Corey Anderson: One match wonder or is he going to stay?

2014 started with a bang, quite literally. On the first day of the new year, 23 year old Kiwi all rounder surprised the world, and assuming, himself by scoring the fastest century in world cricket, a feat broken after 17 years, held by Boom Boom Afridi. So the headline has been made, the stocks have risen, does Corey have it in him to sustain this momentum in the long run or was this a hit and miss case?

Former cricketer Chris Cairns believes that Corey Anderson is the next great cricketer to come out of New Zealand. In an article in stuff.co.nz Chris Cairns wrote that Anderson striking the cricket ball is in the league of Viv Richards, Lance Klusener, Adam Gilchrist, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Symonds. “Corey Anderson’s innings in Queenstown where he made the fastest ODI hundred ever was simply the cleanest striking I have seen.” Cairns exclaimed ,
“By that I mean this performance has shown team-mates, opponents, media and public what is within his armoury. But it is certainly not the norm and we should never expect it to be. The innings revealed the ferocious power Anderson can deliver but in time he will begin to understand when it is time to release that and move beyond a strike rate of 100. If he can finish his career with a strike rate of 100, then he will be a champion.”

Anderson is a hard-hitting left-handed middle order batsman with the ability to hit the ball cleanly with amazing power and timing. He naturally scores runs at a good strike rate. This has been demonstrated on several occasions but none more so than when he scored 74 n.o. off 31 balls for the Northern Knights versus the Wellington Firebirds a day after his 21st birthday. Anderson is also a left arm fast-medium bowler with recorded speeds of up to 144 km/h. He is also an agile fielder with a strong throwing arm.

His first class and international stats so far are quite average, with averages of 37 and 32 in first class and list A cricket respectively. On the bowling front, he’s taken 48 wickets. What works in his favour is the fact that he can score runs quick, can bowl well, pick up wickets or maintain a low economy. This is essential for the New Zealanders to once again show their supremacy which was evident in the early 2000s under Fleming. The key to their success was that they had all rounders till no 11, with the likes of Cairns, Astle, Chris Harris, McMillan, Andre Adams, Dion Nash, Vettori, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, and quite a few more. After their exit, New Zealand cricket has gone down drastically, and is considered as one of the easily beatable nations. At this time, a genuine all rounder like Corey will add a huge dimension to the team. Imporantly, Anderson’s emergence as a world class player would significantly take the burden off the top order and provide New Zealand batting balance down the order.

What Corey should focus now is to have a good IPL season. Looking at his knock, he would be most likely be picked up by a franchisee. And with the IPL 7 auction just weeks away, Anderson couldn’t have timed his knock better. That would be the perfect opportunity for Corey to announce his entry on the world stage and show everyone that his fastest century was not a one-off