3 reasons behind New Zealand's horror show at 2024 T20 World Cup
The West Indies roared after a brief stutter in front of a capacity crowd in Trinidad and knocked out New Zealand. With this win, the hosts sealed their spot in the Super 8 stage while New Zealand’s chances are now hanging by a thread after falling short of the target by 13 runs.
This was New Zealand's second loss after they were smashed away by Afghanistan in their first match. This campaign has been a shocking one for Kane Williamson's side and they now have to rely on a whole host of results to make it through to the Super 8 stage.
We look at three reasons behind New Zealand's horror show at the 2024 T20 World Cup:
#3 Inconsistent bowling
West Indies was tottering at a precarious 30 for 5 but they still rebounded to 149, thanks primarily to Sherfane Rutherford.
Kane Williamson bowled out Trent Boult, Tim Southee, and Lockie Ferguson before the 18th over and Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner had to finish off the innings. Rutherford was all over these bowlers as he smashed 37 runs off their bowling.
This performance came after they were taken to the cleaners by the Afghanistan openers in their last match as they added 100 runs for the first wicket.
While they improved their powerplay bowling, their death-over bowling left a lot to be desired. This was one of the main reasons why New Zealand have almost been knocked out of the tournament in the first round.
#2 Lack of match practice
Several New Zealand players were part of the IPL but they could not get enough game time.
Devon Conway and Kane Williamson were out injured while the likes of Lockie Ferguson played just a handful of matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Glenn Phillips was sidelined for the whole season for SRH while Mitchell Santner too played just a few matches for Chennai Super Kings.
New Zealand sent a rather inexperienced squad to take on Pakistan for a T20I series and several of these players were not picked for the World Cup.
The lack of match practice was evident in the World Cup when the experienced players could not quite hit their stride and New Zealand was under pressure from the word go. On the pitches where stroke-making was not easy, the players lacked intent and are now on the brink.
#1 Failure against spin
New Zealand’s batting looked woeful playing spin - against Afghanistan, they surrendered before Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi. Rashid ended with 4 for 17 as the Black Caps collapsed for just 75 within 16 overs while chasing 159.
Even though Kane Williamson admitted that his batters needed to be far more prudent with their shot selection, the lack of match practice was once more evident against the West Indies.
Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie was introduced after the powerplay and he picked up three crucial wickets, leaving the Black Caps in tatters. Kane Williamson rocked back looking for a cut that resulted in a catch while Rachin Ravindra hit one out to deep mid-wicket as he tried to hit out of a hole.
Motie then picked up his third wicket in three overs with a delivery that turned sharply to hit the stumps of Daryl Mitchell. At 63/5, New Zealand's chances were slipping away and their meltdown against spin proved to be costly once more.