More of the Black Caps please

It was a year that New Zealand, whenever they played, made people exclaim: 'Why don't they play more often?' From March 2017 to October 2018, Kane Williamson needed his Test whites for just four games. In the same period, Virat Kohli and Joe Root, two other batsmen bracketed with the New Zealand skipper in the elite class, played 18 and 21 Tests respectively.

But New Zealand being New Zealand, were inhospitable to cobwebs. An away Test series win against Pakistan after nearly 50 years gave their Test ambitions and the scheduling apathy the perfect platform. In the seven Tests they played, only a Yasir Shah at his barnstorming best in Dubai could make this side taste an 'L'

The law of averages, however, did catch up with the Black Caps in white-ball cricket. After sweeping the five-match ODI series against Pakistan to begin the year, New Zealand went down 3-2 at home to England and later drew the return series against Pakistan in the middle-east. They also lost a lot of ground in the T20 format, winning just 3 of their 13 games despite beginning the year by racking up 243 in a clash against Windies in Mount Maunganui.

The year 2019 also saw New Zealand bid goodbye to their head coach of six years, Mike Hesson. The man, who orchestrated their run to the final of the 2015 World Cup, quit a year before the World Cup citing personal reasons and had to be replaced by former cricketer Gary Stead in less-than-ideal circumstances heading into the showpiece event at England next year.

What went right:

Those two dramatic victories at Abu Dhabi. Not only were those wins extraordinary, the manner in which they were achieved - on the final day with a New Zealand win the less probable of the two possible results at the start of the day - provided additional content to the fabled chapter on the 'glorious uncertainties of Test cricket'. The wins also threw up new stars. Ajaz Patel was the hero on debut in the four-run heist while William Somerville did a similar star turn in the final Test. That New Zealand were able to conjure two such performers on a tour of the sub-continent while their most promising spinner - Mitchell Santner - continued to sit out with a long-term injury spoke volumes of the health of the sport.

What went wrong:

The capitulation to Yasir in Dubai and the 223 all-out in the deciding ODI in Christchurch were forgetful performances against quality opposition, but New Zealand will perhaps be most bothered by the fact they couldn't get Mike Hesson to stay on and see his contract through, given his tactical nous and his partnership with New Zealand captains - Williamson (and even Brendon McCullum before him). His replacement, Stead, runs the risk of destabilising the team and its set practices six months out from a World Cup and would have to wait until the end of that tournament to push his big ideas for the team.

Top performer:

Tom Latham had a great end to the year with a 264* and 176 against Sri Lanka and Henry Nicholls was the breakout star (Test batting average of 73.11) but Williamson was the man for all seasons. The New Zealand captain averaged 59 in Test cricket, 46 in ODIs. And because 'Kane can', he finished with the Orange Cap at IPL 2018, scoring 735 runs at a strike-rate of 142.44, all the while appearing to only caress the ball.

Biggest disappointment:

Colin de Grandhomme would have envisioned a better 2018 for himself than the one that panned out. The designated all-format all-rounder, de Grandhome returned middling numbers. He scored just 330 runs at an average of 30 from seven Test while adding 11 wickets, including crucial wickets in the middle east - not necessarily bad numbers for an all-rounder. But his abilities with the bat, or the lack of it, against quality spin (Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah) in the sub-continent made for troubled viewing. In the limited-overs, he made scores of 6, 4, 6, 0 and 3 in the five times (three T20Is, two ODIs) he went out to bat. He followed that up with scores of 0, 3, 0 and 14 in the first two Tests. There were calls to drop him through the tour but New Zealand stuck with him and will expect their main all-rounder to reverse his run of form.

What 2019 has in store:

The World Cup, a tournament they've never won before, will be a big motivation although New Zealand will once again start the tournament as dark horses and not favourites. But it is a tag they quite enjoy and will fancy a deep run in England. Their next home season, after beginning the Test Championship in Sri Lanka, will see a bumper schedule with home Tests against England and India and an away assignment across the Tasman sea in Australia.