Patience pays off as Patel grabs five
It wasn’t flashy for Black Caps spinner Ajaz Patel, who says patience was the key to him claiming a second five-wicket bag of his young test career in the first cricket test against Sri Lanka.
Patel ended with 5-89 off 33 overs as New Zealand dismissed their hosts for 267 after about 75 minutes of the third day in Galle yesterday.
It left Black Caps openers Jeet Raval and Tom Latham facing an
18-run deficit when they padded up again, the tourists needing to improve on their sub-par total of 249 batting first.
Patel and Will Somerville, the spin heroes of New Zealand’s seriesclinching win over Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in December, shared eight Sri Lankan wickets as Somerville mopped up the tail to end with 3-83 off 22.2 overs yesterday.
Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella frustrated the New Zealand bowlers, scoring 61 off
109 balls at No 7 before Somerville flighted one wider and enticed a false shot. New ball spearhead Trent Boult (2-45 off 20) was good in tough conditions and caused two breaks in play when striking Suranga Lakmal and Lasith Embuldeniya with nasty short deliveries.
The Black Caps spin duo arrived in Galle with just six tests between them, with Patel’s second fivewicket bag chalked up in just his ninth test bowling innings. He helped spark a Sri Lankan collapse of 5-18 either side of tea on day two.
While back on the spin-friendly surfaces after going wicketless against Sri Lanka in the two-test home series last December, Patel noted he and his team-mates still had to be prepared to play a waiting game, and couldn’t just expect things to happen.
‘‘Even though it’s a spin-friendly wicket, you’ve just got to stay patient and ask good questions of the batsmen for long periods of time,’’ Patel said.
‘‘We know Sri Lankans are good players of spin, so you’ve got to respect that and make sure you put balls in good areas for long periods.
‘‘Yes, there’s turn, but it’s quite slow turn.
‘‘So once the batsman’s established, they can kind of get an understanding of how much it’s going and what it’s doing.
‘‘Test cricket is a long game, and we know that on a surface like this you can build partnerships, but as soon as you lose a wicket you can lose two or three quickly, because it’s not easy for someone to come in.’’
The 30-year-old knows a fair bit about being patient, having consistently topped the domestic wickets charts but having to bide his time before getting a national call-up. Three times in succession he was leading Plunket Shield wicket-taker for Central Stags.
He’s now repaying that selection, following up his five-wicket effort in the warmup match against Sri Lanka A, and quickly settling into a good rhythm, finding the ideal pace at which to operate.