After coming to terms with the heavy defeat against Australia Dean Brownlie is a definite positive to come from the first Test.
The Aussie-born New Zealander played just his second match for the national side last week, but looked at home at the crease on his way to an unbeaten 77 in the first innings and the top score of 42 in the second. Such success is a far cry from where Brownlie was positioned not so long ago.
“It’s amazing, two years ago I was playing club cricket in Christchurch, and never thought I’d be at the Gabba playing Test cricket,” said Brownlie.
With New Zealand 96 for five, Brownlie steadied the ship along with Daniel Vettori, steering the BLACKCAPS back to the respectable total of 295. Brownlie admitted he was happy with his start on the International stage.
“Overall I was quite happy. I just try to stick to what I do and what I do for Canterbury and it seemed to pay off. Obviously I went in with a game plan and tried to stick to it as much as I could.”
While Brownlie’s performance was admirable, many of his team mates were not and that fact hasn’t been lost on Coach John Wright. Brownlie conceded that a few “home truths” had been shared at a team meeting and now they were just focussed on moving forward from the disappointment of Brisbane.
Not only will he have all of New Zealand behind him at Hobart, but his father and friends as well, who have travelled over to Tasmania for the second Test.
Let’s hope that he finds some support from the rest of the team as well and we get to see a better performance than we did in the first test.
