Henry Nicholls, who made 59 on Test debut in Wellington, has called the Test-match intensity a step up

Brydon Coverdale in Christchurch18-Feb-2016The day after Australia won the first Test in Wellington, New Zealand coach Mike Hesson was asked to nominate the positives he would take from the defeat. Trent Boult’s improving consistency was one, in Hesson’s reckoning, but the other was the impressive debut of Henry Nicholls. New Zealand might have lost the Test, but they have found a Test batsman. And as luck would have it, a full-time place is about to open up.Nicholls made his debut at the Basin Reserve as a replacement for the injured Ross Taylor, but the impending retirement of captain Brendon McCullum after the second Test in Christchurch means that even when Taylor returns, there will be a place for Nicholls. It has been a breakthrough summer for Nicholls, 24, who this season has two first-class hundreds and an average of 81.50, as well as two fifties in his first few weeks of ODI cricket.At the Basin Reserve, Nicholls looked solid enough in the first innings before he was caught behind off Peter Siddle for 8, but in the second innings he really showed his potential with 59 as wickets fell around him. Nicholls handled the increased intensity of a Test match – and one at which the first three days were sold out – with maturity, but he said he was not looking too far ahead at a potential permanent place in the side.”The intensity out there was a step up,” Nicholls said. “But also there’s a lot that goes into it, the build-up into the Test, it’s a series against Australia so it adds that as well, but it’s another obstacle that you don’t have in first-class cricket. It’s a step up and I really enjoyed the step up in intensity and it was a good contest.”It’s Brendon’s last Test, but for me personally it’s more of a focus on this Test and us trying to put in a good performance and level the series. I’m not too worried, not looking forward too much in that aspect … I’m not too worried about who I’m in for, just trying to do a role for the team.”One thing in Nicholls’ favour over the coming week will be his familiarity with Hagley Oval; he has made 683 first-class runs at the venue at 52.53, including two of his four centuries. This will be just the second Test match played at Hagley Oval and Nicholls said the players should expect similar conditions to the Basin Reserve.”It’s always nice to be back in your hometown and with the great facility here at Hagley it’s a ground that I really personally enjoy playing at,” Nicholls said. “I haven’t seen the wicket today, but I’ve played here a few times and it’s usually a good wicket, a bit of pace in the wicket. It’s potentially quite similar to the Basin.”New Zealand will need to make at least one change to their side, with fast bowler Doug Bracewell having been ruled out due to a shoulder injury, and Matt Henry and Neil Wagner vying for his place in the team. Australia will also have at least one change, with Peter Siddle out with back soreness and James Pattinson the likely replacement.Neither of the batting line-ups is likely to change, meaning New Zealand will have to find a way through a highly-productive Australian top five that features the in-form Usman Khawaja, who has now scored four consecutive first-innings hundreds in Tests. Like his team-mates, Nicholls wanted to see the back of Khawaja during his 140 in Wellington, but he enjoyed catching up with him after they had been Sydney Thunder team-mates in the BBL this summer.”The Sydney Thunder was a great experience,” he said. “It feels like a wee while ago now. It was a good couple of games. I got to play with Usman when he was – and he still is – in red-hot form. I managed to bat with him in Adelaide in that semi-final, which was good fun. It was nice to catch up with him the other day and congratulate him on winning the Big Bash in that final.”

Even though South Africa lost their first T20 in six matches, captain Faf du Plessis was impressed with their attempt at defending 204

