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Did that just top the 1-run win over England as far as thrilling climaxes go?
With one ball left, the scores tied and the Black Caps needing to somehow scramble a run to win – and with the Hagley Oval lights having just been turned on (better late than never) – Asitha Fernando bowled a beautifully directed short ball that centurion Kane Williamson could not get bat on.
Injured non-striker Neil Wagner took off for the bye, as Niroshan Dickwella collected the ball and took aim at the striker’s end. He missed by the narrowest of margins, and Wagner would have been out had he hit.
Joe Allison/Getty Images
Kane Williamson makes his ground on the final ball.
“I just put my head down and (went),” said Wagner, in describing sprinting for the final bye with a torn hamstring and bugling disc in back.
But it wasn’t over.
Fernando collected the ball and turned and fired at the non-striker’s end with Williamson scrambling to make his ground. The former skipper pulled out a huge dive, and he needed to as Fernando hit the stumps directly.
It had to be referred, and Williamson’s dive won the day, the Black Caps winning the test by two wickets, the second in a row to be decided in the most thrilling of circumstances, following their victory over England.
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