Day 1
England 58
New Zealand 175/3 (69 ov)
New Zealand lead by 117 runs with 7 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
A pink ball and even pinker faces. England’s finest were skittled inside 21 overs for 58, their lowest ever score against New Zealand and if there had not been a last wicket partnership of 31 between Craig Overton and Jimmy Anderson they might have dismissed for their lowest score ever in Test cricket, which now remains at 45.
Having been put into bat on a cloudless afternoon, England were tormented by some exemplary bowling by the left-arm paceman, Trent Boult, who finished with 6-32. At the other end Tim Southee took four wickets in a variety of ways, which only served to highlight the ineptitude of England’s batsmen. There was some movement for Boult, in particular, but it was as if the batsmen were playing blind man’s buff after someone had mischievously plastered glue on the soles of their boots.
Many of the batsmen looked as if they could not see the pink ball and, perhaps as a consequence, their feet declined to move anywhere. Hence there was the ugliest of processions as England crashed to 27-9 in the 16th over.
Boult took his wickets in a manner that he might have anticipated in his dreams. He found the outside edge of the left-hander’s bat with swing that was sufficient rather than extravagant. Then he beat the inside edge of the right-handers to demolish their stumps. So Alastair Cook and Dawid Malan groped and edged but the most coveted wicket for Boult was surely that of England’s beleaguered captain.
Joe Root had surprised us at the toss by announcing that he was batting at three after England had unexpectedly opted to play Overton instead of James Vince. Root has never been enamoured by the prospect of batting at three and his experience yesterday may not have changed his view. Vince, meanwhile, could not dare to be spotted smiling after witnessing the carnage as a water carrier – not that any England batsman lasted long enough to justify needing refreshment.
Root faced five deliveries from Boult without alarms. His sixth was full and it swung into the batsman in classic fashion; it was a fine delivery – but not an unplayable one – and it passed between bat and pad to demolish the stumps.
Nine months ago there was much purring about England’s potent “engine room” of Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali. This trio could not contribute a run between them. Stokes, myopically searching for the first non-white cricket ball he has encountered for an awfully long time, was bowled by another zinger from Boult. He was late and his bat was crooked.
However his dismissal was no less exasperating than those of Bairstow and Moeen. Both succumbed to Southee in embarrassing fashion. Bairstow, who has been so dominant against the white ball recently, essayed a firm-footed drive to give a straightforward return catch, while Moeen missed a slowish full toss, which hit the base of his stumps, two gifts for Southee.
With the departure of Woakes, who was bowled by Boult just as Root had been, the statistical gurus were alerting us to all sorts of nasty records on the horizon, most of which started with “This is the worst/lowest …” When Stuart Broad was spectacularly caught by Kane Williamson in the gully off Southee (is he England’s unluckiest batsman as well as bowler?) the score had sunk to 27-9.
Most of the humiliating records were averted thanks to a cameo from Overton, who seemed to be able to pick up the pink ball rather better than his colleagues. There was one superb flat-batted six off Boult as well as a few, crisp drives in his unbeaten 33 but Anderson could not keep him company for long. Despite that last wicket partnership, England could not reach their previous lowest score against the Kiwis, in 1978 when Geoffrey Boycott was captain. We can safely assume that the wicket was misbehaving more then.
New Zealand soon demonstrated that it was perfectly possible to combat the pink ball at Eden Park against a stunned England, who shunned two early opportunities in the field. Tom Latham could have been run out from the first ball of the innings but the throw of Liam Livingstone, briefly on as a sub, missed the stumps. Jeet Raval, facing Broad, was soon dropped at second slip by Root, who was distracted by the sight of Malan diving in front of him.
So Broad had to wait another 30 overs for his 400th Test wicket, though such was England’s plight he did not muster a smile, which seemed the appropriate response. Straight after dinner Latham, who had battled patiently, clipped a full ball straight to Woakes at square leg. Meanwhile Kane Williamson had progressed with characteristic diligence but when he was on 64 the England players were convinced that he was run-out. A firm straight drive from Taylor hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end and Woakes was convinced that the ball had brushed his fingers first with Williamson stranded. The replays watched by the third umpire, Marais Erasmus, were inconclusive; in fact Bruce Oxenford, unpiring out in the middle, had a better view. So Williamson survived but he soon lost Taylor caught at mid-wicket off Anderson.
At the close England were in more disarray than they ever experienced in Australia a few months ago. Stokes, despite all the optimistic noises coming from the England camp before the Test, was not only runless but also wicketless, since he was not fit enough to bowl a ball. At 175-3 with the unflappable Williamson unbeaten on 91, New Zealand were in the pink, England in despair.
Day 2
England 58
New Zealand 229/4
New Zealand lead by 171 runs with 6 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
England had a much better second day here in Auckland. This was mainly due to the fact that they did not have to bat and they had to bowl only 23.1 overs, during which time they dismissed New Zealand’s best batsman, Kane Williamson. However, there are still some scars that need urgent attention.
Their batsmen have had plenty of time to contemplate how they might atone for their pitiful display on the first day. Nothing those batsmen witnessed on Friday when showers enveloped Eden Park all too frequently would have brought them much cheer. First, there was confirmation that the surface here possesses no demons. It is not a 58 all out pitch. It is not a 258 all out pitch.
For almost all of the 23 overs bowled the ball stubbornly refused to deviate in the air or off the pitch. The ball plopped gently on to the middle of straight Kiwi bats. The tourists’ pace bowling quartet was persistent but not penetrating as Williamson gave the England batsmen in the field a first-hand, five-hour tutorial on how to compile a Test century. Williamson made his 18th, which meant that the New Zealand captain has reached three figures more frequently than any other Kiwi. He had begun the match alongside Ross Taylor and Martin Crowe on this list.
Williamson displayed all the virtues that had eluded England in the first hour of the match. He was patient and watchful; his footwork was precise and positive; he played the ball late in defence and punched drives to the boundary with surprising power when the opportunity arose. It helped him that no bowler could move the ball in the air like Trent Boult.
