A thunderous innings laden with balls being bounced into the crowd maybe; not six for 41, not in a lifetime of imagination.
Instead, given a debut appearance four years after his five limited-overs internationals — and, at 30, maybe a name for the past — steady medium-pacer de Grandhomme produced one of the stellar debut performances to rip through Pakistan.
He did what the other more acclaimed seamers seemed unable to do for much of the morning at Hagley Oval and Pakistan was gone for 133.
Add in Jeet Raval’s three catches and unbeaten 55 as New Zealand overcame early problems to reach 104 for three, and it was some day for the debutants.
Due respect, but you would have got better odds on a snowy Christmas Day than de Grandhomme carving through Pakistan in the skilful manner he did. Still, you cannot argue about figures of 15.5-5-41-6.
"I was expecting to score more runs than take wickets, to be fair," the quietly spoken de Grandhomme said of his remarkable first day as a test cricketer.
"I just tried to put it in the area I wanted to bowl. They managed to do their bit, so it’s all good."
On for the ninth over of the match, de Grandhomme was bang on the money from the start.
"I was just ready to go whenever I was asked. I wasn’t sure when I was going to bowl but definitely knew I was going to get a bowl."
Pakistan’s bowlers strove hard in the final session and got rewards. But Raval produced an encouraging turn with the bat, sharing an unbroken stand of 64 with Henry Nicholls.
He will wake up 45 runs away from becoming the 10th New Zealander to score a century in his first test innings. He drove fluently, appeared composed and organised, survived the odd scare but looked the part.
De Grandhomme, a Zimbabwe under-19 international, came to New Zealand in 2006. Only once during a lengthy Auckland career has he taken better first-class figures than yesterday, six for 24 against Wellington in 2014.
He has now got the most celebrated moustache in the country, in a month of facial extravagances, and has led New Zealand towards a position from which it can look to take charge today — if its batting is good enough.
The tip on Thursday night, after the first day was washed out, was that the pitch would retain its greenness and helpfulness for the seamers through the first two innings.
That still looks a good bet, which is why avoiding doing cartwheels at the de Grandhomme-led bowling success is prudent. Two can play at that game.
One of the reasons de Grandhomme got the tap over Jimmy Neesham is while the latter likes banging the ball in to a shorter length, de Grandhomme favours pushing the ball further forward to let it do its work if the conditions favour it.
So it proved. He bowled smartly and did not get ahead of himself as things fell his way. He stuck to his plan and reaped a marvellous reward.
From his 15th to 42nd delivery, de Grandhomme took three for nine. The neck lopped off, the body sagged in the middle session of five for 32 in 16.4 overs.
Raval and Nicholls gave New Zealand a dollop of cream on top to cap the day with their partnership too — young men running hard, working diligently and taking the challenge to the bowlers.
- David Leggat
