BLACKCAPS In Australia. Second Test. WACA. Day Two.
What are you doing today bro? Well Kane Williamson's batting so...
I ended my day one diary entry with "at least we'll get to watch Kane face the Aussie fire ... right?" and Kane Williamson delivered. A much improved bowling display saw David Warner nick out and Australia then decided to have a whack as they tried to advance the game quickly.
Shots were played, opportunities presented and wickets were taken.
After the first six days of this Test series, you could be forgiven for expecting the Australian tail to wag their way above 600 runs. The BLACKCAPS bowlers did their job, yet Steve Smith still kept the upper hand by declaring, thus sending the kiwi openers to the crease on his terms.
Guppy got a peach .../a signature Mitchell Starc pitch. Full, swinging into the right-hander and hitting Guppy on his pad, smack-bang in front of leg-stump.
As we came to see; losing an early wicket isn't as bad as it was before Kane Williamson appeared as a BLACKCAPS no.3. Williamson was glorious as he stroked the ball to the off-side boundary on the front and back foot while also pouncing on any short deliveries that didn't force Prince Kane to evade ... which he'd do with ease.
Prince Kane is 70 not out, in prime position to go big and possibly pass his highest Test score of 242*.
I didn't find the work of Tom Latham as interesting or enjoyable as Williamson's innings, although Latham continues to impress as an opener in Test cricket. Latham once again got a start before going back and nicking a low catch to Steve Smith against a sharp-turning delivery from Nathan Lyon. Getting a start and then getting out without a 50 or hundy is always a bummer but Latham doesn't look too far away from a big score and having him bat some time, face 85 deliveries and see off the new ball is very handy.
Latham has looked like our second best batsmen so far this series which for a kiwi opener, is great.
The day ended with Williamson and Ross Taylor not out, setting up a crucial day three. These two will need to start again and re-establish themselves at the crease, which given the quality of both Williamson and Taylor will result in runs.
Williamson scores runs for fun and when Taylor is not already back in the changing shed he is a stroke-player of the highest quality. Taylor busted out the slog-sweep early in his innings and I saw this as a great sign with Taylor eager not to get bogged down, determined to be the aggressor. If Taylor is feeling good, the runs could flow and we'll see how Australia respond to chasing the leather.
Or Australia could get an early wicket and then another and we'll be right where we have spent most of this series; on the back foot being bossed around.