The All Blacks comparison has been made often with the England men’s white-ball cricket side in recent years, the familiar refrain among those on the fringes being that breaking into it is among the more challenging tasks in world sport.
When all are fit and available — an admittedly rare occurrence — there has seldom been more than a position or two up for debate and plenty of players have shown worthy form in franchise or domestic cricket for significant periods without getting anything like a prolonged crack.
