In Williamson's absence, Latham steps up as astute leader

No Kane Williamson? No problem for New Zealand. Tom Latham has made sure of that.

When Williamson hadn't fully recovered from surgery for the anterior cruciate ligament he ruptured in the IPL this year, Latham led New Zealand to victory in their World Cup opener against England in Ahmedabad. Then, when Williamson fractured his thumb against Bangladesh, Latham once again captained New Zealand to a 149-run win against Afghanistan.

Latham insists his leadership style is similar to Williamson's but there's a bit of Brendon McCullum about him. He doesn't let the game drift and isn't afraid of taking risks. Against England, for instance, he gambled on using Matt Henry in the middle overs rather than holding him back for the death. Henry whipped up a wobble-seam delivery to dismiss Jos Buttler and cracked the game open for New Zealand. Against Afghanistan, Latham similarly brought Trent Boult back in the middle overs and dismissed allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai.

In the 2015 World Cup, McCullum used to try and kill off games in the powerplay by giving extended new-ball spells to Boult and Tim Southee. Now, Latham is trying to kill off games in the middle overs. Wickets lost between overs 31 and 40 significantly diminish a team's ability to finish strong. That's why Latham goes to his best options even if it leaves him short-handed later. It's also why when he batted during this phase against Afghanistan on Wednesday, he prioritised being out there at the death over breaking the shackles. And it worked. New Zealand may have scored only three boundaries between overs 31 and 40 but they quadrupled that count in overs 41-50. Latham, as captain, appears innately tuned to the rhythm of the game.

"I don't think I'm a captain that's hugely different to how Kane operates," Latham tells ESPNcricinfo. "For me, it's always been about the team in terms of trying to ensure we continue doing what we've done as a group as best as possible, rather than me coming in and doing something that's completely different. I think when you're forced into a situation when you have a couple of injuries, obviously Lockie [Ferguson] going down [with back stiffness against England]... It was tight in terms of how you want to operate, but from that game for me it was about trying to be proactive as best as you can.

"I guess it comes across as me making the right decisions, but at the end of the day it's the bowlers doing the job. They're the ones taking the wickets, so that in turn makes the captaincy look like it's a good thing, but I think from our bowlers' point of view, they've been doing a fantastic job, especially in that first game. For me, it's always been about trying to be proactive, especially in this tournament where conditions are slightly different than what we are used to back home."

Latham was always destined to be a leader. At 14, he took on Shane Bond on his Christchurch senior club debut. At 20, he became Canterbury's youngest captain, and more recently in 2021, he marshalled Canterbury to the one-day Ford Trophy title. But Latham downplays all of that and says he's still a work in progress as a captain.

"I've been fortunate enough to be in this group since 2012, I think, when I made my debut. So, I'm sort of one of the older ones (laughs) in the group or one of the more experienced guys, so you tend to lean on experiences that you've had in the past - whether that would be through playing or being a leader, but I guess we've been fortunate enough … certainly in my time as a Black Cap, we've had some great leaders - the likes of Brendon McCullum, and obviously Kane, who is the captain of this team."

Latham also draws inspiration from former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw. "Being from Canterbury, I've been a passionate Crusaders supporter and an All Blacks supporter," Latham says. "I guess seeing what he did with the All Blacks and also with the Crusaders was pretty inspiring. Probably more so with the player he was but also the leader he was. So, as I said, sometimes it's not necessarily the on-field stuff, it's the off-field stuff that's probably more important in terms of pushing the team in the right direction."

Like his captaincy, Latham's batting often goes unnoticed. In Tests, he does the difficult job of opening in result-oriented conditions. In ODIs, he has to deal with spinners operating with the softer ball, and his middle-order numbers are among the best in the world. Since the end of the 2019 World Cup, Latham has scored 1345 runs in 36 innings at an average of 43.38 and strike rate of 91.12. Among middle-order batters in this World Cup, only Mushfiqur Rahim, KL Rahul and Charith Asalanka have more runs than Latham during this period.

"I guess for me, from a one-day point of view, the challenge batting in the middle order is that the situation is always different," Latham says. "You could be in at 30 for 3 or you could be in at 200 for 3. So being adaptable is probably the biggest thing that I've learnt in this role since batting in the middle order - trying to read every situation as best as possible and understanding who is batting around you.

"Again, conditions are going to be different on different surfaces and I guess we're probably going to see this throughout the World Cup, where pitches might start to deteriorate a bit towards the end of the tournament. Being adaptable for me is the biggest thing and it's something I pride myself on as best as I can."

Latham admits he isn't a big power-hitter down the ground. Instead, he tries to attack spinners with a variety of sweeps, including the reverse. Latham minimises the risk of sweeping by getting his front pad out of the way and maintaining a low centre of gravity.

"It's a shot that I don't necessarily practice a lot," Latham explains, when asked about how he chooses the sweep. "Some guys can just stand there and whack it back over their [bowlers] heads like that. For me, that's not necessarily an easy shot. Playing a sweep shot comes a little bit naturally to me. You just see the length or the line and then play accordingly. Again, every bowler is slightly different and there are different challenges with the sweep shot - whether there's more bounce, quicker or slower."

Latham recalls nailing the sweep against India at the Wankhede in 2017, in what was his first innings from the middle order in India. The shot could serve him well in their World Cup match against India in Dharamsala on Sunday.

"I do remember a series over here," Latham says. "I mean it was the first time that I actually batted in the middle order. When I first started, we played in Mumbai, then to Pune and Kanpur and that time it was a shot that was working really well. I was just able to react to the ball and in these conditions where it's slightly slower, I tend to use the sweep shot a little bit more. And from a bowler's point of view, you tend to sweep their best ball and again there have been times where it hasn't worked so well, but I guess that's the beauty of batting."

While most of the attention will be on Rohit Sharma when he walks out for the toss with Latham on Sunday, underestimate the New Zealand captain at your own peril.