Was Harry Brook, a £1.3m signing by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the recent Indian Premier League auction, possibly undervalued? At the end of the fourth day in Wellington, one that included a Kane Williamson masterclass and an England fightback, and set up the possibility of an intriguing conclusion to this two-Test series, it somehow wasn’t an entirely ridiculous question.
Brook scored that huge deal on the basis of his incendiary batting but the young Yorkshireman, it transpires, has another string to his bow: partnership breaker, catalyst for a collapse and, most remarkably, kryptonite to a superman performance from Williamson on the day he became New Zealand’s record run-scorer.
Anyone who rocked up after tea unaware of the match situation was soon given a fair indication when, over the PA system, came the words “from the Adelaide Road End … Harry Brook”. New Zealand were 442 for five following on – a lead of 226 – and with Ben Stokes unable to bowl because of that longstanding knee problem and bits falling off his seamers after 147 overs of toil the point of desperation had been reached.
Eighteen balls into Brook’s array of 65mph dobblers – they are reasonably accurate, it must be said, sent down off the wrong foot from 10 paces – Williamson feathered a catch to Ben Foakes down the leg side. The keeper did not appeal, Joe Root at midwicket wondered whether he had heard something and Stokes took a good while to decide if he was going to hand Brook a review.
As soon as the big screen showed a tremor on Snickometer, hysterics broke out in the England huddle. In fairness, this was Brook’s ninth first-class wicket. But on a day of chasing leather, Williamson having batted beautifully in seven and a half hours of defiance for 132 from 282 balls, it was an oasis in the desert for the tourists and the spark for a surprising New Zealand collapse.
Michael Bracewell soon added to the slightly village feel to proceedings, dozily run out with neither bat nor feet grounded and through the silky gloves of Foakes, with Jack Leach then bringing out the fire extinguisher on the innings to finish with five for 157 from 61.3 gruelling overs. New Zealand, with Tom Blundell the last to fall for a resolute 90, were suddenly all out for 483 and had set England 258 to win.
Needless to say, the target was attacked during the 11 overs before stumps. Zak Crawley was once again streaky in a 30-ball 24 that ended with him jack-knifed by a ball from Tim Southee that tickled the off stump. But Ben Duckett reached the close unbeaten on 23, the promoted Ollie Robinson alongside him, and England, chasing their seventh successive Test victory, reached 48 for one.
Williamson, as graceful off the field as he is with the bat, praised Brook’s “immaculate” length, even if he was frustrated to fall to “probably the worst ball” the part-timer had bowled in his eight overs. The former captain could at least reflect on his 26th Test century and having overtaken Ross Taylor’s record 7,683 Test runs for New Zealand – not that he seemed too fussed by the latter at the time.
When LeBron James nailed a signature jumper in Los Angeles three weeks ago to become the NBA’s all-time highest points scorer, breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 39-year-old record, he peeled off in celebration, arms aloft, crowd in raptures, and the match was stopped for a ceremony on court. Williamson? After finessing Jimmy Anderson’s fourth ball of the morning across the deep midwicket boundary rope to claim the title, he took a stroll down the pitch and brushed away a few specks of dirt like a man tending to his allotment.
With generous applause from the crowd, and Taylor soon tweeting praise from afar, the great Martin Crowe’s prophecy all those years ago that Williamson would one day reach the country’s summit had been fulfilled – even if the man out in the middle, humbly raking pebbles away from his prized parsnips, was anything but.
Resuming on 25, and with his side 24 runs in arrears, Williamson settled in for the long haul. Henry Nicholls fell early for 29, Robinson extracting England’s last smidgeon of movement as an edge flew to slip, but impetus came from the hard-handed Daryl Mitchell pumping a run-a-ball 54 in a fifth-wicket stand worth 75.
Finally removed by a Stuart Broad short ball and a fine swirling catch from Root – and perhaps thrown off by Foakes having stepped up to the stumps – Mitchell’s departure brought Blundell to the crease for the start of a 158-run partnership. It straddled a gruelling wicketless afternoon session with the percentages played and the last drops of energy sapped from the legs of England’s seam attack.
One chance came and went, Anderson grassing a low chance when the wicketkeeper was on 30. Otherwise, it was increasingly hard to see either right-hander being uprooted, Williamson sealing his century 20 minutes from tea when he cut Broad past backward point for his eighth four and offered a modest wave of the bat.
That was until Brook’s Mike Procter impression had his weary teammates dreaming of becoming the first England team since 1899 to win all their winter Test matches. With bat and now ball, more surprisingly, his value keeps on rising.