It was, therefore, a surprise when Williamson was dismissed. Even the new ball had refused to deviate much until Jimmy Anderson found some surprising inswing to have him lbw for 102. Williamson described this as a “fairly good delivery”, which, given his dry, wry assessment of everything that happens around him, meant that it was an excellent ball and a fine piece of bowling by Anderson. Williamson was not going to lose any sleep over that dismissal or about New Zealand’s position in the match.
The departure of New Zealand’s best batsmen did not trigger any panic in their dressing room. Henry Nicholls had been resolute in defence throughout while playing the odd pull and cut shot on the rare occasions that the bowlers pitched short, while BJ Watling had skittishly acquired 17 on his return to Tests when more rain fell.
There was an inspection at 8.30pm after which the umpires decided to look again at 9pm, seldom a popular decision and one that was met with some derision from a dwindling crowd. The umpires finally abandoned play for the day at 9.10pm because they had decided that the outfield was still a bit damp and the game looked stupid once more. New Zealand were leading by 171 runs with six wickets remaining.
Williamson does not seem to get too excited about anything. When asked about becoming New Zealand’s top-scorer of centuries at the tender age of 27 he gave the modern cricketer’s stock response: “I’ve never focused too much on stats. I just like to do what’s best for the team. It was a bit frustrating today [to be dismissed after adding 11].” Yet somehow he might mean all that.
There is no doubting his admiration for Martin Crowe, who died two years ago. “He was a fantastic, world-class cricketer for New Zealand, the best ever”, said Williamson. There is so much respect there for Martin.”
Crowe predicted that Williamson could be his country’s greatest batsman and he may well have been right, even though the aesthete would probably opt to watch a Crowe century.
Williamson explained his decision to insert England even though a glimpse of the scorecard makes that unnecessary. “We felt the wicket was at its greenest and it doesn’t deteriorate much here [one of the few pieces of good news for the England camp]. We didn’t expect that outcome. So it was a perfect storm for us and we did bowl a beautiful length. It will be a lot harder second time around.”
He may even have to make a bowling change in the second innings.
Like a good Kiwi, Williamson will take nothing for granted in this match. He has great respect for his opponents and he is prepared to voice his admiration in a manner that is seldom quite so prevalent on the other side of the Tasman Sea, especially in the middle of a Test. Of his opposite number, Joe Root, an occasional colleague at Yorkshire, he says: “He’s a great fella and a great player in all formats who conducts himself in a fantastic way.”
So, after two contrasting days – the first was surreal, the second all too ordinary – we appear to have an unusual contest on our hands: no one seems to be slagging one another off.
Day 3
England 58
New Zealand 233/4
New Zealand lead by 175 runs with 6 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Only 17 balls were bowled and four runs scored as day three of the first Test between England and New Zealand in Auckland was hit by the weather.
Play started on time at 00:30 GMT but after 2.5 overs rain began to fall at Eden Park, and at 05:40 GMT the umpires decided to abandon play for the day.
In the overs that were possible, New Zealand's Henry Nicholls reached his half-century off 149 balls.
Chris Woakes missed a chance to run out BJ Watling off the day's last ball.
Black Caps wicketkeeper Watling, who is unbeaten on 18, called Nicholls through for a risky single but Woakes' throw to the striker's end was well wide.
The second day of the day-night match had also been severely impacted by rain with only 23.1 overs bowled.
The Kiwis will begin day four on 233-4, now 175 runs ahead after bowling England out for 58 on day one, with better weather forecast for the remainder of the first match in the two-Test series.
Day 4
England 58 & 132/3 (46.5 ov)
New Zealand 427/8d
England trail by 237 runs with 7 wickets remaining
It took England three-and-a-half days of gloom to show New Zealand their gritty side and yet by stumps they still had much work to do, having lost captain Joe Root off what turned out to be the last ball of the day. They trail by 237 runs in the second innings, with seven wickets in hand.
Root and Mark Stoneman had defied New Zealand with an 88-run second-wicket partnership, both making spirited half-centuries. But just as England might have contemplated a good day's work, their captain was dismissed by a brute of a bouncer from Trent Boult. Their battle in the dying stages of play was incredibly compelling, with the left-arm quick even engaging in a few verbals, and also striking a painful blow on Root right hand. One ball later, he took Root out, caught down the leg side.
New Zealand's declaration, determined strategically by time and not runs, to bowl with the newer ball under lights, came an hour into the second session, with a lead of 369. Henry Nicholls led their batting performance with his highest first-class score, an unbeaten 145.
Faced with a massive deficit, Boult made a significant dent to England's hopes of salvaging a draw by having Alastair Cook strangled down the leg side prior to the dinner break.
Stoneman, having earned his place in the Test side after a county season in which he scored 1156 runs in 12 matches for Surrey last year, hadn't really had the chance to showcase the fluency with which he scored all those runs in England. However, with attacking fields and the ball not moving much, he capitalised, freely driving and flicking through the line.
Neil Wagner, who didn't have much to do for the first three days, made his first significant contribution to the Test by having Stoneman caught at deep square leg with a short ball.
At the other end, Root wasn't short of confidence, waiting patiently for the shorter length, accumulating 29 of his 51 runs behind square on both sides of the wicket.
Earlier on the fourth day, in entirely different overhead conditions, Nicholls displayed the same admirable patience and diligence to reach his second Test century. The leg side was particularly productive for Nicholls, as he forced the bowlers to err in his areas by repeatedly leaving balls outside his off stump. He scored 67 of his first 100 runs in the leg side, 30 of which came in the midwicket region.
Against James Anderson and Stuart Broad, generating significant lateral movement, Nicholls and BJ Watling began cautiously. Watling had added 13 to his overnight score, before wafting at a wide delivery from Broad in an attempt to increase the rate of scoring. A thin edge was easily accepted by the keeper.
