance to upstage them – compared to their counterparts.

At a crucial juncture, the team management was forced to change their misfiring opening pair. India, England, and Australia have struck gold at the top of the order in World Cup. In contrast, the Colin Munro and Martin Guptill partnership has been on a terminal decline since swatting aside the Lankans in their opener. While the former has got the boot, the latter hangs only thanks to the reputation that precedes him.

This has meant that Williamson has been facing the new ball earlier than he should and faces the daunting prospect of shouldering a bulk of the run-scoring responsibilities, a role that he unflinchingly lives up to on most occasions.

In the middle order, Ross Taylor, for all the eye-catching statistics he had stockpiled over the past 18 months, has failed to stitch the middle-order together. Tom Latham’s having a shocker. James Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme have exceeded expectations. The former, in particular, has been a captain’s delight with bat and ball.

Williamson will take solace from the fact that pieces have fallen in place in the bowling department. The high-stakes clash against England was another example. From staring at the possibility of chasing a total well in excess of 350, Neesham, Trent Boult and Co restricted the hosts to 305 following a brilliant comeback in the middle overs.

It is not that their bowling has been flawless. They did let advantage slip against Pakistan and Australia after getting them on the ropes. In both matches, a middle order counter-attack saw the bowlers scratching their heads for answers.

While the bowlers made amends to that against England, it was the batting that let them down. The game was lost within the first ten overs of the New Zealand innings with a couple of run outs – which included a foolhardy dash for the second run by Taylor – ended any chances of the Kiwis controlling the chase.

After the corresponding fixture in 2015, England captain Eoin Morgan said that it was arguably the worst day of his career. That run also coincided with a renaissance period in New Zealand cricket as Brendon McCullum rejuvenated a side perilously sliding towards mediocrity.

Now with India or Australia to be their likely semi-final opponents, New Zealand need to pull off an upset of sorts to enter back-to-back finals.

“We have to be a lot more competitive than we have been in the last few games,” Williamson remarked after the game. “It’s important to learn from our mistakes moving forward. We haven’t had the flow in the batting.”

In five days time, Williamson and Co will be playing their seventh World Cup semi-final. Forever the competition’s over achievers, one can’t rule them out. With the loss of form, and with it the momentum and confidence, a meek surrender and yet another exit without the crown might not see eyeballs pop out either.