Brook century edges England ahead in Ōtautahi
Day Two: New Zealand v England, Hagley Oval
NEW ZEALAND 348
ENGLAND 319–5 (trail by 29 runs)
Act One: Ducks, Debuts and Cricketing “Lives”
Commencing Day Two on 319–8, New Zealand no doubt had an extra 40–50 runs in mind and England the wrapping up of the final two wickets to end their innings cheaply. After 40 minutes of play, 29 extra runs and Glenn Phillips reaching his 5th Test Match half-century for the Black Caps in a day of unbelievable contrasting fortunes for the 27 year old South African born all-rounder, the players called it even, New Zealand had posted a competitive 1st innings total of 348 and it was the turn of their visitors to have their first bat on a wicket that had changed overnight from the heavy green grass colour of yesterday to a more yellow, straw colour today and, far more importantly, the temperature in and around the Hagley Oval had dropped significantly from yesterday’s high 20’s to middle to high teen’s and where yesterday there was blazing sunshine, this morning resembled the dark grey clouds of a Yorkshire summer.
In short, perfect bowling conditions.
England had 70 minutes to open their batting account before the Lunch Break and so began a late morning in New Zealand and the final minutes of a late evening here in the UK of debuts, ducks and cricketing “lives”. First on the rollcall of shame and fame was England opening batsman Zak Crawley who fell for a 12 ball duck to the brilliant, probing bowling of the superbly competitive and pugnacious Matt Henry. Crawley simply didn’t get going and struggled against the swinging, seaming bowling of Henry and opening partner Tim Southee and at 9–1 England were in trouble and about to thrust debutant Jacob Bethell into the firing line. The 21 year old acquitted himself calmly and well for near on an hour before receiving an unplayable delivery from yet another debutant, Kiwi Nathan Smith, and just 3 deliveries later, the 26 year old from Dunedin grabbed arguably the biggest scalp of them all, England’s highest even run scorer in Test Match cricket, Joe Root. Playing his 150th Test Match the ex England skipper joined the illustrious company of Australian greats Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting who also recorded ducks in their milestone matches and at 45–3, England were struggling as the team’s departed for the Lunch Break. The visitors only bright light in the morning session was opening batsman Ben Duckett who rested at the break 32 not out and thankful for the “life” granted him when dropped on 23 by Kiwi captain Tom Latham at 2nd Slip. It was an easy, straight forward chance but rather set the table for the dropped catches that would follow in the next two sessions of play and although Duckett would depart soon after the resumption of play, Latham would be as guilty as the rest of his profligate, butter-fingered team.
Act Two: “It’s England’s session. No doubt about that”
Although Ben Duckett’s “luck finally runs out” in the words of ex England captain David Gower early in the second session, this would be the only wicket to fall as the visitors, in the capable hands of Harry Brook (54 not out) and Ollie Pope (59 not out) compiled an unbroken century partnership on their way to stretching England’s Lunch total of 45–3 to 174–4 at the Tea Interval. In a day full of extra lives and dropped catches, each batsman would be granted a Kiwi gift in this session as first Brook drilled a tough, stinging chance to Glenn Phillips at Gully which he grassed with the England batsman on 18 before captain Tom Latham was again the guilty man spilling an easy catch offered him by Ollie Pope when on 41. David Gower’s TV commentary was priceless once more as Latham juggled a simple catch into the air before tumbling to the Hagley Oval turf: “Oh that’s taken! Yes it is! No it isn’t! There’s caps on the ground. There’s sunglasses on the ground” and unfortunately for the Kiwi skipper, so now was the ball.
Brook would extend his extra life from 18 to 54 not out at Tea whilst Pope, scoring at almost a run-a-ball, rested at the break on 59 not out having added an extra 18 runs since Tom Latham juggled a simple catch to the ground to the bemusement of David Gower and a smiling Englishman drinking tea and eating biscuits a world away in sub zero English darkness.
Act Three: The many lives of centurion Harry Brook
On a day of such glaring mistakes perhaps we should begin our conclusion with the spectacular “Superman grab” of Glenn Phillips that finally accounted for Ollie Pope when on a very well played 77. Phillips’ day of contrasting fortunes had seen him reach a Test Match half-century, spill a tough catch and now, flying goalkeeper style to his right, taking the most spectacular of one handed catches to dismiss Ollie Pope. The England vice-captain would say in interviews after the day’s play that Phillips had volunteered an apology for his otherworldly catch and one wonders how far Pope’s tongue was inside his cheek when he made this comment, but the day belonged to his teammate Harry Brook and yet, his day, and that of his captain Ben Stokes, was still to play out to the backdrop of spilled catches from their hosts. Whilst Stokes was granted an extra life when on 30 and dropped by Tom Latham (that man again) at the short cover position, Brook would be the beneficiary of 3 (THREE!) lives in this final session alone, twice in a matter of minutes when on 69 and 70 not out, first by Tom Blundell behind the stumps and then Devon Conway racing around the boundary edge before, when on 106, he tickled a leg side delivery into the wicket-keeping gloves of Tom Blundell once more, only to see the 34 year old from Wellington spill yet another simple chance.
One may argue that Brook had deserved his luck on his way to a 7th Test Match century, but it’s equally easy to state that New Zealand have gifted England a rather easy route to stumps on Day Two to trail by just 29 runs on 1st innings. The hosts squandered a number of their wickets on a first day they largely dominated and should have posted in excess of 400+ runs and today, they’ve dropped 6 (SIX!) catches that I can recall with my sleep deprived eyes.
So it is with perfect cricketing chaos and symmetry that England finished Day Two with the exact same score as their hosts did on Day One but the huge chasm of difference being that England will resume in the morning with a centurion and his captain by his side, 5 wickets in hand, and their eyes set on a 1st innings lead of 75–100 runs if not more.
Time will tell.
It always does.
Thanks for reading. After watching England “through the night” I’ve turned these day by day ramblings into three self-published books to date, the first of which pictured below covers (in the fifth and final part) England’s last tour to New Zealand in early 2023:
"Ashes to Ashes" - link to Amazon
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.