Firdose Moonda06-Mar-20163:36

‘When the game is on the line, have to get the basics right’ – Du Plessis

Even though South Africa lost their first T20 in six matches, captain Faf du Plessis was impressed with their attempt at defending 204. Du Plessis identified the extras – South Africa sent down eight wides and two no-balls compared to Australia’s three wides and one no-ball – as the difference between a successful second innings and a failed one.”As a captain all you can ask of your bowlers is to be skillful at the death and bowl the ball in the right areas and we did that,” du Plessis said. “I am not overly disappointed. The disappointing thing is that when the game is on the line, you want to make sure you get your basics right. To bowl two free hits in the last two-and-a-half overs, is a match swing of about 10 or 12 runs.”Chris Morris was responsible for one no-ball and two wides in the 17th over, Dale Steyn for a no-ball in the 18th over and Kagiso Rabada for two wides in the final over but du Plessis said he will stick with them as his death-bowling options, especially Rabada who came close to defending 11 off the last over. “You can’t always be hyper-critical on every situation,” du Plessis said. “We’ve got our death bowlers, Dale, Morry and KG. I’ve got no issue trusting a 20-year-old to bowl the last over. That’s how far he has come.”Du Plessis also had praise for Steyn, who was making his comeback after more than two months on the sidelines. “I wasn’t too worried about his pace. On his first game back, you can’t expect a guy to bowl 150[kph],” du Plessis said. “I was really impressed with his control. The plans that he had were really good. It was almost like he never left, so yes, a really good day for Dale.”Steyn was not used to open the bowling, bowled his four overs in the mid 130s kph and claimed two wickets, thanks to superb catches, and will have to get through the final match to confirm his inclusion in South Africa’s World T20 squad. That match is the series decider in Cape Town, which du Plessis hopes can give South Africa one last test before the World T20.”It gives us another opportunity to have a crack at a real pressure game. It’s nice going to the World Cup, just to make sure and to see when the pressure is really on you how we react,” he said.Hashim Amla will likely displace Quinton de Kock in that match as part of South Africa’s plan to “give everyone a go” and in keeping with the strategy of AB de Villiers opening, even though de Villiers has not come off against Australia. “We decided on AB at the top a while ago and to change that would be a sign of panic” du Plessis said. “I think our strongest team is with AB at the top in India. If the World Cup was in South Africa the thinking would be different.”That does not mean there won’t be place for all of Amla, de Kock and de Villiers, particularly if the middle order don’t fire. “If we are struggling to find guys in the middle order who are not in form, we can maybe look at how to get AB in there but at the moment everybody is in good touch,” du Plessis said.Aaron Phangiso will also play the final match, if his bowling action is declared legal. Phangiso will be tested on Monday with results expected by Wednesday at the latest to determine his availability for the World T20. Should Phangiso not be cleared to go, his replacement may play in Wednesday’s match and whoever that is – possibly, Eddie Leie who has returned to bowling after suffering a hamstring injury – will beed to be wary of getting the small things right. “It’s the one percenters we can learn from, from a bowling point of view,” du Plessis said.

A four-wicket haul from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and a half-century from David Warner paved the way for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s second win, over Gujarat Lions in Rajkot

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu21-Apr-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:50

O’Brien: Sunrisers bowlers used massive square boundaries well

David Warner’s third half-century of the season paved the way for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s ten-wicket win over Gujarat Lions in Rajkot. Warner, who slammed 74 off 48, combined with Shikhar Dhawan, who struck a fifty of his own, for an unbroken 137-run opening partnership after his bowlers, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 4 for 29, kept Lions to 135 for 8.Warner began the chase with two fours off Dale Steyn, who was playing his first match of this IPL, and kicked into high gear with three fours off Praveen Kumar in the fourth over. Spin didn’t stem the run-flow either as Warner cut and pulled Suresh Raina to the boundary. The Sunrisers captain brought up his half-century in 29 balls, by which time his team needed less than a run a ball for victory.Dhawan took the opportunity to bide his time and recover some of his form. He wasn’t always fluent, but a paddle sweep off Dwayne Bravo in the 12th over changed that. At one point 25 off 24, Dhawan completed his half-century in 40 balls and though he didn’t indulge in much celebration, he did so a couple of balls later. Warner sealed the victory with six overs to spare and time was ripe for a twirl of the ‘tache.That Lions were tied down, despite Raina’s 75 off 51, was Bhuvneshwar’s doing. He swung the new ball handsomely, as Aaron Finch found out in the first over when his stumps were splayed by an indipper, and when he couldn’t get movement through the air, his mixture of slower balls were hard to put away on a large outfield. Bhuvneshwar took three wickets in the final over of the Lions innings, including Raina’s, to cap Sunrisers’ strong comeback.Mustafizur Rahman played a hand in Lions’ slowdown as well. He was saved for the final six overs again and still gave away only one boundary – when Warner misfielded at long-on. The Bangladesh seamer finished with 1 for 19, the mystery of his cutters no closer to being solved. Sunrisers also benefited from part-time offspinner Deepak Hooda and left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma rushing through five overs and picking up two wickets.Lions, who had raced to 50 for 1 in the Powerplay, only managed 85 runs in the remaining 14 overs.Raina eased his way back to form, scoring his first T20 fifty in 31 innings. On display were his typical shots: lofted drives on the bent knee, firm pushes through cover and wristy flicks off the pads. But the other Lions batsmen struggled for timing. McCullum mis-hit a slog sweep to deep midwicket and fell for 18 off 17 balls, Dinesh Karthik was dismissed for 8 off a full toss and Dwayne Bravo, also on 8, picked out deep square leg after being deceived by a slower ball. Bhuvneshwar’s triple-strike in the final over meant Lions lost seven wickets for 79 runs, and slipped to their first defeat.

