Stumps
The umpires have surrendered to the elements, and play has been abandoned for the day. England will resume tomorrow morning on 315 for three, thanks to an absurd 184 not out from Harry Brook and a classy century from Joe Root.
Ali Martin’s report will be on the site shortly, and then Tim will be back for a slightly earlier start (9.30pm GMT) tonight. Thanks for your company and emails – good morning!
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The covers are coming off, it says here, though it’s still pretty gloomy so there might be more rain to come.
On this day in 1990… the start of the most improbable victory in English cricket history.
The covers are still on, and I don’t know what else to tell you.
“Any NZer could tell you that the greeness of the wicket & the toss calls in NZ domestic cricket are completely misleading,” says Andrew Miller. “This pitches always quickly flatten out.
“Not taking anything away from Brook & Root but the English public are being misled if they believe it’s being done on any kind of meaningful ‘greentop’.
“Please also don’t mislead them as to just how much the NZ attack has declined in the past two years. Since the start of the earlier English series it’s the poorest bowling by a NZ side I can remember since Southee made his debut in 2007-08.”
It’s still raining, though it’s not too heavy and I would expect there to be some more play before the close.
It’s been quite a day. England were in huge trouble at 21 for three; they are no longer in trouble, huge or otherwise.
Root will resume 101 not out from 182 balls, while the remarkable Harry Brook has belted 184 from just 169.
Rain stops play
In fact, that’s the last action for now – it has started raining, and the players are walking off.
A CENTURY FOR JOE ROOT!
65th over: England 315-3 (Root 101, Brook 184) Root’s dodgy spell is officially over. He on-drives Wagner gracefully for four to move to 99, then flicks from square leg for two to reach his 29th Test century. It’s been a while coming – eight whole Tests – and he punches the air in celebration. He needed that.
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64th over: England 309-3 (Root 95, Brook 184) Southee jags one back to Brook, who gets a late inside edge onto the pads.
63rd over: England 307-3 (Root 94, Brook 184) On another day, we’d be talking about Root’s apparently serene procession towards three figures. He times Wagner delightfully down the ground, then moves into the nineties with a typical reverse scoop for four.
"No reverse sweeps today"
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) February 24, 2023
Think again 🤣
Joe Root proving he can play every shot in the book 📕#NZvENG pic.twitter.com/c5rjwR1QC7
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62nd over: England 297-3 (Root 84, Brook 184) Brook – and why not – walks across his stumps to ramp Mitchell jauntily for six. He has broken Vinod Kambli’s record for most Test runs after nine innings: 807 at an average 100.88, with a strike rate of exactly 100.
“My mistake!” says Brian Withington. “Think I was too distracted by the copious quantity of tape but no excuse for an egregious error (these things DO matter). I still wonder how the bat is surviving the onslaught despite being a Gray Nicolls …”
If this was Wonderfalls, it would be screaming for mercy.
He is deep into his bag now 👝
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) February 24, 2023
We are no longer surprised at what this man can do...
He is simply a complete batter 🏏#NZvENG pic.twitter.com/qTRakPyVqW
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61st over: England 289-3 (Root 83, Brook 177) Michael Bracewell assumes the position. Brook charges his first ball and screams it over mid-off for four. Root, the silk to Brook’s sledgehammer, helps himself to three later in the over with a nicely timed square drive.
“The anticipation in 2005 was also because the Ashes hadn’t been won since much earlier in our lives,” says Matthew Williams. “I believe it was 18 years. I’m looking forward to the forthcoming series more from a purely sporting angle. It’s not so much as yearning to win the series, as awaiting a spectacle - and hoping that England has the better of it.”
Yeah, nothing will ever top 2005, which was the time of our silly little lives, but we shouldn’t forget that it’s now eight years since England’s last Ashes victory. I’d say that definitely adds to the anticipation, even if most of it is down to the contest and the virility-off.
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60th over: England 278-3 (Root 79, Brook 170) Oh good lord. A wide delivery from Mitchell is splatted over extra cover for four by Brook, which brings up the 250 partnership.
“Say hi to Paul Cockburn from me,” says John Leavey. “Met up with him for a beer at the test in Wellington in 2013 after you introduced us via OBO. Trust he is well.”
He’s watching Harry Brook bat, live, in New Zealand, so I think that means he’s doing well.
59th over: England 269-3 (Root 77, Brook 163) Joe Root is still batting by the way.