Colin de Grandhomme helped New Zealand propel their scoring rate with a lively 39-ball 29, an innings that featured five fours and a six. There were the usual spanking drives, the disdainful pulls and the discernibly late cuts, both sides of point. He added 49 with Nicholls as New Zealand's lead crossed 250, but the partnership could have been broken a lot sooner. In the 111th over, de Grandhomme insde-edged Chris Woakes into Jonny Bairstow's gloves but umpire Bruce Oxenford ruled it not out and England did not have any reviews to challenge the on-field decision.
Todd Astle scored 18 runs, with three fours, before he chopped on off Broad. Tim Southee chipped in with 25 in an eighth-wicket partnership worth 72. In total, New Zealand added 204 runs off 46 overs to set up their declaration.
Day 5
England 58 and 320; New Zealand 427-8 dec
New Zealand win by an innings and 49 runs
England’s abominable overseas record continues to deteriorate. They have now lost 10 of their last 12 matches away from home. Despite a resolute innings of 66 in four and a half hours from Ben Stokes in his first Test of the winter,New Zealand finally claimed the victory that had seemed such a formality in those dim and distant days when the headline news in Australia was about a threatened strike among Customs and Border Protection staff at airports this Easter.
New Zealand won by an innings and 49 runs. They were made to toil, unlike in England’s calamitous first innings, but they were more than prepared to do so in the first floodlit Test on Kiwi soil. There was no forlorn pursuit of reverse swing here, but with Trent Boult and Neil Wagner busting a gut they eventually found a way through England’s lineup. The pitch was true, the batsmen far more resilient than on Thursday and they only had just over an hour to spare. But – deservedly – they got there in the end.
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Boult purred to the wicket tirelessly throughout the game and was the obvious recipient of the man of the match award. He bowls in the classic manner; Wagner, an irrepressible competitor much beloved in Chelmsford as well as Christchurch, has a different, almost unique method. Mostly he bowls bouncers but they are extremely well-directed ones. He charges in with hostile intent for over after over. He even races back to his mark with unrelenting purpose. Wagner took just three wickets in the match but one of them critically – with his last ball before dinner – was that of Stokes.
Having batted with great restraint Stokes tried to uppercut another bouncer from the impudent Wagner. The mis-hit ballooned over the gully region where Tim Southee, running back, grabbed the catch. New Zealand’s greatest obstacle had been removed. Now just three wickets were needed in the final session. Within an hour Todd Astle defeated Craig Overton with a googly and another perfectly directed bouncer saw Chris Woakes, who had battled to his fourth Test half century, fending the ball to short-leg. Jimmy Anderson lamely drove to mid-off against the leg-spinner and the celebrations could begin.
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Stokes and Woakes were the only two batsmen to give Kane Williamson the odd headache. Despite suffering from back pain later in his innings Stokes displayed much resolve and technical skill. He glided his first ball from Boult to the fine leg boundary but thereafter his innings was a model of self-denial for the best part of two sessions. He was easily the most secure of the remaining English batsmen, firm and confident in defence.
Until his demise he felt no urgency to keep his score ticking over; at one point he faced 31 balls without scoring (a record for him in Test cricket according to the BBC scorer Andrew Samson, of course) and he was not bothered.
The rest were less convincing. In these situations there is always the need to be positive in defence with decisive movement of the feet. Dawid Malan could not deliver that. For the second time in the match he was stuck on the crease, prodding tentatively and edging, this time against Southee.
Malan was excellent in Australia but there is the suspicion that his technique is more suited to the hard unyielding pitches there, which offer minimal sideways movement. On such surfaces a significant stride towards the ball may not be so essential.
Jonny Bairstow, one of the five batsmen on a pair, took 15 balls to avoid that indignity and was dropped before he scored. He flicked at a leg-side delivery from Southee and edged behind; BJ Watling dived to his left and the ball clipped his gloves but proceeded down to the fine-leg boundary. It was a tough chance but one that international keepers might expect to take more often than not.
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Bairstow’s next alarm came when the leg-spinner Astle was finally introduced. He spied an ugly long-hop, which was surely destined for the leg side boundary. However Bairstow, on 21, mis-hit the ball horribly straight to a startled Boult at mid-on, who dropped a straightforward catch. This seemed a significant miss but Bairstow could not capitalise. In Astle’s next over there was another long-hop, which spun towards the off-side. This time the batsman made better contact and the ball sped towards Williamson at mid-wicket, who snatched an excellent catch.
Currently the advent of Moeen Ali is not a source of great assurance. But he settled in without too many alarms. Wagner bounced him (of course) and there were one or two wafts but also some crisp pull shots. Soon he had overtaken Stokes but the combination of the new ball, Boult and a shrewd review brought about his wicket.
It was clear that the ball had found the edge of his bat, which dampened the enthusiasm for a review. But those fielders square of the wicket sensed it had touched Moeen’s right pad before touching his bat. The replays confirmed that this was the case. This constituted a minor triumph for Williamson since this was just his fourth successful review as captain in 34 attempts, the worst record of all the Test captains (Samson), not a statistic that disturbed New Zealand’s captain greatly after a famous victory.
2nd Test
Day 1
England 290-8
New Zealand
As the tampering saga begins to recede – or is this just a little lull? – it is no longer possible to hide the fact that England’s Test team is undergoing a good old-fashioned crisis, stemming from a lack of runs, rather than integrity, among their batsmen.
Fortunately for Joe Root his all-rounders came good in the final session at the Hagley Oval to keep England afloat. In this case it was Jonny Bairstow, who steered England to a total approaching respectability with an excellent, unbeaten 97. His chief ally was Mark Wood, who we can elevate to all-rounder status for a while, after he hit a vibrant 52, his best score in Test cricket. We know about Bairstow’s refined belligerence down the order but there were times in their partnership when the quality of Wood’s strokeplay made it hard to distinguish one from the other from a distant hillside.
