The saying ‘catches win matches’ is as old as the game of cricket itself, but never has it proven so telling as for Sri Lanka in their second Test loss to New Zealand at Wellington’s Basin Reserve.
With the New Zealand bowlers comfortably finishing the job off on Day 5, claiming the nine remaining wickets required for victory by tea, the final winning margin of 193 runs sounds comprehensive.
And, off the back of Kane Williamson and BJ Watling’s world-record sixth wicket unbeaten partnership of 365, there can be no denying that New Zealand proved the superior side over all 10 days of Test cricket of this mini-series.
But skipper Brendan McCullum will know in his heart that for two butter-fingered moments from Sri Lankan fielders, he would instead be contemplating a Test loss and a drawn series.
It isn’t always possible to extrapolate missed chances into determining a different result – there can be too many ‘what ifs’ to make any sense of such things. And it is of course part of the game, and if a side fails to capitalise on their chances then so be it.
But in this case because Williamson’s marathon effort, in partnership with Watling, was so pivotal to the game, had it been cut short – as it should have been – it is difficult to imagine the New Zealand tail making the same runs and setting Sri Lanka anything like the same target to win.
How Rangana Herath and Nuwan Pradeep must be ruing their dropped catches – Herath’s a sharp but straightforward caught and bowled when Williamson was on 29, and Pradeep’s a regulation chance, straight to him at fine leg, when Williamson had reached 60.
Had the first chance stuck New Zealand would have been one run ahead with five wickets down. At the second chance, 69 ahead for 6 down. Both clear winning positions for Sri Lanka.
Yet fast-forward a day and here was McCullum having the luxury to declare 389 ahead, five wickets in the bank, allowing himself in excess of 100 overs to bowl Sri Lanka out. That’s one heck of a turnaround!
The great thing about watching long partnerships develop is to observe and feel the momentum shift from one team to the other. Particularly when the partnership comes from the side seemingly in a losing position.
Recall VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar against Australia. McCullum and Watling against India last year. Much of the enjoyment comes from nobody anticipating a turnaround of such epic proportions. And so it was in this partnership.
Sri Lanka’s second innings bowling was very good. Pradeep in particular was sharp and consistently probing, and Herath, although lacking penetration, always demanded full attention.
But gradually, as each milestone came into view and was ticked off, the body language told the story for both sides. The knuckle knocks between Williamson and Watling became more convincing, the slumping shoulders from the Sri Lankan fielders more overt.
New Zealand will be delighted with the win, but wary also of some danger signals. On the plus side, Doug Bracewell’s return to the bowling attack was a triumph, claiming key wickets in both innings. Some of the catching was of the highest quality, notably Trent Boult off Kumar Sangakkara, but also class efforts behind the wicket from Williamson, Jimmy Neesham and Mark Craig on the last day.
Craig continued his progress as a genuine wicket-taking off spinner, an important aspect to provide balance to this side.
Watling deserves special mention. His innings was rock solid and chanceless, and to have his name against two massive partnerships within a year is special testament to his ability and attitude.
As for negatives, regardless of being sent in New Zealand batted themselves into a hole on day one, with a number of ‘get out’ shots smacking of over-confidence. As their results and rankings continue to improve the language from the team will no doubt still comprise words like ‘humility’, ‘hard work’, ‘improvement required’ and so on, but they must take care to ensure their actions do not betray this and suggest any getting ahead of their station.
As for the Sri Lankans, plenty has already been said this week about Sangakkara, all of it worthy of the latest member of the 12,000 Test runs club. His 203 was a thing of beauty, particularly in the way he mixed brutal aggression and subtlety to maneuver the tail and build a sizeable first-innings lead.
It is worth noting that Angelo Matthews won the toss – as he did in Christchurch – and so avoided batting on a first-day pitch which resembled Kermit’s backside. As a result he will know that despite the heroics of Williamson and Watling, the result was as much down to their own failings as New Zealand’s strengths.
Certainly with a one-day World Cup on the horizon, Sri Lanka urgently need to attend to their fielding. Not because of the dropped catches but also to ensure that their ground fielding sharpens up. Too many times fielders arrived too late on the ball, diving across and over it, but coming up empty.
Ah yes, did I just mention the ball? Or should I say balls. Boxes and boxes of them.
Cricket is a statistician’s dream, numbers waft in all directions, available for anything and everything, records sitting, waiting to be savoured, compared and broken. Unfortunately there is no known record for the number of balls used in a Test, but whatever it may have been previously, it got smashed in this game.
Cricket has enough problems already with deficient over rates to subject itself to more annoying delays from changing the ball every few overs. Whatever the reason, and far be it for any distant keyboard warriors among us to genuinely know what is at the heart of the problem, the good folk at Kookaburra must be sleeping uneasily.
The 2015 Australia versus New Zealand series is planned to include two Tests using an experimental ball suitable for evening play. It goes without saying that ensuring the regular ball can withstand more than seven or eight overs before going out of shape is a more pressing priority right now.
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