-
Daniel Vettori - Source: Photosport -
Related
Century-maker Daniel Vettori lavished praise on one of his batsman and defended the shortcomings of others after India dominated the opening day of the first cricket test at Seddon Park.
New Zealand's captain and Jesse Ryder offered stout resistance to drag the home side's first innings to 279 - a drastic improvement on their lunch time predicament of 61 for six.
Vettori's 118 and Ryder's maiden test century, a composed 102 from 162 balls, gave New Zealand a measure of respectability though India advanced to 29 without at stumps on a wicket holding few fears.
While Vettori's third test hundred - and first in almost four years - dominated their 186-run stand for the seventh wicket, the captain deflected praise to the bashful left hander's contribution.
Playing just his seventh test, Ryder displayed commendable maturity in taking a back seat as Vettori sought to take on India's buoyant attack.
Renowned as a hard hitter in his one-day guise, Ryder contentedly played within himself though he still matched Vettori's 14 boundaries.
"People think of Jesse as a one-day opener and a guy who looks to bash it and I suppose they haven't quite seen the subtleties of his game," Vettori said.
"He has the ability to leave good balls and put away bad balls. I think that's what the great batsmen do.
"They respect good bowlers and they respect guys running in and doing a job but when they sense an opportunity to attack or be a touch more aggressive they're able to do that.
"We saw that through Jesse's innings. It was quality. I can't think of a chance that went down or too many that went past the bat."
Ryder, who at one stage batted away 20 deliveries from Harbhajan Singh, before he cribbed his first run from the spinner had only one anxious moment - though it was prolonged.
When Iain O'Brien advanced down the wicket to Singh and was stumped, it left a visibly annoyed Ryder at the non-strikers end on 98 and Chris Martin, the epitome of a tailender, with five balls to survive.
"Yeah, I was sweating bullets there for a minute," Ryder confessed.
"I was lucky Tom (Martin) got through those and saw me through to it."
Ryder was out the ball after he swung the first delivery of Ishant Sharma's next over to the boundary but was still satisfied with his day's work.
"I've thrown it away a couple of times before so just to get there is a great feeling for me personally."
Ryder scored 91 against Bangladesh at Dhaka in his second test last October and was well set on 89 against the West Indies in Dunedin three months ago when he paid for a loose shot.
Meanwhile, Vettori would not be critical of a top and middle order implosion before lunch, saying India simply bowled well when the wicket was its trickiest.
"There was just enough in the wicket to suggest it was difficult and they swung the ball as well," he said.
"If we look through the dismissals there weren't too many we were disappointed with. A couple of things didn't quite go our way," he said, citing Daniel Flynn being gloved down the legside and the umpiring error that saw James Franklin caught behind for a duck.
However, there was no disguising India's dominance based on Sharma's four for 73.
"If you erase our partnership and look at the scores then you'd say India's on top," Vettori said.