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58th over: England 267-3 (Root 75, Brook 163) Daryl Mitchell, the fourth seamer in this game, replaces Matt Henry (15-2-64-2). Brook tries to sweep from a long way outside off stump and can only deflect the ball onto his body. Enough of the funky stuff: later the over he belabours a length ball over long on for six, then punches a drive through mid-off for four. I swear on my dignity, I’ve never seen batting like this from an England newbie. He has 163 from 152 balls, for heaven’s sake!
“Having mentioned the Brook cutlass,” begins Brian Withington, “I see from the close up of him celebrating his 150 that the lad is using a trusty old Slazenger held together with an abundance of tape. How many more runs can that one plunder, I wonder?”
Isn’t it a Gray Nicolls? These things matter, especially if they’re going to send some freebies to the OBO bunker.
OH HARRY 😍
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) February 24, 2023
That's one way to go to your highest test match score so far...
He is timing absolutely everything today 🔥#NZvENG pic.twitter.com/gT295nPCyn
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57th over: England 257-3 (Root 75, Brook 153) Root checks a defensive stroke that drops just short of the bowling Wagner, who smiles a little ruefully. Wagner’s attitude is fantastic. He has been hammered all series, yet he is still charging in as if it’s the last half-hour of a World Test Championship final.
“A cold day at the Basin, even packed in surrounded by the Deputy PM and many, many England supporters,” writes our old friend Paul Cockburn. “This is not an untypical first day track at the Basin… a good first hour to bowl in and then it flattens out. Taking nothing away from Brook, though, who ought to be able to emulate his coach and make a triple on this ground. He hits the ball more cleanly than anyone I’ve seen live, and I saw Graham Gooch win a 40-over match in the first 10 overs.”
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56th over: England 257-3 (Root 75, Brook 153) A short ball from Henry is cuffed through midwicket for four by Brook, another shot played with frightening hand-speed. That takes him to 149, and he glides the next ball to the third-man boundary to bring up an awesome 150: 145 balls, 21x4, 3x6. I’m running out of ways to say that I’m running out of ways to describe Brook’s batting.
55th over: England 246-3 (Root 73, Brook 144) “Hi Rob from a sunny Kochi in Southern India,” writes Morgan Edwards. “Watching this partnership between Brook and Root unfold really does feel like the beginning of something rather special. Long may it last!
“It’s been wonderful watching Australia get pummelled here by Ashwin and Jadeja, whilst at the same time our boys have been Bazballing New Zealand into the ground. It rather makes one lick their lips in anticipation of the Ashes later this year.
“That being said, it’s far from done and dusted. Warner, Smith, Cummins et al will want to make amends for what has been a miserable tour for them (shades of the England tour during Covid). The Aussies will no doubt rise to the occasion. But with Jimmy, Nighthawk, Brook and Root hitting this kind of form (and with YJB surely making a return?) one can be forgiven for indulging in a bit of expectation … right?”
Anyone who isn’t excited at the thought of the Ashes should seek urgent medical advice. It’s surely the most keenly anticipated series since 2005. I agree with you that, beyond the obvious hit to their confidence, the India series isn’t particularly indicative of Australia’s chances. Fitness permitting, their bowling attack should provide England’s greatest test yet.
54th over: England 244-3 (Root 73, Brook 142) Matt Henry, New Zealand’s best bowler today, begins the evening session. Harry Brook greets him with a gorgeous off drive for four, prompting the commentator Mark Richardson to emit a soft, almost sexual moan. This is one of the most impressive things about Brook – he mixes classical, textbook strikes with 21st-century brutality. It’s a whole new way of batting, a kind of Test20 approach.
“Lovely measured innings from Root, the perfect foil for the swashbuckling Brook cutlass,” says Brian Withington. “Wagner is in danger of meeting his Nietzsche here …”
“This is the greenest of tracks and the greatness-in-motion of Harry Brook and Joe Root put on an ATG stand. From the moment Brook cracked two fours earlier today he set the tempo. Again. This is Yorkshire puddings hot in the oven!”
“When I checked the score earlier, the third wicket had just fallen, concerns were forming,” says Phil Withall. “A couple of hours of hard toil later, mine and England’s, and all is right with the world again. I probably should have a little more faith, but a lifetime of following English cricket has robbed me of that commodity.”
Tea
53rd over: England 237-3 (Root 72, Brook 136) It’s the last over before tea, time to play sensibly and then retreat to the dressing-room for a Gatorade chaster. Yeah, about that. Brook smokes Wagner to the cover boundary, then launches a fast-handed swipe over long on for six! This is awesome.
