Nicholls comes of age at No 5
Andrew Alderson
Henry Nicholls came of age as New Zealand’s No 5 test batsman yesterday at Eden Park.
He contributed his highest firstclass innings of 145 not out to anchor his side’s 427 for eight when they declared with a lead of 369. England have reduced that deficit to 237 with seven wickets to spare.
The 26-year-old left-hander came to the wicket at 123 for three in the 48th over. He was unbeaten on 24, 49 and 52 at stumps through the first, second and third days, before basking in sunshine to compile his second test century on the fourth.
Nicholls took the middle and lower order with him in partnerships of 54, 49, 32 and 72 for the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth wickets.
“It was nice to contribute and get to a total we were happy with, and get some late wickets. We built partnerships through the middle in a stop-start innings.”
There was a Kane Williamsonesque serenity to his disposition. A straight drive to reach 71 was an example. He leaned into a Craig Overton delivery and stroked the ball to the boundary with minimum effort.
On 94, he hit a delivery straight back at bowler Stuart Broad, who fielded and threw the ball at him, before offering a token apology. The batsman shrugged off the incident but Broad’s reaction hinted at Nicholls’ significant impact on England’s psyche.
The Cantabrian’s record as a No 5 is stacking up his reputation on the national batting index. Since debuting against Australia in February 2016, Nicholls averages 38.04 from 25 test innings. That can be broken into a mean of 24.23 after the first 14 innings and 58, including two centuries and three half-centuries, for the last 11 since the start of 2017.
Last season, Nicholls eked out 98 against Bangladesh in a comfortable victory, and 118 against South Africa in a humbling loss at Wellington.
He has averaged 46 in the position across 14 of his tests, playing against all but Sri Lanka among countries to play tests. Of those to feature across six or more of their tests in that spot, only Martin Donnelly (six tests, average 70.12), Bert Sutcliffe (six tests, 53.60) and Jesse Ryder (11 tests, 50.62) are ahead.