Who says Test Match cricket is boring? Kiwis win a thriller!
Day 5: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.
Day 5: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.
After 4 days and fully 2 sessions of rain interrupted Test Match cricket, it came down to this: England needing just two runs for victory, New Zealand one final precious wicket. Seconds later, Neil Wagner is screaming like a wild banshee before being mobbed by his jubilant, disbelieving team-mates whilst James Anderson can only stand disconsolately, looking down at the ground and the bat that had tickled the faintest of possible edges through to the full length sprawling dive of wicket-keeper Tom Blundell. New Zealand had won, against all possible odds in a following on, come from behind victory for the ages, and for the second time in the entire history of this great and grandest game of all by one, single, solitary run, and stealing from the great Ian Smith from the ICC cricket World Cup of 2019, “by the barest of margins”.
The barest of margins indeed. My goodness.
There are many people for whom Test Match cricket is summarily and instantly dismissed as “boring”. Five days, often resulting in a draw (but not in this English revolution), with rain delays, declarations and fielding positions such as “backward square leg” or “deep third man” looked upon with contempt and derision. Teams are in, then out, out then back in, made to “follow-on” amid “googlies”, “zooters” and “leg breaks” and batsmen that are not out until they are out, but are back in again before they get out.
Again.
Perhaps you fancy a brand new “cherry” or “nut” or “rock” to bowl, seam, swing, reverse swing, spin, leg spin, side spin or indeed no spin at all or even better, that “mystery ball” on a “green top”, a “road” or a “feather-bed”, or perhaps a “Bunsen Burner” in a Delhi dustbowl or the grey overhead conditions of Headingley in Yorkshire, watching the masters of their bowling art “swing the ball around corners” with unplayable “Jaffa’s” that trap a batsman “dead” and “plumb” in front a “castle” of “poles”, but the less said about the “silly mid-off” fielding position the better, ok? I may be confusing you enough by now.
But boring? Please.
This morning in New Zealand or, if you prefer, a 9.30pm start here in England that magically transformed into the most incredible piece of live sporting action for many a long day that became 3am, and that final ball of the contest, a wide, somewhat tired leg side delivery from the fiery Neil Wagner that James Anderson “tickled”, “feathered”, “dabbed” or plainly and simply edged a cricketing “strangle” into the gloves of jubilant wicket-keeper Tom Blundell, New Zealand had won a Test Match, a boring game of cricket, by one run.
A cricketing session short of five days, the ex World Test Champions defeated the revolutionary wannabe champions by a single, solitary run, and in a Test Match that yet again had that beautifully simplistic template that has thrillingly beguiled me now for over four decades. The ebb and flow of a game of Test Match cricket cannot be denied and must not be ignored. The team who lost today, those cricketing revolutionaries and mavericks from England under the command and guidance of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes were arguably ahead throughout the match, and on three of the past four days of the contest. They were so far ahead in fact that Stokes enforced the “follow-on” another of the sport’s beautiful quirks whereby if the second team falls in excess of 200 runs short of the first team’s innings, well, you politely ask them to bat again. From the beginning. In and Out.
Out and back in again.
Following on, the eventual winners today New Zealand, a team on the slow decline after their recent world champion status and the unluckiest of losers in the World Cup Final of 2019, were over 200 runs behind before they commenced a 2nd innings that would result in a healthy, but achievable now lead of over 200 runs that would eventually, after a crazy run-out, a near century from England ex captain Joe Root, a valuable innings from current captain Ben Stokes hopping on one leg and a cameo of brilliance from their wicket-keeper batsman Ben Foakes who “farmed the strike” to within 7 runs of their combined 1st and 2nd innings total. England, dominantly on top for the majority of the match now needed just 7 further runs for victory, New Zealand just one further wicket.
1,383 total runs would be scored in this Test Match. The teams are currently divided by just 7 of them and England would fall, in that beautiful vernacular that colours this magnificent sport so well, “one short”.
A single from Jack Leach, a hack in truth that fortuitously fell between chasing fielders, was greeted with a huge roar of approval from England’s travelling support of the “Barmy Army” around the Basin Reserve in Wellington, and a Wellington 11,000 miles away from a very different Wellington where I pen these very words. I entitled this Test Match “From Wellington with Love” but we don’t have time for such cloying sentimentality now.
There’s a Test Match to be won.
With 6 now needed to win, James Anderson crashed a quite unexpected boundary 4 that gave rise to the 40 year old legend of the game to bump gloves with batting partner Leach. The grand old man of the grand old game was pumped all right, and Jack Leach, hero of Headingley 2019, was going to be a 1 not out batting hero once more. Neil Wagner, his bowling dispatched to all parts both here in this match and the previous one just days ago in the beautifully picturesque looking Mount Maunganui, continued his cricketing “barrage of bouncers” as he tried to snag that final game winning wicket. Anderson wanted a “wide” called on one delivery as it skirted the bounds of legality, a wide, a single run, would have tied the scores.
