Team-mates BJ Watling and Jimmy Neesham recall their roles in a moment of NZ history
Vithushan Ehantharajah04-Dec-2024The Basin Reserve has a claim to being one of the best grounds in international cricket. But its immediate surroundings might be the most treacherous.Wellington’s topography, exacerbated by its famous earthquake of 1855, means vehicles basically sling-shot around the ground out of Sussex Street into Buckle Street, which wraps around its highest quarter. It is devilish to navigate both on wheels and foot, and at its most nefarious when the ground is closed to the public, as it was on Wednesday when England and New Zealand trained ahead of the second Test, which begins on Friday.But when the cricket is on, and that same public is enticed in while road users are discouraged, it is at its safest. On February 18, 2014, it was a haven.Related
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The foyer of the Cricket Wellington building at the entrance to the ground houses a basic collage of that day: wooden frame, photos, cutouts, captions and headlines like “The game that stopped a nation”. Fitting for day when the traffic was non-existent, but low-key for New Zealand’s first Test triple century – one that had spectators queueing right around the ground, dominating the roads outright.This year marks a decade since England’s Test head coach Brendon McCullum became the first Black Cap to breach three hundred. All of his numbers are remarkable in their own right; 302 runs off 559 balls, and 775 minutes spent at the crease. He arrived when New Zealand were 52 for 3 in their second innings, after India had posted 438 to take a 246-run lead. They would emerge 242 ahead, eventually into a draw for a memorable series victory (McCullum had helped win the first Test with 224). As captain, no less.
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“Is it bad that I remember him getting dropped by Virat?” Jimmy Neesham recalls to ESPNcricinfo.On nine (from 32 deliveries), McCullum mis-timed a drive that was shelled by Virat Kohli at short mid-on. That would have made it 78 for 4, and an epic would have been terminated before conception. “And then I had the pads on for a day and a half.”Neesham, on debut, was carded at No. 8. And when Tom Latham and Corey Anderson fell either side of lunch, he was ready to go for his second innings. Then came an eight-and-a-half-hour wait as the next man in. For that, he has BJ Watling to thank.Watling, after a duck in the first innings, and 1 and 11 in the first Test, offered McCullum invaluable resistance. The pair shared 741 deliveries, eventually putting on 352. At the time it was a record for the sixth wicket.”The situation was really quite simple,” says Watling, with the matter-of-fact attitude that helps to explain how he was able to better it with a stand of 365 with Kane Williamson at the same ground a year later.”It was just a chance to dig in and ultimately see where that ends up. The fact that Baz kept going and going as well, you start to gain that confidence. You’re literally just going through each ball over time, each over, each session and seeing what unfolds.”When Watling arrived at the crease at 94 for 5 – India still 152 ahead – McCullum had already faced 72 deliveries for 19. He had also taken enough painkillers to down a rhino.McCullum greets fans at the Basin Reserve after his triple-century•AFPThe creaking back – it had been for some time – and a dodgy knee were now accompanied by a dicky left shoulder.”I think there might have been a hamstring strain, you know,” says Watling. “From Eden Park (first Test), chasing one of those balls to the boundary and flying over the rope, as Baz does. He certainly had a few niggles going on, but he certainly wasn’t one to make you terribly aware of it.”There was no tell of any impediment to McCullum. He ticked deliveries over, starting day three’s evening session on 44 from 138 deliveries. he was on 72 from 177 when the new ball arrived, and moved to his first hundred – sealed with a straight six off Ishant Sharma – just 20 deliveries later.The following day – New Zealand effectively resuming on 6 for 5 – McCullum and Watling kept at it, wearing maidens, striking the odd boundary, before somehow dealing in singles – and even the odd three. Watling eventually moved to his third Test century.”I made a slight adjustment for that Test match and bringing back a little pre-movement shuffle, to counter the bounce of Sharma,” he recalls. “I definitely wasn’t feeling comfortable.”But Baz’s nature is to play that attacking brand. He went up and down in tempo throughout. And the way he strikes it, the second new ball gets blunted, which allows us in 15 overs’ time to not having it swinging, bouncing or nipping as much. That makes my life easier.”If McCullum’s approach out in the middle belied the gravity and pressure of the situation, which he was slowly easing, so did the manner in which he carried himself at the intervals. In contrast to Watling.
“Coming in that day, everyone was there at 9am, lines out all around. I certainly haven’t seen that in my time. I’d hate to know the pressure Baz was under.”BJ Watling recalls the buzz around the Basin on the morning of the triple
“We’d come in at tea and lunch and, well, Baz ate a lot, but I certainly didn’t. I’d have a coffee and try and switch off before heading back out there. I’d have a little bit when keeping, but not much if I was going to be batting. Not great, I know – the nutritionist would have a heart attack.”One man who did not have that problem was Neesham: “I’ve never struggled eating. I think if you put me and BJ next to each other, you can probably guess which one doesn’t eat. I had a couple of ham-and-cheese toasties and whatnot up there.”Even though he hadn’t yet made it out to the middle, Neesham was still burning energy. “At the Basin, you have to go along underneath the stand and up through the staircase to the viewing area.”I’m trying to think how many times I must’ve made that walk, because you go downstairs to go to the toilet or whatever, and in sessions you go back down to the change-room and have tea or have lunch and go back up again. So I must’ve gone up and down those stairs about 15 times, with my pads on.”There was a fair bit of nervous energy as well. McCullum and Watling were easing Kiwi nerves with their stand, but Neesham remained on edge.”You don’t enjoy it when you’re next, and I don’t think there’s any batter in world cricket that would say that they enjoy being next in. I think it’s the worst situation in cricket. Imagine having that for a hundred (123) overs?!”Neesham’s anxiety has undimmed over time, it seems, especially when recalling the match situation when he arrived to the crease upon Watling’s dismissal for 124, after tea on day four.”We were about fifty or a hundred behind, so still a bit of work to do.” New Zealand were actually 200 in front. “Were we?” Yes. “Didn’t have any work to do then!”
