Basin Reserve, Wellington:
2nd Test, Final Day:
Aerial Veiw Of The Basin Basin Reserve Wellington.
It’s Been A Marvelous 2014 For New Zealand Test Cricket, And, Especially So For The Faithful Fans At The Basin Reserve In Wellington.
The Basin As It’s Fondly Called, Has Been Prive To Some Incredible Cricket Which Has Seen Cricketing Milestones Being Achieved This Past Year 2014.
In The 2nd Test Against India Played At The Basin During February 2014, The Fans Saw Brendon McCullum Post A New, New Zealand Record Of 302 Runs On The Final Day. Even Though This Test Was Drawn, The Achievement Was None The Less Huge Because The Draw Sealed An Important 1-0 Series Win Over India.
In June And July 2014, There Was An Away Series Win For New Zealand In The West Indies. In November And December 2014, A Drawn Away Series With Pakistan In The United Arab Emirates.
Finally, The BlackCaps Returned Home To Christchurch For The Boxing Day Test Where, The Fans Would See New Zealand Achieve An Unprecedented 5th Test Victory In A Season Year As They Beat Sri Lanca By 8 Wickets To Take A 1-0 Series Lead To Wellington For The Showdown At The Basin
The Basin Would Not Disappoint.
On Saturday January 3rd 2015, After Sri Lanca Won The Toss And Chose To Field The Cricketing Public Were Treated To An Absolute Bowling Fest As The Pins Were Sent Flying. There Was A Standing Ovation For Brendan McCullum As The Fans Welcomed Him As He Walked To The Crease For His Knock. There Was An Air Of Anticipation Ahead Of His Innings, After All, His Last Stand At This Ground Delivered His Record 302. But His Stay Was Ever So Brief, Dismissed For A Duck As New Zealand Posted 221 In Their First Innings. The Bowlers Were Ruling Supreme And It All Seemed To Be Heading Pretty Positive From A Sri Lankan Perspective. But When One Say’s The Bowlers Ruled Supreme The New Zealand Bowlers Also Had A Bowl On Day One And They Weren’t Done Just Yet.
The BlackCaps Celebrating As They Sense Their Advantage On Day One Of The 2nd Test At The Basin Reserve – Wellington.
At Stumps On The First Day, 15 Wickets Had Fallen For Just 299 Runs. Day One Belonged To The Bowlers, In Particular The New Zealand Bowlers Who Had Taken 5 Wickets For Just 78 Runs At Stumps And With That Seized The Advantage For The BlackCaps Going Into Day 2.
Kumar Sangakkara Acknowleges The Crowd As He Achieves Another Milestone In His Career With Another Double Century 203, Moving To Within One Of Sir Donald Bradman’s Record.
But Sri Lanca Were Not Done Just Yet. Kumar Sangakkara Hung Around At The Crease And Treated The Fans To A Sublime Batting Performance Chalking Up Another Double Century As He Moved Ever Closer To Just One Double Century Behind The Record Currently Held By Sir Donald Bradman. He Went On To Post 203 Runs Before Being Caught By Trent Boult Off The Bowling Of Neesham. Sangakkara Was Superbly Helped At The Other End By Chandimal Who Posted 67 Runs In A Partnership Of 130 Runs As Sri Lanca Went On To Post 356 Runs In Their First Innings. This In Reply To The New Zealanders First Innings Of 221, For A First Innings Lead Of 135 Over The BlackCaps. With The Test Now Balanced On A Knife Edge, The Advantage Had Now Shifted The Way Of Sri Lanca Going Into Day 3. Sri Lanca Had Everything To Play For And The Series Needed To Be Drawn / Saved.
In Retrospect Sri Lanca Will Be Left Wondering What The Heck Happened, Or How Could They Have Let It All Fall Apart? With Everything To Play For Going Into Day 3 Both New Zealand Openers, Hamish Rutherford And Tom Latham Started Well And Posted A Fair Partnership, But Then Gave Their Wickets Away To Pradeep. Rutherford For 40 And Latham For 35. But When Herath Took The Wicket Of Ross Taylor, New Zealand Were In Trouble At 79 For 3. Even So, New Zealand Whittled Away At The Deficit As Kane Williamson And Brendon McCullam Made It To Lunch With The BlackCaps At 96 For 3. New Zealand Would Continue Try And Steady Matters After Lunch On Day 3 Although They Would Lose A Further 2 Wickets. McCullum For 22 Falling To Prasad, And Neesham For 19 Falling To Pradeep. At Stumps On Day 3, New Zealand Were 253 For 5, Effectively With Only A Lead Of 118 Runs But With 5 Wickets Down And With Only Five Wickets Remaining To Build Any Kind Of Safe Lead To Defend Against A Highly Skilled Sri Lancan Batting Line Up. The Test Was Balanced On The Proverbial Knife Edge Going Into The 4th Day.