This pair added 95 together in 18 overs, an alliance that papered over another alarming batting performance. It may be that some of the batsmen are mentally numb, others may be rusty but on a sublime day for cricket, it became all too evident that England possess only three batsmen in their top seven capable of suggesting any kind of permanence at the moment even on a perfectly benign surface. Beyond Root, Ben Stokes and Bairstow there is currently a quartet of batsmen who seem as fragile and fleeting as a rainbow but not so pleasing on the eye – with the possible exception of James Vince when cover driving. Sadly that quartet now includes Alastair Cook, who was defeated by Trent Boult once again.
The autumnal sun beamed down from a cloudless sky. The locals claimed their spots on grassy banks still damp with dew when Kane Williamson won the toss. Following the pattern of the four previous Tests here he opted to bowl despite the overhead conditions. England had made three changes to the team in Auckland, with Vince, Wood and Jack Leach, who was making his debut, replacing Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Craig Overton. By recent England standards this constituted a radical overhaul.
Up stepped Boult and in his third over he clean bowled Cook. It was a fine, full delivery that deviated from leg to off and, with Cook’s feet stuck on the crease and his bat lunging desperately in front of him, he missed the ball by a remarkable distance, given that he has more than 12,000 Test runs to his name.
Cook’s dismissal did not preface an Auckland-style subsidence, although there was some swing and nip for the pace attack. Mark Stoneman, off the mark after an inside edge had sped perilously close to his off stump, played and missed frequently while Vince looked more assured. As ever a couple of drives purred from the middle of his bat as the Kiwis kept searching for swing via a full length. Then on 18 Vince was stuck on the crease against Tim Southee and was lbw, with the replays confirming that the ball would have just clipped his leg stump. Like so many of England’s batsmen he needs a substantial score in the second innings to guarantee his place in the next Test team.
Root settled easily and scored without difficulty, often on his toes and punching the ball through the off side. He navigated the side to 70-2 at lunch, not a bad foundation after being put into bat. For another half an hour after the interval all was serenity. The Kiwis tried a review against Root that reflected how dangerous the England captain was looking. Root drove Southee to the onside boundary to confirm this but then he tried to clip another full-length delivery through mid-wicket and was bowled. Without looking back at the damage he marched off swiftly, disgusted with himself.
From here there was mayhem. Dawid Malan missed his first ball from Boult and set off for the pavilion before the umpire’s finger was properly raised. It was as if he had never sighted the ball. In the next over Stoneman’s luck ran out as he edged a handy delivery from Southee into the safe hands of Tom Latham at second slip. Stokes and Bairstow, batting properly, now added 57 together but after tea Stokes was caught down the leg side off Boult. The standard response to this dismissal is to say that he was “strangled” but this happens so often now, especially against left-handed bowlers, that the batsmen must take note of an error rather than bemoan their bad luck. Stuart Broad, elevated to No 8, did not bat like one, soon chipping an easy catch to mid-off against Southee. But Wood did.
There were several crunching cover drives and as well as a six hooked off Neil Wagner. Wood had not played against a red ball since September. Practice? Who needs it? Having posted his maiden half-century in Test cricket he was bowled by Southee. All the while Bairstow had mixed discretion and aggression adeptly as he often can with the tail. The crack of two pull shots against Wagner echoed satisfyingly around the ground.
After Wood’s departure, Leach supported Bairstow with impressive composure
throughout the final 10 overs. For the New Zealanders the old firm of Boult and Southee did all the damage, with the latter the more potent this time, but thanks to Bairstow and the infusion of new blood – perhaps England should try this more often – the Kiwis were still in the field at the close.
Day 2
England 307;
New Zealand 192-6
BJ Watling and Colin de Grandhomme, the Little and Large of Kiwi cricket, mounted a fine recovery on the second day at the Hagley Oval just when England sensed that everything was falling into place after the most frustrating of winters.
After the removal of Kane Williamson 10 minutes after lunch, New Zealand were 36 for five in response to England’s 307. Stuart Broad, having used that new Kookaburra so effectively – how dare anyone suggest removing it from his grasp? – had taken three wickets in his opening spell, while Jimmy Anderson had snaffled the other two. An end to England’s dismal run overseas was on the horizon.
But as that chameleon Kookaburra lost its devious qualities Watling and De Grandhomme combined to add 142 for the sixth wicket to keep New Zealand in what should now be a fascinating Test match. Watling has performed these rescue acts on numerous occasions for New Zealand, but this was new territory for De Grandhomme. He has scored a Test century, 105 against West Indies last December, but it only took him 74 balls. Here he displayed patience that no one was sure he possessed.
De Grandhomme began rapidly with three boundaries from pull shots off Mark Wood, who was exploring the middle of the pitch as frequently as Neil Wagner. After 33 balls he had 31 runs. But then the big man bided his time; he would not be tempted. Meanwhile, Watling busied himself with shots of all varieties square of the wicket. Eventually England’s four-man attack was augmented by Ben Stokes, who propelled three lively overs off a shortened run, but it was the persevering Broad, who finally ended the partnership. De Grandhomme’s magnificent crawl to 72 had occupied 151 balls.
Initially New Zealand had been becalmed and bewildered against England’s veteran pace attack. Broad bowled full enough to induce the drive and Tom Latham obliged. A thin edge sped into Jonny Bairstow’s glove. Jeet Raval played and missed frequently against Anderson and eventually the ball kissed his outside edge as well.
Neither Ross Taylor nor Henry Nicholls could stem the slide. Taylor drove against Broad and was neatly caught by Alastair Cook at first slip; Nicholls was stuck on the crease and lbw, though, surprisingly, England had to review to win that decision. With New Zealand 17 for four the tourists were cock-a-hoop although they would have been even happier if a review against Kane Williamson had been successful. Looking at the replays it was a surprise when it was not granted but the ball was deemed to have hit Williamson’s pad just outside the line of off-stump.
Yet Williamson could not glue the innings together this time. He was dismissed in a familiar manner in this series, caught down the leg-side against a pace bowle. Watling, as ever, stayed calm and, after his early flurry, De Grandhomme dug in with unprecedented self-denial. Eventually late in the final session Broad found the edge of De Grandhomme’s bat, thereby ending his longest Test innings. After his dismissal Tim Southee, though inconvenienced by the odd bouncer, stayed with Watling so that New Zealand finished the day on 192 for six.
