da betsson： The man and his team are among the best current operators, but on the world scale they occupy minimal column inches, airtime, or general intellectual space. They quietly absorb life’s little injustices

da dobrowin： Andrew Fidel Fernando in Wellington16-Dec-2018If it were any other player, it might be said that it’s frustrating to be Kane Williamson. You are almost certainly the greatest batsman your nation has produced, but because it is a relatively thin field, that doesn’t seem such a phenomenal achievement. You are among the best current operators, but on the world scale occupy minimal column inches, airtime, or general intellectual space. When you play at home, you make hundreds before most of the rest of the world wakes up, and when you shine on away tours, it is often after dark at home.Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steven Smith… and oh… Kane Williamson. People in joints and craft beer bars dream up their World XIs and throw you only morsels. “It would have been nice to have Kane somewhere in that top order, but ehhh – crowded field.”If it were any other team, it might be said that it was frustrating to be New Zealand. It is very possible you are the best Test outfit your country has produced, though again, it could be suggested that is not saying a great deal. You are easily one of the finest sides in the world, but while the likes of India or England hurtle from tour to tour to tour, you’ve spent six months of the year with no internationals in the schedule (essentially because most teams don’t make enough broadcasting money from hosting you). Your victories prompt more lamentations for the losing side than celebrations of your own skill, and all your series seem to take place in shadowy corners of the world anyway, the limelight forever drawn elsewhere.ALSO READ: The frictionless genius of Kane WilliamsonOn top of all this – if competing with other cricket sides was not enough – there is that other team to contend with. You know, the other one from New Zealand? A side that will go unnamed here, because of course they will suck out all the oxygen from this column, like they tend to do with any sporting conversation in New Zealand. The great West Indies and Australia teams dominated cricket for 10 years, give or take. Imagine having to compete for air with an elite outfit that have more or less been tone-setters in their sport for half-a-century plus.And yet, despite all this, because it is Williamson, and because it is New Zealand, their frustrations are not thought of (if they are thought of at all), and they are certainly not voiced. The man and his team quietly absorb life’s little injustices. They turn up uncomplaining, and they play.Lately, they have begun playing extremely well. Before the recent series against Pakistan in the UAE, they had not had an overseas Test in two years – a horrendously unacceptable gap in the schedule that, typically, passed the cricket world by. Partly this was because New Zealand themselves barely brought themselves to grumble about it. Then, in the age of frequent away losses, they snatched that series 2-1, to become the toast of the cricketing world for all of about 24 hours, before the Australia-India hype train pulled into the station.Nine days after one of the triumphs of the year in Abu Dhabi, they are here, in Wellington, on the edge of a completely different continent, on a pitch that is about as unlike the UAE’s crumbling tracks as you could get, dominating another Test, against an opposition that has been in the country almost a week longer than they have. Chances to gripe about the rushed schedule were roundly turned down, despite the obvious absurdity of having had to lurch hurriedly into a new series after playing no cricket for half a year. Unmentioned publicly were other challenges – the 4am wake ups because jet-lag still had not been surmounted in the days before this Wellington Test.Getty ImagesALSO READ: New Zealand greater than the sum of their parts, againOn day two at the Basin Reserve, Williamson and New Zealand turned up, and without fanfare, rolled out another day of fuss-free cricketing excellence. There was an outstanding catch to start the day at leg slip, because what New Zealand bowling innings is complete without a couple of spectacular grabs? There was another solid start from Jeet Raval, an uncomplicated hundred from opening partner Tom Latham, and a suitably dignified half-century from the old man in the top order, Ross Taylor.ALSO READ: Williamson’s fluency allowed me to tick along – Latham after day 2Williamson’s innings was uptempo, efficient, and the best of the match so far, but also characteristically low-drama. When Latham occasionally got stuck, batting out a dozen or more consecutive dot balls, Williamson’s effortless little bursts of scoring kept Sri Lanka at bay, and allowed Latham the space to recompose himself. New Zealand ended the day perhaps the only team that can win from here – 29 runs ahead, eight wickets in hand, with two set batsmen still at the crease, and the in-form Henry Nicholls still to come.Across the Tasman Sea, Kohli has of course hit another great century, before Australia set in motion a lower order India collapse that will be pored over, dissected, pontificated upon and screamed about. But in Wellington, where Williamson and his team – a team now shaped in his own image – have quietly taken a stride toward victory, in front of a crowd of less than 4000, which is the kind of number that would line up to watch Kohli sneeze, let alone bat.If New Zealand win the series 2-0, they will become the No. 2 ranked side in the world. And if they get there, they will have done it in their own drama-free, unobtrusive sort of way.