Tom Blundell answered the questions around his place in New Zealand's Test side with the biggest score of his professional career. The 35-year-old made 186 from 292 balls against Ireland at Stormont, lifting New Zealand out of trouble after they had slipped to 86-4.
The innings landed exactly when his name was being searched for a different reason. Before the tour north for Ireland and England, Blundell had only one century in his previous 21 Tests, and his form had been under scrutiny after 18 months to two years in which the runs had not come as often as New Zealand would have wanted. Yet coach Rob Walter and selection manager Gavin Larsen had kept faith, naming him as their man in a 19-man squad that included only one wicketkeeper.
Blundell repaid that backing in a way few players manage. He and Rachin Ravindra added 217 runs, then he combined with Dean Foxcroft for another 158 as New Zealand recovered their innings and turned a precarious position into control. His 186 was 14 runs short of a Test double-century and stood as the highest score of his professional career in any format.
The score also fit a pattern that selectors knew well. Mitch Hay had already taken his chance for New Zealand against the West Indies last year in Blundell's absence, so the wicketkeeper spot was no longer something he could assume would sit waiting for him. Walter said during the build-up that he was pleased with the way Blundell had been batting, and pointed to the end of the Plunket Shield season, when he had played contrasting innings on different surfaces and looked close to a score even after returning from injury in December.
That uncertainty made the Ireland innings more than a standalone hundred. Blundell's Test average is just over 35, but his record against England has long been far stronger, with a batting average of 59.80, more than 40% of his more than 2,000 Test runs coming against that opponent and three of his six Test centuries scored against them. Four years ago, on New Zealand's last tour of England, he made 383 runs at 76.60.
New Zealand now head into three Tests in four weeks in England with Blundell carrying momentum rather than doubt. If he can take even part of the Stormont form into that series, the selection debate around the wicketkeeper may finally be settled by the only thing that usually ends it: runs.
