New Zealand coach Mike Hesson is delighted at his team’s preparation for the World Cup. In the last 23 days, they have featured in nine one-day internationals against two teams – Sri Lanka and Pakistan – and won both the home series.
In all, they won six matches with two defeats against Sri Lanka. More importantly, almost all players have fired with top order batsmen Kane Williamson (407 runs) and Ross Taylor (332) leading the run charge.
– #Quiz360: WIN dinner for 2 at Towers Rotana, Dubai
Captain Brendon McCullum (280) and wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi (279) too came up with useful contributions. All-rounders Corey Anderson (210 runs and 11 wickets) and Grant Elliott (286 runs and seven wickets) were the other players who had a big say.
Hesson is impressed by the manner in which his team stood up to various challenges during the two series. “We’ve won key moments. Guys have had to bowl at the death under pressure and we’ve had to chase medium and high scores and we’ve had to bat first in challenging conditions at times,” he said.
“It’s been great preparation but we need to refresh physically and mentally and then go again,”
The players will reassemble in Christchurch on Saturday after a three-day break, with warmup games against Zimbabwe and South Africa lined-up next week.
“We’ve had a pretty hectic month. Just to have three days at home and get in the gym and do strength work is important. We need to arrive back together nice and fresh,” Hesson told The Dominion Post.
“We had to make sure at the end of the nine games that everybody was firing and still fresh and we achieved that. We’ve also been able to create healthy competition for places. If we’ve got 15 blokes all scrapping they will all likely get an opportunity over the next six weeks.”
Hesson had a word of praise for Elliott’s emergence as a solid player at No5. “He’s a clever cricketer. He’s experienced and he’s able to turn a game with bat and ball by showing a bit of craft, a bit of intellect and a bit of power. We saw all his tricks with the ball and he’s also a calm influence around the group,” he said.
