Sat, Dec 12, 2020 page16

• Nicholls’ century puts hosts on top

  • AFP, WELLINGTON
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  New Zealand’s Henry Nicholls yesterday rode his luck to post a crucial century as the hosts, weakened by the loss of Kane Williamson, survived a shaky start to reach 294-6 on the first day of the second Test against the West Indies.

  Nicholls, 29, survived multiple dropped catches at Wellington’s Basin Reserve as he snapped a 21-month string of low scores with his sixth Test century.

  At stumps, Nicholls was 117 not out with Kyle Jamieson on 1.

  

  New Zealand’s Henry Nicholls plays a shot against the West Indies on the first day of the second Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington yesterday.

  Photo: AFP

  From being on the ropes at 78-3, Nicholls said New Zealand now considered 400 would be “a good result.”

  New Zealand won the first Test inside four days on the back of Williamson’s towering 252, but they are playing without their talismanic captain, who is on paternity leave awaiting the birth of his first child.

  It was left to Nicholls to prop up the innings, but he had to survive dropped catches and even a technical malfunction, when a broken stump microphone prevented a review, to bat New Zealand out of a hole.

  “You just try and move on from them same as when your hitting a boundary or anything else,” Nicholls said, describing how he shut his near-misses out of his mind. “It’s just batting, it’s cricket, it’s pretty fickle, so I just keep focusing on what I’m doing and bringing their bowlers back for more spells. It was nice in the initial bit to get through to lunch. Just little milestones on this surface.”

  Everything went the West Indies’ way at the start of the day when Jason Holder won the toss, and made New Zealand bat on an emerald surface with cloud cover and a howling northerly wind.

  After a couple of expensive early overs, Shannon Gabriel and Chemar Holder led an attack that had New Zealand pinned down with three wickets in the first 90 minutes.

  The pitch offered pace, bounce and seam movement, and when the bowlers found a good length and moved the ball, they were almost unplayable.

  However, when it seemed the odds were against the Black Caps, an out-of-form Nicholls stepped up.

  When he joined Will Young in the middle, the sun emerged, the wind faded and the momentum swung New Zealand’s way.

  As the total grew, so did the number of spectators, to more than 3,500 by late afternoon.

  Nicholls played his way through a short-ball barrage, passing 50 for the first time in 14 innings, but riding his luck as chances were spilled and nicks fell in no-man’s-land.

  He was dropped once on 21 and twice on 47, while on 29 a top edge for six sailed just out of the reach of Jermaine Blackwood, who had moved in from the boundary.

  Aa appeal for Nicholls to be given caught behind on 70 was turned down after an earlier throw at the wickets had broken the stump microphone, leaving no way for the ball tracker to detect if there had been a faint edge.

  “He capitalized on his chances,” West Indies wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva said. “It’s frustrating when you drop catches, but we can’t do anything about it now, so we have to move on to the next day.”

  When Nicholls passed his century it typified his risky innings, as he shaped to turn the ball through midwicket, but top-edged it for 2 on the off-side.

  Gabriel, in his 50th Test, was clearly frustrated when Darren Bravo dropped Nicholls on 47, but he had reason to smile in his next over when he had Young caught at second slip by Jason Holder for 43.

  Nicholls had partnerships of 70 with Young, 55 with B.J. Watling and 83 with Daryl Mitchell.

  Watling authored his own demise on 30 when he chopped a wide Alzarri Joseph delivery on to his stumps, while Mitchell was trapped leg before wicket by Chemar Holder for 42.

  Gabriel was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 3-57 after removing Tom Blundell (14) and Ross Taylor (9) before lunch. Young became his 150th Test dismissal.

  Chemar Holder, on debut, dismissed Tom Latham (27) in the first session and ended the day with 2-65.
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