For England Broad enjoyed his best day of the winter, bowling full and finding just enough movement off the pitch to find those edges. Root’s instincts to toss him the new ball alongside Anderson for the 150th time in Test cricket – second on this list are Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram on a paltry 89 (thank you, Andrew Sansom) – had been quickly justified. Anderson was Anderson. Meanwhile, the newcomers were wicketless.
Mark Wood generated impressive pace and hit Watling on the helmet from around the wicket. He bowled a lot of bouncers as the innings progressed, which disturbed Watling more than De Grandhomme. Likewise Jack Leach bowled competently on his debut, twice beating the outside edge in the classic manner. Perhaps he grew impatient, especially against Watling, when he opted to go over the wicket.
Leach had batted competently too in the morning, long enough for Bairstow to score the three runs needed to reach his fifth Test century. Then, after the addition of 17 runs to England’s total, Leach edged Southee to the keeper. In the next over Bairstow was caught at fly slip off a bouncer from Trent Boult. As in England’s first innings at Auckland Southee and Boult had taken all 10 wickets. So far it has been a match for senior bowlers who have got their hands on the new ball.
Afterwards Broad, who finished the day with figures of 4-38 said: “That’s the best rhythm I’ve been in for a couple of years. We talked about bowling a slightly fuller length with the new ball. Our opening batsmen said this was tricky and we committed to do that, which meant that we were prepared to give away a few more runs early on.”
Broad also hinted at a greater flexibility within the bowling unit. “We’ve looked at what they have been doing to us, which meant that there was more short-pitched bowling [mostly from Wood].” On Saturday he passed the number of Test wickets taken by Curtley Ambrose – “one of my inspirations” – and there is clearly a spring in his step after his disappointing Ashes series.
He is now so confident that he is happy to admit, “I was rubbish in Oz. I had to improve and I think I have.” He says that he has not been working on dry technique under the supervision of coaches since then; working on his own he has concentrated more on “getting the feeling back”. The outcome appears to be that he is finding more bounce and zip off the wicket. “I’m only 31,” he said. “I think I’ve still got a lot to offer.”
Day 3
England 307 & 202/3 (66 ov)
New Zealand 278
England lead by 231 runs with 7 wickets remaining
By the time England play their next international match, the Lord’s Test against Pakistan in May, they will have a new chief selector in place. He or she might have expected that an initial task just before the announcement of the squad would be to make a phone call that began along the lines of “I’m sorry to have to tell you, James …” – but after James Vince’s second highest score for England, a tantalizing 76, that may not be necessary, after all.
Vince’s winter tour now has some substantial bookends. Back in Brisbane in November he hit 83 in the first innings of the Ashes series before he was run-out. In a more relaxed atmosphere in Christchurch four-and-a-half months later the cover drive was still working well and looking good. The trouble is there have not been many runs in between even though Vince has always looked polished until his cover drive sends the ball to the slip cordon, which was how he was dismissed on Sunday. His tally this winter is 326 runs from 11 innings, which is neither calamitous nor compelling. He may just hang on even though he still promises more than he produces.
His was an important innings in the context of the match. With a disappointing lead of 29 and the pitch behaving more benignly, England required plenty of runs without too much delay and Vince’s brisk knock, which occupied just 128 balls, was helpful but not decisive. Not that he will be the only topic of conversation for the new selector. Most of England’s batsmen will be under scrutiny in May and that includes Alastair Cook. He was dismissed by Trent Boult for the fourth time in this series, caught behind when he was not sure whether to leave or play. He has mustered 23 runs from four innings in this mini-series, confirming his vulnerability against left-handed opening bowlers. Obviously his credit rating is better than most but he may spend some time after inspecting the new-born lambs, pondering his career plans.
Mark Stoneman has also had a frustrating winter, hinting at permanence yet his 60 on Sunday was the highest Test score of his career. It was not a fluent innings and he was dropped twice on 48 and 57, both difficult chances in the slip cordon. His tally for the winter is very similar to Vince’s: 389 runs from 13 innings.
Stoneman is a gritty battler but there remain a few technical shortcomings. His footwork is not flawless. He sometimes remains stuck on leg-stump and that was certainly the case when he swung at a wide ball from Southee and was caught behind on Sunday. He also struggled against the short delivery as the tour of Australia progressed; by the same token he must have learnt a lot. Like Vince his future is not certain. Afterwards England’s batting coach on this tour, Graham Thorpe, said he was pleased with the positive attitude of both of them but Thorpe has been around long enough to toss in a few caveats. “We are not at a place where we know out best team or batting order. It is not like when Straussy was captain and the line-up was set in stone. We remain a work in progress.”
Stoneman and Vince added 123 together. Then in the last hour as the temperature plummeted and the light declined Joe Root, who has not come to the crease with England having as many as 147 runs on the board since the Test against India at Rajkot last winter, carefully consolidated alongside Dawid Malan so that the tourists led by 231 runs at the close. It was hard work for the Kiwi bowlers out there as the pitch became ever more docile.
New Zealand would have been happier with their efforts in the morning. They had 5.1 overs of the old ball and Tim Southee in particular made sure that he would use them to good effect. A pull shot off Ben Stokes, who was allowed three more overs, sailed away for six and there were meaty boundaries off Mark Wood and Jack Leach as England shuffled their bowlers.
So New Zealand had progressed to 219-6 when the new ball was taken and Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson were reintroduced. Now batting was trickier and soon Watling received a peach of a ball from Anderson. Throughout most of its flightpath it looked like a leg-stump half volley but just as Watling prepared to play a clip through mid-wicket the ball swung, missed the bat and struck the stumps on the line of middle and off.
Ish Sodhi never settled and soon became Broad’s fifth victim when he edged to give Bairstow his fifth catch. Southee had kept swinging to good effect and had just celebrated his fourth half-century in Test cricket when he was clean bowled by Anderson. Now there was a merry old-fashioned, last-wicket partnership except that Neil Wagner was hit on the helmet, which nowadays prompts a cursory check that all is well, a sprint onto the pitch by one of the medical staff and an enquiry about who is the Prime Minister.
