Quiet achiever Nicholls is making a noise
After securing a rare series win on foreign soil, the Black Caps had no time to waste in coming home with their next assignment starting Saturday, and their arrivals at Auckland Airport told a story.
Captain Kane Williamson was one of the first through, all business after a series where he scored the most runs, and notched his 19th test century to tilt the deciding test against Pakistan in New Zealand’s favour.
Offspinner Will Somerville made a beeline for his family, glad to be home less than 48 hours after finishing his first test with match figures of 7-127, the fourthbest match figures by a New Zealand test debutant.
Fellow spinner Ajaz Patel took his time but the crowd of two dozen family and friends didn’t mind one bit, mobbing him as soon as he was through the arrival gate. Playing all three tests on his first international tour, he took 13 wickets at an average of 29.61, including a haul of 7-123 on his debut, slightly better than Somerville’s.
Then there was Henry Nicholls, the quiet achiever as New Zealand won an away test series for just the 15th time. Finishing second to Williamson on the Black Caps’ run-scoring chart with 287 to his name at an average of 79, it was a strong tour for the batsman who turned 27 while away.
The skipper and the spinners may have got most of the plaudits but Nicholls played an important role, sticking with his captain on the fourth day of the third test after arriving at the crease at the fall of the fourth wicket with Pakistan still in front by 14 runs. Unbeaten on 90 overnight, he quickly brought up his third test century on the final day and finished 126 not out off 266 balls.
‘‘Kane was batting so wonderfully that it was just about trying to build a partnership with him,’’ Nicholls said..
‘‘We knew the conditions were tough and that it was only going to get harder to bat on, so we knew getting as a big a lead as we could get was going to be important heading into that last day.’’
Nicholls also had lengthy innings in the Black Caps’ second digs in the other two tests, lasting 171 balls for 55 runs as they won the first, then 187 balls for 77 runs as they followed on on their way to losing the second.
With a stay of 268 balls against England in Auckland in March, where he made 145, his highest test score, Nicholls has two of the three longest innings by a New Zealand batsman this year, and has faced 1016 deliveries in 2018, more than any of his team-mates.
‘‘Test cricket is tough, especially overseas in those conditions, as you saw throughout that whole test series. Starting over there is really hard and the importance of that is when you get in, you need to make it count for as along as you can,’’ he said.
‘‘That was the important thing with Kane, putting on that 200 partnership and keeping them out on the field for as long as we did, making those meaningful contributions.’’
The Black Caps are in action again in less than a week, with the first of two tests against Sri Lanka starting on Saturday at the Basin Reserve.
Seam and swing-friendly conditions are expected, which will make for quite a change from the United Arab Emirates but it’s a challenge Nicholls is looking forward to.
‘‘We acknowledged and enjoyed the success we had over there but now we’re home and we start a test on Saturday at the Basin. It’s exciting but we know it’s going to be different conditions and a different challenge, so it’s something we’ve got to prepare well for.’’