Wellington
v Northern Districts, Plunket Shield, Basin Reserve, 21 – 24 March 2019
New
Zealand’s domestic first-class season resumes at last. The first half was so
long ago that I have a half-formed memory of Bert Sutcliffe and Dick Motz
having played in it. With four of the eight games to go, Wellington are in
fourth place, six points and two places behind visitors Northern Districts.
I
wasn’t there for the first day, at the end of which Wellington were 367 for
five. The pitch was, apparently, rain-forest green at the start but did little
more than carry through at a perfect pace for the batsmen. Rachin Ravindra, on
his first appearance in first-class cricket at the Basin, made 96 and Devon
Conway was 146 not out overnight. Conway has now made 200 more runs than
anybody else in the Plunket Shield this season, having been the leading run
scorer in the domestic T20. From South Africa, Conway will qualify for New
Zealand in 2020, and looks a shoe-in in all forms as things stand.
Earlier
in the week, a three-day deluge had been forecast, so it was good to see the
players taking the field as I arrived at the Basin at the scheduled start time.
But it was only as I took my seat that I registered the presence of umpire
Brent “Billy” Bowden, already well advanced in his rain-divination ritual. Sure
enough, microscopic water droplets were coaxed out of the air, and the players
were off the field before a ball had been bowled.
It
did get a bit heavier, but only briefly, and hardly sufficient, it seemed to
make much of a difference to the state of the outfield. Nevertheless, it was
determined that play could not start until a hot-air blower had circled the
ground a few times, and at some speed. This is the twenty-first century’s version
of a rope being dragged around the ground, but less effective, one would have
thought.
With
Bowden satisfied that the outfield had been returned to as near a desert state
as was possible in the circumstances, play began. But not for long. In the
sixth over of the day Logan van Beek slapped a straight four that disappeared
under the sightscreen. First one player disappeared behind the screen to
retrieve the ball. Then another. Then another. Five players there in the end.
They emerged in the manner of schoolboys from behind the bike sheds, but the
ball was found—in a drainage channel, so it was soaking wet. Umpire Bowden
retreated, at stately gait, to the dressing rooms, returning with a
replacement. This was deemed unsuitable, so he repeated the excursion, this
whole proceeding taking place at a speed that would have shamed a funeral. The
next ball was bowled more than ten minutes after the last.
In
between the interruptions, Conway completed his 150 and van Beek his 50. With
maximum bonus points harvested, Wellington declared at 400, earlier than would
usually have been the case because of the foreboding weather forecast.
Northern
Districts captain Daniel Flynn inside edged to uproot his leg stump from Hamish
Bennett’s second delivery, but that was only wicket for the rest of the
truncated day. Cooper should have been a second, but was dropped by keeper
Blundell, diving across Patel at first slip. There was some criticism from the
cognoscenti about Blundell having taken the catch away from Patel, but the man
with the gloves should always go for anything catchable. His mistake was not
that he went for it, but that he dropped it, and it was to have critical
consequences towards the end of the game.
Northern
Districts were 78 for one at lunch, but the rain returned, diffidently but
enough to finish play for the day, bar one brief return during which three were
added to the total. So it was an afternoon of hanging about at the cricket
waiting for something to happen, which is never disagreeable as long as I have
a book and a coffee.
When
we got to the ground for the third day, the scoreboard showed the Wellington
were nought for nought, so, assuming that the North Koreans had retaken control
of the information channels, we joked that ND must have declared. They had, 319
behind on first innings. I have seen many a declaration deal that was a
consequence of the weather, but can’t recall one predicated on the forecast of
rain, rather than actual wetness. The assumption, entirely correct as it turned
out, was that there would be no fourth day. Nobody likes these negotiated
finishes, but there are occasions when it is for the best and this was one of
them.
Obviously,
Wellington would score as many as needed to reach an agreed target, but this
passage of play was different to what would normally be expected in this
situation. The Northern Districts opening bowlers, Kuggeleijn and Baker, bowled
with hostility at full pace, with plenty of short stuff. The Wellington batsmen
sliced and swished, the runs coming rapidly as a result. No cognisance was
taken of this in terms of the field settings or the approach of the bowlers. It
was as if two games were taking place at the same time, each politely ignoring
the other.
Wellington
reached 53 for two in six overs in this manner before the declaration, leaving
Northern Districts a target of 373 with 88 overs scheduled. However, this was
the third, not the fourth, day, so the possibility of an extra eight overs if a
result could be achieved had to be factored in. This would reduce the required
scoring rate to under four an over, possibly generous on a pitch as friendly to
batsmen as a labrador to a butcher.