Wagner and Trent Boult added 39 together in 7 overs with a variety of swishes often against Wood’s short balls. For some reason Wood declined to attempt a yorker at either of them. In the end a Broad bouncer resulted in a catch on the fine leg boundary but by then England’s lead was only 29. For the first time since 1912 and just the third time in Test history all the wickets in the first two innings of the match had been shared by two bowlers on each side – according to Samson.
Day 4
England 307 & 352/9d
New Zealand 278 & 42/0 (target: 382)
New Zealand require another 340 runs with 10 wickets remaining
England's hopes of ending a long and arduous campaign with their first overseas Test victory in 13 attempts were blunted by an obdurate opening stand from New Zealand's Tom Latham and Jeet Raval, as well as the onset of the antipodean autumn, as bad light descended shortly after tea to saw 24 overs off the day's allocation.
Despite an attempt to rage against the dying of the light, with England turning to the spin of Jack Leach and Joe Root after being informed by the umpires that their quicks could no longer be used, the players left the field with New Zealand sitting pretty on 42 for 0 after 23 overs of hard graft.
The net result was that the home side will need a further 340 runs for victory on the final day - an outlandish prospect, given the likelihood of further lost overs. However, with ten wickets in the bank, New Zealand will surely believe they can bat out for the draw that will secure them their first series win over England since 1999, and their first at home since 1983-84.
England's bowlers, however, were not repelled without a fight. James Anderson and Stuart Broad hounded the outside edge of both openers in another gruelling new-ball spell, with Raval taking a nasty blow to the torso from Broad as he was forced to wait 15 deliveries to get off the mark. But it was Anderson who forced England's one clear-cut opportunity - when Latham, on 23, was dropped by James Vince, a tough but genuine chance, diving to his left at third slip in the brief final session.
Mark Wood, not for the first time in this Test, was energetic but misdirected in his brief foray before tea, but - with the ball now losing its shine - it may well be the debutant Leach who has the biggest say on a wicket that isn't exactly breaking up, but was beginning to offer some reward for his accuracy when the umpires called time on England's efforts.
In hindsight, England may regret the lack of intent that they showed in their own second innings, having resumed on 202 for 3 overnight, with an already handy lead of 231 in the bank. Following on from the efforts of Vince and Mark Stoneman on the third afternoon, England found another pair of half-centurions in Root and Dawid Malan, but were forced in the end to scramble for their declaration due to another familiar and untimely clatter of wickets.
For the first 90 minutes of the day, Root and Malan had batted with uncomplicated purpose in easing along to a 97-run stand for England's fourth wicket, but New Zealand's decision to delay the second new ball paid dividends, as both were dragged out of their comfort zones in their attempts to pick up the tempo.
First to go was Malan, caught at short midwicket as Colin de Grandhomme tailed one into his pads from round the wicket. Henry Nicholls snaffled the chance at head height, to complete the 24th dismissal of the match, and the first by any of the change bowlers on either side.
And in Neil Wagner's very next over, Root had a flash at a full-length outswinger and skimmed a thin nick through to BJ Watling, to put the seal on an intensely frustrating winter for England's captain - seven fifty-plus scores in 13 innings, but no hundreds.
England's misfiring continued in the first over after lunch, as Ben Stokes holed out to midwicket off another de Grandhomme inswinger. But New Zealand's hopes of stealing the ascendancy were, to all intents and purposes, ended two balls later, when Jonny Bairstow survived a vociferous appeal for caught behind off Trent Boult. Replays proved that umpire Marais Erasmus had missed a thin nick that would have left England seven-down with a lead of 311, but with no more reviews to turn to, New Zealand's moment was lost.
Their bowlers continued to chip away regardless. De Grandhomme traded tail-end slogs for wickets as Broad was suckered by a slower ball before Wood was bowled by a big inswinger two overs later. But, with Leach providing obdurate support, Bairstow turned on the afterburners. He smoked Boult for three fours in five balls as the lead began to accelerate, and when he eventually top-edged Wagner to deep midwicket for 36, Root immediately declared, with a lead of 382 and an hour of the afternoon session still to come.
That first hour came and went in a flurry of defensive prods and pokes, as Latham and Raval repelled the new ball with gritted teeth and a degree of well-earned luck. But if England went to tea believing that their breakthoughs were only a matter of time, the final session gave them yet more cause for doubt. Eleven overs, eight runs, one dropped catch, and no chance to dictate terms as the gloom began to envelop their Test prospects once more.
Day 5
New Zealand 192-6
BJ Watling and Colin de Grandhomme, the Little and Large of Kiwi cricket, mounted a fine recovery on the second day at the Hagley Oval just when England sensed that everything was falling into place after the most frustrating of winters.
After the removal of Kane Williamson 10 minutes after lunch, New Zealand were 36 for five in response to England’s 307. Stuart Broad, having used that new Kookaburra so effectively – how dare anyone suggest removing it from his grasp? – had taken three wickets in his opening spell, while Jimmy Anderson had snaffled the other two. An end to England’s dismal run overseas was on the horizon.
But as that chameleon Kookaburra lost its devious qualities Watling and De Grandhomme combined to add 142 for the sixth wicket to keep New Zealand in what should now be a fascinating Test match. Watling has performed these rescue acts on numerous occasions for New Zealand, but this was new territory for De Grandhomme. He has scored a Test century, 105 against West Indies last December, but it only took him 74 balls. Here he displayed patience that no one was sure he possessed.
De Grandhomme began rapidly with three boundaries from pull shots off Mark Wood, who was exploring the middle of the pitch as frequently as Neil Wagner. After 33 balls he had 31 runs. But then the big man bided his time; he would not be tempted. Meanwhile, Watling busied himself with shots of all varieties square of the wicket. Eventually England’s four-man attack was augmented by Ben Stokes, who propelled three lively overs off a shortened run, but it was the persevering Broad, who finally ended the partnership. De Grandhomme’s magnificent crawl to 72 had occupied 151 balls.
