And now for 900 words on the role played by all different types of soil in the development of New Zealand’s first-class cricket system. Really. This column probably needs a gratuitous reference to Britney Spears here just by way of apology to the people whose job it is to worry about the Guardian’s search engine optimisation ratings.
Well as New Zealand played, it was a good day for this kind of thing at Trent Bridge, where it felt, at times, like England’s attack was being taken apart by a firm of accomplished provincial solicitors, Blundell & Young, perhaps, or Mitchell, Conway & Co. Between them, they reeled off four scores of 45 or more while rattling along at the best part of four runs an over.