Poor Wagner is going at 6.6 an over in this series. Only one bowler in Test history has bowled as many balls and been more expensive – and that was Zahid Mahmood against England last year.
The New Zealand players, not a dickhead among them, all appluad Brook from the field at the tea interval. He has 136 from 131 balls, having come in at 21 for three on a greentop.
We are running out of words to describe Harry Brook...
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) February 24, 2023
He is just 𝗧𝗢𝗢 good 🤯#NZvENG pic.twitter.com/tz7R3vSegO
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52nd over: England 226-3 (Root 72, Brook 125) Root laps Bracewell round the corner for a couple, with the sprawling Wagner doing well to save the boundary. This has been a fine innings from Root, who has batted in a more old-fashioned bubble. The church of Bazball welcomes all types, and I still think, broadly speaking, this is the best way for Root to play. England can’t win the Ashes without him.
“I can’t believe it’s 51 overs in and England are only 224 runs up?!” writes Thomas Plunkett. “Mailing from Ireland and as the saying goes in other sports (Pool fan, Real game comes to mind for some reason) with a cricket score, what is a cricket score for Bazball? I know 328 won’t do it?!”
Actually (sorry for the reminder), England’s response to being 21 for three reminded me of Real’s reaction when they went 2-0 down at Anfield the other night. No panic, no compromise, let’s go to work.
51st over: England 224-3 (Root 70, Brook 125) Brook flat-bats another Wagner short ball down the ground, this time for a single, and then a misfield gives Root an extra run. That also brings up a mighty 200 partnership; I was going to say it’s been an outrageous recovery from 21 for three, but it doesn’t feel outrageous any more.
49th over: England 218-3 (Root 66, Brook 123) A shortish delivery from Southee is slapped to the cover boundary by Harold Cherrington Brook.
“No English player has looked more comfortable so early in his career since DI Gower,” says Gary Naylor. “In fact, he’s beginning to look as commanding and intimidating in the middle as (gulp) IVA Richards. There’s a bad trot coming (there always is) but isn’t it glorious for now?”
It’s hard to comprehend. I’m glad he had a difficult T20 World Cup, actually, so that he knows international cricket isn’t all milk and cookies, and I’m loath to become insufferably smug until he has shown he can deal with the Aussie attack. But BLOODY HELL.
Funnily enough, Gower came up earlier when I was researching the fastest England players to 1,000 Test runs. (Brook, in his ninth innings, has 746.)
12 innings Herbert Sutcliffe (joint world record with Sir Everton Weekes)
16 Len Hutton
17 Gary Ballance (take that, ‘narrative’)
18 Wally Hammond
19 Andrew Strauss
20 David Gower
49th over: England 211-3 (Root 65, Brook 117) What the hell is that? Brook backs away to club Wagner’s short ball through mid-on for four, a shot played with devastatingly fast hands. He has taken Warner to the cleaners in this short series – 90 runs from 75 balls according to CricViz.
Root ends another productive over for England by savaging a pull to the midwicket boundary. New Zealand are losing control.
48th over: England 200-3 (Root 59, Brook 112) Southee replaces Bracewell, knowing that New Zealand need to break this partnership quicksmart. His first ball nips back to Brook, who inside-edges just wide of leg stump for four.
A controlled pull for one off the last ball brings up the England 200. At one stage they were 21 for three, and in all sorts.
47th over: England 193-3 (Root 58, Brook 106) There’s no doubt we are watching a golden age of English cricket. The only question is whether it’s the golden age. They are world champions in both formats and the most exciting Test team around. I think it’s safe to say, without fear of contradiction, that this is an almost comically unprecedented state of affairs.
Root, whose return to form is perfectly timed with only one more Test to play before the Ashes, moves to 58 with a classical extra cover drive for four off Wagner.
46th over: England 185-3 (Root 52, Brook 104) In the Bazball era, England’s No5 batter (usually Jonny Bairstow and Harry Brook) have hit eight centuries in 20 innings. Look at this list of innings. The whole thing is… it’s just not cricket. It’s certainly not English cricket.
ANOTHER CENTURY FOR HARRY BROOK!
45th over: England 182-3 (Root 50, Brook 103) Root pushes Bracewell for a single to reach an unobtrusive fifty from 122 balls, and then Brook back cuts a boundary to reach another majestic hundred!