Initially New Zealand had been becalmed and bewildered against England’s veteran pace attack. Broad bowled full enough to induce the drive and Tom Latham obliged. A thin edge sped into Jonny Bairstow’s glove. Jeet Raval played and missed frequently against Anderson and eventually the ball kissed his outside edge as well.
Neither Ross Taylor nor Henry Nicholls could stem the slide. Taylor drove against Broad and was neatly caught by Alastair Cook at first slip; Nicholls was stuck on the crease and lbw, though, surprisingly, England had to review to win that decision. With New Zealand 17 for four the tourists were cock-a-hoop although they would have been even happier if a review against Kane Williamson had been successful. Looking at the replays it was a surprise when it was not granted but the ball was deemed to have hit Williamson’s pad just outside the line of off-stump.
Yet Williamson could not glue the innings together this time. He was dismissed in a familiar manner in this series, caught down the leg-side against a pace bowle. Watling, as ever, stayed calm and, after his early flurry, De Grandhomme dug in with unprecedented self-denial. Eventually late in the final session Broad found the edge of De Grandhomme’s bat, thereby ending his longest Test innings. After his dismissal Tim Southee, though inconvenienced by the odd bouncer, stayed with Watling so that New Zealand finished the day on 192 for six.
For England Broad enjoyed his best day of the winter, bowling full and finding just enough movement off the pitch to find those edges. Root’s instincts to toss him the new ball alongside Anderson for the 150th time in Test cricket – second on this list are Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram on a paltry 89 (thank you, Andrew Sansom) – had been quickly justified. Anderson was Anderson. Meanwhile, the newcomers were wicketless.
Mark Wood generated impressive pace and hit Watling on the helmet from around the wicket. He bowled a lot of bouncers as the innings progressed, which disturbed Watling more than De Grandhomme. Likewise Jack Leach bowled competently on his debut, twice beating the outside edge in the classic manner. Perhaps he grew impatient, especially against Watling, when he opted to go over the wicket.
Leach had batted competently too in the morning, long enough for Bairstow to score the three runs needed to reach his fifth Test century. Then, after the addition of 17 runs to England’s total, Leach edged Southee to the keeper. In the next over Bairstow was caught at fly slip off a bouncer from Trent Boult. As in England’s first innings at Auckland Southee and Boult had taken all 10 wickets. So far it has been a match for senior bowlers who have got their hands on the new ball.
Afterwards Broad, who finished the day with figures of 4-38 said: “That’s the best rhythm I’ve been in for a couple of years. We talked about bowling a slightly fuller length with the new ball. Our opening batsmen said this was tricky and we committed to do that, which meant that we were prepared to give away a few more runs early on.”
Broad also hinted at a greater flexibility within the bowling unit. “We’ve looked at what they have been doing to us, which meant that there was more short-pitched bowling [mostly from Wood].” On Saturday he passed the number of Test wickets taken by Curtley Ambrose – “one of my inspirations” – and there is clearly a spring in his step after his disappointing Ashes series.
He is now so confident that he is happy to admit, “I was rubbish in Oz. I had to improve and I think I have.” He says that he has not been working on dry technique under the supervision of coaches since then; working on his own he has concentrated more on “getting the feeling back”. The outcome appears to be that he is finding more bounce and zip off the wicket. “I’m only 31,” he said. “I think I’ve still got a lot to offer.”
Day 3
England 307 & 202/3 (66 ov)
New Zealand 278
England lead by 231 runs with 7 wickets remaining
By the time England play their next international match, the Lord’s Test against Pakistan in May, they will have a new chief selector in place. He or she might have expected that an initial task just before the announcement of the squad would be to make a phone call that began along the lines of “I’m sorry to have to tell you, James …” – but after James Vince’s second highest score for England, a tantalizing 76, that may not be necessary, after all.
Vince’s winter tour now has some substantial bookends. Back in Brisbane in November he hit 83 in the first innings of the Ashes series before he was run-out. In a more relaxed atmosphere in Christchurch four-and-a-half months later the cover drive was still working well and looking good. The trouble is there have not been many runs in between even though Vince has always looked polished until his cover drive sends the ball to the slip cordon, which was how he was dismissed on Sunday. His tally this winter is 326 runs from 11 innings, which is neither calamitous nor compelling. He may just hang on even though he still promises more than he produces.
His was an important innings in the context of the match. With a disappointing lead of 29 and the pitch behaving more benignly, England required plenty of runs without too much delay and Vince’s brisk knock, which occupied just 128 balls, was helpful but not decisive. Not that he will be the only topic of conversation for the new selector. Most of England’s batsmen will be under scrutiny in May and that includes Alastair Cook. He was dismissed by Trent Boult for the fourth time in this series, caught behind when he was not sure whether to leave or play. He has mustered 23 runs from four innings in this mini-series, confirming his vulnerability against left-handed opening bowlers. Obviously his credit rating is better than most but he may spend some time after inspecting the new-born lambs, pondering his career plans.
Mark Stoneman has also had a frustrating winter, hinting at permanence yet his 60 on Sunday was the highest Test score of his career. It was not a fluent innings and he was dropped twice on 48 and 57, both difficult chances in the slip cordon. His tally for the winter is very similar to Vince’s: 389 runs from 13 innings.
Stoneman is a gritty battler but there remain a few technical shortcomings. His footwork is not flawless. He sometimes remains stuck on leg-stump and that was certainly the case when he swung at a wide ball from Southee and was caught behind on Sunday. He also struggled against the short delivery as the tour of Australia progressed; by the same token he must have learnt a lot. Like Vince his future is not certain. Afterwards England’s batting coach on this tour, Graham Thorpe, said he was pleased with the positive attitude of both of them but Thorpe has been around long enough to toss in a few caveats. “We are not at a place where we know out best team or batting order. It is not like when Straussy was captain and the line-up was set in stone. We remain a work in progress.”
