Image Credit- AFP
Thus far in this
series, Matt Henry has represented New Zealand as a one-man band. He is their
top run scorer (85), top wicket taker (11) and the man keeping the Black Caps’
hopes alive following yet another challenging day in Christchurch against
Australia.
In the second Test, after being called into bat on a seam-friendly Hagley Oval
wicket, he struck a crucial 29 runs, placing him second in the New Zealand
scoring chart. Josh Hazlewood bowled an amazing show, taking five wickets for
thirty-one.
Then, Henry was just
as impressive on his turn, eliminating three of Australia’s top four players,
including Cameron Green, who was playing well, to keep New Zealand in the game.
Though he was carrying a big load, he refused to assign any blame to the New
Zealand batsmen following their third consecutive innings of being bowled out
for less than 200.
“It’s not a concern,” Henry said. “I think looking at our
batting line-up we’ve got world-class players there. They’ve been fantastic for
a number of years. I [haven’t] got any doubt that they’ll be great and they’ll
be fine moving forward. It’s day one of a Test match. The ball is allowed to
move around and guys are allowed to bowl well. That’s what happens when you
come across world-class performers. They have their day sometimes.”
Henry instead heaped
praise on Hazlewood saying he provided the perfect example for the New Zealand
bowling group to follow.
“Josh bowled exceptionally well,” he said. “Obviously watching
him go about his work today, it was probably a bit of a blueprint for how we
wanted to bowl out there as well. It was a matter of being accurate for a long
period of time and creating pressure and he did that beautifully and thankfully
we managed to do that in periods tonight as well and to get a few poles.”