Riding on the high of a thumping win in the tournament opener against England, New Zealand landed in Hyderabad for their second game against the Netherlands, but they will take the field without their regular skipper Kane Williamson for the second game in a row as confirmed by coach Gary Stead in a video shared by New Zealand Cricket. The good news though is the possible return to the playing XI for both Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson and New Zealand will have a happy headache at the selection table.
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Up against Netherlands next, who ran Pakistan close before running out of steam, New Zealand would vary of complacency, but they know better. “We approach every game the same way every time. Every team is strong in their own right, especially on the given day,” New Zealand’s Glenn Phillip told reporters ahead of the Netherlands game.
“The Netherlands have a lot of strong players and we’re going to have to still put our best foot forward, as I’m sure they will. So keep coming up with our plans, doing our scouting, making sure that we have everything set in place and not taking any team lightly,” he added.
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The mood in the camp would be upbeat after the England thrashing but Phillips tried to play it down saying keeping a level head in long tournaments like this will be the key.
“The mood is very neutral. Obviously. We enjoyed the first win incredibly much, but, with the tournament being such a quick turnaround, we try to keep things as neutral as possible, not get too high when we win and not get too low when we lose. And I think that’s the key for us throughout this competition.”
New Zealand have more often than not punched above their weight in ICC tournaments in the past but long gone is the tag of dark horses – for they have made it to the finals of the last two 50-over World Cups. And the win over England only reaffirms their status as one of the favourites. Phillips though stressed that the adaptability of the New Zealand team as the key factor in their success.
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“For us to be able to go out there and we try to adapt as quickly as possible on the day, and I think that’s what we pride ourselves on, understanding that you get one shot at each team, and it comes down to who can adjust to the conditions on the day. We try to take all the information and put it together and as I said, come onto the day and adapt to the conditions as fast as possible. A pitch can play differently one day than it will for another. So for us to be able to collect that information, understand what we have in our bank and stick to our strengths and skills on that particular pitch would be very important.” said Phillps, who had picked up two wickets in the three overs he bowled vs England.
The Hyderabad track has so far produced a truckload of runs and Phillips, who has a bit of an idea about the track here, being an SRH player, alongside Kane Williamson believes their inputs on the pitch will help the team prepare better.
“Over here in Hyderabad, it’s always a good pitch. Out here, the groundsman does an incredible job, he’s got a great support staff and there’s been quite a lot of high-scoring games here over the years, so hopefully it’ll present another entertaining game. Yeah, we’ve got guys who have played in various IPL teams, myself and Kane. Playing here obviously brings a little bit of an advantage to giving information to the boys,” said Phillips.
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