Stoneman and Vince added 123 together. Then in the last hour as the temperature plummeted and the light declined Joe Root, who has not come to the crease with England having as many as 147 runs on the board since the Test against India at Rajkot last winter, carefully consolidated alongside Dawid Malan so that the tourists led by 231 runs at the close. It was hard work for the Kiwi bowlers out there as the pitch became ever more docile.
New Zealand would have been happier with their efforts in the morning. They had 5.1 overs of the old ball and Tim Southee in particular made sure that he would use them to good effect. A pull shot off Ben Stokes, who was allowed three more overs, sailed away for six and there were meaty boundaries off Mark Wood and Jack Leach as England shuffled their bowlers.
So New Zealand had progressed to 219-6 when the new ball was taken and Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson were reintroduced. Now batting was trickier and soon Watling received a peach of a ball from Anderson. Throughout most of its flightpath it looked like a leg-stump half volley but just as Watling prepared to play a clip through mid-wicket the ball swung, missed the bat and struck the stumps on the line of middle and off.
Ish Sodhi never settled and soon became Broad’s fifth victim when he edged to give Bairstow his fifth catch. Southee had kept swinging to good effect and had just celebrated his fourth half-century in Test cricket when he was clean bowled by Anderson. Now there was a merry old-fashioned, last-wicket partnership except that Neil Wagner was hit on the helmet, which nowadays prompts a cursory check that all is well, a sprint onto the pitch by one of the medical staff and an enquiry about who is the Prime Minister.
Wagner and Trent Boult added 39 together in 7 overs with a variety of swishes often against Wood’s short balls. For some reason Wood declined to attempt a yorker at either of them. In the end a Broad bouncer resulted in a catch on the fine leg boundary but by then England’s lead was only 29. For the first time since 1912 and just the third time in Test history all the wickets in the first two innings of the match had been shared by two bowlers on each side – according to Samson.
Day 4
England 307 & 352/9d
New Zealand 278 & 42/0 (target: 382)
New Zealand require another 340 runs with 10 wickets remaining
England's hopes of ending a long and arduous campaign with their first overseas Test victory in 13 attempts were blunted by an obdurate opening stand from New Zealand's Tom Latham and Jeet Raval, as well as the onset of the antipodean autumn, as bad light descended shortly after tea to saw 24 overs off the day's allocation.
Despite an attempt to rage against the dying of the light, with England turning to the spin of Jack Leach and Joe Root after being informed by the umpires that their quicks could no longer be used, the players left the field with New Zealand sitting pretty on 42 for 0 after 23 overs of hard graft.
The net result was that the home side will need a further 340 runs for victory on the final day - an outlandish prospect, given the likelihood of further lost overs. However, with ten wickets in the bank, New Zealand will surely believe they can bat out for the draw that will secure them their first series win over England since 1999, and their first at home since 1983-84.
England's bowlers, however, were not repelled without a fight. James Anderson and Stuart Broad hounded the outside edge of both openers in another gruelling new-ball spell, with Raval taking a nasty blow to the torso from Broad as he was forced to wait 15 deliveries to get off the mark. But it was Anderson who forced England's one clear-cut opportunity - when Latham, on 23, was dropped by James Vince, a tough but genuine chance, diving to his left at third slip in the brief final session.
Mark Wood, not for the first time in this Test, was energetic but misdirected in his brief foray before tea, but - with the ball now losing its shine - it may well be the debutant Leach who has the biggest say on a wicket that isn't exactly breaking up, but was beginning to offer some reward for his accuracy when the umpires called time on England's efforts.
In hindsight, England may regret the lack of intent that they showed in their own second innings, having resumed on 202 for 3 overnight, with an already handy lead of 231 in the bank. Following on from the efforts of Vince and Mark Stoneman on the third afternoon, England found another pair of half-centurions in Root and Dawid Malan, but were forced in the end to scramble for their declaration due to another familiar and untimely clatter of wickets.
For the first 90 minutes of the day, Root and Malan had batted with uncomplicated purpose in easing along to a 97-run stand for England's fourth wicket, but New Zealand's decision to delay the second new ball paid dividends, as both were dragged out of their comfort zones in their attempts to pick up the tempo.
First to go was Malan, caught at short midwicket as Colin de Grandhomme tailed one into his pads from round the wicket. Henry Nicholls snaffled the chance at head height, to complete the 24th dismissal of the match, and the first by any of the change bowlers on either side.
And in Neil Wagner's very next over, Root had a flash at a full-length outswinger and skimmed a thin nick through to BJ Watling, to put the seal on an intensely frustrating winter for England's captain - seven fifty-plus scores in 13 innings, but no hundreds.
England's misfiring continued in the first over after lunch, as Ben Stokes holed out to midwicket off another de Grandhomme inswinger. But New Zealand's hopes of stealing the ascendancy were, to all intents and purposes, ended two balls later, when Jonny Bairstow survived a vociferous appeal for caught behind off Trent Boult. Replays proved that umpire Marais Erasmus had missed a thin nick that would have left England seven-down with a lead of 311, but with no more reviews to turn to, New Zealand's moment was lost.
Their bowlers continued to chip away regardless. De Grandhomme traded tail-end slogs for wickets as Broad was suckered by a slower ball before Wood was bowled by a big inswinger two overs later. But, with Leach providing obdurate support, Bairstow turned on the afterburners. He smoked Boult for three fours in five balls as the lead began to accelerate, and when he eventually top-edged Wagner to deep midwicket for 36, Root immediately declared, with a lead of 382 and an hour of the afternoon session still to come.
That first hour came and went in a flurry of defensive prods and pokes, as Latham and Raval repelled the new ball with gritted teeth and a degree of well-earned luck. But if England went to tea believing that their breakthoughs were only a matter of time, the final session gave them yet more cause for doubt. Eleven overs, eight runs, one dropped catch, and no chance to dictate terms as the gloom began to envelop their Test prospects once more.
Day 5
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