New Zealand in the hunt for a competitive edge

New Zealand's players may be struggling to come to grips with Pakistan in their one-day and Test tour at the moment, but the boffins back at HQ in Christchurch are researching a strategy for next summer's World Cup campaign.

Normally at this time of year cricket administrators are busy doing the paperwork to make sure they can present their annual reports in the best possible light.

But at New Zealand Cricket the planning is underway for the World Cup.

An initial planning meeting, involving senior players, team management, High Performance Centre staff and head office, has been held and a 12-month programme instituted.

NZC operations manager John Reid said the main task of the group was finding a competitive edge, something that New Zealand with its resources can exploit.

"When teams have won the World Cup they have done something different," Reid said.

New Zealand had employed the strategy of opening the bowling with off-spinner Dipak Patel during the 1992 World Cup, and while the team hadn't won, it caught other sides napping with the ploy and reached the semi-finals.

The Sri Lankans in 1996 had further developed the 1992 batting style of Mark Greatbatch and Rod Latham of blasting during the first 15 overs.

But in English conditions strategies had to be different in 1999 because the Sri Lankan approach involved taking too many risks early on against the moving ball used in England.

"What's the next step the game is going to? We don't know what that is yet, but we are investigating options.

"To beat the superpowers of cricket we have to do something different," he said.

Thinking had already started and there was some experimentation being done in Sharjah and Pakistan on batting orders within the limits set by the personnel available.

Statistical analysis and different patterns of play from which the TelstraClear Black Caps will be able to institute a game plan are being studied. A group of players capable of playing that game will be identified.

A loose squad of about 30 players have been identified in order for the strategy to be able to try and cover several bases.

Reid said it was clear that Nos 12-14 in the squad were going to be just as important selections as the on-field 11 for this tournament. However, there still had to be provision in the selection process should a bolter appear in the way that Shane Bond and Andre Adams emerged this year.

Once having settled on a plan, it would be necessary to increase specific skills among players to cope with what was being attempted.

As an example, Reid said it was clear from experience this summer, in both Australia and South Africa, that the South Africans have players in Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener batting at Nos 7 and 8 who are capable of hitting the ball over the fence. If having that as part of the strategy, New Zealand would need to prepare players to do likewise.

People in different areas of the strategy would need different skills and planning, provided budgetary support was given, would involve taking players to overseas camps, probably in Australia, to do skill development work during the winter.

All series being played by the side during the remainder of the year, against Pakistan, the West Indies, the ICC Champions Trophy tournament and the home series against India would all be played within the broad plan for the World Cup.

This was, of course, while still trying to win matches, Reid said.

As the year progressed elements of the plan would be tried within several games and Reid said he imagined the strategy would start to become reasonably clear to the cricket public by the time the side leaves to go to South Africa.

The national administration would also be looking to get the support of the associations in mapping out a domestic draw that is complementary to the needs of the Black Caps.

"We hope to have that resolved by June," he said.

"It comes down to how we use the intervening cricket before next year. All these games at the moment are opportunities to get it right."

Reid said that cricket was a very traditional game and was less innovative than it should be. New Zealanders were leaders in innovation in other spheres of life and could be in cricket.

"One of the advantages in being small is that we have to communicate.

"The disadvantages are the lack of people and money to do things.

"But if we simply copy, we will fail.

"We have to be smarter, better and more innovative to succeed. Unless we do something like that we probably won't ever win the World Cup," Reid said.

An important step along the way had been the victory in the last ICC KnockOut tournament because it had given players self-belief and confidence that they could compete, and that would be important next year.

Other countries would also be looking at how they could be in the best position to take the Cup, and many of them had a greater player depth which meant those players could afford to play by instinct.

New Zealand had to do a lot more with its resources to ensure the players could compete.