Moments like these can be emblematic of a wider struggle. In 2010,Simon Katich was run out by Jonathan Trott in the first over of an Ashes Test,foreshadowing a hefty match and series defeat for Australia.
Six years later,Callum Ferguson’s sole Test was characterised by his own horrid run out,as his brother threw his hat on the ground in the stands in sheer frustration. Australia’s stranglehold of this match,after they had slipped to 6-176 on day one,left past players on both sides to wonder at the bigger factors at play.
“I think it is the big brother/little brother scenario,” former opener Mark Richardson said on TVNZ. “I think we respect Australian cricket,we know how good it is,but it’s that rivalry where you desperately want to do well,and there’s an element of pedestaling and an element of intimidation.
“Maybe if people are going to be really honest with themselves,just a little bit of lack of belief as well. Those things happen when you’re being smothered,and you’re backed into a corner,and a side is all over you.
“You look at really good English sides who’ve come to New Zealand,really good Indian sides who have probably recently had really good records against Australia and beaten Australia. We will look them in the eye and compete against them,and do some great stuff. Then Australia will come here and we just always seem to take a backward step.”
More backward steps followed Williamson’s. Rachin Ravindra drove loosely at Hazlewood and sliced to backward point. Daryl Mitchell pulled a boundary,noted the placement of a deep square leg next ball,and duly edged Pat Cummins as he tried to find a gap on the off side. And Young finished a dispiriting day by tickling Mitch Marsh down the leg side.
At 5-29 a tally of 42,matching New Zealand’s lowest Test total against Australia,looked possible. But with such a yawning gap between the teams,Glenn Phillips (71) and Tom Blundell found enough room to counterpunch in a stand worth 84 in 86 balls.
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Just when they were getting established,however,Nathan Lyon (4-43) had a say. Blundell succumbed to bat pad,and then two balls later Scott Kuggeleijn clipped brainlessly to deep midwicket.
As he had done with the ball,Matt Henry showed rather more presence of mind in his own attack on Lyon,and fashioned another impish stand with Phillips before the innings petered out. Bowling again,a couple of wickets gave New Zealand some faint hope.
But when nightwatcher Lyon edged Henry’s last ball of the day straight to Southee,the captain put it down. Southee’s glum expression recalled Williamson’s after his cataclysmic exit,and the psychological hole the day exposed.
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