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Pinch hitter Jacob Oram hits a six for the Black Caps against Zimbabwe. - Source: Photosport -
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Stand in captain Brendon McCullum's aggressive tactical approach came to the fore in the Black Caps' crushing 141 run victory over Zimbabwe in Whangarei yesterday.
McCullum raised eyebrows when he sent Jacob Oram in to bat at number three, and took the batting power play in just the 24th over, only to see the decision reap almost instant rewards.
McCullum explained after the match that the idea had come to him while watching Rob Nicol and Martin Guptill lay the foundation for the win, the pair putting the Black Caps in the position where McCullum could call the inspired play.
"The start that we had was so good and gave us the opportunity where we could put them away tactically as well and also gave Jacob an opportunity to get into the game with the bat which he hasn't been able to do for a fair while now," he said.
McCullum said the short boundary on the left side of the wicket was the target area during that period against Zimbabwe's spin-attack, with the Dunedin wind blowing across that side of the pitch also assisting any batsmen who could find some air with the ball.
"All the stars kind of aligned and with the short boundary on the left-hand side there and the wind going that way too, with them operating with a spinner it felt like the right option," McCullum said.
"To be able to take the powerplay at that time as well we thought we might be able to bring their seamers back on early and if not then Jacob's going to be able to tear things up against their spinners."
Oram himself backed up his skipper's explanation, saying: "It was to take advantage of the win blowing across to that short boundary and also to take the powerplay straight away, have a few balls and then go.
"It was not exactly six and out but it was 'have some fun and see how we go'."
Rolling back the years
Oram felt it did not take long for him to find his rhythm with the bat in hand despite not hitting the ball with the same regularity and purpose that marked his arrival on the international scene years ago.
"I haven't scored the amount of runs that I did at the start of my career, and that I would obviously like to, and I understand the reasons for that.
"Today was really nice, you go out and hit a few in the middle and remember the feeling again and roll back the years but one game or one knock doesn't make a summer."
Oram wouldn't be drawn on whether we are likely to see him reappear in the Black Caps top-order saying it doesn't matter when or where he plays so long as he produces the goods when required.
"I've just got to make sure when called upon again as a hitter or down in my regular seven, eight or nine, or wherever it is, I've just got to do the job asked of me," he said.
Step-up
Both players took particular satisfaction from the clinical nature of the teams performance after a sub-par effort in last week's first one-dayer in Dunedin.
"(It was) A definite step up. We asked a lot of the team after Dunedin, where we won ugly down there," McCullum offered.
"I think when you play against Zimbabwe you've got to start brilliantly to be able to sort out a complete performance and try and put them away early and I thought we did that with Rob and Martin and the way the rest of the guys carried on.
"I thought we were brilliant with the ball too under some interesting circumstances but yeah, a definite step up."
Oram echoed the sentiment saying the improvement was clear: "In Dunedin we were maybe six out of 10 with the bat and today we were, well, 10 out of 10.
"I'm not sure we can do much better than that."
