Why a Black Caps debut for Will O’Rourke in the second test makes sense

Monday, 12 February 2024

From 2024, the Black Caps and South Africa will play for a prize with poignant significance when they meet in test cricket.

Second test:** Black Caps v South Africa; Where: Seddon Park, Hamilton; When: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am daily; Coverage: Live on TVNZ Duke; live updates on Stuff**

ANALYSIS: There were strong signals on Sunday that a Black Caps test debut for Will O’Rourke is coming this week in Hamilton, when the second test against South Africa starts on Tuesday.

Assuming it does eventuate, it makes a lot of sense.

There will never be a better time to blood a new option than against the Proteas at Seddon Park this week, on the evidence of the makeshift touring side’s first-up display at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, where they lost by 281 runs inside four days.

With Trent Boult now well out of the picture and Neil Wagner seemingly on his last legs as he approaches his 38th birthday in March, with last summer’s backup seamers scattered to the winds, and with nine tests in around 14 weeks looming in the last four months of this year, building depth should be front of mind.

Tim Southee, Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson lined up as a trio for the first time in the first test, having previously made two appearances together with Wagner for company.

Last week’s match was the first home test since 2016 with no place for a fit Wagner and just the third in the last 11 years. The tireless left-armer has played in 40 of the Black Caps’ last 46 tests, missing the other three due to injuries and the arrival of his first child.

Write him off at your peril, because you can guarantee he would love nothing more than to prove his doubters wrong. But after he delivered quite the mixed bag last summer, those doubters are more numerous than ever before.

Will O’Rourke received his playing cap ahead of his Black Caps ODI debut in December. He is in line for a test debut in Hamilton this week.

There were strong bookends in the series against England - 4-82 in the loss Mount Maunganui, then 4-62, including the final wicket in the dramatic win in Wellington - but in between he took 2-110 and 1-119, while going at 8.46 and 5.66 runs per over.

Then, in the first test against Sri Lanka, Wagner conceded 75 runs from 13 wicketless overs before back and hamstring injuries curtailed his involvement.

The biggest argument for sticking with Wagner is that he has thrived against Australia, the Black Caps’ next opponents, in a two-test series sat the end of this month, but it’s hard to be sure he’s the same player that has taken 24 wickets in four tests at an average of 23 - 19 fewer than Messrs Boult and Southee.

Look beyond Wagner and it’s clear the three other seamers used last summer - when Jamieson was absent with a back injury - aren’t in the selection frame. None of Doug Bracewell, Scott Kuggeleijn or Blair Tickner left an impression in their combined five appearances and with all of them aged 30 or older, it would likely take an injury crisis for them to be seen again.

O’Rourke is the new kid on the block, having turned 22 last August, impressed on a New Zealand ‘A’ tour of Australia that month and in September, and debuted for the Black Caps in one-day internationals against Bangladesh just prior to Christmas. Standing 1.97m tall, he has height as a weapon, and plenty of room to grow.

The Cantabrian would be the youngest seamer to play a test for New Zealand since January 2013, but a South African team shorn of its stars that mustered just two scores above 35 in test one shapes as the ideal opponent for him to make his debut against, especially if he has three senior seamers for company.

Coach Gary Stead could consider resting Jamieson, who spent a lot of time on the sideline in 2022 and 2023 and will be central to the Black Caps’ chances of beating Australia on home soil for the first time since 1993. If they do, O’Rourke looms as a reasonable facsimile, at least in the height department.

More likely is a return to a four-pronged attack. Room could be easily made if Glenn Phillips moves up to No 5 in place of injury absentee Daryl Mitchell. Otherwise, if Will Young takes that spot, it will be a case of leaving either Phillips or Mitchell Santner out.

A mammoth year of test cricket is in store in 2024, but if the Black Caps don’t act now to enrich their playing stocks, having been handed the gift of a lightweight opponent, they might find themselves wishing they had come spring.