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir has been granted a UK visa and will travel with the team on June 18 on their tour of England and Ireland, the PCB announced on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jun-20161:02

Mohammad Amir set to play Tests again

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir has been granted a UK visa and will travel with the team on June 18 for their tour of England and Ireland, the PCB announced on Thursday.Amir was picked in Pakistan’s 17-member squad for a four-Test series, which starts at Lord’s from July 14. But there had been concerns whether he would be granted a UK visa after his involvement in the 2010 spot-fixing case, for which he was given a six-month jail sentence in England and a five-year suspension from the ICC.The PCB had filed an application for Amir’s visa on May 20 and was confident of an approval, which eventually came after 21 days; his application was also supported by the ECB. Amir had earlier applied for a UK visa in a personal capacity in 2014, but his request was rejected.Amir is likely to make his Test comeback in the first match at Lord’s, where the spot-fixing scandal occurred in August 2010. The bowler, on his first tour of England at the time, was the highest wicket-taker for Pakistan in the four-Test series, with 19 wickets at an average of 18.36. He also shared the Player-of-the-Series award with Jonathan Trott. In the preceding MCC Spirit of Cricket Series, Amir took 11 wickets in two matches against Australia.Both England captain Alastair Cook and fast bowler Stuart Broad said they had no issues with Amir’s selection in the Pakistan Test team. “Amir has served his time, he was punished for what he did and quite rightly so because we have to protect the integrity of the game,” Cook said. “But I have no problems in playing against him at all.Broad praised the skill Amir had shown in 2010. “I think he’s served his time and the ICC have got their guidelines to what the punishments are for certain crimes and people have their opinion on that,” he said. “At the end of the day as an England team to win a Test series like that is a brilliant feeling and you want to play against the best possible team you can and for quality of bowler I don’t think there is much doubt that he is up there with anyone.”I’ve not played him for six years but in 2010 he was a constant threat and he was Man of the Series I think. It swung round corners for him.”

Australia’s stand-in coach Justin Langer believes Matthew Wade could become the best wicketkeeper in the country if he was to follow the hard work ethic of predecessors Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist

Brydon Coverdale28-Jun-20161:33

Langer backs Wade to become the best

Australia’s stand-in coach Justin Langer believes Matthew Wade could become the best wicketkeeper in the country if he was to follow the hard work ethic of predecessors Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist. Wade was key to Australia’s win in the tri-series final against West Indies thanks to his unbeaten 57 from 52 balls, and Langer said his batting form at practice was outstanding throughout the tour.However, Wade’s glovework has rarely matched the sharpness of previous Australia wicketkeepers such as Healy and Gilchrist, and earlier in the tri-series Wade himself nominated Peter Nevill as the best gloveman in Australia. Earlier this year, the selectors chose Test wicketkeeper Nevill ahead of Wade in the squad for the World T20 in India, leaving ODIs as the only format in which Wade is the incumbent.Wade has played 12 Tests and was the first-choice Test wicketkeeper during 2012 and early 2013, until the selectors went back to Brad Haddin for the Ashes campaign in England. Now 28, Wade’s international future appears more likely to be in the shorter formats with Nevill well established in the Test side, but Langer said there was no reason Wade could not push his case for a recall.”What often happens is you only highlight the mistakes,” Langer said. “But you don’t notice him very often and that’s a really good sign. My advice to him, I was very lucky to play with Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist and they always had the best work ethic of anyone in the squad, so if he just continues to work hard there’s no reason [he can’t improve].”I heard him say a couple of weeks ago Peter Nevill is obviously the best wicketkeeper in Australia. Well, I’d like to think Matthew Wade is aspiring to be the best wicketkeeper in Australia. He’s in the one-day side, if he works hard, if he has a Healy and Gilchrist work ethic, then there’s no reason why he can’t be the best wicketkeeper in Australia. But that’s up to him if he really wants to work at that.”During the tri-series, Wade spilled a one-handed chance that allowed Marlon Samuels to go on and score a century, but, after Australia’s win in the final, captain Steven Smith acknowledged that the pitches in the West Indies made it a tough place to keep wicket.”It has been difficult,” Smith said. “He’s missed a couple of opportunities but it is a tough place to keep. There’s lots of balls that were bouncing before him and the ball was reversing and doing a bit. It is a difficult place to keep.”Wade’s batting has always been a plus at the selection table, with two centuries from his 12 Tests and an average of a touch under 40 in first-class cricket. His innings in the tri-series final earned high praise from Langer, who was coaching the side in this tournament due to the absence of Darren Lehmann.”He showed maturity, he’s the captain of Victoria at the moment,” Langer said. “He showed really good leadership and he batted very well. A big innings under pressure, that’s when you earn respect from your team-mates, that’s when you earn respect from the selectors, that’s when you earn respect from the public and the media.”

