NZ Ratings
KW 9.5 - would've been a 10 if he hand't have made a habit of getting out in the 40-60 range so often.
Southee - 8.5 - another series, another brilliant performance by Timmeh. Ho-hum. Probably could've finished with another half dozen wickets given how often he beat the bat.
Watling - 8.5 - Terrific, helped set up the victory in the first test with his batting, and with a bit more support probably would've saved the second test as well. Also, his keeping - in tricky conditions - was absolutely spotless.
Neesham - 8 - A great effort with the bat, though was disappointing in his secondary role with the ball. Hope he goes on with it.
Latham - 8 - Could it possibly be that NZ have finally found an opener who might hold up in test cricket? It's early days, but Latham's form in this series was very encouraging - spoiled only by a dreadful shot to get out in his final innings of the series.
Wagner - 7 - Showed just how valuable he is to the NZ side with a typically dogged effort to help change the direction of the deciding test. Should never be left out for a 2nd spinner again.
Boult - 7 - His performances gradually improved as the series progressed. He showed terrific guts to keep up the intensity while battling a fever in the 2nd test, and was unlucky to finish with just 9 wickets.
Taylor - 6.5 - Lots of starts but nothing spectacular to show for it, and a couple of real horrible dismissals. Despite what Roach says, Taylor is still our best batsman, but this isn't a series that he'll remember with great fondness. Fantastic in the slips as usual.
Craig - 6 - A matchwinner in the first test, a pie-thrower in the 2nd, and a bit of both in the 3rd. Showed enough in his debut series to be persisted with.
Sodhi - 6 - All over the place, but showed that he can dismiss good batsmen with big turning deliveries. A lot to be excited about, but he needs some time sorting out his accuracy in the domestics.
McCullum - 4 - So much for the great blossoming of McCullum's latent batting talent. Still, his captaincy was superb.
Fulton - 1 - Bye Fults, will miss your hilariously egg-shaped head.
Rutherford - 0.5 - Oh god, why?!?
The only areas I disagree.
I'd have KWill at about an eight. A great series, anytime you score 400 runs in three tests is great, but too often he let the Windies back into the game by chipping out soft dismissals. My only hope is now that he's actually batted through an innings and pushed the ascendancy into a point that we had a match winning total, we'll start to see that more from him.
I'd bump Southee down to an eight too, a few poor sessions but otherwise sublime with the ball in pretty much all conditions. He seriously needs to do more with the bat if he wants to continue being put at eight.
I'd have Boult probably about a six, a couple of good spells don't erase a bunch of bad ones.
I'd have Wagner an 8 for the match, his first innings haul of wickets was as much the reason we won the match as Williamson's innings. It's the quality of wickets he continues to take - a set Braithwaite, a set Bravo and a semi set Chanderpaul - if any of those guys had gone on to make bigger runs, then we'd have inevitably drawn this match rather than win it. It's hard to assess a series performance for a guy who only plays one test though.
I'd have Sodhi lower than you have him, yes, I loathe the idea of the guy being a test player and although statistically he did very well this series, just too many rank poor balls that other sides would punish. Any time you lose your place as an incumbent to a guy who only managed an average of 40 with the ball, you can't rank "6.5"
Craig - I think you've got him about right, although you have to say he bowled us to victory in the first game (along with Southee) and gave us exactly what we needed in the fourth innings of this match. His gritty batting also has to come into account - I'd have no issues rating him at 7 for his debutant series all things told.
Fulton has to be a 0, Rutherford has to be a 0.
Taylor - Can't give him a 6.5 - never looked settled, had some absolutely daft dismissals and although not a terrible series by statistics, the statistics didn't tell the story of how many positions a batsman of his stature and class should have guided us through, while he wafted out and left it to Neesham and Watling beneath him.
McCullum - don't disagree with a four, his batting was a two, his captaincy was a six. Would rate his captaincy higher but I don't think he pushed hard enough for the players he'd have needed to make a difference (i.e wagner in all series)
