Watling keeps up

Nervously taking guard for his first test innings at age 34, Will Somerville got lucky.

Not only with an early decision review that went his way in the third test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, but the fact he was schooled by one of the best in the business at the other end.

As offspinner, Somerville negotiated the first hour of day two without scoring (he ended with 12 off 99 balls), BJ Watling – one year younger – guided him through with yet another test batting masterclass.

New Zealand’s wicketkeeper/ batsman emphasised his status among world’s best at his craft with an unbeaten 77 off 250 balls, in their first innings of 274.

It boosted his career average when designated wicketkeeper to a world-class 40.92 from 49 tests, better than the batting marks of Brendon McCullum (34.18), India’s MS Dhoni (38.09), South Africa’s Mark Boucher (30.30), Australia’s Brad Haddin (32.98) and England’s Alec Stewart (34.92) when they also had the demands of crouching behind the stumps for long periods.

Watling already had an extensive fan club in the New Zealand dressing room and Somerville became its newest member.

‘‘I like the way BJ plays his cricket. He’s a tough character and puts a lot of value on his wicket and sticks to his gameplan,’’ Somerville said.

‘‘He talked me through it as well, making sure I didn’t need to do anything silly. Just play straight, we built our partnership on that, and it was good fun.’’

This was pure test cricket, the ‘‘long game’’ as Watling put it, to give his side a first innings total that kept them in the game as they chase a first away series victory over Pakistan in 49 years.

‘‘We scrapped really hard and Will, even though he didn’t score a run, he batted for an hour and allowed myself to get a few runs and get a little partnership going. It was those little things we were quite happy with,’’ Watling said.

‘‘It’s great to score runs and good to help the team put a competitive first innings total. It was important for us to make sure we put something on the board that would give us a chance to win this game.’’

Watling ran out of partners before he could reach three figures and pass McCullum’s New Zealand record of five test centuries as wicketkeeper. They’ve been level since July 2016, Watling’s most recent test ton against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.

With the gloves, Watling’s standards remain high, having debuted as an opener in 2009 and returned to his former wicketkeeping role in 2012. His catch of Pakistan’s Haris Sohail late on