Flynn
went early and softly, guiding a legside delivery into the hands of Blundell. Seifert
was dropped early at third slip by Nofal off the bowling of Newton, high to the
left-handed fielder’s right. That chance apart, Seifert and Cooper reached
lunch progressing at the required four an over and looking easy about it.
Already the second gully and third slip had been relocated to more defensive
positions.
Hamish
Bennett began his second spell after the interval and a menacing line on off
stump dismissed both batsmen to slip catches. At any other point in New
Zealand’s cricket history, Bennett would be in or near the national team, but
such is the depth of pace bowling here that he isn’t mentioned.
At
the other end, Jeetan Patel called the batsmen to him and attached a leash to
their collars, conceding just 17 from his first 12 overs. Dean Brownlie hit a
series of attractive cover boundaries at the other end, but it may have been
Patel’s control that induced him to play loosely at McPeake to be caught at
third slip by Nofal.
Daryl
Mitchell (to repeat, not the Worcestershire version) slipped Patel’s leash and
went for a run in the park by hitting a six onto the top deck of the RA Vance
Stand, happily missing the only spectator in any of its thousand or so seats at
the time—your writer—by some way. His liberty was temporary as Bennett had him
leg before, playing across a full delivery from Bennett.
Carter
gave Patel his only wicket of the innings with a caught and bowled to leave
Northern on 236 for six, but not out of it as long as BJ Watling remained out
there, at the scene of his two world-record test partnerships. There is no
cricketer in the world whose excellence goes so unrecognised. He keeps wicket
as well as any of the regular test keepers, if, as it seems we have to, we
regretfully exclude Ben Foakes from that category. Williamson and Taylor apart,
he is as good an orthodox batsman as New Zealand has. It is generally a
surprise to look at the scoreboard to find how many runs he has, usually 20 or
so more than you realise, made by playing appropriate shots with no fuss at
all. He made 77 in this manner today, looking the best batsman in the side by a
street. Only when he was seventh out at 258 did Northern’s aspirations for
victory disappear. Kuggeleijn was bowled by Newton, leaving no doubt that the
umpires would agree to the extra eight to settle it.
Just
before the extra overs began there occurred the first of two fielding errors that
decided it. Blundell—still with that failed dive across first slip in his head—did
not go for a chance that passed him at a nice height before continuing past
first slip well to Patel’s left. Earlier he failed to collect a Patel delivery
that beat Watling. It was unclear from the long room where Watling’s back foot
was, but it was certainly close enough for the bails to have been removed to
test the case.
It
was little over a year ago that Blundell played a couple of tests when Watling
was injured, scoring a century on debut. Now he looks like a keeper whose
confidence has gone.
From
the first ball of the extra overs Baker was caught at first slip to give
Bennett his fifth wicket. Twenty-one-year-old Zak Gibson joined Ish Sodhi with
seven overs and five balls to see out for the draw, if the weather forecast was
correct. Gibson looked a capable No 11 and Sodhi made no attempt to protect him
from the strike. Given some of Sodhi’s shot selections, it might have been an
idea for Gibson to have protected him.
With
nine down and safety just a few overs away, hooking Newton was unwise. Sodhi
got under it and the ball flew towards long leg where Bennett awaited. He had
to move in a little way, but did so quickly, too quickly perhaps, as he now had
a second or so to ponder the context, to make a list of all the ways in which
it could go wrong.
It
went straight through his hands.
There
were a few close things and near misses, but Sodhi and Gibson survived the remaining
overs. Players and spectators were all confused about how to react at the end
of the day. Had Northern saved the game? It all depended on the weather.
Bennett—without
whose splendid bowling Wellington would not have got remotely as close to winning
the game—looked mortified. Had it been the real last day he could at least have
put it behind him straight away. But he had to return the following day to
watch the rain in the hope that there would be redemption. One over might have
been all it needed.
I
didn’t go down to the Basin on the last day (it might have been worth it to
watch Billy Bowden’s all-day portrayal of torment, a fine substitute, I am sure,
for those of us who missed Olivier’s Othello), but kept an eye on the weather
just in case. Apparently, they came close to starting after tea, but another
squall came in and that was that.
A
win would have put Wellington up to third, just nine points behind new leaders
Auckland. As it is, they are fifth of six with three to play.
