Kyle Jamieson - an extra in New Zealand’s 'perfect' T20 scheme of things

Despite boasting the world’s best talents, New Zealand have never come close to challenging other sides for the World T20 title - something that they would love to erase in 2021, in India. And their series against Australia, the five-match series certainly paints the picture that they are serious and worthy of being a proper-contender for the trophy. 

Kyle Jamieson this series

1/32(3)

0/56(4)

0/38(4)

11 overs | One wicket | ER 11.45



To be fair to Jamieson, he is a genuine new ball bowler (56% overs in PP). But because of Boult & Southee, he has come on to bowl only in 6th over in two of the three games this series.#NZvAUS

— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) March 3, 2021

Well, in the longest format, he has picked up 36 wickets at an astonishing average of 13.27; has established himself as a vital cog in the setup and more often than not, has shown no signs of vulnerability - whatsoever - with the bat or the ball. But when it comes to the shortest format, you blink; you miss; you miss; you end up looking bad. This is exactly the pattern that transpired in the ongoing series against Australia, where Jamieson has looked far off from even establishing himself as a T20 batsman or a bowler. He has done neither. 

Now, the integral part of this debate isn’t his quality but his value and addition in the shortest format. With Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne, one out of the squad with an injury and the other kept out of the playing XI by Jamieson, New Zealand have two premier pacers - two extra yards of a thunderbolt - something that the Kiwis don’t have in their arsenal at the moment with the duo of Southee and Boult. 

As his Auckland Aces’ coach Heinrich Malan has mentioned, Jamieson has a long way to go in the shortest format, has to continuously evolve himself, with an eye of sealing the berth, either as a bowling all-rounder or a batting all-rounder but at the moment, he is neither - not solving any problem for the Kiwis but instead forcing a new problem for them, out of nowhere. 

While Jamieson does learn his trade quickly, it won’t guarantee that he will be bowling those bolts at 150 clicks, something that their bowling attack dearly lacks. At least the longest format does show your mercy, reaping you rewards for the back of length deliveries but T20, a rapid-paced game doesn’t show you mercy; certainly doesn’t guarantee that you would succeed. But why would that concern him? 

Having played three games thus far in the series, having bowled 11 overs against the Australian batting order, the tall Auckland pacer has just picked the solitary wicket. That’s not it all, an economy rate of 11.45, second-worst among the Kiwi bowlers, just behind Neesham, at an average of nearly 126, has made the heads turn. In a blink-and-miss kind of format, the outrageous numbers certainly suggest that he isn’t a sure-shot starter in the T20 format but an extra that doesn’t fit in the scheme of things. 

Barring the first game, where he picked up a wicket, in the next two games, the Australian batsmen have found easy ways to tackle him and he couldn’t evolve himself in such a short notice of time - something that T20 cricket has always kept a keen eye on. While it might be a learning curve for him, come to the IPL, the expectations naturally are bound to increase in multi-folds. If he doesn’t evolve in time, for the IPL, naturally the eyebrows are set to be raised and expectations, certainly - not to be met.