Rachin Ravindra knows how to spot length early. In Belfast, he kept getting beaten on the outside edge anyway. He would step down the track after the fact, then mimic steep bounce off the surface with his gloves. At the other end, Kane Williamson had a wry smile on his face.
It is rare that a pitch can make Williamson look mortal. In New Zealand's first-ever Test against Ireland, Williamson played cuts away from his body. The ball kept scooting under him. At other times, he prodded defensively with soft hands. The ball dribbled off his outside edge to the slip cordon.
At the other end, Ravindra swiped Reuben Wilson across the line early on, in the 12th over. The ball had sat up right at his chest. Most other batters would have swivelled out of the ball's way, not trusting where the bounce would take it. Ravindra ran his wrists across the line instead, depositing the short ball over deep midwicket.
Heading into the match, Ravindra had been candid about the unknown: "I'm not too sure what the pitch conditions will be like [in Belfast], but obviously it's a great lead-in to the England Test series… You can't necessarily take any team lightly."
Ravindra is 26 years old. He debuted in the format almost five years ago. In the past 18 months, both he - and New Zealand - have played just five Test matches. He has played 21 in his entire career. In fact, he had never played a Test in Europe before.
Players outside the Big Three, like Ravindra - no matter their pedigree - do not have the luxury of volume in their Test calendar. Facing Ireland, before a three-match series against England, might be the closest he could have gotten to low-stakes game time.
Still, the Ireland bowlers served up one of his biggest, most attritional challenges in Test cricket yet. He hit three more sixes during his 194-ball stay but compiled his slowest 100-plus knock in the format, going at a strike rate of 62.37.
Ireland had three debutant fast bowlers in their mix: Thomas Mayes, Liam McCarthy and Wilson. None of them were express pace. They went defensive with their lines to Ravindra, staying over the wicket, pitched deliveries back of a length, and angled it away far outside off. Over after over.
Williamson had departed for a laboured 70-ball 36. Soon, New Zealand were 86 for 4.
Ravindra had raced away to 37 off 47 at the same time. He still picked length better than any other New Zealand batter, but the new ball had lost its movement. The bowlers stuck to a line angled away from Ravindra. He couldn't do much with his prescience about their lengths. He kept flicking his gloves in mimicry at Tom Blundell, who had joined him at the other end.
"We sort of recognised how well they're bowling," he said after stumps. "We had to obviously give ourselves time and play the right way, with that Dukes ball swinging around a little bit. Luckily enough, we were able to score back in, but it was slow going at the start."
In the highlights reel, you will see Ravindra's pristine pings off deliveries bowled on this exact channel. He will crouch on one knee when he spots the length going too full outside off, the angle away from him rendered moot. Rinse and repeat, he gets to 11 fours in his knock.
But this was not Ravindra's true routine. He had to make a different one for himself. He spent 128 deliveries to get his next 63 runs, and to his fifth Test century. He gauged the length time and again, then realised it was not worth taking on most of these deliveries.
Three of his other four centuries have come in 104 balls against Zimbabwe, 108 balls against West Indies and 124 balls against India. Here, he hunkered down, deleting the off-drive from his game except when he wanted to defend into the covers, or spotted a slot ball. His only error outside off came in the 38th over, when Andy Balbirnie put him down at second slip off Wilson. Ravindra had prodded at a delivery - to no one's surprise - bowled at the stumps and angled away from him.
As Williamson's edges would have told Ravindra when he first came to the crease, what separates the greats from the promising is sticking around even when the momentum is not on your side. Most young Test batters get frustrated, try to manufacture runs off defensive lines, and are dismissed in a few overs. On the other hand, Williamson batted out the new ball, scoring 36 on a day he couldn't middle it.
The roles between fluency and struggle were reversed soon after. Ravindra saw right-handed Blundell scoring freely. Blundell got deliveries hurled straight down, without movement, well outside off. He dabbed at them with late cuts past deep third, again and again, scoring 126 runs out of the 217 they put on for the fifth wicket.
Ravindra scored 84 from the other end. He was happy to stick around. To learn how to bat in a country he has never played in before, against bowlers he might not face again in this format. He will have sterner challenges awaiting him when he flies over to London.
Here, he got another ball, too short and rising at his hips, while on 99. For once, he could make use of his prescience. He swivelled into a pull. The ball travelled flat, right over deep midwicket. He would hit one more six, then perish attempting another. By then, New Zealand had recovered to 303 for 5.
Steep bounce or not, Ravindra bats while spotting length early. In Belfast, he learnt to let it go anyway.