All Eyes on Chappell-Hadlee

This time, the grass seems slightly greener on the other side of the Tasman. After a hard fought win in a rain-marred series, and a few inspired selections, the Black Caps ODI batting card seems far easier on the eye than its fragile Test equivalent, which recently sunk to new lows in Australia.

One can't help but begin with Martin Guptill. Some names just seem right. While scanning over articles, bulletins, and scorecards detailing the domestic competition, players like Guptill seem to stick out from the rest. Just like Jesse Ryder and Jamie How (ironically enough) did a few years ago.

Even though I had read of Guptill as an up-and-comer before his debut, and long touted him myself, I instinctively wait for every new New Zealand batsman to show the shining flaw in their game primed for the Aussies to exploit, and Guptill was no exception.

But it never came.

After a few understandably nervous strokes at the beginning, against a fired up Windies attack on a surface that was initially doing a bit, Guptill constructed a one-day innings of glowing attraction. Full of stokes in all directions, playing each ball on its merits, and most importantly, a perfect tempo drawn from great temperament and composure.

Guptill's unbeaten hundred in Auckland was indeed a sight to behold for a Black Caps fan. We have come to regard ODI hundreds by New Zealand batsman as rarities. Ross Taylor aside, I would bet on any Kiwi batsman being out before 90, after reaching 40, 95 percent of the time. But two factors make Guptill's debut innings so special for me: New Zealand were batting first; and it wasn't so much of a belter.

A summary of centuries by N.Z. batsmen since the summer of 2006/07 makes for interesting analysis. Discounting matches against Bangladesh, Canada, & Ireland (no disrespect to them of course) we are left with eight innings, including Guptill's, from a total of 49 matches over this period (not including matches against the minnows). For comparison, Australia have 17 centuries from 55 matches. However, if we look a little further, we see similarities between Oram’s 101* in Perth, Taylor's 117 in Auckland, McMillan's 117 in Hamilton, and How's 139 in Napier; All chasing, all very flat decks, all 300+ totals.

Guptill showed a technique that has been frighteningly absent from the Black Caps’ top order in recent times: The ability to construct a total.

The Black Caps indeed have an extra-ordinary talent for chasing a big total on a flat pitch. But unfortunately, that's not always a sure-fire method, or more importantly, a good mentality, for winning matches.

We need to be able to win the toss in Australia, and confidently, without hesitation, do the obvious and bat first on their very good pitches. Firstly, and most importantly, this will give our poor bowlers something to defend!

Despite his indifferent showings, Gillespie must play in the Chappell-Hadlee. He is the only exponent of raw pace in the Black Caps line-up. There are also memories of his debut tour to Australia, where he frequently troubled Ricky Ponting outside his off stump. The only player seemingly able to achieve that since then has been Ishant Sharma.

With a little nurturing, Gillespie can be the genuine spearhead for a few years yet. He is currently in great shape, and has proved on the domestic circuit that he is in the form of his life.

A fringe benefit of the no-frills, “good pitch—bat first” approach is to instill confidence in an extremely promising batting line-up. Put them in their element, and they will perform. Daniel Flynn demonstrated this perfectly when he was expertly shifted up to No. 3 in the Dunedin Test by Andy Moles.

The next brave step in Moles agenda should be another fine-tune of the one-day order. The same principle should apply to Flynn. He needs time to get himself in and build his innings. He is too often being put in a situation where needs to work at an unnatural pace.

Brendon McCullum can then be relieved of opening the batting, and display his fire-power in the middle order a-la MS Dhoni. With his ability to control the tempo of the game, and his devastating big hits, McCullum undoubtedly has the tools to become the best finisher in the 50 over format.

Guptill obviously fills the void at the top of the order, where he funnily enough, scored a hundred on debut!

After a few years of frustration, and not a lot to party about, the light is bright at the end of the tunnel. With Australia in a mini-crisis of sorts, this could be the Black Caps’ chance to pounce, and show what they are really made of.

With a well balanced team, an excellent captain, and a simple strategy, one feels what used to be in the realm of "improbable", is now in firmly a "possible".