Offspinning allrounder Ramith Rambukwella has been called up to Sri Lanka’s squad for the T20 against England on Tuesday, team management has confirmed

Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Jul-2016Offspinning allrounder Ramith Rambukwella has been called up to Sri Lanka’s squad for the T20 against England on Tuesday, team management has confirmed. Batsman Upul Tharanga has left the side, but the remainder of Sri Lanka’s ODI squad will stay for the T20.Rambukwella, who was in the UK with the Sri Lanka A team, had played one T20I against New Zealand in 2013, taking 1 for 19 from four overs. He has since been out of Sri Lanka’s T20 squads, but was recalled by the selection committee led by Sanath Jayasuriya, who had also been chief selector during Rambukwella’s previous entry to the national side.In 40 T20 matches, Rambukwella averages 18.04 and strikes at 154 with the bat, and has 36 wickets and an economy rate of 6.71. He hit 141 runs and claimed seven wickets in eight matches during SLC’s club-based T20 tournament this year, but was significantly less effective in the provincial T20 tournament.Left-arm spinning allrounder Milinda Siriwardana, who was part of Sri Lanka’s World T20 squad, was the most notable absence from this T20 squad – though he had already returned to Sri Lanka ahead of the ODIs.

Half-centuries from Mohammad Shahzad and Najibullah Zadran set the base for Afghanistan’s 39-run win in the second ODI against Ireland at Stormont in Belfast on Tuesday

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Mohammad Shahzad, who top scored for Afghanistan, hit eight fours and a six in his 79-ball 66•Peter Della Penna/ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Half-centuries from Mohammad Shahzad and Najibullah Zadran set the base for Afghanistan’s 39-run win in the second ODI against Ireland in Belfast on Tuesday.Afghanistan, who were bowled out for 250 after being sent in to bat, overcame Ireland’s solid start to the chase – openers William Porterfield and Ed Joyce added 71 – to spin the hosts out. Rashid Khan, the legspinner, finished with 3 for 28, while offspinner Mohammad Nabi claimed 3 for 45 as Ireland were bowled out for 211 in 48.2 overs. That meant Afghanistan took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series which started with a washout.As many as seven Afghanistan batsmen got into double digits but most could not kick on. Shahzad, the opener, top scored with 66. The visitors, who were cruising at 76 without loss, slipped to 125 for 4, before being rescued by 70-run stand between Najibullah Zadran and Samiullah Shenwari. Zadran smashed six fours and two sixes in his 61-ball knock, before Barry McCarthy, the medium pacer, polished off the tail to finish with 4 for 59 – his best figures so far in his fledgling ODI career. Kevin O’Brien also chipped in with four wickets.Ireland were on course as Joyce brought up a half-century. Then, medium pacer Mirwais Ashraf’s two wickets in the space of four deliveries in the 27th over stalled the chase. O’Brien kept Ireland in the game with a 27-ball 35, but the escalating asking rate meant escalated pressure too, which the hosts could not withstand. O’Brien was fifth man out, before Ireland’s last five wickets fell for 22.The third ODI will also be played at the same venue on Thursday.

