New Zealand’s fielding does not concern Latham just yet after a poor showing in the opening test saw them grass 8 chances.
New Zealand’s fielding over the years has been one of the most reliable aspects of their game. So imagine the surprise of cricket watchers across the globe when an otherwise reliable Kiwi side contrived to drop a staggering EIGHT catches against England.
Tom Latham, New Zealand’s Test captain, dismissed the notion that his team need to work on their catching after a litany of errors contributed to a chastening eight-wicket defeat in the first Test against England.
Harry Brook was the beneficiary of 5 chances. He went on to score a 171 that was more or less the decisive innings in the test.
The Hagley Oval’s densely packed grass banks made it difficult for players on both teams to see the ball well during the four days. Latham, however, would not accept that as an explanation for their lacklustre performance on the pitch.
“I don’t think it’s something that requires work,” said the skipper, who was guilty of shelling Ben Duckett on 23 (who went on to make 46) and Brook on 41 on day two.
“We certainly put the work in behind the scenes, training days, that sort of thing. It certainly hasn’t been a continuous thing that’s been happening. It’s just one of those games – sometimes when one goes down, they all keep falling. We like to stay nice and level and try not to over-emphasise things.
“Sometimes, some grounds have different challenges with different backgrounds. From our point of view, we’re not looking for excuses.
“We know we need to be better and we’ll hopefully do that in Wellington.”
The Black Caps’ performance was generally messy. Ben Stokes won the toss and they were put in to bat. They got to 199 for 3 before losing to 348 all out. However, it could have been worse for Glenn Phillips’ 58 and Kane Williamson’s 93. The catching problems followed, allowing England to recover from 45 for 3 and then 71 for 4 in their opening innings.
“To have them 70 for 4 with our tails up, if we take some catches – certainly myself included – things might look slightly differently,” Latham said.
“Even though the result of the game does look quite big, there are small margins in a game of cricket, and unfortunately, things didn’t quite fall the right way. By no means of not trying – boys are putting the effort in and some days, that’s just cricket – it’s the game we play – unfortunately things like that happen.”