Will Young is set to open the batting for the Black Caps in the third and final Test against England in place of Devon Conway, but other changes appear unlikely despite another heavy defeat at the Basin Reserve allowing the tourists to wrap up the series.
It means seam bowler Tim Southee will likely be given the honour of bowing out of his Test career on his own terms – an allowance not extended to Neil Wagner last summer – despite his recent lack of form.
The major issue for the Black Caps is their batting, with Tom Blundell’s 115 in Wellington yesterday the only century by a New Zealand player this series. After losing by eight wickets in Christchurch, New Zealand crashed to a 323-run defeat at the Basin Reserve.
It was their fourth home Test defeat in a row and a far cry from the heights of their historic 3-0 series win in India recently.
The Black Caps faced only 89 overs in total in Wellington, with Blundell and Nathan Smith’s partnership of 96 yesterday the highest of the series.
Coach Gary Stead, fronting the media in Wellington today ahead of the squad’s trip to Hamilton on Wednesday, was adamant that the third Test, which starts on Saturday, was no "dead rubber".
However, apart from Conway’s absence due to the birth of his first child, he is unlikely to budge on unforced selected changes.
“There is no one more disappointed than the group of staff and players in the changing room. We had a great crowd at the Basin,” Stead said.
“We are searching for the answers against a very good England side. They have certainly put us under some pressure.
“There are still positives we can take from the games. We are going to Hamilton and there’s no dead rubber for us. Every Test match is important. We’ll be going there with some real steel and expectation around our performance.”
Stead said Young was likely to open the batting alongside skipper Tom Latham, with Mark Chapman, called into the squad due to Conway’s expanding family, standing by as back-up.
Stead played the proverbial straight bat when asked to speculate about whether the struggling Conway would have been selected had he been available and was similarly guarded about Southee, who has taken four relatively expensive wickets in total during the series.
Like it or not, another factor likely to play a part in Southee's probable selection is that Seddon Park is his home ground.
“Once we get up there and have a look at the pitch we’ll make those decisions but it’s hard to know until we get up there and see that," Stead said.
“England are playing very good cricket against us. If you look at the performances in the last Test match, all bowlers went for five or six an over. We’re trying very hard to bowl as a unit out there but when someone like Harry Brook [123 and 55 in Wellington and 171 in Christchurch] comes in and does what he does, it’s difficult for anyone in the world.
“That’s the challenge in front of us, to find a way to put brakes on him and hopefully get him out. Whether that’s Tim, or Matt Henry or Will O’Rourke or Nathan Smith, or Glenn Phillips, it’s a problem for everyone, not just Tim Southee."
Pressed on Southee, the former skipper who announced before this Test series that it would be his last, Stead said: “People go through form patches up and down all the time. Tim’s not immune to that.
“That’s the game we play at times. Our job is to bowl as a unit and I thought Tim did an admirable job bowling into the southerly and northerly when it was blowing and doing the hard yards. That’s not an easy job for anyone.”
Asked whether it was “sad” to see Southee bowling at a level far below he was once able to reach, Stead replied: “I think he will be the first to say he’s not the same as he was five or six years ago but people do fluctuate through form patches.”
Left arm seam bowler Wagner, a hero for the Black Caps when bowling them to victory against England in Wellington last year, was not selected for the two-Test home series against Australia and he revealed in his book All Out, that Stead said to him: “There’s no easy way of telling you this, mate. I’m really sorry, but we are not picking you for the Australia series. We think your international career is over and that you should retire.”
Stead today said he had not read Wagner’s book and that he could not comment on it.
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