Even in the darkest times, we could always take pride in the Black Caps’ fielding. Those days appear to be gone.
Devon Conway lay on the grass at Hagley Oval looking like he was about to weep. He’d dived for a spectacular catch to take the wicket of the West Indian batsman Tagenarine Chanderpaul, but the Black Caps batter looked more sick than joyful. He cradled the ball in his hands like he’d just recovered his lost car keys from the sand at a remote beach. His teammates ran past him awkwardly on their way to congratulate bowler Zak Foulkes. Conway’s rush of pure relief was justified. He’d already dropped Chanderpaul twice earlier in the match.
That moment from the first test between the Black Caps and the West Indies was emblematic of a profound shift in the nature of the Black Caps. To be a New Zealand cricket fan in the 90s and 2000s was an exercise in enduring hope punctuated by inevitable pain. The team was sometimes spectacular and regularly bad. Opening partnerships came and went, usually in the space of 20 deliveries. Bowlers were pretty good at best and this Daryl Tuffey over at worst. Almost every position was filled by a worse version of the current squad. Craig Spearman, who averaged 18 runs over his 51-match ODI career, has become Devon Conway, who averages 45. Stephen Fleming, batting average 32, is now Kane Williamson, batting average 49. Only Chris Cairns was perfect and never did anything wrong.
At the risk of sounding like a voice croaking from the depths of an ancient crypt, it was a different time. But if there was one thing the Black Caps of yore were good at, it was fielding. The side may have been slightly worse than the top teams at every position from one through 11, but they never dropped a god damn catch. Beloved all-rounder Chris Harris would truck into bowl like someone falling down a flight of stairs. In the field he had the dexterity of Simone Biles and the speed of Usain Bolt. If you ever need a small rush of dopamine, it’s worth rewatching these highlights of him performing approximately 14,624 run outs during the 1992 World Cup.
That’s all changed. Today the Black Caps are, by the numbers, a mediocre-to-poor fielding side. The drop-off is most apparent in their drops. According to figures provided by TVNZ stats guru Richard Isaac, the side’s catching success rate in tests stands at 77.7% since the start of the 2024 calendar year. Australia’s is 84.1%, South Africa’s 80.2%, Pakistan’s 79.6% and England’s 79.4%. The Black Caps are roughly on par with notoriously poor fielders, India. Their current opponents the West Indies are one of the few sides that are worse, with a 75.7% catch rate.
The dropsies have come at vital moments. In late-2024, the side put down six catches in a single day against England, including dropping Harry Brook four times on his way to what proved to be a match-defining innings of 171. They’ve affected our best fielders. Daryl Mitchell (19 catches from 26 attempts, 73%), Glenn Phillips (14 from 20, 70%) and Conway (nine from 13, 69.2%) are statistically our most butterfingered squad members over the last two years. Only Mitchell Santner (eight from eight) and Jacob Duffy (two from two) are unblemished.
You could put that down to the former trio being so good they’re often put into positions where they’re charged with taking screamers. But some of their drops have been sitters. In the recent ODI series against the West Indies, another ostensibly good fieldsman Michael Bracewell simply stopped running for a catch and allowed the ball to fall to the ground twice in the same match. Apparently learning from that mistake, he dove in front of what would have been an easy catch for Mitchell at first slip to spill a nick from Kemar Roach during the first match of the test series.
The decline is inexplicable. From 2010 to 2015, the Black Caps were seen as the best fielding side in the world and some of the same players from back then are still around. They’re still capable of taking catches like these. The side is more skilled and fun to watch than ever before. But they’re stuck in a picture of Dorian Gray situation, where each improvement in their batting and bowling seems to come at the cost of increasingly turning their hands into Christmas hams.
If the issue isn’t pork-stained digits, it’s doubt-stained brains. As they often say in cricket, fear is the mind killer. Dropping a catch instills fear. Fear causes dropped catches. The cycle continues until you’re suddenly on the ground in Christchurch trying not to cry after catching a journeyman West Indian batsman on your third try.
That’s hard to fix. It requires more than just extra training. It requires a talismanic force to restore a side’s spiritual mojo and set them back on a course back toward fielding success. To any reasonable mind, the solution is clear. The Black Caps are currently going through an almost unprecedented injury crisis. There’s never been a better time for the selectors to pick a player whose entire purpose is to wrench them from their mental mire. If they don’t bring back Chris Harris for the third test against the West Indies, they deserve the dropsies coming their way.
