"Relentless" Matt Henry edges gripping duel with Aussie star

By Kris Shannon

In the past 12 months, Usman Khawaja made big hundreds away to India and England, outwitting Ravi Ashwin and Stuart Broad in their own conditions.

On his first trip of 2024, the Australian opener appeared set for another significant score, until Matt Henry took his mark in the 41st over.

Khawaja’s patience had overcome Henry’s precision on the opening morning of the first test, surviving a stern examination while the Black Caps had the ball moving at the Basin Reserve.

Time and again, Henry would bring one back in and Khawaja would leave it alone, off stump tantalisingly close.

There were half-chances: an edge off the shoulder fell just short, another flew though gully to the fence, a third was saved by soft hands. But unlike opening partner Steve Smith, whom Henry dismissed near the end of the session, Khawaja escaped into the afternoon.

If the world’s sixth-ranked batter spent lunch thinking about the 41 deliveries he had faced from Henry — the vast majority on a good length, three scoring shots matching three edges — any assessment didn’t help in the 41st over.

Then, in Henry’s second over after the break and with his second ball to Khawaja, the right-armer went full and the left-hander fell, late swing penetrating the gate and rocking middle stump.

It sparked a three-wicket flurry for New Zealand, helping restrict the defending world champions to 279-9. And it put an exclamation point on Henry’s exemplary day, finishing with 4-43 after edging that gripping duel.

“He was playing really well and it was just about trying to drag him forward,” Henry said, having ended Khawaja’s innings on 33. “He’s a world-class batsman who’s been scoring a lot of runs for Australia and he’s quite key up top, so it was great to get that wicket.

“That’s the challenge of good fast bowling against a good opener — their ability to leave and finding that balance between attack and defence. It’s just about trying to be as relentless as you can.”

Henry again used that word when asked whether he and his fellow quicks had been too short, given the Basin wicket was offering decent bounce. But the 32-year-old has seen enough to know only so much is within a bowler’s control when encountering batters of Australia’s calibre.

“When teams are leaving well, it’s always going to come back to saying, ‘Try to be fuller’,” Henry said. “That first session, they batted really well and left well — and we bowled really well, too.

“We know that if we’re relentless on that length for a long period of time, sometimes you doff your cap and that’s good batting.

“We’re happy with how we operated and that’s why when we came out after that break we stuck at what we did and the wickets did come.”

Unfortunately for New Zealand, they did not keep coming, as unbeaten centurion Cameron Green established on a string of handy stands.

Henry thought Green and Mitch Marsh provided a blueprint for the hosts’ batters, whose task today would be negating the new ball like Australia’s opening pair before attacking in a manner similar to that middle-order duo.

“That new ball’s going to be the big challenge. You get through that and you see what Cam Green did later in the day,” Henry said.

“It all comes down to moments of pressure and absorbing them. They absorbed that pressure and were able to create those partnerships.

“But we also managed to keep taking wickets and to have them nine down is a great position. But we’ve still got a job to do in the morning.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission