Latham channels Crowe epic
As an exhausted, beaming Tom Latham spoke of his pride in a record-breaking test innings, a hollow feeling of deja vu hit the Sri Lankan dressing room.
The touring side’s bowling coach, Rumesh Ratnayake, was part of the Sri Lankan side carved up by the late Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones at the Basin Reserve in 1991, in their record partnership of 467.
Nearly 28 years later, at the same ground in Wellington, Latham’s 264 not out launched him to sixth on New Zealand’s alltime test innings list, on which Crowe sits second for his 299 from that test. It had some of the visitors in awe.
‘‘Exceptional, it reminded me of the stand between Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones,’’ said seamer Ratnayake, who took
0-101 off 30 overs in New Zealand’s 671-4 in 1991.
‘‘The beauty was that he [Latham] scored 100 then started leaving the ball again, and didn’t play any rash strokes. Only when he was 250 did he go over the top. That was a good lesson in itself.
‘‘He showed maturity and it was an exceptional knock. It wasn’t flamboyant but it was a classy innings.’’
Ratnayake lamented his batsmen couldn’t follow suit as they plummeted to 20-3 in their second innings at stumps on day three of the first test, trailing by
276 and almost certain defeat. Latham, meanwhile, strode in and sat down with a broad grin, an ice bath and a massage his reward after a 694-minute knock.
A tick over 111⁄2 hours the lefthander crouched intently against Sri Lanka’s bowlers, facing 489 deliveries or the equivalent of nearly 82 overs. Remarkably it was nearly 90 minutes longer than Crowe’s knock.
Only Brendon McCullum, on the same ground in his triple century against India in 2014, and Glenn Turner in his 259 in the West Indies in 1972 batted more minutes for New Zealand. That Turner knock in Georgetown was the last time a New Zealand test opener carried his bat.
‘‘Pretty excited and pretty proud. A great day that I probably thought would never happen. Really nice to be sitting here with those sort of numbers against your name,’’ Latham said.
He had every right to be carried in with oxygen mask and saline drip at the ready. Instead Latham looked like he could pad up and bat again, and paid tribute to his team-mates for hauling him along.
‘‘A little bit tired but the adrenaline is still running through me. The best thing is you get a break every two hours. It’s important to get to certain stages of the game, whether that’s lunch or tea.
‘‘The boys coming in managed to keep me going and kept me inside my gameplan which was probably the most pleasing.’’ Highest New Zealand test innings:
❚ 302 – Brendon McCullum v India, Wellington, 2014
❚ 299 – Martin Crowe v Sri Lanka, Wellington, 1991
❚ 290 – Ross Taylor v Australia, Perth, 2015
❚ 274* – Stephen Fleming v Sri Lanka, Colombo, 2003
❚ 267* – Bryan Young v Sri Lanka, Dunedin, 1997
❚ 264* – Tom Latham v Sri Lanka, Wellington, 2018
Latham had five or six pairs of gloves on rotation, left in the sun beyond the boundary to dry out as he flew past his previous test best of 177, against Bangladesh at the Basin.
Under close watch from strength and conditioning coach Chris Donaldson, Latham took on regular water, energy drinks and hydration tablets with his Canterbury mate Matt Henry among those ferrying them out.
He enjoyed partnerships with Henry Nicholls (50) and Colin de Grandhomme (49) who lifted the scoring rate and allowed Latham to keep defying the bowlers, punishing anything short or full.
Then he finally ran out of partners as the tail hit out, leaving him as the highest scoring opener to carry his bat through a test innings, beating Alastair Cook’s 244 not out against Australia in Melbourne last summer.
Now it looks almost certain Latham will be on the field for the entire test match with an innings victory looming, a remarkable feat of endurance.
‘‘Looking back in years to come that’s something I might think about but you don’t play the game for those sort of things. Down the line it’ll be something pretty cool.’’