JEFF CHESHIRE
Just enjoy it and try not to think too hard about it.
The Black Caps are the No1-ranked test team in the world.
They have a star batting line-up that is scoring runs and a seam bowling attack as good as this country has ever produced.
In Kane Williamson the side has the world’s top-ranked test batsman.
Of course you can easily find ways to tear them down — as you can with anything if you want to take a negative approach.
Australia last summer is the obvious black mark on the team.
It is not so much that they lost, it is the way they completely folded.
Using that logic you would say Australia is the world’s best.
But even that might be too simplistic.
Australia is very good at home.
Its fast, bouncy pitches bring out the best in what is a lethal seam attack.
Its batting line-up plunders runs in familiar conditions.
Away from home its success has been limited.
True it won, convincingly, last time in New Zealand.
But that was now five years ago.
It drew the Ashes series in England in 2019, and had series losses to South Africa and Pakistan amid the sandpaper scandal in a disastrous 2018.
It also lost to India at home in 2017 and dropped the Boxing Day test to the opponent last month.
Perhaps that could give India a claim to being the best.
But it is hard to say that when that Indian team was thrashed last year when it came to New Zealand.
And using that logic, it is also hard to say definitively that Australia is an all-round better team.
Of course India would no doubt have the edge over both in their own conditions — spinner-friendly wickets which bring out the best in their batsmen.
That is the same for everyone, though.
At home every team is so much tougher to beat.
Aside from Australia last year, New Zealand’s record away from home has actually been decent in recent years.
A drawn series in Sri Lanka and a win against Pakistan in the UAE are handy results on the sub-continent.
This team just needs the opportunity to play one of the other big guns on its own turf.
India was far too good at home in 2016 — again, five years is a long time.
Even the most recent series on English soil, which was drawn 1-1, was six years ago now.
At home the Black Caps have been virtually unbeatable.
The conditions suit the four-pronged seam attack, cover for the lack of a decent spinner, and are challenging for overseas batsmen.
Since losing to South Africa in 2017, New Zealand has not lost a home series.
Playing at a neutral venue would be the best tester.
That is where the world championship final comes into play.
Ideally, it will give the Black Caps a crack at Australia at Lords — although it may end up being India against one of those two.
Take home advantage away and see who is the best cricket team.
At this point, it would be hard to argue any of the others make a better case than the Black Caps.
STEVE HEPBURN
A lot of things have disappeared during this Covid 19 pandemic. Affordable housing, foreign tourists, NZ First. The test rankings should have been one more to add to the pile.
There is simply just too much head scratching to say with hand on heart the Black Caps are the best team in the world.
No disrespect to the Black Caps, though. No-one wants to slam the side.
The men with the fern on their chests have done all they could do, really. The team has played four tests in NZ this season and won the lot.
It was very convincing in all four tests against sides which were low on talent and morale.
But until we get a decent, logical playing schedule where teams play on an equal footing regularly, then the rankings are a waste of time.
New Zealand continually plays two-test series. Yet India, Australia and England play longer series and against each other.
Here we are, in the middle of a global pandemic, and New Zealand is one of the few countries which is — at the moment, touch wood — relatively unscathed. So are countries knocking on the door to get in?
Of course not. India and Australia are playing among themselves in Australia for the second time in three years. England is in Sri Lanka and is then heading to — surprise, surprise — India for four tests. Oh, wait on. India will then head to England in August for five tests.
We are in the height of our summer, yet for nearly seven weeks in New Zealand, there is no international cricket in this country. It’s madness.
Who does the schedule for World Cricket? Tauranga City Council?
The rankings do not mean anything, as the scheduling is all screwed up. It is a completely uneven playing field. You have got the big three. Everyone else is treated like a second-class citizen.
No doubt some faceless administrator will say the ranking system takes account of this, but to the average punter it illogical.
Also, let’s face facts: world cricket is at a low ebb. Compared to 20 years ago, nearly every side except maybe England and our brave boys are weaker than they were.
South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan — way below what they were at the turn of the century.
Let’s not even bring up the West Indies and Zimbabwe.
Australia? Hit and miss and way below the side led by Warne, McGrath, the Waughs ...
Maybe, with that, New Zealand is justifiably top.
But is it a case of being the best of a bad lot, in a
system which does not make sense?