It’s his fourth hundred in five Tests this winter, and he has demonstrated pretty much everything you’d want in a world-class batter: skill, technique, intelligence, maturity, adaptability, swagger. I have no idea what we’re watching here, but I do know that we won’t forget it.
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44th over: England 177-3 (Root 49, Brook 99) Root moves quietly towards his own milestone with a pair of twos off Wagner, and he again keeps the strike with a single off the last ball.
43rd over: England 172-3 (Root 44, Brook 99) A back-foot drive off Bracewell takes Brook to 99, and brings up the 150 partnership. England’s ability to recover from poor starts, and particularly their lack of panic or compromise is so doing, is seriously impressive.
“The late, great Terry Pratchett had a colour that was almost purple called octarine, the colour of magic,” says Chris Taylor. “Perhaps Mr Brook is having a patch of that colour.”
42nd over: England 170-3 (Root 43, Brook 98) Brook slugs a Wagner short ball into the leg side for a single, misses an attempted cut, then connects with one to keep the strike. Two more.
Joe Root is also batting by the way.
“Bit sneaky on the West Indians that first-nine-Test-innings comparison,” says Marcus Abdullahi. “Headley’s ninth innings was a duck, Worrell’s was 261 followed by 138 in his tenth, and Weekes’ innings six to ten were all hundreds (followed by a disappointing 90 in innings 11).”
I see what you mean but I don’t know if it’s sneaky – it’s Brook’s ninth innings, so it’d be sneaky on him to round it up to ten.
41st over: England 167-3 (Root 42, Brook 96) The sometime offspinner Michael Bracewell continues, and Brook works a single to move within four of his fourth Test century. This is his sixth game.
Thanks Tim, morning everyone. In an attempt to stay awake, I’ve been looking at Harry Brook’s purple patch in first-class cricket. Except it’s been going on so long that I’m not sure we can call it a purple patch any more.
2016-21 78 inns, 2100 runs at 27.63
2022-23 22 inns, 1825 runs at – and you’ll like this – 101.38
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Drinks: England's turn to lord it
40th over: England 166-3 (Root 42, Brook 95) Root’s first boundary today, a square drive off Henry, came off the seventh ball he faced. Now, off his 101st ball, he gets his second boundary by playing much the same shot off Wagner. And that’s drinks, with England in an absurdly strong position for a team that were 21-3. Time for me to hand over to the great Rob Smyth. Thanks for your company, correspondence and views on whether or not Root should care about how fast he scores.
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39th over: England 156-3 (Root 36, Brook 91) Southee gives up on Mitchell again and tries some spin. Root greets Bracewell by going well back, working to leg for a single, bringing up the 150 and handing the strike to his junior partner, who duly eases a cover drive for four.
Harry Brook’s Test career now looks like this, in full: 12, 153, 87, 9, 108, 111, 89, 54, 91*. He’s a run machine, and yet there’s nothing machine-like about him.
38th over: England 149-3 (Root 34, Brook 86) Brook stands tall and swings Henry over mid-on for four. “Oh my word!” says David Gower. “They just seem to come from nowhere, these shots.” Takes one to know one.
37th over: England 143-3 (Root 33, Brook 81) A few bits and bobs, then Brook cuts Mitchell for a single that is silently significant. It takes him to 704 Test runs and into the top five run-scorers in the first nine innings of a Test career. He’s seen off George Headley (703) and Frank Worrell (695) in the past few minutes. Next up are Everton Weekes (777), Sunil Gavaskar (778), Herbert Sutcliffe (780) and – the ultimate pub-quiz answer – Vinod Kambli (798).
36th over: England 138-3 (Root 32, Brook 77) Root, facing Henry, survives an LBW appeal. Southee reviews, which is brave when you only have one left – though it’s umpire’s call, so he doesn’t lose it. Maybe he’s getting better at this reviewing lark.
35th over: England 134-3 (Root 31, Brook 75) What have we not had today? A six! Brook rectifies this scandalous omission with a sweet straight hit off Mitchell. He likes it so much, he tries it again – more of a swipe, but it’s six more. There were only 10 runs off the first six overs after lunch, but now we’ve had 23 off three.
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Hundred partnership!
