Regarding Henry

By Aiden McLaughlin

Where would New Zealand be without Matt Henry? Well, in this match, they’d probably still be bowling to Australia in their first innings. In the context of this series, without the Cantabrian, they’d be looking at a 2-0 thrashing.

That series scoreline remains the most likely result when this second Test comes to an end, but after a batting  capitulation on day one, Matt Henry, along with Tom Latham and Kane Williamson, provided Blackcaps fans with reasons to be cheerful on day two in Christchurch.

Henry’s 7-67 is now the second-best bowling figures against Australia in Tests, behind the legendary 9-52 that Sir Richard Hadlee accumulated at The Gabba in 1985. It follows his 5-70 in the first innings of the first Test in Wellington and 3-36 in the second innings there.

Don’t forget his batting. With New Zealand failing to reach 200 in this series so far, he has managed to score 42 and 14 at the Basin Reserve, along with 29 in the first innings in Christchurch.

Dress-up day at Hagley Oval started with Australia on 124-4, a deficit of just 38. It was a lively start, but as so often in this series, things were going the visitors way.Tim Southee elected to take a wildly optimistic lbw review on just the third ball of the morning. Henry was the bowler, Marnus Labuschagne the batsman; but it really was a case of clutching at straws, the ball hitting the Australian’s pad outside the line. Another review burned by the home side, they suddenly had just one remaining.

Southee took the second over of the day and the second ball of that over saw nightwatchman Nathan Lyon dropped at first slip by Daryl Mitchell. High it may have been, but at this level, it’s one that should have been taken. Lyon responded by hitting two boundaries later in the over. From there, after half an hour’s play, the partnership reached 50, before Lyon was dismissed for 20 off 27 overs, Henry again the bowler, and Mitchell making partial amends to take the catch at first slip.

With the score at 158-5, Australia found themselves only four runs behind, with a settled top-order batsman in Labuschagne, and the powerful Mitch Marsh next in. Marsh was unable to trouble the scorers however, given out lbw to Henry upon review, having faced only four balls. At 166-6, Henry had figures of 5-58.

Labuschagne remained the key wicket. Early in the day, while batting consistently out of his crease, he had prompted a few words from the umpires about what that might be doing to parts of the wicket. He took it in his stride though, looking settled and acting as the anchor for the visitors.

The 52nd over brought New Zealand’s first over of spin in the match and it brought immediate success. From Glenn Phillips’ second ball, Alex Carey looked to sweep, playing his shot too early and looping the ball up to Tom Latham for an easy catch.

New Zealand took a new approach to Labuschagne, by asking Blundell to come up to the stumps. Although the umpires had not fully shut down his approach of batting outside his crease, this measure would take away one of his key weapons, the ability to mix up his stance and disrupt the bowlers length. Before long, he was out, 10 short of his century, with Phillips taking an absolute screamer at gully, which meant the score at lunch was 221-8, a lead of 59.

As so often, the lower order wagged the Aussie tail, Starc hitting 28 from 54 and by the time Cummins was last man out, the lead stood at 94.

The task for New Zealand was the same as day one; see off the new ball, create partnerships and look to amass a big total. For Will Young, his stay was even shorter than day one. He lasted just five balls for his one run, before the bowling of Starc saw him edge to Carey. It’s a shot that has summed up his recent role as opener. Clearly talented, he has found himself as the spare batter in the squad for some time now, filling spots (usually opener) rather than making one his own. With Conway injured, that spot is again at the top. Ifs, buts and maybes, but if he had played 30 or 40 Tests at number five, there’s every chance we would have seen his true abilities on this stage by now.

With Young’s departure, Williamson came out, looking to reverse, for him, a relatively poor run; a small sample size it may be (on the back of an extraordinary run of form) but 0, 9 and 17 from his first three innings of this series would have deeply disappointed him. By tea he had reached 25, with Latham on 15 as they reached 43-1.

With the evening session starting with New Zealand 51 runs behind, the crowd was that bit quieter, with many of the patrons looking in need of a nap after a warm day and liquid refreshments. The cloud cover was back, gloomy even, and the wind was up, although not as much as on day one.

Lyon took the first over after tea from the Botanic Gardens end, with Cummins following him from the Port Hills end. Cummins was trying his bowlers from the opposite ends to the first innings, searching for the key to breaking the partnership.

Just before the drinks break, Latham stroked a boundary to take the score to 95-1, and with it, New Zealand had a lead of one. Shortly afterwards, Latham brought up his half century, swiftly followed by Williamson’s, the pair bringing up a century partnership, New Zealand’s first of the series. But then, with Williamson on 51, the breakthrough, and it was from the Australian captain Cummins. A big inside edge saw the ball hit Williamson’s off stump, and as the floodlights went on Latham and Rachin Ravindra had 55 minutes until stumps.

With 15 mins left in the session, a let-off for the Blackcaps. Hazlewood got Latham to play at one which he had generally left and Carey made a rare mistake for the Australians, dropping the catch, which would have been more comfortable for Khawaja at first slip. It was only the second dropped catch of the series for them, compared to seven for the home side.

With New Zealand closing at 134-2, a lead of 40, it ended up being New Zealand’s best day of the series, but they will need another similar day tomorrow to have a chance of leveling things up.

#Statchat

• In his 128 Test matches, Nathan Lyon has been nightwatchman 17 times
• Lyon has the most Test runs (1,501) without reaching 50 (his highest score is 47)
• Will Young has scores of 9, 15, 14 and 1 in this series
• Today was the first time Kane Williamson has been dismissed in Tests between 50 and 100 since February 2020. Since then, he has hit seven centuries and four double centuries
• Best bowling for New Zealand v Australia in New Zealand:
• 7-67 – MJ Henry – Christchurch (Hagley Oval) 2024
• 7-87 – DL Vettori – Auckland 2000
• 7-89 – DK Morrison – Wellington 1993
• 7-116 – RJ Hadlee – Christchurch (Lancaster Park) 1986
• 6-32 – JG Bracewell – Auckland 1986

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