Cricket: BJ needed to douse flames

BJ Watling is a tidy wicketkeeper who loves to bat. Photo / Photosport

For a time at the Gabba yesterday, BJ Watling looked as if he was going to don his fireman's suit and help pull New Zealand out of another jam.

It has been a characteristic of his test career, and stands him out as a player you'd want by your side when the going is getting tough.

However, having got to 32 amid a partnership of 67 with his good friend Kane Williamson, he edged Mitchell Johnson's first ball of the third day to the wicketkeeper.

It was a shame, because the stand was developing nicely, but also because New Zealand really needed it after their late afternoon tumble the previous day.

Watling would be picked in the New Zealand team purely as a batsman, and not many test keepers in the game right now could claim that.

Indeed, it happened at Leeds this year. Knee problems meant keeping was problematic, but it worked out well.

Luke Ronchi came in to take the gloves, and scored 88 and 31 on debut. Watling hit 120 in the second innings to help push New Zealand to a series-levelling 199-run win.

Think of an adjective to describe Watling and words like gritty, resolute and scrapper come to mind. But those bald terms do him an injustice. Watch him bat and, sure, he's all those, but he's also a pretty polished performer. He scurries and hustles between the wickets, drives impressively and tends to avoid hooking. He's a happy ducker.

And his record shows he has a head for a crisis, best exemplified at the Basin Reserve last year. He helped save the second test against India, and win the series, sharing a then-world record stand with Brendon McCullum of 352 in the second innings.

He bats well with the tail, having a knack for keeping as much of the strike as possible. Some batsmen have a talent for that, but certainly not all.

Watling, who moved to New Zealand at 10 from South Africa, has now made himself indispensable to the New Zealand side.

Allrounder Corey Anderson had a nice description of him last summer.

"I think he's just a smart cricketer," Anderson said of his skill at working with the lower order. "He takes that responsibility on and he's sort of the sheriff of that lower order."

When Watling started his test career, against Pakistan at Napier in 2009, it was as an opener and Brendon McCullum had the gloves.

Watling marked himself as one to watch, however, with a run-a-ball unbeaten 60 in the second innings to lead a chase for victory, which was ultimately cut down by rain.

Seven of his first eight tests were as a top-order batsman. Others had the gloves, including McCullum, Gareth Hopkins, Reece Young and Kruger van Wyk before Watling took over. In his first test as keeper, he hit his maiden century, 102 against Zimbabwe in Napier.

Now he's worked himself into being rated among the very best wicketkeeper-batsmen in the game.

It was former test captain and coach John Wright who planted the notion that he could make the grade as a wicketkeeper, with some work.

"I'd done some keeping through my age-group stuff," Watling says. "He suggested the idea and I tried to turn myself into a keeper and bat in the middle order."

He's adamant it was the best career move he could have made, although concedes he needed some convincing.

"It took a bit of talking to certain blokes, and I did enjoy opening the batting for eight or so years.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of having to keep for 150 overs and then trying to score as many runs with the bat in the middle [order] and take on the second new ball."

As for his keeping, he has steadily improved to the point where he misses little and has become a tidy operator.

"I wouldn't say I've moulded my keeping on any particular wicketkeeper. It's something I've tried to work out in my particular style."

So far, so very good. But where does that toughness which is a characteristic of his cricket come from?

"I guess opening the batting. ... It's a tough role to have to go out there, have a 10-minute changeover, then get out and try to open the batting. It's mentally quite draining. Maybe that's where it comes from."

So how does he see himself?

"As a batter who keeps. I did more batting than keeping and obviously I've tried to even that out to make sure my glovework is up to scratch. I definitely still love batting."