They shall not be moved
In the wise words of Ajaz Patel, if you think test cricket is easy it will come back and bite you on the, well, you know.
Coming off a 2-1 away series win against Pakistan and in total control of Sri Lanka after three days at the Basin Reserve, the Black Caps’ bubble burst on a windswept Tuesday.
It was pricked by determined Sri Lankan duo Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews who batted through the day for an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 246, each scoring centuries and, most likely, saving a draw for their side in the first test.
Rain is forecast throughout today, the scheduled fifth day, as Sri Lanka still trail by 37 with seven wickets in hand. Mendis and Mathews ensured the first wicketless full day of test cricket in New Zealand and just the 22nd occasion overall.
Patel, man of the match on a turning track on debut in Abu Dhabi last month, ended with tidy figures 0-46 off 26 overs of left-arm spin in his first home test. Few, if any, turned and spat from the surface here. He was offered up as the spokesman for the New Zealand bowlers who toiled on a flat one, and was adamant they weren’t that bad.
‘‘You always have to expect the other team will play well. Nothing is expected in cricket. We know it’s a funny game and it can bite you in the arse if you expect too many things,’’ Patel said.
‘‘I haven’t played a lot of test cricket, but a lot of the boys said that was the first time they had seen a day of test cricket without a wicket. But that’s not to say we played poorly. I think we bowled well.
‘‘We applied ourselves and bowled in good areas for long periods, they just adapted really well.’’
Remarkably, there wasn’t even a clearcut chance for New Zealand as Mendis and Mathews played the long game, akin to double-centurion Tom Latham on Sunday. Their run rate of 2.53 showed they took few risks, as Mendis ended not out 116 off 287 balls (his sixth test century) and Mathews, the former captain, 117 off 293 (his ninth).
Just 23 boundaries were hit between them. The ball rarely swung and Neil Wagner led another bouncer barrage but it was erratic and the Sri Lankans played it well and made captain Kane Williamson re-think. ‘‘We
At a glance
No wickets in a full day’s play of test cricket involving New Zealand:
❚ 1956 v India (Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy), Chennai, day one
❚ 1972 v West Indies (Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis), Georgetown, day three
❚ 2018 v Sri Lanka (Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews), Wellington, day four *This was the 22nd occurrence. The most recent was between Bangladesh and South Africa on day one in Chittagong in 2008, when Neil McKenzie and Graeme Smith put on an opening stand of
415.
tried to come hard at them, but they rode those waves and adapted to those conditions quite well and the way we were bowling at them,’’ Patel said.
Patel hoped the batsmen would attack him more to create chances. The strong northerly affected all the bowlers too, he said. Mendis, just 23, played his second and third tests in New Zealand in 2015, and rocked Australia with a stunning 176 in his seventh test in Kandy in mid2016.