CWC 2023: New Zealand’s Jimmy Neesham ready to bury 2019 demons to give ‘one last go’ at glory

New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham is ready for a final crack at glory as the Cricket World Cup 2023 nears. The left-handed batter, who was at the centre of things in Lord’s against England four years ago, knows what it means to miss out on tasting success from this close. Ahead of the start of perhaps his final 50-over World Cup, Neesham is ready to bury past demons to give himself and his team a chance to end the CWC trophy drought.

Neesham and Trent Boult, two seasoned campaigners who decided against signing the central contracts, got picked in the final 15 for the World Cup, which gets underway on October 5 in Ahmedabad.

Considering most of the players picked for this year’s edition were around four years ago when New Zealand lost the final in a super over, Neesham said reuniting with the squad with new goals in mind works as a motivation for everyone.

“I think it’s motivated all of us,” Neesham told reporters on Monday. “Trent (Boult) has talked about it as well, around a few of the guys back then talking about giving it one more crack in four years’ time. It’s come around pretty quickly, really, with all the events since 2019 in the world.”

“We’ve got that generation from 30 to 35-years-old. We’ve all played a huge amount over the last 10-12 years, and there’s certainly huge motivation from the guys to give it one last, good crack,” Neesham added.

‘No awkwardness’

With Trent Boult finally returning to the ODI setup after being included in the XI for the game against England in Southampton on Sunday, he picked three wickets inside the first two overs, reminding everyone of what he can do with the new ball in hand.

Considering he and Neesham got overlooked for the centrally contracted players for the past year, and now with them returning just ahead of the World Cup, Neesham insisted there is no awkwardness among the camp as the focus remains on helping them win the World Cup.

“No one gets judged on those kinds of decisions,” he said. “Myself and Trent have talked a lot about it over the last year or so around trying to stay fit and stay in the picture.

“There’s no lack of familiarity with the group. As Trent said a couple of days ago in England, you slide back into the group as if nothing’s changed,” he added.

Meanwhile, New Zealand will play two more ODIs against England before flying to Bangladesh for three One-Dayers and then to India for the mega event.

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