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Day two, second test, Basin Reserve: New Zealand 580-4 declared (Kane Williamson 215, Henry Nicholls 200 not out, Devon Conway 78) versus Sri Lanka 26-2.
While everyone was calling for Henry Nicholls to be dropped, it was the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper who actually did it.
Had debutant Nishan Madushka snared a simple chance on Friday, the test career of Nicholls could have ended in Wellington.
Instead, the Black Caps batter made his first test double century on Saturday as the hosts ended day two primed for a third consecutive test win.
Nicholls was 200 not out when New Zealand captain Tim Southee declared the innings closed at 580-4 as he and Kane Williamson (215) became the first New Zealand test batters to score a double century each in the same innings. They also combined to register the fifth-best run-scoring partnership (363 for the third wicket) in this country’s test cricket history.
READ MORE:
* Recap: Black Caps vs Sri Lanka – second test in Wellington, day 2
* Kane Williamson loves the romance of test cricket
* Black Caps vs Sri Lanka: Devon Conway defies the gale, bowlers all shook up
* Black Caps defy Sri Lanka’s bowlers on day one of second test at Basin Reserve
At stumps, Sri Lanka were 26-2 in reply after Matt Henry struck first before Doug Bracewell’s test return got off to a wonderful start courtesy of a fantastic leaping catch by Devon Conway.
The left-hander entered the test under a glaring spotlight, fuelled by a year without even a half-century. Had he failed again – in what now may be New Zealand’s only innings of the test – he would have been hard-pressed to keep his spot for the next test series, against Bangladesh in November/December, with a new head of selection in place and most likely a new coach.
Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Henry Nicholls of New Zealand celebrates his double century during day two of the second test against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.
The 31-year-old only had seven runs on day one when he played an awful slash at a delivery from Kasun Rajitha which Madushka should have comfortably snared. But the newcomer – in the team after keeper Niroshan Dickwella dropped Williamson during his match-winning knock in Christchurch – was painfully slow to react and missed with his left glove.
Nicholls also had some scratchy moments on Saturday when in his 60s against Kasun Rajitha and was dropped again from an easy caught and bowled opportunity by spinner Dhananjaya de Silva when on 92, pushing off the back foot.
He recovered to draw level with former long-time captain Stephen Fleming with his ninth test century.
Only seven players have scored most test centuries for New Zealand in tests – Williamson (28), Ross Taylor (19), Martin Crowe (17), Tom Latham (13), John Wright and Brendon McCullum (12) and Nathan Astle (11).
“The group’s been great and I really feel that that support and I think it’s a funny game like that,” Nicholls said after stumps.
“It was just … keep trusting that I had done it before, but also knowing that obviously you want to contribute and trusting that will happen. Obviously, it hadn’t happened as much as I would have liked in the last period.”
It was a similar scenario to how Nicholls fared when under pressure of losing his place in the side more than two years ago.
Before the December 2020 test versus the West Indies in the capital, Nicholls had gone 13 innings without a fifty.
New Zealand were sent in to bat and Nicholls walked in with the score 78-3. He was lucky to survive to a skied pull shot on two, was dropped on 21, there was a missed chance on 29, and he was dropped twice on 47 before making 174 – his highest test score until Saturday.
Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Henry Nicholls took just 67 balls to move from 100 to 200 on Saturday afternoon.
“In the last couple of tests at times, I’ve felt like I had really good rhythm,” Nicholls said.
”Against England here, a couple of thirties and actually feeling like, you know, that’s how I want to play. That’s the tough thing over a period of time when you don’t … contribute as much as I’d like, is trusting that it’s just a case of doing it for a bit longer, knowing that the blueprints there.”
Nicholls made his test debut at the Basin Reserve in 2016 and scored a second-innings half-century against Australia, but still had his doubters after taking his test appearances into double figures before his maiden ton versus South Africa at the Basin in March 2017.
He made four centuries in a nine-test spell between March 2018 and March 2019 before the lean trot which ended with that critical ton against the Windies.
Highest NZ test partnerships by runs
Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe 467 (3rd wicket) v Sri Lanka, Wellington, Jan 1991
Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis, 387 (1st wicket) v West Indies, Georgetown, Apr 1972
Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls 369 (4th wicket) v Pakistan, Christchurch, Jan 2021
Williamson and BJ Watling 365* (6th wicket) v Sri Lanka, Wellington, Jan 2015
Williamson and Nicholls, 363 (3rd wicket) v Sri Lanka, Wellington, Mar 2023
Brendon McCullum and Watling, 352 (6th wicket) v India, Wellington, Feb 2014
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