I guess having two big positives out of the day – Ronchi and Boult – balances out the negative. I’d quite forgotten it was almost two years since Boult played in the one-day team.
Shame Ronchi doesn’t work as an opener, but he doesn’t and his presence at seven gives finishing ability we’ve struggled to provide since McCullum moved up the order. Speaking of which, it may be time to stop counting Vettori when weighing up batting options. Shouldn’t condemn on basis of a single short innings yesterday, but reality is his batting was already in decline before the injuries started so expectations should be adjusted.
ANZ (I’m going to call them that from now on in recognition of the wrong turn the uniform designers have taken) didn’t play a line-up you’d want them to field in a World Cup semi-final. Seemed oddly short in both batting and bowling. Obviously they are searching for combinations but even at this early stage it looks as though 5th/6th bowler is going to be an issue unless either Williamson is reinstated or Ryder comes back into the fold.
The result of Guptill spending the winter remodelling his batting technique under MD Crowe wasn’t exactly obvious. Hopefully he’ll come good but I have to say now I wouldn’t be shocked if Guptill was out of the team by World Cup time.