Kane Williamson ticks two boxes
Kane Williamson was indeed under pressures, as was being spoken of, he did rather well to mask it. After a customary batting session in the net on the eve of the second ODI (October 19), he turned his arm over and indulged in a healthy round of banter with Anton Devcich, who copped the captain's well-humoured barbs for attempting a reverse sweep.
It was a tour on in which both his form and captaincy had come under question. Yet there he was, playing the situation just like Williamson would be expected to - cool!
The runs had dried up, victory continued to be elusively distant and when he lost his fourth successive toss in the series in the New Delhi game (Ross Taylor captained in the Kolkata Test) it would have been easy for Williamson to sit back and bemoan the improbable chance of all of the aforementioned happening at once. Except, there was no time for wallowing in self pity when he walked out to bat on the just the third ball of the game.
India can be a tough place to bat even for the finest of batsmen. Ricky Ponting will testify. But the added responsibility of following up after an act as influential and inspirational as Brendon McCullum's as the captain of New Zealand can be daunting. Particularly for someone whose best ODI score in the country was before Thursday's fixture was a 34 not out against Canada in 2011.
But sometimes, it's good to walk in early, like he did at 0 for 1 in the first over. It can help avoid the unnecessary mental clutter.
The second ball Williamson faced was an outswinger he went chasing after and was beaten comprehensively. Off the third, he crossed over to the non-striker's end after a thickish edge, from where he saw Tom Latham continue in his imperious ways by leaning into a drive for a four through covers. His own start was nervy, the feet weren't getting into position. The opposition were sticking to a well-thought out ploy of bowling only outside the off-stump with a 7-2 field. Williamson would have to do it the hard way if he had to find form in Delhi.
And he did.
In a quest to catch Williamson by surprise, Umesh Yadav overcompensated and drifted one down to Williamson's pads. The New Zealand captain sent it scurrying to the mid wicket fence with a little shuffle and a generous use of the wrists. The cover-drive, the cut through point and flick all followed in quick succession. Williamson was up and away and there would be no stopping him for 128 deliveries, at the end of which he'd scored 13 fours and a six, enroute to a sparkling 118 - his eighth ODI ton.
"I suppose when Tom and I are at the crease. We just wanted to formulate a partnership and try to get a read on the pitch," Williamson said of how he build his innings. "[We wanted to see] how the Indian bowlers were trying to bowl at us. From there, I guess we wanted to have a target or get to a certain point from where we could have a strong death in terms of the last ten overs.
It wasn't a fluent-from-start-to-finish kind of Williamson innings at all. The pitch didn't afford such luxuries. Williamson received two reprieves, at 46 and 59, from Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni respectively. After the 120-run stand with Latham ended with the left handler's dismissal on 46, Williamson found himself far too often at the non-striker's end as Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson struggled for timing on the sluggish Feroz Shah Kotla surface. But Williamson had to dig deep into the reserves of his concentration well to ensure he didn't throw it away, at least not before a severe bout of cramps forced him into taking more risks than usual.
"The focus for me is certainly to go out and try and contribute to a winning team performance," Williamson said. "Saying that there were certain moments of frustration. I suppose scoring at a five and half an over for a period in those early overs was probably something that was going to be tough to maintain. But in your mind, you think you want to increase the scoring rate and it wasn't easy on that surface. And India bowled very well.
"There were moments of frustration where you talk to your partner and try and get through those times knowing that if it's hard for you it's probably going to be hard for perhaps for the other guys. And try and get a bit of momentum. It showed. Starting on that surface was very difficult.
The return to form with the bat certainly added a spring to his step when he led the team out in defence of what was still-a-sub-par total of 242. What stood out, however, was the willingness to think on his feet and adopt novel methods of attack.
After being denied a total in excess of 260, Williamson unleashed a bag of his own spin tricks against India. This involved bowling two left-arm spinners in tandem with a strategically placed short cover fielder at a 45-degrees angle. The right handers in the Indian line-up particularly found this fielder hard to beat against an off-stump line.
"We tried to make the adjustments out there. The ball was going to cover more so we put an extra fielder there," he said with an air of nonchalance. "Sometimes that's how you loo to set your fielders. You adjust to your surface and adapt. Like I said, those two [spinners] did a great job with the ball that was damp as the dew came in. I think we were fortunate to pick up wickets up and quite consistently throughout which allowed us to rotate our spinners a little bit more. It was a fantastic effort from our bowlers to restrict them, to squeeze them... which on that surface was the only way to do it because certainly they weren't going to be blasted out."
At the end of what was the tour's most evenly-contested clash, all that was left with Williamson was a deep sense of relief. New Zealand and Williamson had finally gotten on board in India. Now was the time to seek improvements.
"It's nice to get a win, at the same time, the best part is to show some improvement from the previous one-dayer which was extremely important for our unit. It was certainly nice to get across the line in a tight one.
