Kane Corolla, Toyota Williamson

By Rahul Patil

What comes to your mind when I say “Toyota Corolla?” Safety, reliability, fuel efficiency, affordability, good build quality, and longevity perhaps? Most kiwis at some point of time in their lives have owned a Toyota Corolla. When I first moved to New Zealand in 2011, I worked at a Toyota dealership in Wellington for 5 years and it was the model every sales consultant sold the most of. In fact, we didn’t have to sell it. It sold itself. The reputation and pedigree were so strong that repeat sales were through the roof. There is a reason it is the most sold car in the world ever.

Kane Williamson is the Toyota Corolla of cricket. The definition of a vehicle is to transport people and goods from point A to point B safely. Likewise, the definition of a great cricketer is to win matches for their team. When New Zealand needed 267 to win in the final innings of the Hamilton test every blackcap fan in their heart of hearts knew that it was down to Kane to take us home safely. And just like a Toyota Corolla, he did.

No active test cricketer has more test centuries than Kane’s 32. Steve Smith has 32 too but he somehow doesn’t seem like the same batter he was a few years ago. Joe Root has 30. But he is busy reverse scooping fast bowlers into the hands of slip fielders. Virat Kohli has 29 and he’s in a rich vein of form too but at 35 years of age he’s also the oldest of the lot. Sachin Tendulkar with 51 sits alone at the top of that tree. Kane is 33 years old and if he continues to remain fit are we allowed to dream?

I have had the opportunity to observe Kane from close quarters and apart from all his achievements on the field he’s a brilliant human off it too. The kind of guy that you would want your kids to have as a role model. The kind of guy that you hope your daughter brings home as her boyfriend one day. The kind of guy you could trust your life with if you were in hospital. The kind of guy you would happily buy a secondhand car of. The bollard of honesty. The epitome of sincerity.

So why is Kane able to do remarkable things on a consistent basis? For starters, he knows his game really well. He assesses pitches, conditions, the opposition bowlers, and the match situation faster and better than anybody else. He comes up with a plan and sticks to it with dogged resilience. Yes, he is gifted but he works harder than everybody else. As Stephen King once famously said “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.

Will O’Rourke had a magnificent debut. He reminds me a lot of the South African quick Morne Morkel. A natural athlete, O’Rourke runs in hard, hits the deck with good pace and manages to extract bounce from a length because of his height. A nine-wicket haul for a fast bowler on a pitch that was assisting spinners is an amazing start. With Kyle Jameison out for the rest of the summer O’Rourke should play against Australia. History tells us that the Aussie batters can be susceptible to bounce but the pressure of playing against Australia will be totally different to playing against a makeshift South African side. How he copes with that pressure might just be one of the highlights of that series.

The other Will in the blackcaps set up made the most of his opportunity too. He must have been disappointed with his shot selection in the first innings when he needed to hang in there, but more than made up for it in the second innings by staying with Williamson. Will Young is a naturally aggressive stroke maker, but he curbed his natural instincts to soak in the pressure and play the waiting game. A real sign of maturity from a player who has never been a first XI choice in any blackcaps side when everybody else is available for selection.

The three match T20 series vs Australia is a great opportunity for Devon Conway to find some much-needed form. The two Tom’s i.e., Latham and Blundell could do with a few runs too between now and the first Australia test. Hopefully the Wellington Firebirds and the Canterbury Kings have domestic fixtures scheduled. If not, then premier club cricket on Saturday will also do. The good news is that Daryl Mitchell is back to bolster the middle order.

A final word on the touring South African side. Enough has already been said and written about the farcical nature of this series so I won’t say anything more on that front. But to their credit, after the drubbing they got at the Mount, they showed remarkable grit in putting on a performance that they can be proud of. It took a superhuman effort by the best batter in the world on current form to keep them away from creating one of the biggest sporting upsets ever. I just wanted their leg spinner Shaun von Berg to get a test wicket so that his memory of playing a test match for his country could be so much sweeter.

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