{"id":169876,"date":"2025-12-05T18:26:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T18:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/169876\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T18:26:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T18:26:11","slug":"black-caps-v-west-indies-new-zealand-can-win-without-injured-matt-henry-nathan-smith-says-bowling-coach-jacob-oram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/169876\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Caps v West Indies: New Zealand can win without injured Matt Henry, Nathan Smith, says bowling coach Jacob Oram"},"content":{"rendered":"

The equation for both sides, then, is simple. The Black Caps need to take six wickets in 90 overs. The West Indies need 319 more runs, to chase down a record total.<\/p>\n

Neither side will be at their best; New Zealand are down to just two frontline bowlers – Jacob Duffy and Zak Foulkes<\/a>. The West Indies meanwhile are already four wickets down, with not a lot of batting to come after the current partnership between Shai Hope (116 not out) and Justin Greaves (55 not out).<\/p>\n

However, despite Duffy and Foulkes now having to shoulder arguably too great a load in their second test each – after both debuted in a record victory in Zimbabwe earlier this year – the Black Caps trust the pair to get the job done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident we have the quality,\u201d said bowling coach Jacob Oram. \u201cMatt Henrys aren\u2019t grown on trees around the country, but we have the quality, and the experience of our white ball campaigns going back 12 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys have got that international experience and, I would hope, know they belong here and can perform a job for us. It\u2019s a big ask for these guys, but they have the confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not going to be able to step into Matt Henry\u2019s shoes, but if we can get them working to their strengths, and we have a nice game plan with good field sets around them, we\u2019ll be ok.\u201d<\/p>\n

The West Indies, meanwhile, know this is their chance. The men from the Caribbean haven\u2019t won a test on New Zealand soil since 1995. <\/p>\n

\"MattMatt Henry falls over while bowling for the Black Caps against the West Indies. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Sides much better collectively than this have come to Aotearoa, and left empty handed.<\/p>\n

But playing as a side worth more than the sum of its individual parts, led by Hope in particular, there is belief among the tourists that the injuries to Henry and Smith have opened the door for them to make history.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand are a top test team, they\u2019re going to come with their plans, they\u2019re going to come with their fight,\u201d said Roach. \u201cBut they\u2019re two bowlers down. We have a perfect opportunity to do something special tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We\u2019ll plan properly, let\u2019s have the right mindset, be professional and the win will take care of itself.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Henry] not being in the team is a big advantage for us at the moment. I hope he gets better soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have a discussion as a batting unit, and try to make a good plan. Hopefully it works out tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The highest successful chase at Hagley Oval is 285, achieved by the Black Caps against Sri Lanka in 2023.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what happens on the final day at Hagley Oval, the bigger picture isn\u2019t kind to New Zealand\u2019s bowling stocks over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Should Henry and Smith both be ruled out for the rest of the series, they\u2019d join Will O\u2019Rourke in being unavailable for the rest of the test series. One-test fast bowler Ben Sears has also been ruled out, due to playing club cricket in Melbourne to play his way back to fitness.<\/p>\n

However, also on the mend is Kyle Jamieson. The 30-year-old is also on the comeback from injury<\/a>, and is this week playing his first red ball match since suffering a stress fracture of the back at the start of last year.<\/p>\n

Calling Jamieson into the squad would be earlier than the Black Caps would have wanted. But, if desperate times call for desperate measures, the team know what they have on their hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cKyle, as we know, is damn skillful,\u201d added Oram. \u201cWe also know that he\u2019s a guy who over the last 12-18 months has had a few niggles himself, and one major one with his back.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bigger picture is really important as well. We want to win every game, that\u2019s a given. But at the same time it\u2019s not to the detriment of that longer term picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if he\u2019s deemed ready to go, 100% [I\u2019d want] to have Kyle Jamieson with us. Let\u2019s see how things pan out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Powell<\/a> is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The equation for both sides, then, is simple. The Black Caps need to take six wickets in 90…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7022,110080,198,42574,4487,1320,3468,5904,22220,6209,28523,10933,54173,15220,2225,30506,89505,117,111,43,139,69,110081,1523,6046,312,16189,199,8229,8982,9350,3807,110082,1533,6027,102,1339,80],"class_list":["post-169876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-black","tag-bowling","tag-can","tag-caps","tag-christchurch","tag-coach","tag-deal","tag-final","tag-going","tag-henry","tag-indies","tag-injured","tag-jacob","tag-line","tag-loss","tag-matt","tag-nathan","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oram","tag-over","tag-potential","tag-says","tag-smith","tag-take","tag-they","tag-victory","tag-vital","tag-west","tag-wickets","tag-will","tag-win","tag-with","tag-without","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}