Henry Nicholls Will Get A Go At Opening Slot, Colin Munro Is Still In Plans - Kiwis Coach

It has been a brilliant last few days for Henry Nicholls, who is delivering the goods on a consistent basis. The team management has always tried to ping him in the squad either as an option in the middle-order or as a backup for Tom Latham in the wicketkeeper slot. Meanwhile, in the latest development, he has been assigned to take the opener role for the team.

In a major surprise during 4th ODI, Kiwis left out Colin Munro from the team and asked Henry Nicholls to open the innings. Though the target was pretty small on the board, Henry Nicholls showed promising signs as an opener. He guided Kiwis to victory in a most calming way to seal it for the team.

He stood till the end with Ross Taylor, who continued his masterclass for New Zealand. Speaking of the same, the coach Gary Stead believes that the youngster has got a lot of juice in him to serve for the country, especially, in the limited overs format of the game.

Colin Munro is certainly in our plans – Gary Stead

He wants him to continue in the same slot for a certain period of time ahead of going into ICC World Cup 2019. During the course, Stead added that the stylish southpaw Colin Munro is very much in their plans for the grand event. But, they want to assess the batting line-up and few other combinations ahead of the glorious event in England.

“Part of our campaign plan for this Indian series was to look at options at the top of the order, and Henry Nicholls has been a bit of a fix-it man across a number of areas. I know from my time when I was coaching Henry at Canterbury that he had opened before … so it wasn’t a real surprise to me that he could do this,” Stead told Radio Sports Breakfast.

“In terms of the future and where we go, who knows at this stage. Colin Munro is certainly in our plans; I think it’s likely that Henry will get another go in the short-term though,” he added.

Well, it seems like the coach is pretty confident on the skills of the youngster at the opening slot. The 5th ODI game against India will be a good test for Nicholls, who is making baby steps at the opening position. On the other hand, Martin Guptill looked pretty poor against Indians.