Lockie locks on for ‘six and out’
It’s Christmas and it’s pretty much backyard cricket for Lockie Ferguson, so the Black Caps pace bowler was comfortable adhering to the age-old ‘six and out’ theory at Hagley Oval.
Ferguson celebrated his home debut as a New Zealand international against Bangladesh in Christchurch on Boxing Day, where his 3-54 contributed to a 77-run win in the opening match of the three-game ODI series.
Two of the 25-year-old’s wickets - Shakib al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman - came directly after he was hit over the ropes, blows that never tempted him to shirk from a short, sharp approach influenced by the Bangladeshis playing schedule following last year’s World Cup.
Since they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by India at the MCG, Bangladesh played 18 ODIS on docile, spin-friendly pitches before they arrived in New Zealand where the Black Caps attack planned to unsettle them with short-pitched bowling.
‘‘They’ve had a pretty long season back home this year so they’re probably not used to a little bit extra pace and bounce. It’s obviously a little area we’re going to try and exploit,’’ said Ferguson, who admitted the margin for error was slight.
‘‘If you bowl in the mid-torso region in international cricket it often gets hit to the boundary. When you bowl higher the batsmen tend to hit the ball upwards and the catches come.
‘‘A few might go for six, that’s part of the game, but if we can get the ball in that areas enough and make it uncomfortable for them wickets can come from that,’’ Ferguson said outlining the rationale employed by Trent Boult, Tim Southee and, at a gentler pace, Jimmy Neesham.
Five of the nine Bangladeshi wickets were secured by short balls - only tailender Mustafizur Rahman was yorked - a ratio that justifies a policy which also provided the bulk of the tourists’ 23 boundaries and seven sixes.
Ferguson was hit for three sixes, acceptable collateral damage for the quickest - and least experienced - member of the Black Caps bowling unit.
‘‘I missed a few times and it went to the boundary, but if I keep learning from every game I’ll be better for it going forward.’’