A stunning catch from Jason Holder as Will Young departs for 43. Video / Spark Sport
Dylan Cleaver provides five takeaways from the first day of the second test between the Black Caps and West Indies at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.
Protect your castle
Cricket's rules have been added to, tweaked and manipulated through the ages but one fundamental of batsmanship has remained constant –protect your stumps. It is too soon into Tom Blundell's career to make sweeping judgements but he might want to consider that he has been dismissed in tests 11 times, and five of them have been bowled - the latest coming when Shannon Gabriel brought one back between bat and pad.
Tom Blundell was bowled - a familiar mode of dismissal - by Shannon Gabriel. Photo / Photosport
Being bowled is a relatively rare mode of dismissal for high-quality players. Take Tom Latham, who has been bowled just six times in 90; Ross Taylor 20 in 159; and Kane Williamson, 19 in 128.
Latham, captain for the first time at home, became the ninth player to score more than 2000 test runs in New Zealand when he flicked the third ball of the match behind square for two. He ended his day on 2026. Taylor leads the way with 3712.
Eat together, stay in together
Will Young contributed 43 in the first innings of his second career test match. Photo / Photosport
When Taylor was dismissed NZ were 78-3 and in danger of collapse on a perilous surface. Will Young and Henry Nicholls dug in and put on 70 in a partnership that was rarely pretty, yet pretty effective. Perhaps their plans were forged over the breakfast they shared at the Bolton Hotel. Well-placed spies said Young had porridge and banana with berry compote while Nicholls tucked into bacon, eggs and avocado.
Food for thought?
Lawn and order
If the pitch report was accurate Basin Reserve curator Hagen Faith – who sounds like the singer for a synth-heavy 80s new wave band – left 17mm of grass on the wicket for the test. Obviously it was rolled pretty comprehensively but that's why it stayed so green. In contrast, there was just 10mm left on the always pristine outfield.
A decade is forever
At the risk of making it all about me, an old friend greeted me to the Basin Reserve press box by asking how long it had been since I covered a cricket test at the ground. The best guess I could hazard was 2010, when Australia beat New Zealand by 10 wickets, when Michael Clarke – fresh off a broken engagement with Lara Bingle – scored 168 and Phil Hughes, RIP, scored 86 not out as the visitors chased down 106 to win in the fourth innings.
I mention this only because a look at that New Zealand scorecard is revealing. From top to bottom it read Tim McIntosh, BJ Watling, Peter Ingram, Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill, Daniel Vettori (c), Brendon McCullum (wk), Daryl Tuffey, Tim Southee, Brent Arnel and Chris Martin. When the Black Caps rock up to the Basin Reserve fully expecting to win and win well, it's worth remembering it wasn't always this way.
