Opinion: Positives are in the numbers for Blackcaps

Jeetan Patel
Jeetan Patel enjoyed a renaissance this summer (Photosport image)

OPINION: The weather may have rained on the Blackcaps’ parade - figuratively and literally - in Hamilton to ruin the third match, but there were plenty of positives to take out of their 1-0 test series loss to South Africa.

Kane Williamson notched his 16th and 17th test centuries to draw level with the late Martin Crowe for the most hundreds for New Zealand. Jeet Raval continued his development at the top of the Blackcaps’ order, while Colin de Grandhomme surprised many when he was handed the new ball at the Basin Reserve - and even more when he nabbed a few wickets.

Even Proteas captain Faf du Plessis admitted the Blackcaps were unlucky not to get what would have been the series-levelling win in Hamilton, which would have been a remarkable result without Trent Boult, Tim Southee or Ross Taylor.

Colin de Grandhomme
Colin de Grandhomme unexpectedly shone with the ball (Photosport image)

So without the regular new ball strike bowlers and the Taylor rock in the lineup, who stepped up for New Zealand? From a statistical point of view, we’ve compared players’ batting and bowling averages going into the series to how they performed over the three games (or part thereof).

A few quick notes: Neil Broom made his test debut in Wellington and therefore had no average going in; Taylor was not out in Dunedin due to retiring hurt so technically has no average from the series; Dean Algar took no wickets to have no bowling average for the series. Yes, we’re aware averages can be a bit all over the place - particularly with a small sample size - but they’re the best we’ve got.

Opinion: Positives are in the numbers for Blackcaps

Williamson and Raval were the big standouts, though the skipper bookended scores of 1 and 2 with 130 and 176. The consistent Raval passed 50 in three of his four innings, while Nicholls, Wagner and Santner were there or thereabouts their pre-series averages. If anything, Tom Latham was below what his numbers suggest, scoring a total of 24 in three innings before his 50 in Hamilton.

Opinion: Positives are in the numbers for Blackcaps

Comparatively the Proteas had six players averaging over 30 for the series, versus the Blackcaps’ four, and only Stephen Cook - who only got past double figures once in four digs - could be called terrible. JP Duminy wasn’t great, but he was still better than a decent chunk of the New Zealand lineup. Elgar started well with 229 runs in Dunedin, then 36 from the other four innings.

Opinion: Positives are in the numbers for Blackcaps

Injuries ravaged the Blackcaps attack, with Boult and Southee both only playing one test in the series. That throws off their numbers somewhat, as well as Matt Henry who only played in Hamilton. Only Jeetan Patel and Neil Wagner bowled in every game, with Patel improving his numbers and the hardworking Wagner slightly blowing his average out.

Opinion: Positives are in the numbers for Blackcaps

The standout number from the Proteas is Philander’s average for the series. He ended with combined figures of 2/203 from the three games. Maharaj and Duminy dominated in Wellington, while Morkel still terrorised the New Zealand batsmen.

Conclusions? The opposing captains were the standout performers at the crease, with Raval’s consistency also a highlight. Overall South Africa were probably better with the bat, and did better further down their order. The Blackcaps deserve to get the honours with the ball, even more so with the loss of Boult from the bulk of the series.

As du Plessis said, the Blackcaps deserved to win the third test. A drawn series would have been a fair representation of the performances.

Greg Pearson is a Newshub reporter