A year after falling just short of their first ever World T20 title, New Zealand will once again try to win the teams first ever World Cup, making the short jump across to Australia for the tournament.
How are they coming into the tournament?
There is no doubt that New Zealand’s T20 side come into this tournament off the back of a heart-breaking loss to the old rivals Australia in the World Cup final last year. Despite that loss there is still a lot of confidence in this New Zealand side coming into the World Cup.
T20 cricket in New Zealand will very soon go through a big era of change. They had a very established team over the past ten years, but this will surely change after this World Cup. Stars like Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson are all the wrong side of 30 and cannot be in this team for much longer.
While these guys may make it to the next T20 world cup in two years’ time, New Zealand’s window to win with this team is starting to close. But there is still a lot of optimism heading into this tournament as these guys are still performing at a high level and they have been bolstered by a few youngsters impressing.
Finn Allen is really the standout of these newcomers, The youngster has been a massive welcome to the top of the order for this team and he will likely be New Zealand’s opener for years to come. New Zealand know that they need to make the best out of this group and are still keeping their faith in Gary Stead leading this side, the same head coach who has been with New Zealand since 2016.
New Zealand will hope that this consistency comes with success and they come into the tournament hoping to build off of a great prior tournament and come into this one off the back of some good form. New Zealand won all four of their T20 series in summer of 2022, although some will point to the weaker opposition.
But they still come into this tournament in good form, with a dominant nine wicket win over Pakistan in the build up to the competition. They will hope to build off this momentum in Australia.
New Zealand T20 World Cup History
New Zealand have never really been exceptional at T20s, but they have featured at all of the world cups so far. They started their World Cup progress by getting through the initial group stages and make it to the Super 8s. But in that Super 8 group, they benefitted from net run rate.
New Zealand won two of their three games, the same as India and South Africa. India progressed through thanks to a couple of comfortable victories to end the tournament, but it was actually in a loss than New Zealand made it through. While they lost to South Africa by 6 wickets, the South Africans only had five balls left when this happened and New Zealand progressed through to the World Cup semi-finals.
New Zealand really struggled with the bat in the semi-final, with a brilliant Ross Taylor innings carrying them up to 143/8. They could not deal with the bowling of Umar Gul and Pakistan were able to reach New Zealand’s target with seven balls to spare.
Today I’m announcing my retirement from international cricket at the conclusion of the home summer, two more tests against Bangladesh, and six odi’s against Australia & the Netherlands. Thank you for 17 years of incredible support. It’s been an honour to represent my country #234 pic.twitter.com/OTy1rsxkYp
— Ross Taylor (@RossLTaylor) December 29, 2021
New Zealand were back in the Super 8s stage two years later and got off to a good start. However, their batting collapsed twice to give Sri Lanka and Pakistan some easy wins. New Zealand crashed out in the Super 8s stage and hoped to improve a year later as they returned to the Super 8s stage.
But this time, New Zealand lost out on net run rate, with their fate sealed by a loss to England in the final game of the group stage. Two years after that disappointment, New Zealand experienced two heart-breaking losses, both games being lost in a Super Over after the match was tied at the end.
New Zealand seemed to continue this disappointment into the next world cup. They once again began the tournament with big wins, beating England and the Netherlands, giving them a chance of progressing to the semi-final. Their bowlers put them in a position to win, with both James Neesham and Trent Boult taking three wickets to reduce Sri Lanka to 119.
But the second innings of that match was a massive collapse of the New Zealand batting line-up as Kane Williamson was the only man to make more than 5 runs. Williamson scored 42 of New Zealand’s 60 runs, with Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor both going without troubling the scorers.
However, the last two world cups have seen New Zealand finally get past the voodoo that seemed to haunt them in the group stage of the world cup. It started in 2016 when New Zealand went undefeated in their group of the Super 8s stage to send them to the final, including a brilliant 47 run over hosts and favourites India.
It seemed like this would be the year for New Zealand, but the New Zealand batting lineup struggled to hit a lot of the English bowlers, with New Zealand born Ben Stokes taking apart the New Zealand line-up for England. In response, Jason Roy produced one of the best T20 innings in a World Cup, getting his half century in just 26 balls and eventually finishing with 78.
Jos Buttler and Joe Root steered England home and New Zealand could not build on their group stage success. New Zealand would once again get through the group stage last year, again in thanks to another brilliant win over India where they were the better team by far.
They faced England again in the semi-final and it looked likely that history would repeat itself. New Zealand got off to a terrible start against England in the chase of 166, losing Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson in the first three overs. But a phenomenal Daryl Mitchell innings steered New Zealand to victory and send them to their very first T20 World Cup final.
