Emerging Players Tournament-Part One/Two

[Howsie]

Can the purple patch of New Zealand cricket continue, can the likes of Kane Williamson and Anaru Kitchen follow in the steps of Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder and continue to build on New Zealand’s batting reputation? Can George Worker, BJ Watling or Jeet Raval finally give New Zealand a decent pair of opening batsmen in the future to hopefully partner Martin Guptill for years to come? Will Te Ahu Davis ever discover his potential and give New Zealand the strike-bowler they so desperately need. And can Nick Beard follow in Daniel Vettori’s footsteps and give us another world-class left-arm spinner.

The 2009 emerging players tournament kicks of in July and will be contested between teams from Australia, India, South Africa and of course New Zealand. It gives all countries involved a great chance to try out young talent and to catch a glimpse at fellow countries most promising players. New Zealand will use this tournament to test our countries youngest first-class talent to see if they have what it takes to step up to the other level.

New Zealand’s biggest problem at the test level is the lack of quality test openers. Over the last year players Jamie How, Aaron Redmond, Tim McIntosh and Martin Guptill have all been used. Tim McIntosh is the only player out of that group that has managed to score a century, but he still struggled when the Indian’s visited in March. Martin Guptill has had a fantastic start to his one day international career where he scored a century on debut, but his first-class stats are very poor and he has only managed one century in 28 first-class matches. So there are still big question marks over his ability to succeed at the test level. Bradley-John Watling, or BJ as he is commonly known as it very similar to Guptill. Watling has a very poor first-class record with an average of just 28 but has a very good list A average of 37. Watling made his first-class debut for Northern Districts in 2004 at just 19 years old. He played 8 matches that season and averaged a very low 20. In the 2007 season he had his best season as part of the ND team where he averaged 37 for the year and made his highest first-class score of 153. During the 2008/09 season Watling began very well scoring a century very early in the season and a lot of people were calling for him to be included in the test team to play the West Indies. Unfortunately for Watling he broke his wrist and ended up missing a lot of game time. This tournament could be very helpful for Watlings chances of playing for New Zealand during the summer. The 2009/10 season could be a very big one for BJ Watling and don’t be surprised if you see him playing for the BlackCaps soon.

George Worker is a 19 year old opening batsmen for Central Districts and has been part of there team since 2007. Worker made his debut in late 2007 against a Wellington attack that featured players like Charlie Shreck and Iain O’Brien and went on to make a career best 71. In the 2008/09 season Worker played in every first-class game of the season for CD and they ended up losing in the final to Auckland. Although not having the best season statistically Worker did average 28 and Coach Dermot Reeve has seen enough of him to think he is a player of the future.

Jeet Raval has been talked about a possible black cap since he was only 15 years old. In January 2007 Raval made his Under 19 debut playing against India, his country of birth. In a team that had players such as Ishant Sharma, and Piyush Chawla Raval did very well to average 33 with a highest score of 89. Raval made his first-class debut against the touring West Indian’s and batting at six in Auckland’s first innings scoring 30. But it was his second innings for Auckland that he will most likely remember for along time. In his first game opening for Auckland Raval went on to make 256 against Central Districts, an attack which featured internationals Ewen Thompson and Michael Mason as he smacked 43 four’s and two sixes in his record knock. After playing so well in this game Raval was named to play in the state shield final against CD a week later and he helped Auckland win the crown for the 2008/09 season. Hopefully the taste he got for first-class this season can help him go on in the future to better and bigger things.

Middle Order

New Zealand’s middle order has had a major change over the last two years. Players like Astle, Fleming and McMillian who played for so many seasons retired so close together it didn’t give New Zealand enough time to slowly bring in younger players. Ross Taylor has cemented himself into the number four position and Jesse Ryder looks to have fitted into the number five position very nicely. Daniel Flynn who began his test career at six has looked fairly solid batting at three but would still like to bring up his maiden century and go on with the starts he has had. So who are the guys to look out for in this tournament that could go on to become the next Martin Crowe?