34th over: England 121-3 (Root 30, Brook 63) Harry Brook throws his hands at Matt Henry, runs two, and brings up an admirable century stand off 160 balls. When these two got to fifty, I said it was worth a hundred, so what’s a hundred worth? Maybe 150, as the pitch has calmed down. Or does it just look that way because these two have batted well…
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33rd over: England 118-3 (Root 29, Brook 61) Southee looks as if he’d like to bowl all day, but at 34 he realises he can’t. He takes his sweater and turns back to Mitchell, whose medium pace was anodyne this morning. He does a bit better, drawing an inside edge from Brook, but goes for two twos, two singles and a leg-bye. The pressure is off.
32nd over: England 111-3 (Root 26, Brook 58) Bowling a maiden to Root is one thing, bowling one to Brook quite another. Respect to Matt Henry, who keeps Brook honest by serving up line, length and a little movement.
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31st over: England 111-3 (Root 26, Brook 58) Southee to Root: you can guess the rest. Against Southee, Root now has seven off 42 balls, while Brook has 19 off 14.
30th over: England 111-3 (Root 26, Brook 58) Brook, facing Henry, tries something radical: waiting for the bad ball. It duly comes along after four dots – a tasty half-volley which Brook straight-drives for four. Henry, who has a strong termperament, bites back by persuading Brook to play and miss.
“I’m one of those people,” says James Smith, “who’s been calling for someone to have a word with Joe Root and tell him not to worry about Bazball and just get back to his method. But I couldn’t have imagined he’d be 23 off 65 balls at lunch. This Test fan is loving it.”
29th over: England 107-3 (Root 26, Brook 54) Southee to Root, another maiden. Root has now faced 36 balls from Southee and scored seven runs off them.
28th over: England 107-3 (Root 26, Brook 54) Matt Henry is back on too as Southee goes all-out for the breakthrough. It doesn’t come in this over, which is mostly tip-and-run.
“Please pass on thanks (via medium of OBO) to Gary Naylor for that superb link [23:24],” says John Davis. “It’s hard to comprehend that my dad could have spectated with Sydney Barnes – he feels like a character from before the mists of time, back in the days when wickets were chosen somewhere in a field at a visiting captain’s discretion. You can never compare eras, but if anyone in the history of this game can be speculated about in the pantheon it’s S.F. Barnes.”
27th over: England 104-3 (Root 24, Brook 53) Tim Southee is back for a third spell of the day. What he lacks in craft as a captain, he makes up in sheer graft as a bowler. Root works him to leg for a single, Brook square-drives for two.
The players are back out there. It’s overcast now, which will suit the bowlers.
Lunch! England recovering fast (101-3)
And that’s luncheon, with these two stretching their partnership to 80. New Zealand started so well but then declined to go for the jugular, settling for three slips and a gully when Steve Waugh or Ben Stokes would have had four slips and two gullies. Joe Root has been the old Joe Root, making 23 off 65 balls; Harry Brook has played the only way he knows, racing to 51 off 52 balls. He has ten times as many fours as the old master at the other end. Time for some toast.
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Another fifty to Harry Brook!
26th over: England 101-3 (Root 23, Brook 51) Southee takes himself off and turns to Bracewell for our old friend, the token over of spin before lunch. He’s taken two catches, can he take a wicket too? He can’t. Root, a supreme player of spin, takes a single and then Brook throws his hands into a square drive to bring up yet another Test fifty. His fifth in a row! Greentop, what greentop?
25th over: England 96-3 (Root 22, Brook 47) Wagner continues, and Brook ducks a bouncer! Showing that he is capable of discretion as well as valour. But then there’s a bouncer that doesn’t get up so much, and he just has to pull it, hard, for four.
24th over: England 91-3 (Root 21, Brook 43) Back to that Southee-Root stalemate, until the last ball, which Root works away for a single. He now has one four from 59 balls faced, while Brook has eight from 46.
“Don’t be fooled by the green colour of the pitch,” says Chris Bowden. “There have been a few pitches in NZ that look like this on day one that flatten out over the course of the match. This was the pitch where Brendon McCullum (remember him?) scored 300 after NZ were bowled out for 192 in their first innings.”
23rd over: England 90-3 (Root 20, Brook 43) Even Brook is being kept quiet now, by Wagner – for three balls, anyway, all of them full. Then Brook thinks “sod it”, backs away to leg and whacks another full one over mid-on. He’s so much fun to watch.
22nd over: England 86-3 (Root 20, Brook 39) Southee, into his ninth over now, beats Root with a beauty and picks up another maiden. He has one for 26, Henry two for 27. The camera finds Brendon McCullum, huddled in a hoodie.