"But at the same time we didn't want to be chasing the wins, we wanted to improve and it's great that we showed some signs of improvement. Nice to contribute today and nice to get that win."
A box checked for both captain and player.
It was a tour on in which both his form and captaincy had come under question. Yet there he was, playing the situation just like Williamson would be expected to - cool!
The runs had dried up, victory continued to be elusively distant and when he lost his fourth successive toss in the series in the New Delhi game (Ross Taylor captained in the Kolkata Test) it would have been easy for Williamson to sit back and bemoan the improbable chance of all of the aforementioned happening at once. Except, there was no time for wallowing in self pity when he walked out to bat on the just the third ball of the game.
India can be a tough place to bat even for the finest of batsmen. Ricky Ponting will testify. But the added responsibility of following up after an act as influential and inspirational as Brendon McCullum's as the captain of New Zealand can be daunting. Particularly for someone whose best ODI score in the country was before Thursday's fixture was a 34 not out against Canada in 2011.
But sometimes, it's good to walk in early, like he did at 0 for 1 in the first over. It can help avoid the unnecessary mental clutter.
The second ball Williamson faced was an outswinger he went chasing after and was beaten comprehensively. Off the third, he crossed over to the non-striker's end after a thickish edge, from where he saw Tom Latham continue in his imperious ways by leaning into a drive for a four through covers. His own start was nervy, the feet weren't getting into position. The opposition were sticking to a well-thought out ploy of bowling only outside the off-stump with a 7-2 field. Williamson would have to do it the hard way if he had to find form in Delhi.
And he did.
In a quest to catch Williamson by surprise, Umesh Yadav overcompensated and drifted one down to Williamson's pads. The New Zealand captain sent it scurrying to the mid wicket fence with a little shuffle and a generous use of the wrists. The cover-drive, the cut through point and flick all followed in quick succession. Williamson was up and away and there would be no stopping him for 128 deliveries, at the end of which he'd scored 13 fours and a six, enroute to a sparkling 118 - his eighth ODI ton.
"I suppose when Tom and I are at the crease. We just wanted to formulate a partnership and try to get a read on the pitch," Williamson said of how he build his innings. "[We wanted to see] how the Indian bowlers were trying to bowl at us. From there, I guess we wanted to have a target or get to a certain point from where we could have a strong death in terms of the last ten overs.
It wasn't a fluent-from-start-to-finish kind of Williamson innings at all. The pitch didn't afford such luxuries. Williamson received two reprieves, at 46 and 59, from Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni respectively. After the 120-run stand with Latham ended with the left handler's dismissal on 46, Williamson found himself far too often at the non-striker's end as Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson struggled for timing on the sluggish Feroz Shah Kotla surface. But Williamson had to dig deep into the reserves of his concentration well to ensure he didn't throw it away, at least not before a severe bout of cramps forced him into taking more risks than usual.
"The focus for me is certainly to go out and try and contribute to a winning team performance," Williamson said. "Saying that there were certain moments of frustration. I suppose scoring at a five and half an over for a period in those early overs was probably something that was going to be tough to maintain. But in your mind, you think you want to increase the scoring rate and it wasn't easy on that surface. And India bowled very well.
"There were moments of frustration where you talk to your partner and try and get through those times knowing that if it's hard for you it's probably going to be hard for perhaps for the other guys. And try and get a bit of momentum. It showed. Starting on that surface was very difficult.
The return to form with the bat certainly added a spring to his step when he led the team out in defence of what was still-a-sub-par total of 242. What stood out, however, was the willingness to think on his feet and adopt novel methods of attack.
After being denied a total in excess of 260, Williamson unleashed a bag of his own spin tricks against India. This involved bowling two left-arm spinners in tandem with a strategically placed short cover fielder at a 45-degrees angle. The right handers in the Indian line-up particularly found this fielder hard to beat against an off-stump line.
"We tried to make the adjustments out there. The ball was going to cover more so we put an extra fielder there," he said with an air of nonchalance. "Sometimes that's how you loo to set your fielders. You adjust to your surface and adapt. Like I said, those two [spinners] did a great job with the ball that was damp as the dew came in. I think we were fortunate to pick up wickets up and quite consistently throughout which allowed us to rotate our spinners a little bit more. It was a fantastic effort from our bowlers to restrict them, to squeeze them... which on that surface was the only way to do it because certainly they weren't going to be blasted out."
At the end of what was the tour's most evenly-contested clash, all that was left with Williamson was a deep sense of relief. New Zealand and Williamson had finally gotten on board in India. Now was the time to seek improvements.
"It's nice to get a win, at the same time, the best part is to show some improvement from the previous one-dayer which was extremely important for our unit. It was certainly nice to get across the line in a tight one.
"But at the same time we didn't want to be chasing the wins, we wanted to improve and it's great that we showed some signs of improvement. Nice to contribute today and nice to get that win."
A box checked for both captain and player.
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