Beautiful innings from Hamish Rutherford. What a test debut. Certainly a stark contrast to his dad who recorded a pair on debut in the West Indies (although, TBF, how many batsmen did the West Indians torment in the 80s). His timing was fantastic. I think this is some of the frustration sometimes with New Zealand - inconsistently you see performances that showcase immense potential. Aside from Taylor, Ryder, McCullum - you see Williamson smack a ton on debut, Rutherford here, you even go back to Lou Vincent and Mathew Sinclair who got tons (Sinclair a double on test debut) and never went on with it. You look at Colin Munro's first class season and how well he timed the ball in his debut T20 match when all around him were falling over left right and centre. You look at McCullum's destruction of England in virtuoso batting performances in the ODI's. You even look at Dean Brownlie against the odds and his test ton in South Africa.
I've said it before, Rutherford and Munro have impressed me this season as players of immense potential. Jesse Ryder's one of the best natural timers of a cricket ball going around, Rutherford and Munro are much the same. Rutherford's innings was fantastic in watching hot spot, how often the ball came straight out of the middle of the bat. If New Zealand test cricketers played to their potential consistently, there's no way they'd be any lower than 5th at worst. The issue is depth, and blokes settling for starts and not centuries.
Also, how cool is it to have the Barmy Army over. It was awesome hearing the trumpet playing the theme from Coronation Street, and them singing happy birthday to Ross Taylor as he came to the wicket. In any stadium they're brilliant fans, in a small ampitheatre like University Oval, its absolutely awesome to watch and hear. They're hugely dedicated to their test cricket. Great stuff. They're accused of having soft underbellies in a lot of sports, but what I will say is this lot are the champion cricket touring fan club without rival.