21st over: England 86-3 (Root 20, Brook 39) Brook hits Wagner for four, twice, through midwicket – once off the front foot, once off the back. But he also misses out on a couple of hook shots, so Wagner is not to be written off yet.
20th over: England 76-3 (Root 19, Brook 30) A couple of singles off Southee, and then Root picks up two as Henry, at mid-on, flops over the top of the ball like a wounded seal.
Fifty partnership!
19th over: England 72-3 (Root 16, Brook 29) Wagner has been in his seldom-seen pitch-it-up mode, but now he goes short to Brook. One bouncer is so high it’s a wide; another is more testing. Brook miscues his hook and might be caught at midwicket if Southee had seen it earlier. The batters take a single which brings up the fifty partnership – worth a hundred on this pitch.
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18th over: England 67-3 (Root 15, Brook 27) Root pulls Southee, but only for a single; Brook would have hit that out of the ground. Root is still standing a yard outside his crease and then taking a stride down the track, but the effect is stalemate: the bowlers go shorter, Root gets tucked up and plays a defensive push.
SF Barnes in Wisden 2023 @TimdeLisle? This is one of my favourite pieces of cricket writing from a Wisden past https://t.co/0EEFcw9LGG
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) February 23, 2023
17th over: England 65-3 (Root 14, Brook 26) Ah, here is Wagner, replacing Mitchell. He’ll be happy to find that Ollie Pope has already crashed and burned. He starts with a couple of soft deliveries on the pads, duly clipped away, and would be eased through the covers by Root if it weren’t for a sharp stop by Bracewell, the fielder of the match so far.
16th over: England 61-3 (Root 11, Brook 25) Southee gives Henry a belated rest and, still not fancying Wagner, brings himself back. He is accurate enough to keep Root quiet and this is a maiden.
Root now has 11 off 32 balls, which is promising. I wish Stokes would just give him a licence not to thrill. Stokes could even extend it to himself.
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15th over: England 61-3 (Root 11, Brook 25) Mitchell again drops too short, so the batters milk him, playing cut shots for a single to the cover sweeper. Blundell goes back to encourage Mitchell to pitch it up – which he does, only to find Brook belting him over mid-off. Brook has 25 off 25 balls.
“Hi again from Norway Tim ;),” says Brendan Large. “Is this pitch better or worse than the ones seen on England’s tour to Pakistan? It may sound stupid but those let nothing happen & this would seem to let ALL happen. My problem with this is that winning the toss might be too important.” You’re right, they’ve gone from one extreme to the other – from a featherbed to a minefield. It’s lucky this isn’t the pink-ball Test.
14th over: England 54-3 (Root 9, Brook 20) Henry bowls a seventh over. Root stands a yard outside his crease, narrowing the angle, reducing the movement sand forcing the bowler to drop shorter. Five dots and then a single off the last ball, as Harry Styles’s As It Was rings out.
“Jack Leach and Jimmy are both due a big knock,” reckons Kim Thonger. “Can I be the first to predict a game changing big daddy record 10th wicket partnership, eclipsing the frankly inadequate 198 runs scored by Joe Root and James Anderson against India at Nottingham on 9 July 2014.”
Drinks: NZ lording it
13th over: England 53-3 (Root 8, Brook 20) Tom Blundell comes up to the stumps for Mitchell, to keep both batters in their crease. Root cuts for a single, gently; so does Brook, with more snap. Mitchell is too slow to bowl short, and realises it. As he goes fuller, Root props forward and takes another single. And that’s drinks, with NZ well on top.
“Evening Tim,” says Showbizguru. “Anyone who watches cricket in Ireland regularly will tell you that wicket is a bone-dry road.”
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12th over: England 50-3 (Root 6, Brook 19) Henry continues and has Harry Brook in all sorts of trouble. The first ball is inside-edged into the pad; the second is a waspish bouncer, fended off uncertainly. Another short ball runs away for four off the thigh pad, to bring up England’s fifty, before a length ball raps Brook on the hand. He’s not in Karachi now.
11th over: England 46-3 (Root 6, Brook 19) Southee has only three seamers in this match, but here he is finding a fourth one! He takes himself off, spurns Neil Wagner for now – the ball clearly isn’t in a bad enough state for him – and turns to Daryl Mitchell’s military medium. Root treats him with respect, and that’s the second maiden of the morning.
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10th over: England 46-3 (Root 6, Brook 19) Root, taking no notice at all of Julian Menz’s argument, square-drives Henry for four, slicing it a bit. Henry retorts by beating him outside off.
