Chris Rattue: Williamson shines in cricket's fading light

Kane Williamson made a stunning start to his international career with a debut century against India.

Cricket had the good news story it craved after the bad news from Bangladesh.

Yet as Williamson removed his helmet and smiled before the crowd (to describe the cluster of spectators in an exaggerated form), you wondered nervously what cricket will look like at the end of Williamson's career.

The Ahmedabad test almost made a cricket heart sing. Almost.

It contained the most bizarre of bowling spells when Chris Martin ripped through one of the finest batting lineups in history in about the time it takes to complete a rugby scrum these days.

Martin is a bloke you love seeing succeed. You won't hear a bad word about him. He's a cult hero - helped sometimes by a dodgy headband and what might be termed a lean trot with the bat. He gives bowling his all. He might even give batting his all.

The game was full of surprises, the main one being that after India's exhilarating start, New Zealand and the word victory were mentioned together in the same sentence.

Fortunes ebbed and flowed. Great players were humbled. The best test team in the world was under threat from the worst.

Martin Guptill dropped a sitter, but executed a fabulous back-flip throw run-out. Redemption is a cricket must.

The unshaven, podgy Jesse Ryder revealed again those gifts that go against the grain of the modern sportsman, all buffed and dressed to kill. Harbhajan Singh, a real character, was a central figure. Has there ever been a better batsman to watch than Virender Sehwag?

The whole deal may have swung on a fifth-day run-out chance when Daniel Vettori missed breaking India's match-saving partnership. New Zealand, though, has won back respect after the Bangladesh disaster.

Despite all the enticing and intriguing aspects, the magic moments and the heart-warming sight of two sides playing the game in the best of spirits, test cricket's problems remained on the surface, starting with the pitch surface.

The wicket was a dud. Lifeless. This made Martin's achievements more remarkable, but the Indians easily survived the final day and stalled the game, knowing they had no chance of quickly bowling New Zealand out.

How many times is the pitch a problem in cricket? There are fewer duds than in the past perhaps, but still too many of them. The condition of the most important real estate in world sport often seems left to chance. The ICC needs an all-powerful soil department.

The stadium was packed - with empty seats. The new home of world cricket was not even excited by the prospect of a boilover. New Zealand isn't a drawcard.

And a game with so much promise meandered to a frustrating draw.

I desperately hope that test cricket - really good test cricket - survives, because this is the only form of the game many of us love.

Test cricket is a gem. I gave up on the endless stream of meaningless one-dayers years ago, and five minutes of a T20 game was enough - although each to their own, of course.

Beyond the Ashes series and the big tours to India, test cricket is an endangered species.

The game has collapsed in the West Indies, which no longer provides the sensational superstars who made cricket so interesting. Poor terror-ridden Pakistan are outcasts of sorts. New Zealand is largely ignored.

Interest in much test cricket has dwindled. Economic realities, the sweep of the T20 game, are taking hold. Australians are even complaining that their rising players have it too easy, that they are over-paid brats.

Kane Williamson should face bigger tests as the world's best teams go to work on his technique.

Or will he?

OUT, DAMN DOTI

I have one complaint about the coverage of the cricket test - an intrusive logo. An annoying Indian cricket symbol, a mainly blue dot, was fielded near gully on my screen throughout the whole game. If we do need this constant reminder about nothing important, could the powers that be at least move the dastardly blob to exceedingly deep backward point. This would be much appreciated.