Wondrous batting performance
Hype and begin decider
runs. Captain Brendon McCullum and senior batsman Ross Taylor are the only other survivors from that match.
It has been heavily redeveloped but is expected to retain one trait — as the country’s best batting pitch, at least in daylight hours.
Southee knows the bowlers must continue their progress from day two of the drawn second test in Perth, and find ways to make the dewy night time conditions work for them if they are to unlock the Australian batting.
There was noticeably more swing in the evening period of the game against a West Australian XI in Perth last weekend.
“We got a lot out of those two days. We’re continuing to learn about what the pink ball is going to throw at us... at different phases throughout the day,” Southee said.
He is confident all the hoopla surrounding this match will not take New Zealand’s eyes off the main objective.
“Our main focus is to win,” he said. “Our mindset hasn’t changed.” It is hard to remember a chance he has offered. He had an edge fall short of first slip but that was as much a testament to his ability to play late with soft hands as it was to benign conditions. If anything, the only luck he had was bad, with his second-innings lbw in Brisbane dubious. There have been other notable performances that deserve mention.
Taylor destroyed the Windies in a three-test series in New Zealand in 2013, scoring 495 runs at 247.5, including one doublecentury and two tons. The conditions were friendly and the bowling feeble, but this was a tour de force.
Martin Crowe’s series against the Windies in 1987 was probably more meritorious, considering his runs were scored on grassy wickets against an attack that included Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Courtney Walsh.
Crowe scored 328 runs at 65.6, including two centuries and an 83. The next best New Zealander was John Wright, who scored 239 runs at 39.83.
Andrew Jones destroyed an average Sri Lanka team in 1991, scoring 513 runs at 102.6 across three tests, including three centuries in a row and a 73. All the tests ended in draws, highlighting the lack of assistance for bowlers.
Glenn Turner took advantage of flat Caribbean pitches and a West Indian attack in transition, scoring 672 runs across five tests in 1972, at an average of 96. He was at his runhungry best, cashing in with two double-centuries and a 95 at Port of Spain. All five tests were draws, much to the chagrin of the locals.
Bert Sutcliffe’s tour to India in 1955-56 took a lot out of the lefthander and it’s no surprise as he scored 611 runs over the five tests at 87.29, including an unbeaten century at Hyderabad and an unbeaten double at Delhi. The bowling wasn’t the strongest but tales of Sutcliffe’s fortitude on this tour are legendary.
There may be others but if Williamson scores a century in Adelaide during the third test, I’d be tempted to elevate it to the top of the tree.