With England comfortably ahead in the victory stakes over the oast four decades, it is no surprise that the stats favour English players right down the order. Nevertheless the Black Caps have fielded some excellent batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders during that period. Here is my all-star XI from the past forty years of England-New Zealand Test series to prove it.
At the top, I'll have John Wright and Mark Richardson. The former aggregated 711 runs in 11 matches, although his average was nothing special. Fellow opener Richardon toured only in 2004 yet scored more than half as many runs as Wright, averaging more than 61, well above his career average of 45-odd. Ironically his best performance, with 93 and 101, came in a losing fight at Lord's.
Stephen Fleming opened in that game but was better known as a middle-order batsman and highly successful captain, particularly in ODIs. Nevertheless he makes my team on the back of 644 runs in ten Tests. Alongside him stands one of the country's finest ever batsmen, Martin Crowe. In England his average was, for him, a meagre 40.23. However, he plundered three centuries and 845 runs spread over 13 matches. Geoff Howarth just about qualified as an all-rounder but barely took a wicket in the five-day format. Against England on these shores, he accumulated a handy 485 runs at 40.41 in the 1970s.
Brendan McCullum is the only man in the current squad to make my Eleven, combining wicket-keeping duties with his hard-hitting batsmanship. In the past decade, he amassed 412 runs in six games and should add to that tally later this month. New Zealand's best all-rounder of this or any other era must be Chris Cairns, who nudges out his dad, Lance, from my fantasy team. Cairns junior scored 343 runs while chipping in with 31 wickets at only 25 apiece. He played a major role in the few victories his nation achieved in recent times.
Of course, arguably NZ's greatest ever player was Sir Richard Hadlee. At one time the world's highest Test wicket-taker, he enjoyed great success in England, both with Nottinghamshire and his country. In 14 Tests, he captured no fewer than 70 wickets, by a mile more than any other player on either side, while contributing more than 500 runs. No centuries but four valuable late-order fifties. The three other bowlers could all bat a bit, too. Spinners Daniel Vettori and John Bracewell each provided more than 200 runs and 20 wickets in these fixtures whie Dion Nash's 34 wickets came at a lower average than even Hadlee's. Like many Black Cap stars before him, Nash retired from international cricket early, which was a shame.
In summary, I reckon this would have made a pretty nifty line-up, not only in England but also on home soil: Wright, Richardson, Fleming (*), M Crowe, Howarth, McCullum (+), C Cairns, R Hadlee, Vettori, Bracewell, Nash.
