New Zealand: A chance at redemption at World Cup

Essentially sports presents a SWOT Analysis for the kiwis for the World Cup

New Zealand World Cup 15 Men Squad:

Brendon McCullum(captain), Grant Elliot, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Corey Anderson, Nathan McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Luke Ronchi( wicketkeeper).

Strengths:

If one ever had to bet on New Zealand to clinch the World cup title, this would probably be the best time to do so.

Taking a close look at the team, the batting seems to be very stable. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor have been rock solid, scoring runs in almost every match. The experienced campaigner Martin Guptil, together with the very fierce Brendon McCullum, give the team a quick fire start. To add to that, Nathan McCullum, Corey Anderson and the keeper batsman Luke Ronchi, can score quickly towards the end of the innings, propelling their score.

Similar to their batting, their bowling attack, though not very menacing, seems very effective. Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Kyle Mills are the spearheads of their bowling team and have been performing really well lately. Daniel Vettori comes as the perfect spinning option with them, along with Nathan McCullum, who can roll his arm over when required.

On paper, the team appears to be really equitable and their emphatic series victory over Sri Lanka in the ongoing ODI series and series victories at home against Pakistan and India in the recent past have given them the perfect momentum to head into the world cup.

Weakness:

They are infamous as chokers, alongside South Africa, for their inability to surpass the Semi Final stages of the cricketing extravaganza. This may have a psychological impact on the team and it could somewhere affect their chances of finally winning the world cup for the first time ever. Another cause of concern may be their over-reliance on 2 or 3 main batsmen. However, this issue has been somewhat dealt with, seeing that the keeper Luke Ronchi and Grant Elliott have started contributing with the bat as well.

Opportunities:

It’s now or never for New Zealand. They have all their boxes ticked for the pre World Cup preparations, be it the winning momentum, or finding the perfect team combinations. The icing on the cake is the home conditions in the world cup. This is their best chance ever to be the world champions. Their star batsman Kane Williamson would be one to watch out for in the world cup. He is considered as the future of New Zealand cricket and has consistently been featuring in the Fab 4 of world cricket.

Threats

Playing in the presence of your home crowd has both its merits and demerits. The obvious advantage being the home conditions along with the support of the crowd. Contrarily, this adds up to extra pressure which cannot be simply ignored. Except the last time around, in India, a team has never won a world cup playing at home which is a testimony to this. Thus, the tag of the chokers and the added pressure playing at home might cause hindrances which they would need to tackle.

Besides that, the team looks better than ever and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the kiwis are being crowned on the 29 of March at the biggest stage of them all.