New Zealand fades away after Williamson ton

If cricketers played roles on film, Kane Williamson might well be asked to portray a modern, hi-tech thief who breaks in and out of vaults without anyone even realising it until after the event. Not because the New Zealand captain has anything of the sneaky about him – the opposite in fact – but because he gathers runs almost in stealth mode and has put together a monumental score by the time you catch on to the fact that he’s batting well.

Williamson hit 100 off 97 on Friday, his ninth One-Day International century the centrepiece of New Zealand’s 291 all out in 45 overs in a match that was reduced to 46 overs a side due to a 109-minute rain interruption at Edgbaston. The Kiwis ought to have scored a lot more, but Australia’s star-studded bowling attack induced a late collapse to claw its way back into the match. Foremost among them was Josh Hazlewood, whose first two overs had gone for 20 runs, but who ended up with an astounding 6 for 52 in nine overs before the rain arrived again, at the start of the mid-innings break.

Hazlewood’s burst only served to emphasise the value of Williamson’s innings in what was the opening ICC Champions Trophy 2017 match for both sides.

Despite the forecast for rain and clouds, Williamson took the somewhat surprising decision to bat first (and Steve Smith added that he probably would have bowled anyway). New Zealand’s batsmen were strong through most of the innings, but crumbled at the death on a surface that didn’t really offer much in terms of movement for the bowlers. That could prove to be the decisive factor if it is to pull off a first-ever Champions Trophy win over its trans-Tasman neighbour, with four defeats and one no-result in five previous attempts.

Given its start, New Zealand would have expected more runs on the board. Luke Ronchi rode his luck, and made dollops of it on his own too, against the country he had formerly represented. Sent in at the top of the order, Ronchi provided the thrust that New Zealand has often lacked since Brendon McCullum retired, using power, timing and good fortune to equal effect.

Ronchi laid the foundation with a belligerent 65 off 43, and Williamson built on it with equal parts control and flamboyance. But the finishing kick was lacking, with New Zealand going from 254 for 3 in 39 overs to losing seven wickets for 37 runs in six overs.

The innings began with Martin Guptill taking on the attacking role early on. Guptill was the man in form and hit some pleasing drives to keep the run-rate at better than a run-a-ball. Guptill was looking good, but got a leading edge off Hazlewood when on 26, to leave in the sixth over. That however, brought Williamson in and while he was there, New Zealand looked in good hands.

The early running in the second-wicket stand was done by Ronchi. He was lucky to survive a run-out opportunity when on 24 off 16, caught napping when Williamson called him through for a very gettable single after the ball had been hit to mid-on off the last ball of the ninth over. Williamson was more than half-way down the track when Ronchi belated decided to cross over to sacrifice his wicket. However, Matthew Wade didn’t come up to the stumps to collect the throw and eventually had to half-dive, half-slide, but couldn’t break the stumps. Instead of being 65 for 2, New Zealand was 66 for 1.

Three balls later, the rain came down. As it was, Ronchi’s luck hadn’t yet run out. On resumption, he continued to attack. He either stepped away to give himself room to free his arms, or put a lot of punch behind his shots. The batting-friendly surface gave Ronchi space to hit through the line, but when he was on 54, he mis-hit Pat Cummins straight to Mitchell Starc at mid-on, only to see the fielder put it down. Ronchi rubbed salt into Cummins’s wounds with a bludgeoned four and a straight six following the drop, but to Australia’s relief, he went in the next over, smashing John Hastings straight to point to give Glenn Maxwell the second of four catches.

The second wicket had brought 77 runs in just 10 overs, but Ross Taylor’s arrival slowed things down a bit. Williamson had been ticking over smoothly while Ronchi was smashing it, happy to rotate the strike. He upped the ante as he went deeper into his innings, but with Taylor not in the best touch, Australia could regain a measure of run-rate control.

Taylor was caught off Hastings, but the body blow was Williamson’s run-out off the first ball of the 40th over, when he took on Cummins’ arm for a risky single. The innings just fell away after that, with Hazlewood reaping the rewards of keeping it tight to induce rash shots that unerringly found fielders, even when well hit. He ended up with his best-ever ODI figures, and had done half the job in giving Australia a gettable target to chase and start its campaign with a win.