From 91 all out at the Mount to 175 for 6 on a tacky Hamilton surface and then a 68-run win – it was a sharp turnaround, one Lockie Ferguson puts down to quick thinking rather than any grand reset.
“I think more than anything, we talk a lot about in the Black Caps adapting to conditions. It’s not always as easy as it sounds but certainly when a wicket we expect to play well doesn’t play as well as we think, it’s important to try and work out what a good total on that is. Sometimes you don’t get that right.”
Those runs, he felt, were more than handy once his bowlers had something to defend. “But at the same time, I think [the Hamilton game] was a good example of us adapting very quickly. Probably I thought 175 was an outstanding total on that. Although Dev [Devon Conway, who top-scored with 60] probably not as fluid as he always looks, it was a challenging wicket and he got the runs that we needed and posted a great total.”
The seamer himself had sat out the opener, having only just returned home following the birth of his first child. Back in black for game two, he and Ben Sears shared three wickets each, the senior quick particularly pleased with the younger man’s progress.
“Yeah, he [Sears] has still got more pace in him, I think. But look, he’s bowling well. It’s good to see him get some consistent training time with us overseas. He was working on his game every training session. I saw him running in hard and working on different change-ups, different lines, asking the right questions. And it’s that development that we’ve seen in the last few years, which will stand him well in the next few years and as long as his career goes.”
A smile crept across Ferguson’s face when he talked about simply being out there. “I really miss playing in New Zealand. It was unfortunate the start of the summer with an injury. I was really looking forward to quite a lot of T20 cricket at home. I love playing in New Zealand in front of the home crowd, conditions I’m used to,” he said, before adding, “So, yeah, stoked to get a game in last night. The bowling group as a collective were great. So they made my job a bit easier, the pressure from both ends.”
Sears’ raw speed and lift had caught South Africa on the hop late on, something Ferguson enjoyed from mid-off: “But a pleasure for me to watch from side on, seeing him get extra bounce, scaring some of the batters certainly. And I’m looking forward to seeing how he goes at Eden Park in the third T20I] too.”
Eden Park will bring its own quirks – postage-stamp straight boundaries and a crowd virtually on the players’ shoulders. Ferguson loves the place yet admits it can unsettle bowlers who miss their first couple of lengths.
“Every time there’s an Eden Park game, it’s when I sort of circle in the calendar to try and get there for. But yeah, an interesting style of cricket. Sometimes there’s more run outs because the ball doesn’t kind of go off the outfield as quick,” he explained. Experience helps, but so does nerve.
“Yeah, it can be daunting playing at Eden Park for sure,” he conceded. “It’s obviously a shorter boundary, straight. The crowd feels like they’re right on your back. But the thing we get at”
He never quite finished the thought, a reminder that even the pros don’t always tie every ribbon. What matters, as he and the rest of the attack keep stressing, is adapting ball by ball. Do that and the series, now level, can tilt New Zealand’s way again.