But back came Wagner once more, and then, the banshee ran wild.
Afterword
New Zealand’s victory squared the overall two match series at 1–1, a little harsh on the McCullum and Stokes led revolutionaries who will live by the sword they will sportingly die from too. No draw cricket they proclaimed, and so say all of us. Attacking, thrilling, sport defining, cricket for the future of the game is the only game in their particular town as they attract a new generation to a game that has never been boring and never will be under the boyish enthusiastic smiles worn by the revolutionaries even today in defeat.
As you may have noticed, I rather love this grandest of all games and I haven’t even scratched the surface for my adoration here. But yesterday evening into a bitingly cold Winter’s morning and the sporting feats I witnessed with my own disbelieving eyes, will now join Darren Gough’s hat-trick at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1999, England’s 2 run win at Edgbaston in the Ashes winning summer of 2005 and of course, the legend of Headingley 1981, and of Ian Botham, Graham Dilley and Bob Willis, and the hordes of cricket fans engulfing their heroes in a spectacular comeback as a match I was lucky enough to watch live and as a cricket fan, I can’t get enough of.
Viva la revolution but a word of caution too: I worry for the reoccurring knee injuries plaguing Ben Stokes, Zak Crawley needs a score and England need fast bowling back-ups for the veteran, record breaking pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad. The Kiwis 2nd innings here demonstrated that without the bowling of Stokes and a tired, weary pair of veterans in the cricketing field for two days, England were out on their feet and hoping for a mistake or a piece of good fortune to go their weary way. New Zealand’s nearest neighbours visit for an Ashes summer that can’t come quickly enough for this cricket fan, but I worry for a half-fit Stokes and the tired legs of Anderson and Broad should Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne or Travis Head smack them to all parts of Lords, The Oval or Trent Bridge this summer. Quixotically, this is the strongest and most attacking England team for a decade and I fancy their chances in reclaiming that small urn of cricketing ashes.
After last night, the cricketing summer can’t arrive quickly enough.
Afterword of selected quotes
“A capacity crowd sat enthralled through numerous twists and turns as both teams slugged away at each other, New Zealand to maintain a proud home record, England to finish a flawless winter……..One run was the margin, finally, just one run — for only the second time in Test history. It seems such a cruel divide after a match like this, but it was the difference…….New Zealand have lost so many close games against England of late, not least the World Cup final in 2019 to a Super Over, not many in the ground would have begrudged them their success. In the second half of this game, they showed heart, guts and resilience and had done their countrymen proud. It was Neil Wagner, a cricketer who defines the qualities of New Zealand cricket, who was to have the final say. By the barest of margins, again.”
Ex England Captain Michael Atherton writing in The Times
“It is bitterly disappointing for England but when the dust settles they will know they have played a full part in a remarkable game in keeping with their stated aim of trying to make Test cricket as entertaining as possible. This was certainly that. After five compelling topsy-turvy days it came down to England’s last pair needing to score seven runs to give England a 2–0 series victory and their seventh successive Test win, their best run in nearly 20 years.”
Paul Newman, Mail Online
“This was an electric day of Test cricket and, by definition, one that delivered the rarest of margins. A one-run victory over this marauding England side had seen New Zealand become just the second team in the 146-year history of Test cricket to triumph by this score line — and only the fourth to prevail after being asked to follow on. With it Tim Southee’s men had inflicted the second defeat of England’s startling resurgence under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum and extended their proud unbeaten record at home to 11 series.”
Ali Martin, The Guardian
“What everyone has enjoyed here today is probably bigger than any disappointment at the moment. Being in that situation in the last half an hour, it is everything you wish for. And even though we came out on the wrong side of it, you can’t help but feel blessed that we managed to be a part of an incredible game like that.”
“Getting this team into a position where we are now, even to go slightly back into our shell because we’re playing against Australia in the Ashes, wouldn’t have done the last 10 months any justice whatsoever.”
England Captain, Ben Stokes
“The guys have shown great character in the last few days. They stayed calm. If we’d walked off and shaken hands and it wasn’t good enough, it wasn’t good enough. But the openers stood up in the second innings, so did Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson, Tom Blundell…it was a typical scrapping Kiwi effort.”
New Zealand Captain, Tim Southee
“We’ll try to play the cricket that we want. If winning is the outcome at the end, fantastic. We’re going into it with a squad that believes in one another and has a style of play which we will uphold throughout. If Australia are too good for us, then so be it.”
England Coach, Brendon McCullum
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 four 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
Southee leads a brilliant Kiwi comeback. Wellington Test beautifully poised
Day 3: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.medium.com
Test Match up for grabs in thrilling final day shoot-out
Day 4: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.medium.com