“I hope,” says Rob Lewis, “the Basin Reserve is a tad warmer than when I visited for NZ vs India in Feb 1976. It was so cold in Windy Wellington that the Indian team needed 3 captains, 2 withdrawing with colds; India were bowled out for 81 and the Kiwis won by an innings. Thanks again for your sterling work.” It’s our pleasure.
9th over: England 41-3 (Root 1, Brook 19) Root, covering his stumps, works the ball off his toes to get off the mark. That clears the stage for Brook, who hits Southee for four, four, four – a classic drive, a meaty cut, a merry slog. He’s got 19 off 12 balls!
“Root was questioning his role in the new set-up,” says Julian Menz, “and now he’s found it. Stick around, glide and caress the ball, and score a 200-ball ton (no ramp-shots necessary).”
8th over: England 28-3 (Root 0, Brook 7) Brook gets an edge too! But it goes through the gap in the cordon, between third slip and gully. That gap wouldn’t have been there under some captains we could mention.
Here’s Brian Withington. “How green is my alley?” he chortles. “Quick runs/wickets and a declaration before lunch whilst pitch still juicy?”
7th over: England 24-3 (Root 0, Brook 3) So Harry Brook is at the crease in the seventh over! A good test for him after a dream start to his Test career. He goes down the track, like Pope and Root, and almost yorks himself before adjusting and playing an on-drive for three.
WICKET! Duckett c Bracewell b Southee 9 (England 21-3)
Well NZ may be bad at reviews, but it seems they know how to bowl. And catch. Southee draws a thick edge and Bracewell clings on, just, after a juggle. He was at full stretch, grabbed the ball with one hand, and then saw it pop out as his elbow hit the ground, before having the wit to grab it again.
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6th over: England 21-2 (Duckett 9, Root 0) That partnership was going so well – bustle from both batters, Duckett whipping for three, Pope for two, then that gorgeous four. But Henry was cool, calm and crafty, sending a fielder out to deep square, which kept Pope in his crease, expecting a bouncer that never came.
Joe Root comes in, strolls down the track … and Henry thinks he’s got him LBW first ball! Southee reviews again, gets it wrong again, and now NZ have only one left.
Wicket!! Pope c Bracewell b Henry 10 (England 21-2)
Another one! After playing an exquisite cover drive, Ollie Pope gets squared up and gives a sharp chance to third slip, which is beautifully snaffled by Michael Bracewell.
5th over: England 12-1 (Duckett 6, Pope 4) Duckett, facing Southee, gets a big fat leading edge but escapes scot-free as the ball loops over gully. Before the wicket, a caption informed us that Duckett and Crawley are the two fastest-scoring openers in the world this winter – Crawley just ahead of the pack on 68 runs per hundred balls, Duckett miles out in front on 99.
4th over: England 9-1 (Duckett 3, Pope 4) That was good bowling from Henry, who bowled a nip-backer, just short of a length, and then went fuller with a ball that held its line. No blame for Crawley, but it does make him that bit more likely to be the man who makes way for Jonny Bairstow’s return in the summer.
Ollie Pope, instantly more assertive than Crawley, dances down the track and across to off stump. He misses with his first attempted flick, but nails his second for the first four of the day.
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Wicket! Crawley c Blundell b Henry 2 (England 5-1)
Here we go! A good line, a tentative push, a thin edge, a predictable demise.
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3rd over: England 5-0 (Crawley 2, Duckett 3) Crawley, facing Southee, picks up a second single that is more assured, clipped off the toes. Duckett goes for a big cover drive and gets an inside edge.
Only five off three overs! So much for this new England.
2nd over: England 4-0 (Crawley 1, Duckett 3) Here’s Matt Henry, fresh from paternity leave. He starts with a friendly loosener which Ben Duckett tucks away for two, then produces a third ball that is unplayable, leaving Duckett and lifting. Southee reviews but regrets it when UltraEdge flickers only as the ball brushes the thigh. Crawley then flirts with danger, going too early with an off-push and almost giving Henry a return catch. The pitch, so far, is as juicy as it looks.
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1st over: England 0-0 (Crawley 0, Duckett 0) First ball, Southee beats Zak Crawley on the inside edge and appeals for LBW. Going down, it seems. Second ball, he finds the outside edge, but Crawley’s hands are soft enough to keep it down. Third ball, cartoon outswinger, left alone, ends up between first and second slip. Fourth ball, swinging away again, in the channel but safely left. Fifth ball, thick outside edge, again controlled. Sixth ball, left again. It’s a maiden! Something NZ didn’t manage for 40 overs in the first Test.
