Heart says NZ, Head says Australia
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By Rahul Patil
The sound system at the Basin Reserve blared out WWE wrestler and Hollywood actor John Cena’s ring entrance track “The Time Is Now” when Glen Phillips picked up his fiver. John Cena lives his life by the motto of “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect”. Phillips today displayed the first quality in plenty. His performance in this test certainly has gained him the respect of his teammates, the opposition, and a sell out Wellington crowd.
When Nathan Lyon scores more runs than your top six you know you are in trouble. The dropped catch last evening hurt like a small prick when you get a jab. The full pain of the vaccine though was felt this morning when Lyon added a further 35 to his overnight 6. If Josh Hazlewood had any ambitions of dislodging Lyon from the number 10 position, Lyon made sure those plans were nipped in the bud.
To make a match of this, the blackcaps needed a minimum of 3 to 4 wickets in the first session. They got 2 but thankfully managed to keep the scoring rate down. The great Shane Warne used to often say, “If you can keep the runs down, then a couple of wickets at any time can change the game dramatically.”
The drama started immediately after lunch. I never thought I would ever write a sentence that said Glen Phillips out bowled Nathan Lyon at the Basin Reserve on a day three pitch. During the ODI world cup in India I have seen firsthand how hard Phillips works at his bowling. At the time, he spoke passionately about his red ball cricket ambitions. A five-wicket haul in only his 5th test match is a testament to all his hard work. He found turn, bounce, beat batters in flight and single handedly kept the game alive.
So why didn’t New Zealand pick a full-time spinner for two tests in a row? Are we this bad at reading pitches, or do we not have any confidence in our full-time spinners? With the amount of data available at the click of a button, its unacceptable that we keep making the same mistake repeatedly. Or are we just plain stubborn? The lack of confidence in full-time spinners (read Santner & Ajaz Patel) though is a classic catch 22 situation. You don’t play them because you don’t have confidence in them but how will you get confidence in them if you don’t play them? The biggest irony of the day was that Ajaz Patel playing for CD picked up 7 for 78 against ND at Mount Maunganui while the ball was turning square and bouncing in Wellington.
Tom Latham is in such a rut right now that he gifted his wicket on probably the worst ball that Nathan Lyon had bowled in the match. Lyon himself in the post-match press conference admitted that it was horrible ball. He was quick to remind me that he’s bowled some really good ones to every now and then get a reward for a bad one too. It’s a cruel game sometimes, which shows no mercy even when you are on your knees.
Caught at leg slip is a mode of dismissal that we see a lot of currently. On tracks that offer a lot of turn and bounce, off spinners love attacking right-handed batters from around the wicket. Both Nathan Lyon and Ravichandran Ashwin use this method to good effect. It keeps the bowled and LBW option open, while really bringing backward short leg and leg slip into the equation. The leg glance is an instinctive shot and many batters have fallen into the trap. At the post-match press conference Lyon claimed that it was plan, as he had noticed something in Kane’s batting against his bowling, and he tried to exploit it. It’s hard to say whether Lyon was serious as the Aussies are known for playing such mind games.
Will Young did all the hard work and then probably just relaxed a little against the part time off spin of Travis Head. We don’t know yet if Devon Conway will be available for selection in Christchurch. If he isn’t, then Will Young will play another test match but every time he gets an opportunity, he’s got to bribe the selectors using the currency of runs.
Rachin Ravindra knows the Basin Reserve wicket better than any other player playing this match and it showed in the way he batted in the 2nd innings. His footwork was on point, and he showed real intent from the get-go. His partner at the other end i.e. Daryl Mitchell was finding it hard to keep the score board moving but he hung in there till stumps to keep the blackcaps alive in the test match. I was at Dharamshala in October last year and it was thanks to these two that New Zealand came within 5 runs of chasing down a mammoth total of 388 against Australia in the ODI World Cup.
So, 258 runs to get with 7 wickets hand. If you are not at the Basin, you’d better be watching on TV. I know this could all turn to custard in the first session tomorrow morning, but I am a hopeless romantic who would rather go to bed tonight dreaming of a famous New Zealand win, rather than worrying about yet another loss to Australia.
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