Kane Williamson has been touted as the next big thing since he was 13 years old. At every level of cricket Williamson has dominated bowling attacks even though he was playing kids 1-2 years older then him. Williamson made his debut for the New Zealand Under 19 team when he was 16 years old. Playing the touring Indian team which had players like Ishant Sharma and Piyush Chawla Williamson went on to make his first 50 for New Zealand in his second innings. He made his debut for Northern Districts at the end of 2007 but had a debut to forget. He was dismissed by Andre Adams for one in the first innings and zero in the second. That was the only first class game Williamson played that season and he only played four list A games for the rest of the season. He captained NZ to the semi’s in the 2008 Under 19 world cup and on the under 19 tour to England he played one youth test match and managed score 75 in the first innings and 151 in the second. The 2008/09 season was a strong one as he went on to average 54 for ND in First Class cricket and 45 in list A cricket. For Williamson to get into the New Zealand team you would feel he would have to bat at three for ND this coming season, the position he has played most of his cricket at. If we give him 1-2 more seasons of domestic cricket New Zealand could have a very good batsmen at there disposal.

Anaru Kitchen made his debut for Auckland during this year’s domestic season. He didn’t debut till the end of the season but in the five first-class games he played he went on to score 442 runs with three centuries. He also played a big hand in the State final making his highest score in first-class cricket of 132 in the first innings. I haven’t seen that much of him but in the few 20/20 games I saw him play in he looked to have a very solid technique and looks to be a very attacking player with a very good pull shot. Having only played half a season of domestic cricket Kitchen would most likely have to go off and play a full season and continue with his great start he has had to get into the New Zealand team.

In part three of my article I will mention some of the bowlers to look out for and what they have to do to make it to the next level.

Bowlers

Over the last two seasons New Zealand has lost a wealth of bowling talent, weather it be because of retirement or because of the rebel ICL. Players such as Shane Bond, Daryl Tuffey and Andre Adams were all lost to New Zealand cricket at the worst possible time. New Zealand was going through a massive change at the time, a new captain in Daniel Vettori was named and our batting line-up had an average age of 24. All-rounder’s such as Jacob Oram and James Franklin were battling injuries and for the most part were unable to bowl, and New Zealand was forced to play a youngster by the name of Tim Southee earlier then they would have wanted too.

The 2009 emerging player’s team feature a whole host of bowlers who have the ability to be world class bowlers in the future for New Zealand. In the squad of 15 eight of the players are known as genuine bowlers. There are two fast bowlers, two spinners, and four medium fast prospects.

Te Ahu Davis was selected to play for New Zealand in the Under 19 world cup in 2004 and went on to pick up eight wickets in the tournament. Capable as a 19 year old of bowling at over 150kph he was seen as a shoe in for higher honours at a very young age. Davis made his First-class debut for Northern Districts in January 2005 against Otago getting former international Mohammad Wasim out twice during the match. Davis went on to play four of his seven career matches that year but has struggled to stay fit long enough to keep his place in the team. He also left cricket at the beginning of 2007 as he wanted to try and make it has a rugby player, so between then and now he has played very little cricket. This is Davis’s second emerging tournament as he went on the 2005 tour but some people would have to question why he is here when younger, better bowlers have proven themselves over the course of the year.

Neil Wagner, New Zealand’s future Dale Steyn. Neil Wagner is a South African who moved over to New Zealand last winter wanting to play for New Zealand for various reasons. Wagner made his debut for Northerns as a 19 year old in early 2006 and picked up 14 wickets at 17.5. In 2007 he also tasted success picking up 33 wickets at 18.1. After two very good seasons Wagner was picked to play in the South African Academy team against Zimbabwe. Playing for Otago Wagner picked up 21 wickets at 33 for the 2008/09. Neil Wagner has the ability to swing the ball back into the right handers at speeds of over 140kph. From the games I have seen him play his swing is very late and has a very sharp bend just as it gets to the batsmen.

This team also features future star bowlers like Tim Southee who made his test debut as an 18 year old. Tarun Nethula who made his debut for Auckland this season and had a very solid first season. And Hamish Bennett who has played for Canterbury for a number of season’s now.

[irottev]

Nice article dude.

[aussie1st]

Nice to see a NZ article in here and getting an insight into some of these players who I have heard nothing about apart from Williamson.

[Howsie]

Thanks guys.

I'll get the bowling part up by Sunday atleast.

[kingdamo]

Great article mate.

In particular I hope George Worker does well, I went to school with the bloke (albeit a few years under him), and he was a real good all round guy. He has always been a bit of a talent but hasn't had that much success at FC level this year.

I hope he guns it .

[nz0003]

Gun article Howsie, abit hard for me to keep a hold on who's the best the young talents in NZ with me living in Australia, but I'll keep a lookout for these players.

[nz0003]

Waiting for Part 3 tbh.

[Howsie]

Originally Posted by nz0003

Waiting for Part 3 tbh.

There you go

[nz0003]

Well done mate, wish this tournament was in Melbourne.