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And so we come to February 18, 2014. McCullum resumed on 281, and a ground that had been predominantly Indian on day three was now far more skewed towards the Black Caps.”The Basin is a beautiful place to play on a good day,” says Watling. “Coming in that day, everyone was there at 9am, lines out all around. I certainly haven’t seen that in my time. I’d hate to know the pressure Baz was under.”New Zealand’s previous highest Test score was an agonising 299 by Martin Crowe, against Sri Lanka at the same ground 23 years earlier, and Neesham, on 67 not out at the start of that final day, had gauged the interest overnight. “It had become an event in New Zealand. Baz getting to 300 had sort of gone beyond cricket.” Fans of all ages wanted to be a part of it. A 14-year-old Rachin Ravindra was one of the lucky school kids to make it through the turnstiles.By that morning, McCullum was exhausted. Even his kit was starting to wear out.”He had this dumb superstition that he wouldn’t change his grip while he was batting,” says Neesham. “So there’s holes in his grip where it’s split where his fingers are. And he is just taping up these holes, so his bat grip is just cooked. God knows why he didn’t change it.”His old man (Stuart) was in Wellington, too, so they were having a couple of beers each night after the day’s play. And he probably wasn’t getting as much REM sleep as he should have been.”BJ Watling’s third Test hundred, against India in Wellington, was the longest innings by a New Zealand wicketkeeper•Getty ImagesBy the time play had resumed, there were still people lining up along the road to get in. Many were still trying when, midway through the eighth over, McCullum edged Ishant just short of MS Dhoni.”The hush,” starts Neesham, “I still remember that. That was when people realised that he’s not definitely going to get there. It was a celebration of him, that day, of him getting to 300… and then people realised like ‘oh, he actually has to score the runs’.”He did, an over after Neesham reached his maiden Test century: “I could sit back and watch …”Zaheer Khan offered width, McCullum opened the face with a flourish for a 36th and final boundary, and up to 302 he went.McCullum jogged to the other end, raising his arms before taking his helmet off and saluting all corners. There was no real emotion, no tear in the eye. Not even from father Stu, even as he beamed with pride and applauded. He was out two balls later.”It was pretty cool,” says Neesham, 137 not out in the end, and with a front row seat to history. “Pretty cool for your first Test experience.”New Zealand declared on 680 for 8, leaving a nominal target of 435. India ended up hanging on, with Kohli nabbing a consolation century after being given not out on 15, despite an edge to the keeper that would have made it 31 for 3.”The home changing-rooms are really big and you’ve got your own space, and so a great place to sit down after a Test match and reflect,” says Watling. “And there’s a lot of history at the ground, too, and Baz was now part of it. But he didn’t make too much of a fuss about it to be honest. The team had beaten India in a Test series, and that was the biggest celebration in the sheds that night.”Also, I don’t think he could really register what he had just done.”
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Perhaps one of the most telling quotes in the immediate aftermath of McCullum’s 302 came from the man himself: “I feel a little bit embarrassed because I’m not anywhere near the calibre of players that those two in particular are.”Crowe and Stephen Fleming were, in McCullum’s eyes, the top two of New Zealand cricket. They were the ones who were truly worthy of such an honour.There is an element of self-recognition at play there, and foresight. McCullum remains a outlier in New Zealand sport. One of their own, yet belonging to everyone else – to India in perpetuity for his impact on the IPL, and now to England.”You certainly cherish those times with Baz, as a player,” Watling says. “And it looks like England are benefitting from that right now.”He is a maverick who grabbed headlines, yet is still regarded by many as the establishment, particularly after the captaincy farrago involving Ross Taylor in 2012. A certified renegade who now occupies a quiet hinterland in the sporting conscience.”It’s interesting,” says Neesham, when asked about McCullum and validation with his 302. “Is Jayson Tatum a better basketballer than Luka Doncic because he’s won a championship?”There’s talk of it in the current era. But in New Zealand cricket, there’s only a few guys that’ll carry a legacy post-playing. And Baz is one of them.”With time, humility dilutes and perspective improves. And it is not about McCullum needing to be great to have a triple-century. Quite the opposite.Of all the batting accolades he possesses, including the fastest Test century in his final match, this is the one that grants greatness. Breaking new ground for his country, showing the world he could produce something that echoed throughout history, and setting himself apart from those he deems more worthy.And for one day, bringing a country still split on his legend together on a roundabout in Wellington.