What West Indies can learn from New Zealand

During the glory days of West Indies cricket, one of the most interesting series was the 1979-80 tour of New Zealand, which was their only series defeat over a 15-year span.

That New Zealand tour is viewed as an aberration because of poor sportsmanship, and it was reported the West Indies players were so angry with the umpiring that they basically stopped playing, dropped catches on purpose, and let balls go to the boundary.

However, there is no second-guessing New Zealand's rise in the past 18 months - especially in Test cricket, and as a global cricket observer it is always great to see one of the financially weaker teams stepping up.

It was only in 2012 that New Zealand toured the Caribbean and were beaten convincingly with a lot of the same players who are currently impressing. How have their fortunes changed so drastically while West Indies continue to stagnate?

In my estimation, New Zealand and West Indies are on the same level talent-wise in most departments, but New Zealand play Test cricket better - especially as a batting group. When West Indies bat in the longer format, you can see they are stuck in T20 mode - except for Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Brathwaite.

Recently, as West Indies completed the world-record T20 chase against South Africa after looking horribly second-rate in the Test series, all the platitudes about them being superhuman in that format do not help them shelve the continued perception that they are good only at T20 cricket.

New Zealand have clear issues with their Test openers, with Tom Latham the only secure option. Chris Gayle and Brathwaite make West Indies more settled in this area.

As young batting stars, Darren Bravo and Kane Williamson had similar averages up until recently. However, while Bravo has been disconcertingly absent from cricket twice recently for unknown "personal reasons", Williamson has stepped up to the point where discerning judges reckon he could become New Zealand's greatest ever batsman. Bravo can certainly learn from Williamson's ability to put a high price on his wicket, because for such a talented batsman, Bravo tends to get out to many soft dismissals.

The team's middle-order duos, Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels and Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum are comparable. Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell are equally good allrounders as Corey Anderson and Jimmy Neesham, but a combination of injuries, T20 league clashes with West Indies fixtures and poor decision-making by the selectors has denied West Indies their services in Tests. Neesham scored hundreds in his first two Tests, which is certainly something Russell can strive to replicate.

Denesh Ramdin and BJ Watling are of similar ability - both short-statured wicketkeeper-batsmen who are difficult to dimiss, while the presence of Sunil Narine gives West Indies superiority in the spin-bowling department.

Trent Boult and Tim Southee are as good as any new-ball pair in the game, and the pace of Adam Milne makes him arguably the hottest young fast bowler in world cricket. But whenever West Indies play the trio of Ravi Rampaul, Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach together, they can certainly rival the New Zealand three.

The obvious area of difference between the two sides is player-board relations.

In explaining the jaw-dropping decision to leave Bravo and Kieron Pollard out of the World Cup squad, chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd made this point: "We are embarking on a situation where we want players to understand that they can go and play anywhere they want, we understand that. But when West Indies have games to play, we want them to make themselves available."

The issue of West Indies cricketers playing in T20 leagues when West Indies have a series is a tricky one. Through the last 15 years of decline and countless board v player fights, Caribbean players have been among the worst paid in world cricket. The IPL and T20 leagues gave the elite West Indies players a separate money option and the confidence to stand up to the WICB.

New Zealand have not had disputes like this after they banned Shane Bond for playing in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League. A case in point was the WICB dropping Narine last year because he wanted to play in the IPL final. In contrast, New Zealand had no issue with their players arriving late from the IPL.

"Having players join the group at different times is something we've become accustomed to with the different formats of the game these days. For those coming from the IPL, it's not like they've been on holiday. They've been immersed in cricket for a long time, so the transition won't be as difficult," New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said at the time.

The WICB deserves sympathy in this area, though. Cricket has a massive scheduling problem that the best minds in the sport have not been able to fix, and the recent explosion of T20 leagues has complicated things further.

The ICC needs to control the clash of T20 leagues with international fixtures, and the IPL needs to consider playing their league at a different time of year. The IPL clashes with the prime months of West Indies' home international season more than that of any nation and forces the WICB at times to play in the rainy and hurricane seasons.

Cricket needs to strike a balance similar to that in football, where there is a solid understanding of the need for harmony between club and international fixtures. The West Indies case shows players should not have to choose between country and T20 league duty. With the traditional marquee home series against England partly clashing with the IPL this year, an exodus of star West Indies players will be expected again, which is vexing for the board and unfair to cricket fans in the region.