Good test cricket is all about change, which takes many forms.
Yesterday’s play was the French Revolution up to the Reign Of Terror. It began
with a wave of optimism and the expectation of quick victory; it ended in confusion
and recrimination (though any resemblance between Kumar Sangakkara and Robespierre
is not intentional).
Day three was the Industrial Revolution. Progress was extremely
slow and for long periods it appeared that nothing was happening. Yet
underneath, thanks to the hard work of a few individuals, profound transformation
was taking place.
For the first hour, Latham and Rutherford were relatively untroubled,
helped by some loose bowling from Sri Lanka. With four right-arm seamers of similar
pace, none swingers of the ball, it seemed that Trevor Bailey’s dictum that the
captain could change the bowler but not the bowling seemed to apply to Sri
Lanka.
But Rutherford fell for a Mathews ruse (one of many—see below).
Second slip was sent to third man to whence Rutherford steered a catch just a
few balls later. He left the field knowing that he has not done enough to make
certain of enjoying business class service on the way to England in May.
In Pradeep’s next over, Latham followed one to give the bowler his
second wicket of the morning. Pradeep and his colleagues bowled less generously
as the morning went on.
Now Herath was bowling his left-arm spin from the Government House
end. He is the third-ranked bowler in the world at the moment, which is good
for a rather chubby fellow who clearly dislikes fielding. Long may he prosper. He
bowled tidily all day, but saved his best delivery for the scoreless Ross
Taylor, who played slightly across one that spun enough to clip off stump.
McCullum began cautiously, unlike the first innings but in the same
way as he did last year to cast off his triple hundred. No repeat today. He
added to a somewhat unfortunate match (lost toss, golden duck, dropped catch)
by wildly optimistic use of the DRS for an lbw decision against him that it
took only a fleeting glance to see was cleaning out middle stump.
For taking quick, stylish runs from a tired attack, Jimmy Neesham
is your man. But he does not yet do attrition very well. He was out as the
result of effective use of the DRS by Sri Lanka. It showed that he had been hit
in front of the stumps, not outside the line as it appeared at the time.
Angelo Mathews is the sort of captain who is so full of bright
ideas that he could illuminate a day/night match from the lightbulbs popping on
above his head. Now, a slip and two gullies. Now, three slips, but spread out
with gaps between them. Now, give the new ball to the spinner. In the over
before lunch, faced exclusively by McCullum, there were three complete changes
of field.
As we have seen, one of these bright ideas accounted for
Rutherford, but I have a feeling that Mathews might be a touch exasperating for
those he leads.
In mid-afternoon BJ Watling joined Kane Williamson, who had been
there since first down. They worked together, perfecting the steam engine for
New Zealand, for the rest of the day. Williamson has become New Zealand’s best
batsman, with the shots for most situations and the judgement to use them
wisely.
Watling—McCullum’s partner in the record-breaking 352-run
partnership here last year—is almost as reliable, if a trifle over-dependent on
the third man region as a source of runs.
How different it would have been had either of the chances that
Williamson offered been accepted. Perhaps the game would already be over. On
30, he hit the ball hard back to the bowler Herath, who could not hold on. On
60 he hooked Prasad straight to Pradeep at fine leg. It looked terrible, but I
suspect that the pohutukawas did for him. They bloom regally at this time of
year, but in the shade of a cricket ball, and it was against this
background that Pradeep was trying to pick out the orb as it neared.
At the close, New Zealand are 118 ahead with five wickets left. The
pitch has plenty of runs left in it, but is not a road. Another hundred might
be enough to give the attack space to bowl Sri Lanka out, 150 makes New Zealand
favourites. Will day four be the Velvet Revolution or the Prague Spring?
No comments:
Post a Comment