KEY POINTS:
Right-arm blogger Iain O'Brien knew he was "back" after finding some rhythm in the nets on a ground adjacent to McLean Park on Thursday - yesterday was just confirmation.
How do we know he knew he was back? He told us.
This cricketing Samuel Pepys has provided an insightful view into the life of an international sportsman but nothing as intriguing as yesterday's spell of seam bowling - a spell that moved him from the category of whole-hearted trier to something slightly more glamorous.
He grabbed the ball at the City End first thing in the morning and didn't let go, returning 8-4-16-4. It's not exactly the Fibonacci sequence but it's quirky enough for followers of statistical oddities (known in some parts as 'anoraks').
That gave him an overall analysis of 6-75 from 26 well-directed overs, his best figures in test cricket. More than that, he reached speeds in excess of 140km/h. He'll need another 10km/h to be considered lightning, but that's not a bad clip.
"As I said, I felt good in the nets yesterday and took a whole heap of confidence into this match," O'Brien wrote after day one of this delicately poised test. "First ball, one of the best balls I've ever bowled and we've got [Chris] Gayle; one of the big ones gone and I've got him. I can tell you I was pretty pumped after he walked for the nick behind; the perfect start to my spell. The next ball wasn't so flash, and two balls later, again,
not so good. But I can tell you I'll take the wicket of Gayle and go for two fours in my first over every day of the week."
The fours were few and far between yesterday.
After some Jerome Taylor resistance, thoughts would have been turning ominously to Dunedin. However a loose pull to a ball that was not quite short enough gave Brendon McCullum a simple chance he didn't turn down. Sulieman Benn wafted at his second ball and McCullum punched another gift.
The keeper had a little more work to do as Daren Powell hooked fiercely at one but the result was the same, caught McCullum bowled O'Brien. Lillee-Marsh; O'Brien-McCullum? Nah, but it's a nice thought.
Fidel Edwards, O'Brien's tormentor with the ball in Dunedin, fell leg before as got a face-flap send-off.
It's safe to assume that O'Brien won't get many in his half when he bats, but that will just give him something to write about. like this, for example, after he hit Edwards for four at the University Oval: "That really was the end of anything in my half. It was just bouncers now. At one point I pointed at the stumps and said, 'have a go at those'. Edwards replied, 'I'm having too much fun to worry about them'. OK, cool."
Still, he's not here for his prowess with the bat, heaven forbid. Instead he's fast becoming Daniel Vettori's go-to man with the ball.
You can bet Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman have not spent a lot of time analysing O'Brien ahead of their end-of-summer. They might want to start boning up.
If I could be so bold to suggest they start at http://iainobrien.blogspot.com
