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1 month ago
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There are Australian cricket supporters in Christchurch this week and not, word has it, to escape the sense of crisis that has engulfed their team back home. Apparently they were so taken by their experience during the 2-0 series win for their side earlier this year, a return visit was swiftly booked afterwards.
And who could blame them? As the red weed of franchise T20 continues its spread and a slightly dystopian landscape forms, this first Test between New Zealand and England has offered a decent counterpoint (even if there have admittedly been some depressingly small Test crowds in South Africa and Antigua this past week).
The third day at Hagley Oval was another dollop of heavenly bliss, those enticing grass banks packed with spectators young and old who were captivated by the contest. And at stumps, as they left to sample the local bars and restaurants, the English among them were eyeing the completion of a 1-0 series lead the following morning and singing the praises of Chris Woakes.
Yep, Chris Woakes, whose overseas feats in Test cricket have long invited jokes about hiding his passport and whose name got rather unfairly dragged into the debate about Jimmy Anderson’s enforced retirement. The second of those gripes overlooked the seven-year age gap and the solidity Woakes has long provided at No 8 – not that a loose edge to slip in the morning supported this.
Indeed, having gone wicketless in the first innings, and then seen Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse then plunder 48 and 33 not out respectively as England posted 499 all out – a commanding 151-run lead built on Harry Brook’s remarkable five-lived 171 – Woakes could have been forgiven for believing he was bowling for the continuation of his Test career second time around.
But 11 years of Test experience – even with that Jekyll & Hyde record home and away – mean Woakes is not the type to panic. As New Zealand slipped to 155 for six at stumps, a lead of just four runs, his figures of three for 39 were central. Bowling a fuller length, and extracting hitherto unseen nip from that unfriendly Kookaburra ball, Woakes sent Tom Latham, Kane Williamson and Tom Blundell on their way.
If the wicket of Latham caught at second slip for one levelled things up – next summer’s Warwickshire teammate had held him in the cordon earlier on – then the last two will have given him greater satisfaction. The ball was 35 overs by this stage and while Carse – and two botched cross-batted shots – had accounted for Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra, a partnership had formed.
Williamson was steadying the ship with Daryl Mitchell in support and England found themselves trying everything, including an attempt to prey on the former captain’s non-existent ego with the short ball. But in the end it was guile that winkled out Williamson for a 61, Woakes resuming from the Botanic Gardens End and beating the inside edge for a bloomin’ good lbw. With Blundell then tickling his first ball behind, the man they call the Wizard had turned 133 for two into four.
It may be too soon to make predictions about the Australians in the crowd seeing a 36-year-old Woakes on their shores this time next year, even if Brendon McCullum is ruling nothing out. But one man who already looks made for the trip is Carse. Fresh from a strong start to his Test career in Pakistan, he took his tally for the match to seven by replacing Woakes and knocking over Phillips for 19.
This was a slightly unfortunate dismissal, induced by a vociferous appeal and shown to be clipping the leg bail by a whisker. Not that Carse, ending the day with three for 22, was complaining. New Zealand – though not exactly known for it – could hardly chunter much, having been architects of their own downfall in this Test match through the eight dropped catches that let England, 71 for four at one stage, off the hook.
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The day had earlier set up by a morning session that saw England resume five wickets down, 29 runs behind, but – as is their wont these days – bat like they were already heavily in credit. It paid off, Brook ploughing on from his overnight 132 not out – earning a fifth life along the way when Phillips grassed another exocet to his midriff at gully – and Stokes making a restorative 80 from number seven.
After Brook eventually fell for his fourth 150-plus score out of seven Test centuries – an attempted guide through slip off Matt Henry that was feathered behind – and Woakes nicked off to Tim Southee, Atkinson and Carse underlined the value of England’s deep batting lineup with some useful muscular biff.
Stokes played chiefly within himself, that bobbing pick-up and flow of the bat having returned after an unsuccessful attempt at rigidity in Pakistan, and missed out on a century in his city of his birth. Not that he looked too fussed, the mentality always team-first and that team on the cusp of victory in this series opener.