Great to see our summer of cricket start @hagleyoval
Gutted to have missed out on the tri series with a dodgy hand but very grateful it’s not too major & will be back out there very soon.Countdown to @T20WorldCup begins
⏰️ 🥛 🦴 pic.twitter.com/TlcpjoYiAu— Daryl Mitchell (@dazmitchell47) October 13, 2022
Up against old enemy’s Australia, New Zealand set 172 in the first innings thanks to a brilliant captains knock from Kane Williamson. But the captains performance is now forgotten as Mitch Marsh led Australia to the title despite the best efforts of Trent Boult and the New Zealand bowling attack.
New Zealand T20 World Cup 2022 Coach
New Zealand have stuck with the same man throughout the last four years as they view Gary Stead as the right man for the job. He seems to have done some good things with this New Zealand team, leading them to the 2019 ODI World Cup final and the 2021 T20 World Cup final, losing on both occasions.
But Stead is still the right man to lead this team and he has shown the ability to get the best out of superstars. It is unlikely that this will be Stead’s last world cup as he is signed with the New Zealand team for at least the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Team
Batters
New Zealand have made a big call at the top of the order, deciding to move on from Martin Guptill who has played more than 120 T20s for his country and has been the opener for New Zealand years. Finn Allen is his replacement and looks incredibly exciting for a player with little experience, having only made his T20 international debut last March.
Allen will be partnered by Devin Conway who has been exceptional in the T20 format, currently averaging 52.27 in T20s for New Zealand in his 28 games for his country. Conway has been a brilliant find for New Zealand and to have plucked him out of nowhere is incredible.
Conway has the same bit hitting ability that you would look for in an international opener. His fine timing of the ball will be crucial on Australian pitches that offer a huge amount of pace and bounce. New Zealand have the ability to get off to some very fast starts.
Captain Kane Williamson will likely come in at 3. Despite being the leader of his team his place has been called into question in the past over poor domestic form. But Williamson is still one of the best T20 batters in the world, showing that in last years final. He is a clutch hitter and while he does not possess the big hitting of other players in this line-up, it does not mean that he cannot score runs quickly.
Daryl Mitchell will likely slot in at four when he comes back from injury. It seems likely he will miss New Zealand’s first game, but the World Cup semi-final hero will be back for his teams second game. Mitchell is a powerful hitter, he can be a real difference maker for this team.
Glenn Phillips and James Neesham will be able to supply some big hitting down the order, with Phillips in particular impressing over the last couple of years with some brilliant domestic and international performances.
Bowlers
New Zealand head into this tournament with relatively the same bowling attack of the previous tournaments. It will once again be Trent Boult and Tim Southee leading the line with the new ball. Both have produced excellent results in previous world cups and have a huge amount of experience.
They are bolstered by Lockie Ferguson who has an incredible record in international T20s, averaging 16.12 with the ball in his 21 T20s to date. He was in brilliant form before the tournament last year and it was a huge loss for New Zealand when he was ruled out of the tournament with a calf tear.
Ferguson will be looking to impress in his first ever T20 world cup and comes into the tournament in very good form, having been part of the IPL 2022 winning team. Ferguson can really trouble batsmen on these Australian pitches and he is the x-factor for this New Zealand team.
Ish Sodhi will be the teams frontline spinner and for good reason. Sodhi already has 21 T20 wickets in internationals this year and he is pretty economical considering he mainly plays in conditions that do not benefit the spinner. New Zealand’s fifth bowler choice is an interesting one.
James Neesham will likely be in the team for his batting and can really help with his bowling. Mitchell Santner will likely make his way into the team and it means that New Zealand will have a lot of experience in their bowling line-up, something that could be helpful later in the tournament.
Last matches performances
New Zealand’s form going into this tournament is certainly mixed. They won all four of their series in the 2022 summer, but not against the strongest opposition. They did play six T20s in the build up to this tournament.
New Zealand won three of them, two against Bangladesh and one against Pakistan. But those wins were surrounded by losses to South Africa and two losses to Pakistan. The South Africa loss was particularly poor, with the batting line-up being bowled out for 98 and the bowlers struggling to stop Rilee Rossouw as South Africa won by nine wickets.
New Zealand T20 World Cup Odds
New Zealand are currently 4/1 to win the T20 World Cup, currently ranking as the joint second most likely team to win the tournament. Devon Conway is 9/1 to be the tournaments top batsmen, while Tim Southee and Trent Boult are 25/1 to be the tournaments top bowler.
How are their chances in the tournament
New Zealand do have some chance heading into this tournament. There are a lot of reasons why New Zealand made it to the final last year and it would not be surprising for them to pull off at least one upset. But with the core of this team aging out, I think it is unlikely that New Zealand will be back in the final.
This team is relying on a very similar formula that they have been using for the last five years. There are cracks in this team and they are difficult to get behind, but if they do succeed you would imagine it will be behind the bat of Devon Conway and the bowling of Lockie Ferguson.
New Zealand T20 World Cup Summary
New Zealand shocked a lot of people reaching the World Cup final last year. They have a very good team again this year, but this looks like a team that has a low ceiling, not high enough for the T20 World Cup final.