Zimbabwe challenge for Taylor led Kiwis (Preview)

Lot has changed in New Zealand cricket since losing world cup semi-final to Sri Lanka early this year. Daniel Vettori not only stepped down as the skipper, the star left spinner has taken temporary retirement from limited overs cricket. Some oldies have been dispensed with and changes have been made at the administrative level as well. After lengthy deliberation regarding the captaincy, middle order batsman Ross Taylor was made Vettori’s successor piping Brendan McCullum for the coveted post.

Taylor’s first challenge as a captain starts with a tour of Zimbabwe which will get underway with a t-20 international at Harare Sports Club on Saturday. The star batsman has a good blend of experience and talented at his disposal to take New Zealand cricket forward that hasn’t won much silverware of late. The challenge isn’t going to be an easy affair, though, with his team lying in the bottom half the rankings in test and ODI format.

This said, Taylor, however, would be keen to begin his captaincy tenure with a bang, and, he wouldn’t have asked for better setting than this. His opponents Zimbabwe were whitewashed across all three formats by touring Pakistan side. The home side proved no match for Pakistan after having started the summer brightly rolling past Bangladesh. It included winning a test match that marked an end to their hiatus from longer format of the game.

After getting bashed by Pakistan, the hosts wouldn’t have any easy going for they will be facing another quality side at home. For them to be competitive against New Zealand, senior players have to put their hand up. Skipper Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza and Tatenda Taibu need to shoulder batting responsibility and egg young batsmen to perform to their potential. The batsman of the summer thus far Vusimuzi Sibanda will have to keep scoring runs at the top and provide launching pad for rest of the pack.

On the slow and low Zimbabwean pitches, the home team has two quality spinners in Raymond Price and Prosper Utseya to stem the run flow in the middle overs. With young fast bowling pair Kyle Jarvis and Brain Vitori given rest for the t-20 series, Chris Mpofu will have to be at his best to give breakthroughs upfront.

It won’t be an easy job though as lanky pacer and co. will be up against some terrific bashers of a cricket ball. The Kiwis have firepower at the top with Brendan McCullum and Jesse Ryder very much capable of tearing apart any bowling attack. Taylor himself has a reputation worldwide thanks to his six hitting ability and Jacob Oram’s boundary clearing skills only adds muscle to the batting. There will be some young batsmen on the view as well who will be keen to give glimpse of their talent on the international stage.

Without Vettori, bowling looks thin on experience and elevates offie Nathan McCullum as a lead spinner in the side. The return of fast bowler Kyle Mills, though, is a good news for New Zealand though.

Under a new skipper, the tourists should go into the match as favourties thanks to having a couple of match winners in their ranks. For the home side though, the focus will shift to perform to their best of abilities and turn up as a competitive side which they failed miserably to do against Pakistan .

Zimbabwe Squad: Brendan Taylor (Captain), Charles Coventry, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Kyle Jarvis, Hamilton Masakadza, Keegan Meth, Natsai M'shangwe, Christopher Mpofu, Forster Mutizwa, Raymond Price, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Prosper Utseya, Malcolm Waller

New Zealand Squad: Ross Taylor (capt), Graeme Aldridge, Doug Bracewell, James Franklin, Martin Guptil, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson, Luke Woodcock.