Every Test match is a story waiting to be written, the plot unknown by its protagonists until the end.
While the historic day/night Test that awaits the BLACKCAPS and Australia in Adelaide on Friday is a cricketing world first, it’s also the same as any other Test match in that regard, says Martin Guptill.
“You’ve just got to get on with it and do the best you can.”
The BLACKCAPS’ lithe opening batsman was hitting it beautifully overnight as the touring team relished the chance to have extra batting time in the middle in Perth, against a Western Australia XI as their final pink ball practice match.
The two-day tour match put the final touches on specific preparation for the unique aspects of the upcoming third Test, following earlier pink ball “trials” in Hamilton and the practice match in Canberra earlier on this tour.
Guptill retired on 103 not out from 109 balls in the latest workout in Perth, having smote the pink ball for a couple of clean sixes en route. The BLACKCAPS made 426 from 90 overs.
BJ Watling also chalked up an unbeaten 84 while Brendon McCullum smashed 49 from just 28 deliveries in a match where it had been agreed between the teams that the BLACKCAPS would bat their full allotment of overs.
“It was useful,” he says. “All the batters got a little bit out of today, spent some time in the middle and that’s going to work well for us going forward. Roscoe [Ross Taylor] wanted to bat under lights, and he got that tonight. It was just nice to spend a bit of time in the middle, get a few out of the middle of the bat and I’m looking forward to getting into it some more this week in training.”
As for any unknowns about what the teams might experience at Adelaide Oval in whites under lights, Guptill reiterates that they “just have to deal with it. It’s nothing we can control, so we have to get on with it and we’re just looking forward to getting into it.
“We’ll get some feedback off those blokes who batted against the new ball tonight, and then put our plans in place heading into the Test match. In the field, yeah, sometimes it can be difficult to pick up — but sometimes the red ball is as well. So you’ve got to try and pick it up as well as you can.”
