Nathan Hauritz. Photo / Getty Images
There are not too many Australians who will cross the Tasman in 10 days thinking kind thoughts about Wellington's wind, but Nathan Hauritz may be the exception.
The finger spinner delivered 23 of the 26 overs bowled into the teeth of the gale yesterday, taking his tally in the second
innings to 49 with the promise of more today.
It's callus-inducing stuff, but he is not complaining about the workload or the weather.
"It wasn't too bad to be honest," he said.
"It was obviously very windy at times, but you can't do much about that, it's out of our control ... the wind might have played into my hands, making me a little bit harder to hit."
Until yesterday, the weather had been pretty much the only thing in this test the Australians couldn't control, but that started to change from the moment the groundstaff made some unintentionally spectacular efforts to peel back the covers on day four.
In such tough conditions, Hauritz's control and endurance were admirable.
He picked up the wicket of Daniel Vettori, to go with Ross Taylor and Tim McIntosh, and was desperately unlucky not to have Brendon McCullum when the ball-tracking technology that could overturn umpire Asad Rauf's not-out decision failed.
"You can't really do much about it," he said.
"I thought it was really close, that's why I was pretty confident with the appeal. Any time the batsman doesn't offer a shot and it's spinning back towards the stumps, I thought it was real close.
"At the end of the day the benefit of the doubt goes to the batsman, that's generally the rule of thumb."
Hauritz also warned against Australian complacency, believing the world's premier orthodox spinner was playing for the other side.
"If they get a lead of 150-200 anything could happen with Dan [Vettori] in the side. He's the best finger spinner in the world, I reckon, at the moment."