Sam Heazlett, David Grant and David Moody shone on their List A debuts as Australia’s National Performance Squad prevailed over South Africa A by 17 runs in the first game of the Quadrangular A-Team One-Day Series

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Aug-2016
ScorecardFile photo: Sam Heazlett’s century on List A debut set up the National Performance squad’s 17-run win over South Africa A•Getty Images

Sam Heazlett, David Grant and David Moody shone on their List A debuts as Australia’s National Performance Squad (NPS) prevailed over South Africa A by 17 runs in the first game of the Quadrangular A-Team One-Day Series.Heazlett struck 101 off 87 balls to steer NPS to 8 for 243 after they were asked to bat at the Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville. Grant (4 for 31) and Moody (3 for 44) then ran through South Africa’s batting order to bowl them out for 226 in 48.4 overs.Heazlett had walked in at the fall of the first wicket when Caleb Jewell was dismissed for 20, after he had added 43 for the opening wicket with Hilton Cartwright. Thereafter, it was a Heazlett show all along. Right-arm pacer Andile Phehlukwayo’s double-strike in the 16th over reduced NPS to 3 for 57, before Heazlett partially steadied the innings through a 49-run fourth-wicket stand with Matthew Short. Heazlett’s second significant stand of the match came with Arjun Nair, with whom he added 91 for the sixth wicket. Heazlett was run out with 33 balls remaining, but captain Sean Abbott’s cameo ensured a decent finish to the NPS innings.South Africa A’s bowlers shared the wickets equally. Phehlukwayo and Aaron Phangiso took two wickets each, while Dane Paterson, Sisanda Magala and Qaasim Adams took a wicket apiece.Adams came good with the bat too, but waged a lone battle. Captain Heino Kuhn had ground it out for 47 balls for his 28, but when he fell, South Africa A were on the mat at 5 for 71. That would soon become 7 for 88. Adams and Magala combined for a 99-run stand for the eighth wicket to give their side a brief passage of cheer, until both batsmen were dismissed in the space of 10 deliveries. Adams had made 78 off 83, with seven fours and three sixes, while Magala’s 59-ball 35 was laced with three fours. Thereafter, brief contributions from Phangiso and Paterson, South Africa A’s Nos. 10 and 11, took them closer, but not close enough.The second match of the series will take place on Sunday when Australia A take on India A at the same venue.

Hampshire were relegated as Scott Borthwick and Mark Stoneman – both bound for Surrey – left Durham with a victory farewell at the Ageas Bowl

Will Macpherson at the Ageas Bowl23-Sep-2016
ScorecardScott Borthwick left Durham with a departing gift•Getty Images

