New Zealand Road to WTC final

We look back on their way to the decision.

Sri Lanka 1 – New Zealand 1, August 2019
The New Zealand road to the World Test finals final led to a rocky start in Sri Lanka. Playing in Galle, New Zealand fell to a six-wicket loss when captain Kane Williamson recorded the weakest.

But an impressive kick back in the second Test ensured that New Zealand did not leave the subcontinent empty. Behind the centuries from Tom Latham (154) and BJ Watling (104 not out), the Kiwis made their home innings and won 65 runs, giving the series a 1-1 two-run series.

That saw Williamson side home with 60 points in the WTC or – as it turned out to be important – 50 percent of the points available with them.

Australia 3 – New Zealand 0, December-January 2019-20

New Zealand’s hopes of making the WTC finals were dashed by a horrific tour of Australia.

They crossed the Tasman with rising expectations but eventually won strongly 3-0.

To give the Black Caps a fair go, they ran into an Australian team in bad shape. Marnus Labuschagne averaged 91.50 and scored two innings double doubles. David Warner and Travis Head won centuries for themselves, and with the ball Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were all below 20 on average.

As New Zealand ended that round with their chances of making the WTC final look slim, there was a series or two of money. Tom Blundell got the second of his career in the Boxing Day Test and Tim Southee took 5/69 in the opener of the series. It was the first of three five-wicket yards that Southee would bring into the WTC.

At the end of the series, New Zealand still had just 60 points, 25 percent of what was available to them.

New Zealand 2 – India 0, February 2020

New Zealand didn’t have to wait too much longer for more points though, beating India 2-0 at Virat Kohli at home. These are two of the three losses India has suffered so far in the WTC.

Entering the two-match series, India had won all seven games of their WTC campaign, dealing with whiteshand for the West Indies, Bangladesh and South Africa.

But they quickly found the backhand against New Zealand, suffering a 10-wicket loss at Wellington where they failed to pass 200 in each hotel. Southee (4/49) and first baseman Kyle Jamieson (4/39) shared eight wikis in the first innings in India and the veteran helped himself to 5/69 in the second innings to Zealand. New leave requires just nine runs to win.

Jamieson supported his first good start with a five-wicket draw in the second Test (5/45) and before the game’s fourth innings, New Zealand were running on a potentially tough target of 132. Center A 103-run opening between Latham (52) and Blundell (55) ensured they got the job done with little relief.

New Zealand finished the series with 180 points, 50 percent of what was available to them at the time.

New Zealand 2 – West Indies 0, December 2020

It was another 10 months before New Zealand played another game in the WTC, with the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the cricket calendar.

With several series to be postponed throughout 2020, the ICC announced in November that WTC finishers would be determined by a percentage of points earned rather than total points.

At this point, New Zealand sat fourth on percentage points (50), behind England (60.83), India (75) and Australia (82.22).

After beating their 2-0 win over India in February, New Zealand began marching to the final with a 2-0 win over West India at the house.

Captain Williamson led the way in the series opener, gaining 251 per minute at Hamilton, walking away to a steady stand from the crowd and raising hands from most of India. West. That was the backbone of 519/7 total in New Zealand and last impact on innings and 134 runs.

Williamson sat out the second Test for the birth of his first child, but New Zealand found a way to do the job without it.

Henry Nicholls went up a great century (174) to help New Zealand to 460 overall, with five-wicket yards from Southee (5/32) and Jamieson (5/34) in the first innings preparing for innings and ran 12 victories.

For the third straight series New Zealand lifted all 120 points for a grip, bringing their percentage up 62.5 percent.

New Zealand 2 – Pakistan 0, December-January 2020-21

New Zealand followed the climb they won when Pakistan went on tour, recording another 2-0 series win.

Returning from the birth of his child, Williamson was at the heart of his team’s success against Pakistani circuit breakers.

The captain started the series with one hundred years (129) to establish a 101 win at Mount Maunganui, and took matters a step further with a double (238) in the second Test, leaving him three hundred in the past three matches left.

Surprisingly, he was still put out in the Second Test, with a quick young Jamieson taking 11 wickers for the game (5/69, 6/48) to be named player of the match. in innings and 176 runs wins.

The 120 points collected dragged New Zealand to 420 and essentially the percentage of points available was up to 70.

It also saw New Zealand rise to the top of the ICC test rankings.

Before the end of Australia’s 2-1 series loss to India, that was enough to see New Zealand rise in second place on the WTC stand.

Now all that remains is to see who lies ahead in the final, with everything hanging on the results of India’s four-Test series against England.