New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips shared his thoughts on his teammate and former Test captain Kane Williamson’s unfortunate run-out on Day 2 of the first Test against Australia at Basin Reserve in Wellington on Friday, March 1.
Williamson had a disastrous mix-up while take a quick single between the wickets. The 33-year-old collided with his batting partner Will Young and failed to get to the crease at the non-striker’s end as Marnus Labuschagne grabbed the opportunity to direct hit to catch the Kane Williamson well-short.
The incident happened in the 5th over of New Zealand’s batting as Williamson pushed a delivery off Mitchell Starc and ran for the single. But, Will Young was looking at the fielder rather at him and two collided, leading to Williamson’s run-out.
‘If Mitch was on different line’: Glenn Phillips
Speaking to reporters after Day 2 play of the first Test, Glenn Phillips was of the opinion that Kane Williamson and Will Young wouldn’t have collided with each other hadn’t Australian pacer Mitchell Starc been on the line where delivered the ball. He clarified that Starc didn’t do on purpose.
“At the end of the day, it was a little bit of a freak accident. If Mitch (Starc) was on a slightly different line, obviously he wasn’t in the way on purpose, but if he’s on a slightly different line, Kane runs around Youngy, Youngy goes through on his normal line and nothing happens” Phillips said.
“It was just one of those moments where everything brought together a perfect storm and Marnus unfortunately hit (stumps).” he added.
After bundling out Australia for 383, New Zealand suffered an early collapse in their batting line-up, losing five wickets in just 29 runs. Despite a brilliant effort by Glenn Phillips, who played a knock of 70 off 71 balls, Kiwis were eventually bundled out for 179 in the first innings.
Josh Hazlewood’s contrasting opinion on Kane Williamson’s run-out
Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood had a contrasting take on Kane Williamson’s unfortunate run-out after his collision with Will Young.
Hazlewood stated that even if Williamson and Young hadn’t collided with each other, Marnus Labuschagne would’ve still managed to run the former New Zealand Test captain out. He also emphasised the fielding standards of Labuschangne and how vital it is for the latter to be on the field for Australia.
“Marnus in particular has just been outstanding in the past couple of years. I know he works super hard at the training all the time. I think it would have been out, even if they didn’t collide.” Hazlewood said.
“Run-outs play a huge part in Test cricket. He’s been really good for us wherever he has fielded.” he added.
After bundling out New Zealand for 179, Australia lost a couple of wickets in Steve Smith (0) and Marnus Labuschagne (2) for 13 runs. At the end of Day 1, Australia posted a total of 13/2 in 8 overs, with Usman Khawaja and Nathan Lyon batting on 6 and 5, respectively.
