‘We were a little bit soft upfront’ – Cremer

Even though the result of the first Test between New Zealand and Zimbabwe was decided before Sunday, captains Kane Williamson and Graeme Cremer did not expect the match to end without a fight. Williamson already saw signs of it on the first day; Cremer was preparing to be in the thick of it on the fourth.

The Zimbabwe captain had already bowled 53 overs, including a marathon spell of 26 on the second day, batted for half an hour to drag the game out a little longer at the end of the third but he knew the fourth day would bring it’s greatest challenge: to ensure that even though Zimbabwe were going to lose, they would lose with some respectability.

“We spoke about it after the first innings. We thought we were a little bit soft upfront but being in the field for so long, we realised what Test cricket is about,” Cremer said. “We watched them (New Zealand) bat. They didn’t play any shots out of frustration or anger and we wanted to do the same.”

Despite the frustration of being so far behind the game and the anger that his men had not executed themselves as well as they could have, Cremer did not let that bleed into his batting. For five minutes short of three hours, he stoically saw off a New Zealand attack that was pushing for a quick result. He accepted the body blows that included being hit in the ribs, on the shoulder and on the arm he broke just before the World T20, which still has a plate in it. He let his team-mate Sean Williams, who had spent the past two days in the grip of a flu that has spread to more than half the Zimbabwean squad, have his …

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