The Fourth Day Saw Some Awesome Batting, As Kane Williamson Went On To Score His First Double Century. He Posted An Unbeaten 242 Runs. He Too Had Ample Help At The Other End As His Team Mate Jimmy Neesham Also Built His Century Scoring An Unbeaten 142 Runs. Together They Set A New 6th Wicket Partnership Of 365 Runs And Finished Unbeaten As New Zealand Declared Their Innings Closed On 524 For 5. This Gave New Zealand A Lead Of 389 Runs Setting Sri Lanca A Not So Easy Target Of 390 Runs For Victory. At Stumps On Day 4, Sri Lanca Were 45 For 1 And Still Required A Further 345 Runs With Nine Wickets In Hand Ahead Of The Last Day.
The Faithful Had Witnessed An Incredible Turn Around By The BlackCaps On Day 4 Ahead Of The Final Day.
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND – JANUARY 06: Kane Williamson (L) of New Zealand celebrates his century with teammate BJ Watling during day four of the Second Test match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Basin Reserve on January 6, 2015 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
Day 5 Would See New Zealand Keen To Wrap This Test Up And Take The Series 2-0. This Would Mean That They Would Want To Break Through The Sri Lankan Top Order As Soon As Possible At The Start Of Day 5.
For Sri Lanka Resuming On 45 For 1 And Still Wanting Another 345 Runs To Win With 9 Wickets Remaining, The Task Although It Was Never Going To Be Easy, Was Not Impossible. They Could Also Choose To Stand And Defend Their Innings And Play For A Draw. But With A Target That Was Still Getable In A Days Play And A Win Needed To Square The Series, A Draw Was Not An Option So Going For The Win Was Always The Only Option.
Trent Boult Struck Early Dismissing Night Watchman Dhamicka For 6 Runs And Then Shortly Afterwards Got Rid Of Double Centurion Khumar Sangakkara.
Opening Batsman Silva, And Thirimanne Steadied The Slide, With Silva Posting His Half Century. But The Run Chase Was Slow. Eventually Silva Edged One And Was Caught Behind Of The Bowling Of Bracewell And At Lunch Sri Lanka Were Staring Down The Barrel At 115 For 5.
Thirimanne And Prasana Jayawardene Batted On Watchfully After Lunch. But After He Was Caught By Williamson For 10 Off The Bowling Of Craig Sri Lanka Were Reeling At 133 For 6. Chandimal Then Followed For 13, And Then Herath And With Sri Lanca Now 156 For 8 It Was Only A Matter Of Time As The Pressure Mounted And Suranga Lakmal Was Run Out Going After A Single That Was Never There While Thirimanne Batted Bravely On For His Half Century Eventually He Would Run Out Of Partners At The Other End As Sri Lanca Were Dismissed For 196.
New Zealand Won The Test By 193 Runs Taking The Series 2-0.
Celebrating The 2-0 Test Series Win Over Sri Lanca After Their 193 Run Win At The Basin Reserve In Wellington.
The Faithful At The Basin Had Seen The BlackCaps Complete The Turn Around. Infact, The Basin Reserve Almost Saw This Marvelous Cricketing Year Right From The Start. Commencing With That Marvelous Knock Which Saw Brendan McCullam Set A Record New Zealand Knock With His 302 Runs As New Zealand Took The Series Against India 1-0. Then The Away Successes In The West Indies And Pakistan And Then Returning Back To The Basin To See Further Milestones.
They Saw Sangakkara With 203 Move To Within One Double Century Of Sir Donald Bradman’s Record For The Most Double Centuries In A Career. They Saw A New Record 6th Wicket Partnership Set With 365 Runs Being Scored Between Kane Williamson 242 And Jimmy Neesham 142. In A Sense, The Year Of Cricketing Success Came Full Circle Home To The Basin Reserve In Wellington. Either Way You Care To Look At It, The Moments Are Fondly Memorable And None The Less So For Me.
The Series Win Now Sees The BlackCaps Start The Year 2015 On The Up, As They Climb Two Places In The ICC Test Rankings From 7th To 5th On The Table. They Displaced Both India And Sri Lanca, Who Were Ahead Of Them Until Now.
2014 / Jan 2015 Has Been A Great Year For New Zealand Cricket At The Basin With Many Fond Moments. I Particularly Wish That Awesome Ground Many, Many And Many More.
A Packed Basin Reserve In Wellington Ready For A Good Day’s Cricket.
WORD'S OUT 