England crumble to defeat as India fight for a draw at The Gabba
Day Four: New Zealand v England, Seddon Park
NEW ZEALAND 347 and 453
ENGLAND 143 and 234
New Zealand win by 423 runs
Act One: A Tale of Two Test Matches (part 1)
Prior to the start of today’s play in a sunshine filled Hamilton under an almost cloudless sky, I made these meteorological facts known within the madhouse of Twitter as well as a personal plea to the England team to bat sensibly and whilst there was no prospect of even saving the Test Match for a draw, bat in an entertaining fashion, show some dogged determination, a pride in their performance that has already seen them win the series and perhaps, just perhaps, another Test Match century for their greatest ever batsman, Joe Root. For 90 minutes, if a little more, my call to sporting prayer was answered as Root, in partnership with Jacob Bethell, the old and the new, ancient (sorry Joe) and modern of English cricket, first posted their 50 run partnership, then an hour later a 100 run partnership and in the process Root reached his 101st Test Match half century and 21 year old Bethell his 3rd in as many matches. For 90 minutes, England eased their way from an overnight position of 18–2 to 122–2 and then, as so predictable in a mission impossible run chase such as this and in a repeat of the inexcusable collapse in the 1st innings, crumbled following the departure of Root for a well played 54, Yorkshire teammate and “Player of the Series” Harry Brook soon followed and when Bethell played a rash shot out of character and the brilliant performance that came before it for a magnificent 76, the team collapsed in 30 minutes either side of the Lunch Break.
“England’s rapid decline here hasn’t been a pleasant watch” so intoned ex England captain David Gower on TVNZ co-commentary and one could only agree. A 2–0 series lead after comprehensive victories by 8 wickets and 323 runs followed by an all time record defeat (and win for New Zealand) of 423 runs, kind of sums up the revolutionary air and some might suggest schizophrenic nature of the Stokes/McCullum managerial axis and their feast or famine streak of dominant wins and humbling defeats. It’s been a hell of a ride since their 3–0 win in Pakistan in 2022. The incredible drawn series here in New Zealand in early 2023 was soon followed by another drawn series with the auld enemy of Australia when only the rain of Manchester prevented one of the greatest series comebacks of all time let alone within the history of the Ashes. Series defeats away in Pakistan and India are as fresh in the memory as the changing of the guard of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad and an ever changing revolutionary team forever morphing into place. Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts are all vying to fill the bowling boots of the legends that came before them, Shoaib Bashir heads a spin bowling queue also containing Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed, and whilst the top 5 in the batting order are largely settled in place, Jacob Bethell is demanding a place in the starting XI and Jamie Smith is almost certainly ahead of Ollie Robinson as the wicket-keeper of the present and future.
The revolution WILL be televised and as its biggest supporter, I can’t wait to see how it develops in the summer against India before the Ashes recommences in 12 months time.
Post-match, Stokes candidly admitted “I worked my arse off to get to where I was in this game, particularly with my body. It’s just sod’s law — the first time in a while I feel like I’m young again, something happens. I worked really hard to get myself into position to play the role that I did in this game. It’s just one of those unfortunate things. But nah, I am not holding back” before continuing “we came here to beat a team who, wherever they go in the world, are very competitive. We knew they were going to be full of confidence after their historic win in India. So to play the cricket that we did in the first two games and dominate them was very, very pleasing. It is a long time before we before we meet up again as a Test team, Stokes added, before “It’s been a really long 2024 obviously, this was our 17th Test match of the year. It’s been a long old slog, but we’ve enjoyed every moment of it”.
Captain counterpart Tom Latham was all smiles as he admitted to being very pleased with how he and his team finished the series before continuing “We were not quite at our best in the first two games but the way we were able to adapt to the different surface here was very pleasing”. A final word must come from retiring legend Tim Southee who was effusive in his praise for everyone at New Zealand Cricket “and my family, who are there for the ride and see the ups and downs, and my team-mates. These guys have made the ride so much more enjoyable, I have loved every minute”.
Act Two: A Tale of Two Test Matches (part 2)
As England licked their Day 4 wounds at Lunch in Hamilton, I crossed the Tasman Sea once more and pleasingly had only missed a handful of Aussie deliveries, 4 additional runs to India’s overnight total of 51–4, and Steve Smith dropping KL Rahul at 1st Slip off the bowling of Pat Cummins from the very first ball of the day. It would prove to be a costly mistake across another rain interrupted day with Rahul adding in excess of 50 runs with his extra “life” today as he dominated the early Indian innings at 52 not out from a team total of just 74 at the fall of the fifth wicket, captain Rohit Sharma, and 61 not out from a team total of 95–5 as his partnership with Ravindra Jadeja began to bloom and I returned for the last rites of the England innings back in Hamilton. Returning an hour later and after yet another break for rain in Brisbane, India had added just 10 runs in my absence but more importantly both Rahul and Jadeja remained unbeaten and not out and a partnership that was in bloom, really blossomed throughout the afternoon session until Rahul departed for a brilliant 84 from a team total of just 141. I note this once more for the importance of Rahul’s innings and with only Jadeja and the Indian batting “tail” of bowlers left, they were still over 100 runs shy of being forced to follow-on and bat again by an albeit flagging Australia one bowler down due to the calf injury sustained by Josh Hazlewood.
With the Test Match, arguably, hanging on Australia taking the final 4 Indian wickets and enforcing the follow-on, Aussie skipper Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc pounded in time and again in search of the wickets that would tip the Test Match in their favour, and time and again they eked out the wickets of a resilient Ravindra Jadeja (77), Nitish Kumar Reddy (16) and Mohammed Siraj (1) to be one final wicket away from forcing India to bat again and a final day push for victory. But step forward Jasprit Bumrah (10 not out) and particularly the lusty blows of number 11 Akash Deep (27 not out) and to the unbridled delight of their teammates within the Pavilion, Deep’s two boundary 4’s and one huge boundary clearing 6 edged them past the 200 run follow-on mark and perhaps, just perhaps, to safety and a draw in this Test Match.
Day 5 begins with Australia still needing this final wicket to wrap the Indian innings before the time suck of adding 150+ runs and then a final assault and attempt to take all 10 Indian wickets in just over a session and a half of play.
Weather permitting!
It’s game on in Brisbane and provided the weather Gods are kind, there could be quite the ending to this Test Match late tomorrow evening.
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
Whilst you’re kindly here and have read this far down a wild ride even for me, here is my latest self-published book (published 8th December). Free to read on Kindle “Unlimited” or treat yourself to the book. It’s rather marvellous even if I say so myself and would look a pip and a dandy all wrapped up beneath a loved one’s tree this Christmas…
"My Ironbridge Summer" - 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.