On this day: BJ Watling makes his maiden Test double ton after batting for 11 hours

England toured to New Zealand in 2019 for five T20Is and two Tests. The visitors pocketed the thrilling contest in the shortest format but were up against the full strength Kiwi side in Tests. And as expected, New Zealand dominated the opposition with a brilliant performance. Once again, the unsung hero came to the fore for them and he was BJ Watling who slammed his maiden double hundred on this day.

England opted to bat first and posted a competitive 353 on the board thanks to Ben Stokes’ 91 and Joe Denly’s 74. In response, the hosts lost their top five very early and were reeling at 197/5 at one stage. This is when BJ Watling walked out to bat and made sure that by the time he got out, New Zealand were bossing the game.

BJ Watling:

– 1st New Zealand keeper to score Test double century.

– 1st New Zealand keeper to score consecutive Test tons.

– 1st player to score a double ton on venue’s Test debut in NZ.
[Prev: 195 by Brendon McCullum at Hagley Oval]#NZvENG

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) November 24, 2019

He first stitched a 119-run partnership with Colin de Grandhomme who scored 65 and then found a perfect ally in Mitchell Santner. Santner and Watling literally ground England bowlers down with a brilliant 261-run stand for the seventh wicket. They batted for a whopping 83.2 overs and made England pay for their lapses in the field as well.

Once the partnership was broken, New Zealand lost a couple of quick wickets with Watling falling as the ninth wicket not before scoring a heroic 205 off 473 deliveries with 24 fours and one six. It was an extraordinary knock given that the Kiwis seemed to be conceding a lead at one stage in the innings.

However, it was the 11-hour battle that Watling led alongside Santner and Grandhomme that helped them take a 262-run mammoth lead. England were down and out after they were made to field for more than 200 overs and it was visible in their batting as they were bundled out for 197 runs in their second essay.

New Zealand won the match by an innings and 65 runs and it goes without saying that BJ Watling won the Man of the Match award.