Shades of Crowe in Latham's ‘exceptional’ 264*

Back in 1991, as a bowler in the same ground in Wellington, Ratnayake was at the receiving end of a Martin Crowe masterclass. That day at the Basin Reserve, Crowe made 299, adding a record 467 with Andrew Jones.

With his effort on Monday, 17 December, Latham, who made the sixth-highest Test score for the Blackcaps, reminded Ratnayake of that day.

Latham’s was an “exceptional” innings, the blowing coach declared. “It reminded me of the stand between Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones.

“The beauty of Latham's innings was that he scored 100 then started leaving the ball again, and didn't play any rash strokes. Only when he was 250 did he go over the top. That was a good lesson in itself. He showed maturity and it was an exceptional knock. It wasn't flamboyant but it was a classy innings."

Highest Test scores for New Zealand

Latham himself played down the knock, saying it was probably something that he’ll treasure more “down the line”.

“Pretty excited and pretty proud. A great day that I probably thought would never happen,” he said. Really nice to be sitting here with those sort of numbers against your name.

His 264* is the highest score by an opener carrying his bat, going ahead of Alastair Cook’s 244* last year in the Ashes. It meant that he has been on the field throughout the Test, having done his bit on the field as well.

He credited his batting partners for keeping him focused. “A little bit tired but the adrenaline is still running through me,” he said.

“The best thing is you get a break every two hours. It's important to get to certain stages of the game, whether that's lunch or tea.The boys coming in managed to keep me going and kept me inside my gameplan which was probably the most pleasing."