New Zealand batter Henry Nicholls stated on Tuesday that series like the current one against India are “more important than ever” because there isn’t much one-day cricket in between international tournaments.
Even though the next 50-over World Cup is still 22 months away, concerns over the format and context of the current series have come up again because the major attention is still on the T20 World Cup that will take place next month.
“Like you say there’s not as much one-day cricket between major events, I think that makes these series even more important,” a PTI report quoted Nicholls while talking to the media ahead of New Zealand’s training session at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot.
“A few of us have been playing some List-A cricket back home, so we have got a bit of the format under our belt. But it’s a format that we enjoy playing so when you have those series now, they are more important than ever with limited amount,” he added.
After losing the first ODI by four wickets despite coming close, Nicholls stated that New Zealand would need to continue doing the right things for extended periods of time.
“From a batting point of view, we did a lot of things pretty well and it’s a case of us being able to do them for a bit longer. Devon and I (had a) partnership at the top, if one of us is able to bat for an extended period of time…”
“That’s always the case of one-day cricket, if you’re able to have wickets in hand, have a set batter in through to the last 15 (or) 10 overs then it certainly extends your death (overs) period.”
When asked if the inexperienced guys in the New Zealand camp learned anything from playing against Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Nicholls replied that they were undoubtedly able to apply some pressure.
“That’s the challenge when you come over here and certainly as a young group — even as an experienced group — is when you play against players who have played that much cricket. But also to see it firsthand in the first game and the way the guys adapted, certainly from a bowling point of view, bowling to those guys and finding ways to try and put them under pressure. If we are able to do some of those things even as an inexperienced side, then the nature of cricket is (that) if you’re able to take wickets, you’re able to put teams under pressure,” he added.
According to Nicholls, the one-ball rule after the 34th over makes batting more difficult.
“We saw at the end of our innings (as well), the ball was quite a lot darker and a lot softer as well which can make it harder to get away. That is why they brought the rule in in terms of choosing one ball to make it a little bit harder around the death stage. That’s certainly something to keep in mind if you’re in a batting team (first) and (if) you’re on top, then maybe it won’t be as easy at the end to score as much. So maybe take it on a little bit earlier,” he added.
