Wellington duo keep Blackcaps in the game
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By Rahul Patil
England 1st innings 325 for 9 declared in 58.2 overs (Duckett 84, Brook 89, Wagner 4/81) vs New Zealand 1st innings 306 all out in 82.5 overs (Conway 77, Blundell 138, Robinson 4/54, Anderson 3/36). England 2nd innings 79 for 2 in 16 overs (Crawley 28, Kuggeleijn 1/2)
We were taught in school that the sun is a star around which the earth orbits. Growing up in the state of Goa on the west coast of India we had plenty of sunshine. So much that on a cricket field we longed for some shade. It is only when you move further away from the equator that you start appreciating the value of the sun. The person who invented cricket was probably a batter which is why it’s a summer sport i.e. when batting is a lot easier. With the sun beating down at the Bay Oval all day two Wellingtonians made hay. The pink Kookaburra which was hooping around everywhere under the lights offered nothing. Suddenly scoring runs became easy.
It’s a cruel game sometimes. A penny for the thoughts of Zack Crawley who dropped a regulation chance at second slip last night when Conway was on 9. Good players make the opposition pay big for such lapses. Conway is one of the best in international cricket at the moment and kept reminding Crawley of his error adding a further 68 runs. The pain increasing with every run.
Wicketkeepers are always cut from a different cloth. Somehow all of them are chirpy, gritty and love frustrating the opposition by scoring runs when they are needed the most. Tom Blundell is no different. 1364 runs in test cricket at an average of 43 with 3 hundreds and 9 fifties for someone who usually bats at no 6 is up there with the best. More often than not Blundell’s runs are scored in partnerships with lower order batters. Farming the strike to shield his partners. Century no 4 today (138) was a masterclass on how to build a test innings. Watchful to start with, stroke full while he was confident of his batting partners and ballistic when the 9th wicket fell. Somewhere a certain BJ Watling must be smiling. He passed on the baton to the right man.
At the post match press conference Blundell was generous in his praise of all his batting partners especially no 11 Blair Tickner. Blundell also mentioned that batting with lower order batters is a unique skill. One which he has got better at by doing it more often.
A fielding captain’s worst nightmare is when you’ve dismissed the likes of Latham, Conway and Williamson but the lower order hangs around to nullify your gains. Both the blackcaps debutants picked mainly for their prowess with the ball played an extremely important part in New Zealand’s fightback in this test. Between them they have picked up 5 of the 11 English wickets to fall in this test so far. The wickets have come at an expensive economy rate but then even the best in the world have struggled to contain the English batters recently. The partnerships of 53 and 59 they put on with Blundell though are worth their weight in gold. More than the number of runs it was great to see them put a price tag on their wicket.
The only reason the blackcaps are still in this test match is because of two fine Wellingtonians. Take away their combined contribution of 215 and it would have been curtains for New Zealand. A flat pitch and excellent batting conditions are expected on day 3. If England manage to bat for a couple of sessions their scoring rate will ensure that their lead swells to massive proportions. Fourth innings run chases in excess of 300 are rarely successful but then stranger things have happened in cricket before.
A quick word on the magic of test cricket. The Bay Oval was a spectacular sight on Friday. Bright sunshine all day followed by the colors of a picturesque sunset. A big crowd enjoyed the day’s proceedings and an even bigger one is expected over the weekend. As a society it is our responsibility to conserve endangered species. As cricket fans the buck stops with us to keep test cricket alive. It is so much more than just a game.
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