Former New Zealander cricket player Ian Smith has questioned New Zealand’s readiness for the T20 World Cup, saying that they looked rusty and downright disorganized after their severe loss to Afghanistan.
New Zealand were humiliatingly defeated by Afghanistan by 84 runs in the opening match at Providence, Guyana on Friday. They were bowled out for 75 chasing 159, with Rashid Khan and Fazalhaq Farooqi taking four wickets each.
On Wednesday, West Indies will take on Kiwis in Trinidad; however, it will be tough for them to get through to the knock-out stages given their poor net run rate. Currently ranked fifth among five countries of Group C are Kiwis.
“They have to beat the West Indies and hope Afghanistan beats them because our run rate is so poor – we are going to be very behind the eight balls when it comes down to that,” said Smith who played 63 Tests and 98 ODIs while featuring on Sen Radio on Monday.
“I don’t know how they’re going to pick themselves up from the flat performance they had against Afghanistan the other day. What kind of team are they going to pick? Are they going to make any changes? The people they bring in haven’t played any cricket either,” he continued.
Devon Conway, Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell led New Zealand past group stage into semi-finals of the 2022 T20 World Cup.
However, Kiwis known for their work ethic and fighting spirit might not have a good tournament as Finn Allen failed to hit his expectation as well as Devon Conway returning back from long injury spell.
Additionally, there was no official warm-up game prior participating in World Cup
“Conway looked quite rusty really or average even though he came down with gloves on practice. And also he hasn’t been in good form with bat for some time,” was what Smith had this say about him,,.”
” He did not play any cricket in the IPL even though he was contracted, and the team still insists they don’t need a specialist wicketkeeper in this competition despite his injuries,” when talking about Conway.
New Zealand’s chase of Afghanistan started on a poor note because Finn Allen went for a first ball duck and Conway scored only eight runs.
According to Smith, “They missed opportunities to put pressure on Afghanistan early on. One partnership was all they need to win it. It is probably one of the worst performances I have seen across all facets of the game for a Blackcaps side.”
“It was underdone, it was rusty, it was disorganise — they were so far not ready it was not funny.”
“I’ve been saying Finn Allen has got a bit to prove for ages now – they basically ended Martin Guptill’s career to make way for him. They couldn’t pick him in the 50-over World Cup because he wasn’t consistent enough at that point, and I don’t see much difference between then and now,” according to Smith.
Regarding the performance of the New Zealanders in fielding, Smith also complained about it saying that they did not play to their usual high standards.
“One thing that has always marked out New Zealand cricket in this department, is its commitment.” “We have answered pressure with some great fielding actions; we are still not doing so.” “Here again I start off badly and I remember going back to Kane Williamson during my post-match interview. And he said ‘we lost it within the first ten overs’.” Smith added.
“Cricket is the only way you can solve those things”.