For Hampshire, the equation was simple, but the task was not. They had 78 overs to take 10 Durham wickets, but managed just four. As a result, they will play their cricket in Division Two in 2017.The Ageas Bowl pitch, spitting and spiteful on day one, had not deteriorated enough, and Durham’s departees Mark Stoneman and Scott Borthwick signed off in style, with 137 and 88 respectively, in a simple six-wicket win.In the latter part of this partnership, the remaining Hampshire fans – so full of optimism after an outstanding opening day – were thumbing their Who’s Whos and their Playfairs researching which of the second tier’s delicious outgrounds (will we get Arundel? Or Tunbridge Wells? Or even Cheltenham?) they could visit next year, and trying to work out how a 10-team Division Two will even work.Either way, they will be back: “See you in spring,” they said on the final shirt-sleeve day of the summer, and off they went, having been wished a Happy Christmas by the ground announcer. What a world.How Hampshire toiled, but to no avail. They began the year unable to score runs, and end it still beset by injuries and still struggling to take 20 wickets. Mason Crane took the only wicket of consequence, Keaton Jennings’ famous season ending trapped plumb in front by a turner, before Stoneman and Borthwick bedded in to add 162.There were chances, but they were hardly clearcut: lbw appeals turned down, and edges not finding the men round the bat, while Stoneman twice – to reach 50, then on 67 – drove millimetres over James Vince’s head peddling back from mid-off. The pair’s method was to bat time and frustrate Hampshire, and slowly but surely Hampshire’s vim and vigour evaporated.Eventually Stoneman, having cut and driven beautifully, and swept the spinners – both reverse and orthodox – gloved Liam Dawson to short-leg, before Graham Clark, skipping down and stumped, then Borthwick lbw, both fell to Crane with the finishing line in sight. Ben Stokes and Paul Collingwood – who else? – were on hand to finish the job off.Surrey-bound Stoneman and Borthwick have both received abuse for their decisions to leave. Watching them accumulate steadily but stylishly must have been a slightly melancholic experience for Durham fans, purely serving as a reminder of quite how much they will be missed, even if Clark and Michael Richardson enjoyed fine games. They take 27 Durham centuries with them, and four consecutive seasons of more than 1,000 runs each. Having enjoyed a farewell dinner on the second evening, they sang the team song one final time.”It was a little bit emotional,” said Borthwick, “I knew it would be, especially if we won and sung the song. It’s been a fantastic game of cricket for four days, and it was a nice send-off. We needed a good partnership and it was good that it was me and Mark doing it, it was a nice way to finish my career with Durham.”I’m sad because I’m leaving the club I have loved and played for since the age of 10 but it’s a new challenge, I’m excited for. It’s not just team-mates that I’m leaving behind but my best mates, and even the coaching staff are great friends. That said, it’s really exciting to have a new chapter and Durham have some top players coming through.”Oddly, Hampshire’s future – personnel-wise, at least – is a touch more certain. This season has seen the emergence of Lewis McManus, whose excellent 67 set up the target Durham knocked off, Brad Wheal – who has an excellent short ball – and the classy top order bat Tom Alsop, as well as the continued development of Crane. A decent squad remains – if a touch light on bowling, although Reece Topley, the 12th man here, should help that – and an immediate return to the top flight seems likely.”If we had taken early wickets today we might have been able to put them under pressure,” said the director of cricket, Giles White. “But they played with a lot of skill and a bit of luck and the breakthrough didn’t come until it was almost too late.”We’ve got a good group of players and a very good spirit. We’ve had a difficult season and maybe not coped with the injuries as well as we might have done. We’ve got four really good young players and we decided to go that route. We want to bring through our own players and surround them with quality. Those four are a major positive. If the story had been different they may not have played as much.”Ultimately, however, there have been too many injuries, and too much incident to overcome: it seems no coincidence that both relegated sides have seen a key player suffer life-threatening illness (Michael Carberry for Hampshire and James Taylor for Notts). These are occurrences that shake dressing rooms. For Hampshire’s there’s been more still, in the death of prospect Hamza Ali, and the comparatively trivial departure of coach Dale Benkenstein.”The dressing room is very disappointed, deflated,” said White. “It’s very tough on the players. They’ve had a pretty tough year. It’s been exhausting for them. We’ll let the dust settle and go again.”

The Delhi ODI was decided in the final over, the differentiating factor being which team could pull off the basics better under pressure. By the smallest margin, it was New Zealand

The Report by Alagappan Muthu20-Oct-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:48

