Bouncer bombardment defended

Black Caps coach Mike Hesson will be quite happy if he never sees another hook shot from Neil Wagner.

But he won’t be reining in his combative fast bowler with ball in hand, and insists his bouncer barrage is within the rules and designed to take wickets, not injure a batsman.

Short-pitched bowling and batsman safety was under the spotlight again in the wake of New Zealand’s seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the first cricket test in Wellington.

Wagner was struck on the helmet three times in 16 deliveries by Bangladesh paceman Kamrul Islam, then on day five visiting captain Mushfiqur Rahim was felled by a Tim Southee short ball he ducked into. After distressing scenes when he lay on the pitch and was stretchered into an ambulance, Mushfiqur was diagnosed with mild concussion but cleared of serious injury. The wicketkeeper remains a 50-50 prospect for the second test in Christchurch on Friday.

Hesson believed enough was being done by the International Cricket Council to protect batsmen. The governing body recently announced tough measures on any batsman not wearing a safety compliant helmet.

‘‘The ICC have certainly clamped down in recent times in terms of two bouncers per over. The umpires administer that pretty closely. Also the stem guards on the back of helmets help. When you’re challenging a player’s back foot play there’s lots of different ways to play it,’’ he said. ’’The umpires are the judge of what’s deemed to be appropriate and what’s not. They’re very diligent on that and we saw examples of that throughout the test match where there were more than two [bouncers] in an over from both sides.’’

Rules define a bouncer as above the shoulder, and bowlers are permitted two per over. If they transgress, the umpires issue a warning and they can be sidelined from bowling if they continue.

Wagner achieved stunning success with a largely short-pitched attack in test cricket, snaring 41 wickets at an average of 21 in 2016, then taking 6-188 off 59 overs in the Wellington test. New Zealand’s pacemen bombarded the diminutive Mushfiqur - who scored 159 in the first innings and was nursing a bruised finger and thumb - in the leadup to him being struck.

‘‘It very much depends on conditions. You’re trying to create wicket-taking opportunities, you’re certainly not trying to hurt anybody. Neil is a particularly good exponent of the ball between chest and shoulder height and that certainly creates opportunities on flat surfaces,’’ Hesson said.

‘‘You play within the rules. Guys are really aware of sticking to that. Everyone reacts differently but no one has ever got an intent of trying to hurt anybody and you saw the concern everybody had when people do get hit.

‘‘Likewise when Neil got hit, everyone was pretty concerned. It’s good the helmets are obviously doing their job.’’

It verged on ridiculous when Wagner was continually hit on the fourth afternoon as the Bangladesh bowlers gave him a taste of his own medicine. A No 10 batsman, Wagner scored 18 off 31 balls but tried to hook anything short and was clocked three times, which brought New Zealand medical staff out to administer concussion tests which Wagner passed.

He also received a cut to the chin from a nasty one that snuck under the grille, then changed his helmet after the third bouncer before being dismissed attempting another hook.

Said Hesson: ‘‘I’d love him to put away the hook shot. He still thinks he’s very good at it. Neil is quite a combative character and he sees it as a scoring opportunity. I’d be quite keen for him to duck the odd one or two.’’