A four-pronged seam attack on a green-tinged Seddon Park pitch. An apparently stubborn South Africa hoping to avoid a first Test series defeat to New Zealand by electing to bat first. A romantic may have assumed the stage was set for either Test debutant Will O’Rourke or Neil Wagner, a man at the other end of his career, to star.
Instead, it was spinner Rachin Ravindra who stole the show.
The 24-year-old sure is making a habit of it. After scoring 240 at Mount Maunganui last week in only his fourth Test, the left armer did it with a controlled spell of bowling after lunch that the Proteas found difficult to cope with.
His figures of 21 overs, eight maidens, 3-33 tell a story, but probably not the full one.
After leaving fellow spinner Mitch Santner out of the XI in favour of O’Rourke, 22, and Neil Wagner, 38, a man who may be playing in his final Test, the Black Caps went into the first day of the second Test clearly believing that the quicker bowlers would profit when it was Ravindra who took home the spoils.
His success may have given the selectors cause to wonder whether they got the mix right but none of the bowlers performed poorly, and indeed some, including skipper Tim Southee, probably deserved more success.
It was just that Ravindra’s length and drift from the breeze coming across the ground as he bowled towards the pavilion end posed South Africa’s batters more difficulty than they were perhaps expecting.
No one could accuse the tourists, thrashed by 281 runs in the first Test at Bay Oval, of being reckless.
It has been four years since the cadence and rhythms of Test cricket have featured in the heart of Hamilton and watching the dead bats offered by the likes of Zubayr Hamza (20 runs off 99 balls), was like a journey back in time.
They didn’t score quickly before lunch – Matt Henry getting opener Clyde Fortuin with the first ball of the second over of the match, O’Rourke celebrating his first Test wicket after trapping skipper Neil Brand in front halfway through the session and Raynard van Tander guiding Wagner to Tom Latham at slip to be 64-3 at the break – but afterwards they took caution to a new level.
It took them 46 overs and 202 minutes to bring up 100 runs and at one point it took them 10 overs to score seven runs. Their run rate for the day was 2.47.
The crowd of probably several hundred settled in under the sun on the grassy banks after lunch with probably only the thought of Wagner’s return and the associated fireworks preventing them from dozing off.
Wagner took 1-7 off his six overs before lunch and his impending clash with David Bedingham — who was happy to take on the short-pitched stuff in his second innings score of 87 at Bay Oval — was an increasingly attractive proposition.
Up stepped Ravindra, who took Hamza - who appeared to become bored with the nature of his batting and lashed out – spooning up a catch to Santner on as a substitute fielder on the off side.
Next to go, in Ravindra’s next over, was Keegan Peterson, dismissed for two off six balls after defending hard at one outside off stump and caught at slip by Southee.
He has youth on his side, yes, but he appeared to be tiring when he got his third wicket with the sixth ball of his 14th over and it contained an element of fortune, Bedingham (39) hitting on to his own left foot and straight to Will Young, batting under a helmet at short leg.
It goes without saying that Ravindra’s success bodes well for the two-Test series against Australia, but it’s probably worth mentioning that tall quick Kyle Jamieson — left out of the XI due to “back soreness” according to the Black Caps — appeared fit and well on the sidelines if his bursts on to the field to offer drinks and towels to his teammates were any indication.
An equally likely explanation is that Jamieson is being put on ice for that series against the full-strength Aussies in Wellington and Christchurch.
Perhaps — after leaving out Daryl Mitchell, replaced by Will Young, due to a foot injury — New Zealand didn’t want to offend the tourists or offer any extra motivation to do what they did in Christchurch two years ago and win the second Test to draw the series.
South Africa, 220-6 at stumps, have a long and increasingly difficult road ahead if they are to win this Test and repeat that success.
It was New Zealand's, and Ravindra's, day again.
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