Agarkar: India self-destructed on the night

India would not have expected a target of 243 to trouble them. But it did. Their top order tends to finish games off. Not this time. That left the job to MS Dhoni and a set of batsmen not accustomed to finishing an innings. New Zealand exploited that weakness to pull off a six-run victory and level the five-match series at 1-1.It was a chaotic scrap at the finish, which brought a noisy crowd at the Feroz Shah Kotla to their feet. India were 172 for 6 – and the man dismissed was the captain, who was also their best option against an equation of 71 runs in 63 balls. Then a goofy over from Martin Guptill – four wides, ten balls, and two wickets – brought Hardik Pandya front and centre for the second match in a row.In Dharamsala, he offered a glimpse at his utility as a new-ball bowler. In Delhi, he suggested he has promise as a man who could come in late and stay sensible under pressure. He wrestled an equation of 48 off 36 balls down to 11 off eight. India had two wickets left.In that time, New Zealand’s disciplines were taking a beating. It was the final overs of the innings, but they did not look for the blockhole. Most of their success was a result of the fast bowlers hitting back of a length on a pitch that was slow and holding up, meaning neither using the pace nor forcing it was a good idea.The problem was, late into the night, the dew started to take effect. That meant it got a little easier to hit the ball through the line. It also meant New Zealand’s fielders, who were simply remarkable, were suddenly slipping all over the place. It was the kind of situation – with things starting to turn at the worst possible time – that could have broken anyone’s resolve. If only for the fact that the opposition’s ninth-wicket partnership racked up 49 at a run-a-ball.But that’s when the big players stand up. On came Trent Boult – back in the XI after a rest – and he conceded only six runs in the penultimate over and also got rid of Pandya. Tim Southee sealed India’s fate with a yorker.Kane Williamson played a vital part to his team’s revival as well, scoring New Zealand’s first century on the tour. He came to the crease in the first over and did not budge until the 43rd. By that time he had 118 runs off 128 balls. It was the best innings of the day, and perhaps along the way he understood that runs on the board was not a bad place to be.Besides the fact that New Zealand has been unable to win a single match on tour – they have struggled to win tosses too – plenty of challenges came Williamson’s way. Not least of which was his own body refusing to cooperate. He began cramping up in the Delhi heat – and it became contagious. His left forearm caught it first, then his right, and at one point he couldn’t even lift a bottle to drink. But when play resumed, he smacked Pandya over his head to the long-on boundary.He picked 65 of his runs in the arc between backward square leg and wide mid-on, which in the early part of the innings, was usually only manned by one or two men. His first boundary came through midwicket which was left vacant, punishment for Umesh Yadav straying too straight with a 7-2 offside field. His first, and only, six of the innings exemplified how well he knew the field. Mid-on had been up. He danced down and lofted Patel over his head in the 13th over. When Patel was taken off and Mishra was brought on, Williamson cut and flicked the bowler for boundaries to make sure India’s spinners couldn’t threaten him or his team-mates.Tim Southee had Jasprit Bumrah bowled in the last over to seal New Zealand’s win•BCCI

In the field, Williamson had to make sure India’s batsmen didn’t bully his bowlers. And he received some unexpected help in this regard.Rohit Sharma was caught behind for 15 off Boult, who had strung back-to-back maidens before the breakthrough. Four overs later, Virat Kohli was caught behind off a silly old delivery down leg. The chase had come alive for New Zealand.India’s 40 for 2 became 73 for 4 after two grand fielding efforts.Corey Anderson, prowling on the long leg boundary, tracked down a pull from Ajinkya Rahane and dived forward to complete a low catch. India would have felt aggrieved at the decision though, because the on-field umpires referred it to the third umpire, and informed him via soft signal that they thought it was out. Despite plenty of replays – some angles suggesting the ball had bounced up into Anderson’s hands, others indicated the fielder could have had his hands under the ball and it bounced on his fingers into his palm – there was no conclusive evidence to overrule that call. And so C Shamshuddin had to send Rahane on his way for 28 off 49.Manish Pandey was run out by the combination of a sharp throw from Mitchell Santner and a phenomenal collection from Luke Ronchi to break the stumps.Then came the coup de grâce. Southee, coming back for a third spell, got a ball to stop on Dhoni. A push down the ground for a single became a catching opportunity. A very difficult one. Southee had to dive to his right – against the direction of his followthrough – and get low to have a chance. He kept his eyes on the ball, the slow motion pictures highlight his concentration as he stuck one hand out and came away with one of the biggest match-changing moments in the day.While these were spectacular displays, doing the little things right was equally beneficial for New Zealand. They bowled out their spinners in the middle overs; Santner, costing less than five runs an over, was done by the 39th and part-timer Anton Devcich, bowling left-arm sliders with the seam pointed upright more often than not, bowled nine overs for only 48 runs. Not a bad day’s work after two years’ absence from ODI cricket.Williamson was comfortable using them for three reasons – they were accurate, the dew took time to set in, and India couldn’t attack either bowler. Their top order had failed and even with a set Dhoni at the crease, the target was too far away.India were 139 for 5 in the 32nd over. They tried to take it deep. They wanted to see if New Zealand would break at the end. But that was when the batsmen were worse off. India themselves had exploited that when they bowled, giving away only one boundary in the last 10 overs. It was early on that run-making was easy, as exemplified by the 120-run partnership between Williamson and Tom Latham, who made 46 in as many balls.There remains a couple of concerns for New Zealand. Guptill bagged a duck and Ross Taylor made a painful 21 off 42, worked over so completely that it seemed like the ball had a restraining order against the middle of his bat. But little would make this win – their first on the tour and one so richly earned – taste sour.