Young gun fires for Black Caps

By Kris Shannon

No matter the immediate concern of how this series concludes, the Black Caps have at least unearthed a long-term weapon in Will O’Rourke.

The 22-year-old has stood out among the hosts’ four-pronged pace attack in a manner befitting his 1.97m stature, keeping South Africa within reach as the second test enters a decisive fourth day.

O’Rourke snagged his maiden first-class five-wicket bag on Thursday, complementing the four scalps he collected in the tourists’ first innings to return a match haul of 9-93.

That set a new best mark by a New Zealander on debut — superseding Mark Craig’s 8-188 against the West Indies in 2014 — and almost single-handedly kept the Black Caps in this match.

They now begin what will surely be the final day on 40-1, still 227 runs from a record chase at Seddon Park and a historic victory over South Africa, but without O’Rourke a series win may already have been lost.

Proteas No 5 David Bedingham had almost made that a reality on day three, appearing at ease while advancing to 110 from 141 balls. But as O’Rourke managed in the first innings, when he removed top-scorer Ruan de Swardt for 64, the quick claimed the key wicket.

His innate abilities of pace — regularly breaching 140km/h — and extra bounce make the Canterbury bowler a handful for batters and the type of prospect New Zealand desperately need.

Adding to his twin dismissals of captain Neil Brand, O’Rourke has proven he can find success against the opposition’s best, while his three senior colleagues have combined for five wickets in the match.

Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Matt Henry were among the players applauding O’Rourke from the field after his bag, before the rookie shared a moment with father and former first-class cricketer Patrick.

“He was extremely proud,” O’Rourke said. “He’s a big softie and was welling up a little bit, which was cool to see, so it was a special moment.

“I’m just grateful for the opportunity to get a run in this test. I don’t know if it’s really sunk in at the moment, but really special.”

That could have described the moment the Black Caps climbed back into the test, when Glenn Phillips hauled in his second one-handed gully grab of the match. Ahead by 233, six wickets in hand, South Africa were sneaking out of sight before Matt Henry found an edge from Keegan Petersen that stuck to Phillips’ outstretched mitt.

“When someone does something like that it brings up the whole team,” O’Rourke said. “He’s a spark plug for us and pulls that sort of stuff off all the time. It was a big moment for us — they were ticking along nicely.”

That will be the task of New Zealand’s batters tomorrow, having to banish the memories of their day-two collapse to complete a record chase.

Dane Piedt will be a problem, picking up Devon Conway on stumps and adding to his five wickets in the first innings, but it’s one O’Rourke wants to avoid after his unbeaten zero from 20 balls on Wednesday.

“The offspinner bowled really well first innings and he’s going to be a threat again,” he said. “I’m very hopeful I don’t have to pad up at all, let alone get out there in the middle. Hopefully the batsmen tick it off nicely.”

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