WE WANT MORE TESTS
Heroic draw our final five-day game until November
The world test championship can’t come soon enough for the Black Caps.
Captain Kane Williamson admitted a lack of red-ball cricket – New Zealand only played four home tests in summer – had been frustrating for the newly thirdranked test side in the world.
‘‘The team love playing test cricket. Four tests, guys weren’t ecstatic with that,’’ Williamson said in the aftermath of his team’s thrilling series-sealing draw against England in Christchurch on Tuesday evening.
‘‘But it is what it is, it’s a year where there hasn’t been a lot. We know the coming years have a lot more, so I guess being patient . . . I think there’s eight next year and maybe 10 after that.’’
In addition to the two-test series against England, the Black Caps donned whites for two matches against the West Indies in summer.
Future schedules are yet to be confirmed, but New Zealand will probably only host four tests again next summer.
However, the nine-nation test championship will launch in July 2019, running in two-year cycles. Teams will play three series, home and away, before the top two sides meet in a Lord’s final.
The ICC is introducing the championship in a bid to breathe life back into test cricket, not that the form of the game is dead, judging by the scenes at Hagley Oval on Tuesday.
While the Barmy Army dug into their arsenal of chants in a bid to will England on in their pursuit of 10 wickets, New Zealand fans were on a knife-edge as tailenders Ish Sodhi and Neil Wagner rebuffed 31.2 overs and the home side held on in the fading Christchurch light.
It was gripping stuff, and backed up what many cricket fans believe – nothing beats the five-day form of the game.
‘‘A great advertisement for test cricket,’’ Williamson said.
‘‘I suppose it’s one of the few sports with the format that we have in test cricket where there can be so much on the line, everyone can be on the edge of their seats and you come away with a draw and it’s the best possible result for our team on this day.’’
Black Caps coach Mike Hesson, who labelled the series win ‘‘huge’’, echoed Williamson when looking ahead at a busier test schedule from the middle of 2019.
‘‘There were factors at play this year. Obviously England had the Ashes and can only play seven tests in a year; that’s beyond our control.
‘‘New Zealand Cricket certainly wants to play a lot more test cricket.’’
Hesson also revealed man-ofthe-match Tim Southee, struck down by a virus late on day three of the Christchurch test, was so drained he had to sleep in the changing sheds.