Some correspondence! “OK Tim...” says Brendan Large on Twitter. “I heard the pitch was green but WTAF. It looks like the groundsperson had a few too many last night & painted the pitch on the outfield. Will it play as stupidly as it looks? If it does is that good or bad for NZ? Surely Bazball is made for a crazy wicket?”
I wish I knew. What I can say is, there’s a lot to be said for low-scoring matches.
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Yes, it's windy
As the New Zealanders sing their anthem, they are looking a little ruffled – by the wind, which the Basin Reserve is famous for. Those trousers are billowing.
The players are out there ...
… and so is the sun! As God Save the King rings out.
Meanwhile the Man United game has ended. Permission to join Scott Murray.
Very 19th-century
Good stat earlier today from the @WisdenAlmanack crew... https://t.co/lebkcmoU6v
— Lawrence Booth (@BoothCricket) February 23, 2023
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Teams: England
As advertised. But how will they go on a greentop?
England 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Ben Foakes (wkt), 8 Ollie Robinson, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Jack Leach, 11 Jimmy Anderson.
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Teams: NZ
Last week’s debutants, Kuggeleijn and Tickner, drop out. Matt Henry comes in as expected and Will Young joins him to stiffen the batting.
New Zealand 1 Tom Latham, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Will Young, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 Daryl Mitchell, 7 Tom Blundell (wkt), 8 Michael Bracewell, 9 Tim Southee (capt), 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Matt Henry.
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Toss: NZ win and bowl
Well, you would, wouldn’t you? And Tim Southee does.
Pitch: yes, it's green
David Gower introduces us to the pitch, which is as green as we should all be these days. And, for now, it’s not raining.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to the final match of England’s tour of New Zealand. Not that long ago, tours were a marathon – in 1974-75, England’s two Tests in NZ were tacked on the end of a gruelling six-Test series in Australia, as arranged by administrators who evidently hadn’t heard that a father might have a part to play in family life.
Nowadays most tours are a sprint. A two-Test series is still a terrible idea, because neither side can come from behind to win it. But at least with these protagonists, both bearing the imprint of Brendon McCullum, we know that the contest will be very watchable while it lasts.
For New Zealand, there is a series to square and a score to settle after four successive defeats to Ben Stokes’s brave new England. They will have Matt Henry back from paternity leave (what would those 1970s administrators have made of that?). He is expected to share the new ball with Tim Southee, allowing Neil Wagner to return his customary role as the one dishing out the punishment rather than taking it.
For England, there is momentum to be maintained. And as Chris Rogers tells Daniel Gallan in this illuminating look at Stuart Broad’s hot spells, “momentum is real”. After six Test wins in a row, another one would put Stokes on a par with Michael Vaughan, who won seven in the home season of 2004. It would also give Stokes a pair of whitewashes: his third in a Test series (following NZ last summer and Pakistan in the autumn), and the first whole-winter clean-sweep ever by an England captain with more than three Tests on his plate.
There is some rain around the Basin Reserve, so it’s just conceivable that Stokes will have to settle for the first draw of his regime. Should that happen, his record for the winter – won four, drawn one – will be the best by an England captain playing more than three Tests since JHWT Douglas did something similar in South Africa, just before the First World War. Douglas, fondly known as Johnny Won’t Hit Today, had an unfair advantage in the great SF Barnes, then aged 39 and still sending down medium-fast cutters that could move either way. In his final series, Barnes took 49 wickets at an average of 11 in four Tests and boycotted the fifth after a difference of opinion with the management. His 150th anniversary is now approaching, to be celebrated in the 2023 Wisden.
Stokes has an unfair advantage too in James Anderson, who should surely be known as Jimmy Won’t Miss Today. He’s just returned to the top of the world rankings at the ridiculous age of 40. The word was that he was a bit sore after his exertions at Mount Maunganui, which brought his second-best match haul in 77 overseas Tests (seven for 54). You suspect that no amount of soreness, nor even a difference of opinion with the management, would stop him having a bowl on the green green grass of Wellington.
It’s a day game, for a change, played with a red ball. Play starts at 11am local time, 10pm GMT, and I’ll be back about 25 minutes before that with news of the toss, assuming it hasn’t been delayed.
