Ever since his debut in 2009 against Pakistan, the person in question has been one of the most vital cogs in the New Zealand national cricket team, especially in the Test format. Over the years, he only got 33 international games in the limited overs formats but Tests were his thing and he grew to be the most solid lower middle order batsman, dogged in defence, while also donning the wicket-keeping gloves for them.
We’re talking about Bradley John Watling who played 75 games in the longest format and scored 3,790 runs in those games at a batting average of nearly 38. He will always be remembered as one of those players who defended the ball, regardless of the situation and regardless of the bowler. He played a strong forward defence and put a hefty price on his wicket, against every opponent.
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The last of his 75 Tests was to be the World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2021, after having announced his retirement back in May itself. He flew with the team to England, played 2 Tests against the hosts and then the WTC Final as well, where he managed 4 more catches behind the wickets. Unfortunately, he only got to bat in the 1st innings where he scored 1 runs, but he has several other career achievements to remember!
Among those are 2 monumental 350+ run partnerships, one with Kane Williamson and the other with Brendon McCullum, both at the Basin Reserve, in 2014 and 2015. His personal milestones included 8 Test fifties and a best of 205, which came against England in 2019. The BJ Watling retirement post has been pending on Read Scoops for a while, but we decided we’d put it up when he lifts the WTC title, which he did.
For those who didn’t follow the game, it was the first time since 1979 that a Test match went into Day 6 because of 2 days lost completely to rain. After a collapse in the 2nd innings, India was bowled out for 170 which set a target of only 139 in the 4th innings for the Kiwis. Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson had a decent 3rd wicket partnership of 96* which led NZ to a 8-wicket victory!
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