BLACKCAPS captain Brendon McCullum has indicated an unchanged XI for the fifth successive game in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
New Zealand has won four from four with the same team and Coach Mike Hesson and McCullum discussed the merits of making changes before opting to remain with the winning team.
McCullum said the nature of the games the BLACKCAPS have won so far haven’t been overly taxing, in terms of the physical demands on his bowlers.
He underlined that this is the first choice XI but stopped short of saying that the BLACKCAPS intend to play the same team throughout the whole tournament.
“It has been a little bit of a moving target with the way that the games have gone,” said the 33-year-old.
“[For example] Adam Milne has only bowled 21 overs so far and in ideal world he would have bowled more than that and we would have called someone from the bench to take up some of the slack.”
“We have settled on our number one XI at this point in time. We are confident that if injuries do come about we have got the experience and personnel on the side line who can step up.”
McCullum said the experience of Kyle Mills (160 games) and Nathan McCullum (80 games) and Tom “who is adaptable to any situation” and Mitchell McClenaghan “who has come in and done a great job for us anytime he is asked” means they have four talented players waiting in the wings.
“It’s tough. They desperately want to be involved in this World Cup from a playing point of view but they are also such strong people and crucial team members that everyone still have a smile on their face when they turn up to training.”
McCullum said that Afghanistan presents a different challenge and there was no room for complacency.
“I have said it all along that we are not good enough to take any team lightly. Whether they are the top team in the world or they are ranked 10 or 15 we need to turn up and put on a performance that is worthy of the style of cricket we want to play. If we do that then any team we come up against will have to play well to beat us.”
He believed Afghanistan’s bowling, with three guys who can bowl in excess of 140 km per hour, is their strongest suit and they have asked some questions of some very good teams in this tournament.
“They look like a team, under [coach] Andy Moles, that is playing with a lot of passion and have been enjoying their World Cup so far. We are respectful of the challenge they bring us.”
McCullum said if he wins the toss, he will look to bat first and judging by the wicket at McLean Park, he expected Afghanistan would do the same.
McCullum admitted that the nature of the games so far means that their batting hasn’t been as challenged as other teams in the tournament but he backed his team.
“We never know until we get in those situations but I am confident in the group that we have that they will perform in pressure situations.”
McCullum admitted that he, like the rest of New Zealand, feared the worst when he was hit in arm by a Mitchell Johnson bouncer at 142km per hour last week at Eden Park.
“For the first few seconds I was a bit unsure. I thought I could be in for a bit of trouble, but I came through okay. Sometimes you take your eye off the ball and it shows that in this game you can quite easily get hurt. I was thankful to come through that and that I still have a part to play in this tournament.”
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: BLACKCAPS v Afghanistan 11am from McLean Park in Napier.
