Lucky break sets up Williamson
Every cricketer needs a dose of luck. Even New Zealand’s best batsman.
So when Kane Williamson pushed one awkwardly to the right of England bowler Mark Wood first ball and took off, all he could do was close his eyes and hope, early in Tuesday night’s tri-series
Twenty20 international in Wellington.
Wood took aim at all three stumps and missed, with Williamson well short. He completed the run, his first of a powerful 72 off 46 balls which earned him man of the match in New Zealand’s 12-run win. Williamson even added a brilliant run out of his own, when he got airborne and hit the stumps with James Vince short of his ground.
‘‘It just happens, doesn’t it? I thought it was going to roll a bit further and then it didn’t and I was like, oh no. That was nice, sometimes you get a bit of luck which is good in cricket,’’ Williamson said.
Not that Williamson wanted to leave his fate in someone else’s hands as his Black Caps arrived on a three-match losing streak, in which he’d posted single figure scores in all three. He’d also struggled with a back niggle in the leadup.
‘‘You try not to rely on luck. You train hard and practice your plans and you want to go out and perform every day. As we know that doesn’t happen, especially in
T20 cricket where you’re expected to play that high risk game and you throw in some challenging surfaces as well at times. That’s all a factor. It’s about trying to keep a mindset to play for the team as best you can.’’
It was a bizarre day that ended in a cracking finish, as New Zealand’s 196-5 was enough to quell England who crashed to a threematch losing streak of their own.
Earlier Williamson and coach Mike Hesson gazed at the Westpac Stadium pitch with some trepidation with half of it bereft of grass and widespread concern about how it would play.
But the patchy surface and lack of grass - due to disease and Wellington’s scorching summer - was no problem and New Zealand equalled their own T20 international ground record of 196-5 against Pakistan two years ago.
‘‘It [pitch] didn’t look pretty but it played a lot better than that, which was a good thing. It’s one of those ones like Sydney which was a tough surface and it was tricky to know what a good score was,’’ Williamson said. ‘‘But it was a very good surface and you could see that after the first over or two.’’
Martin Guptill took to Adil Rashid’s legspin with the slog sweep and scored 65 off 40 balls and with a platform, debutants Mark Chapman (20 off 13) and Tim Seifert (13 not out off six) each cleared the rope twice in handy cameos fulfilling their job descriptions well.
‘‘They added a lot of energy which was great. Sometimes off a few losses that can add benefit and they came in with limited opportunity but the way they approached their innings and performed, they were outstanding to get us an above par total was brilliant to see.’’
England now need a miracle to make next Wednesday’s final, and even more than that if the Black Caps can back up and beat a redhot Australia at Auckland’s Eden Park on Friday.
After defeats in Hobart and Melbourne, England had a quick turnaround and their bowlers started
poorly as Williamson and Guptill got away.
Skipper Joe Buttler, standing in again for the injured Eoin Morgan (groin), rued that early missed chance against Williamson.
‘‘They’re such fine margins in a game of cricket and that’s always the way it goes. That bit of luck for Kane and he goes on to become man of the match. It’s be nice to have taken that chance but the game is defined by fine margins.’’
Alex Hales (47 off 24) and Dawid Malan (59 off 40) made it a tense race before the spin of Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner removed each.