Latham sticks to the plan with excellent ton

Tom Latham plays a shot 

By Shehan Daniel 

Tom Latham’s fourth Test century against Sri Lanka was made to look easy for the most part and the opener yesterday said it was a result of following a simple idea – sticking to the plan. 
Latham had done much of the work in his innings of 154 the previous day – he started day four of the second Test on 111 – and after being dropped early in the day went on to help New Zealand take a first innings lead and help the Kiwis to go on and take a firm grip of the Test. 

“It was nice to contribute today. I think the work put in yesterday, building the partnerships was ideal and the way (B. J. Watling and Colin de Grandhomme) managed to score reasonably freely and set up a partnership was really good. For us to be in the position we are now after some overs lost to rain is pleasing,” Latham said. 

The position they find themselves in, with a 138-run first innings lead, means that it is virtually impossible for them to lose the second Test, with victory a real possibility if weather permits. 
“Not 100 percent sure on what sort of number (target) we want yet. I think we’ll have to wait and see what the weather does tomorrow, because we lost a few mornings due to rain. It’s nice that we were able to score reasonably quickly in that last session, the way Colin (de Grandhomme) came out and played was outstanding for us, for him to put us in the position we are in now is really good. Hopefully we can get enough runs on the board to have a bowl at some stage and put Sri Lanka under real pressure,” Latham added. 

“We are a side that always believes we can win a Test match and hopefully we can put some pressure and get some wickets in clumps.”

His approach, of sticking to the plan against each bowler paid dividends, and Latham said it was as much a mental battle as a physical one – one which he won emphatically over the last two days of this Test. 

“I think it’s just a mindset thing around just trying to stick to that game plan. There are times where you are put under pressure where you feel like you might want to start to score but it’s about trying to wear the bowlers down and get them to come into your scoring areas. I think it’s certainly been a mindset thing around doing certain things over long periods of time and have been in positions where I have been under lots of pressure. It’s nice to come from the back end of that and you know hopefully if those tough times come again then you can look back at these sorts of time and try and reflect on what went well,” the opener also said. 

“It’s just about coming up with a plan to certain bowlers with what I believe are low percentage shots to certain bowlers and obviously use my feet and the sweep shot as a bit part of my game and it’s nice that it’s managed to work in these conditions. It’s about just trying to nail down a plan to every bowler we come up against and that sort of comes down to the scouting stuff we do before each Test match.”

Latham also evidently loves batting against Sri Lanka. He has more centuries against Sri Lanka than any other opposition, including a career-best 264 not out in Wellington last year, with three of his top five Test innings have come against them.

“It’s nice to come up against teams you’ve been successful but whenever it may be against Sri Lanka again, it’s about starting and trying to do those basics well. It’s nice to contribute in these sorts of games,” he said. 

• It was nice to contribute today. I think the work put in yesterday, building the partnerships was ideal and the way (B. J. Watling and Colin de Grandhomme) managed to score reasonably freely and set up a partnership was really good. For us to be in the position we are now after some overs lost to rain is pleasing