Finding good news stories out of New Zealand’s two heavy losses has not been easy, setting aside Martin Guptill’s rousing form at the top of the order.
But Neesham has been good too. In the absence of Ross Taylor and his recovery from eye surgery, lefthander Neesham was given his chance in Taylor’s No4 spot.
The result has been a tidy 34 off 36 balls, sharing a 90-run stand with Guptill at six an over in Sydney; and an impressive 74 off 83 balls, while putting on 125 with captain Kane Williamson in 135 balls in Canberra on Tuesday night. He has certainly not looked out of place.
Taylor’s form was ropey of late before his century at Hamilton against Pakistan just over a week ago, but he will return once he is fit again. However Neesham must have taken the selectors’ eye.
"Possibly, yeah," he said yesterday of the idea of moving up the order more permanently.
"In the first 20-odd games of my ODI career I’ve been down at No6, 7 and 8 and finishing off games, where it’s a little bit harder to make a big impact. That’s what you want to do for your national team — make the biggest impact you can.
"Obviously, we’ve got Kane and Ross there for the long term, but I wouldn’t mind making that No5 spot my own."
No-one has a lock on that job in the test team either since Brendon McCullum’s retirement early this year. Luke Ronchi and Henry Nicholls have been tried, but Neesham, a clean striker of the ball who possesses a naturally assertive approach to his batting, could be worth a look.
"I’d like to get back in the test team for a start," he quipped, having been dropped for the Pakistan series, despite making 74 in his most recent test innings at Indore against India in October.
"That middle order spot has [provided] a little bit of consternation over the last couple of months for New Zealand Cricket and that’s certainly a spot that I want to make my own."
All that said, Neesham (26), who has an ODI average of 24.82 on limited opportunities, will not describe himself as "happy" with his form.
"You come over to these shores not knowing how you’re going to go, and not knowing if you have the skills to stand up to pretty hostile conditions.
"To come over and get two starts is positive but I would like to have gone on to three figures in one of them."
Neesham took a solid whack on his right forearm from Australian quick Mitchell Starc at Manuka Oval. Ultrasound treatment was applied but no X-ray has been required.
Neesham knows his seam bowling has not been up to scratch in the two ODIs so far, but he is hardly alone in that respect.
He wants to play the final game in Melbourne tomorrow night, partly to press on from his good work with the bat, but also because he knows the chances to play Australia in its backyard are few and far between for New Zealand cricketers.
"So there’s no lack of motivation going into the last game," he said.
- David Leggat
