Southee leads a brilliant Kiwi comeback. Wellington Test beautifully poised
Day 3: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.
Day 3: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.
Ah the allure of this most grandest of all games! Three days into a rain sodden Test Match from New Zealand’s capital city and it’s still all to play for and oh so beautifully poised. Please allow me some romantic licence to posit why.
New Zealand’s captain led fightback ensured they finished today’s play with a 2nd innings total of 202–3, though in the beautiful cricketing vernacular “following on”, and still 24 runs shy of England’s 1st innings total of 435. The sporting revolutionary tourists from England hold the whip hand and with the fall of three late New Zealand wickets at the end of today’s play, firm favourites entering day 4. We therefore have that beautiful prospect of what us cricket fans adore and universally acknowledge as a “crucial first hour of play” and equally important first session until the break for lunch. All things are possible but the historical template dictates that this first session is as crucial as us Test Match cricket fanatics would have you believe. Should England snag two, maybe three wickets in the morning session for the cost of perhaps 70 runs, then they have the task of mopping up the Kiwi batting “tail” and a rather meagre total of runs to chase for victory. However, should New Zealand have a much better session of play, scoring 90 runs for the loss of only one wicket (or fewer), they’ll enter the afternoon session with a lead of 60+ runs and only for the loss of 4 wickets.
England would still be arguable favourites, but it’s game on.
As I say, this Test Match is beautifully poised indeed. With Kane Williamson finding a little form with his overnight 25 not out, Henry Nicholls 18 not out and last summer’s tormentor Daryl Mitchell, 1st Test Match centurion Tom Blundell and captain and hero from day 3 Tim Southee still in the batting “shed”, the hosts could post a challenging total for England to chase. But will James Anderson or Stuart Broad have another of those mornings of cricketing excellence whereby they rip through the heart of the opposition? Or maybe Ollie Robinson will snag the bag of wickets his consistent and troubling bowling has deserved, or will Jack Leach spin and bamboozle his way through a crumbling Kiwi middle order?
As I say, this Test Match is beautifully poised.
All of which is for the future and for the very recent past we return to the swashbuckling antics of New Zealand captain Tim Southee and the brilliant batting from his openers that followed his determined lead. Southee started this morning with an already lusty and quickly made 23 runs from last evening and this morning he bludgeoned, caressed and crashed a further half century of remarkable runs in a brilliantly inspiring cameo from the bowling all-rounder. I noted in my initial midnight ramblings that he was “depositing the ball to all parts” and had taken a special liking to the slower spin bowling of Jack Leach as he raced to his half century from just 39 balls received, clubbing 8 combined boundary 4’s and 6’s in the process. As he and his team chased the meagre total of 235 in order to prevent England captain Ben Stokes enforcing the follow-on and for his team to bat again, Southee was given a “life” when dropped on 73 by Jack Leach on the boundary and his team reached 200 as he scampered 2 runs during Leach’s poor boundary fielding. However, he tamely tapped the very next ball to Zak Crawley at short mid-wicket, Stuart Broad had the first of the three wickets that would end the New Zealand innings on 209 within the first hour of play, and with a lead of 226 runs, Ben Stokes duly enforced the follow-on with hopes that his premier bowlers would rip through the New Zealand batting order once more.
Inspired perhaps by their captain’s flamboyant and determined resistance, Kiwi openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway doggedly reached 40–0 by the lunch break and after a rather unspectacular and undistinguished hour and 20 minutes from the English attack. Broad and Anderson, a combined 7 for 98 from the 1st innings, were a little wayward, so too Robinson and Leach and although every bowler passed the outside of the New Zealand opener’s bats, Latham and Conway rested relatively easily and not out at the lunch break. The pattern continued after lunch and through to the tea-break two hours later as Latham and Conway rested once more on not out totals of 72 and 53 respectively and with their team total now standing at 128–0, they were 98 runs behind England with all 10 wickets still to fall.
Everything changed and the momentum swung once more toward the favourites England during a 40 minute spell in the third and final session of the day’s play. Firstly, Jack Leach and Ollie Pope combined as per yesterday to snag the vital obstinate wicket of Devon Conway for 61 (from 155 balls) before just 6 runs and 15 minutes later, Joe Root trapped his opening batting partner Tom Latham sweeping and out LBW (Leg Before Wicket) for a battling 83 runs from 172 balls received. The openers doggedness and more expansive playing as the afternoon wore on had taken their team to 149–0 but just 15 minutes of play had seen them both depart, New Zealand on 155–2 and still 78 runs behind England’s 1st innings total. 12 total runs and half an hour later, Jack Leach bowled an absolute cricketing and spinning “peach” to the out of form Will Young who could only play all around it before hearing the “death rattle” of his off stump being pegged back by Leach’s terrific delivery.
Kane Williamson found some form on his way to 25 not out and accompanied by Henry Nicholls and his 18 not out overnight, New Zealand trail England by 24 runs going into day 4 of a Test Match that is indeed as beautifully poised as it is set up for a fantastic day’s sporting contest ahead.
Early wickets and the dreaded trickle of a batting collapse and the match may well be over by early afternoon in favour of England, and an 11th win from 12 matches. Determined wicketless batting and a free flow of runs from their New Zealand hosts could well see an interesting second and third session, and even an England run chase come day 5.
All things are possible in this strangest of all possible worlds.
Time will tell.
It always does.
Thanks for reading. My “Cricket” library contains every Test Match from England’s recent overseas tours to Australia, Pakistan and the West Indies or alternatively, please see the links below for my daily re-caps from the first two days of this 2nd and final Test Match here in Wellington:
Harry Brook and Joe Root put the Kiwis to the sword
Day 1: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.medium.com
Anderson and Leach rip through the Black Caps
Day 2: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.medium.com