OPINION
Follow UsIt is true that Kane Williamson’s New Zealand are no longer the force of nature that they were last year. They are sixth on the World Test Championship table, pretty much all but out of contention to make it to the final, and have been so poor in the past year that you’ll have to go all the way back to June 2021 to find the last instance of them winning a bilateral Test series.
In the last cycle, they were accused of being ‘home bullies’, but this time around they’ve not been able to win at home too, failing to beat both Bangladesh and South Africa.
Results don’t lie; the team has plateaued post achieving the impossible last year in England.
Yet, for all their flaws, the Blackcaps are still world champions. On Thursday at Lord’s, England learnt why, irrespective of form, you never count a champion side out.
Eight overs prior to the close of play, the Three Lions had the day in the bag. They were trailing the Blackcaps by a mere 40, with still 8 wickets left, and nothing, it seemed, could stop the Stokes-McCullum era from getting off to the perfect start. A happy ending (or, rather, a happy beginning) was literally a stone’s throw away.
In the span of 27 balls, however, the Kiwis ended up turning the day on its head. England dominated no less than 90% of the day, and yet, somehow, come stumps, found themselves trailing in the contest.
It would be convenient to take the easy route and fault the English batters. They were, mind you, not blameless by any means. Crawley, in typical fashion, perished chasing a wide one. Pope poked at one unnecessarily when he didn’t need to, and Lees architected his own downfall through his stance. Even both Root and Stokes would look back on their strokes and feel that they should have done better.
But it wasn’t due to the callousness of their batters that England found themselves 116/7 at stumps. The hosts were gunned down by the determination and resolve of the Blackcaps, who dug deep and uncaged the champion inside them to finish the day on top despite putting in one of their worst ever batting performances.
The comeback, on the day, was instigated by none other than Kyle Jamieson.
For 13 overs in England’s innings, it was one-way-traffic. Crawley and Lees saw off the new-ball threat expertly and the former, after a nervy start, grew in confidence. Around the 10-over mark, Crawley started looking ominous, crunching drives down the ground in trademark fashion.
It was then, in the 14th over, that skipper Williamson decided to throw the ball to Jamieson, and the big man delivered instantly, getting Crawley to drive at a wide one. The 24-year-old’s dismissal did not quite trigger a collapse, but it stalled England’s momentum; the next 7 overs saw the Three Lions score just six runs off the bat. For context, the seven overs prior to Crawley’s dismissal had yielded 36.
England went 10 overs without losing a wicket, but Jamieson would strike again in the sixth over of his spell, getting Pope to poke at a ball he should have conveniently left. The set-up was impeccable, but Pope’s wicket was partially also down to Williamson’s prudent move to give Jamieson an extended spell.
Jamieson got the Kiwis off the mark, but the turning point of the day was effected by Colin de Grandhomme. After toiling hard for 6 overs with little to no luck, the right-armer, in his seventh over, got a length delivery to climb on Root. The right-hander looked to punch de Grandhomme off the back foot, but the extra bounce resulted in his undoing. Seemingly out of nowhere, the Kiwis ended up getting England’s trump card.
Champions pounce on the tiniest of opportunities, and the wicket of Root was all the invitation the Blackcaps needed. Williamson and New Zealand smelt an opening, and boy they tore into it. Three became four with Southee removing Lees immediately after Root, and four became five a couple of overs later as the 33-year-old, from round the wicket, got one to move away from Stokes.
At this point the Dukes was moving prodigiously, meaning Williamson went to his main man, Trent Boult. The left-armer went wicketless in his first two spells, but made up for it by striking twice with the old nut. One of the two scalps was the big wicket of Jonny Bairstow, who in both Australia and the Caribbean showed his prowess batting with the tail.
92/2 became 100/7 and England were brought down to their knees, out of nowhere.
It was an extraordinary passage that served as a reminder of this New Zealand side’s capability. Most sides would have mentally checked out in the final hour of the day after being dominated for over six hours, but the Kiwis were patient and persistent, hung in there and pounced when they sensed an opening. Across those final 90 minutes, they showed why they are the current holders of the mace.
That being said, with the bat, they played like anything but champions. The New Zealand batters walked into Day 1 having been humiliated by a bunch of uncapped bowlers in the warm-up encounter at Chelmsford, and in the first session, they were bulldozed by the English seamers. Anderson, Broad and debutant Matt Potts all bowled with impeccable accuracy, but the Kiwis batted like a bunch that was mentally not up for the contest.
Bowling salvaged the day for the visitors, but the batting continues to be problematic. The form of several individuals remains a major cause for concern.
Since his 89 in the first innings of the Kanpur Test against India, Will Young has been averaging 21.3. On Thursday, he posted his fourth consecutive single-digit score in Tests, falling rather tamely. The dismissal was even more damning owing to Young showcasing fine form representing the Northants in Division 1.
Williamson is averaging 18.46 in the last three years away from home, and looked completely out of sorts on Day 1. With Ross Taylor having now retired, the Kiwis will suffer, particularly away from home, should their skipper not pile on the runs consistently.
Williamson’s return has now also pushed Devon Conway to No.4, and it remains to be seen how the southpaw will adjust to the new role. Conway averages 63 and 64 in Tests batting as an opener and at No.3 respectively, but No.4 is somewhere he’s not used to batting at, even for his domestic side Wellington. Perhaps there’s merit in the argument that, once Henry Nicholls returns, the Kiwis will be better off just opening with Conway, especially should Young continue to underperform.
Then there’s Tom Blundell who, despite doing a fine job behind the stumps, has been struggling to accumulate runs. In 10 innings at No.6 now, the wicket-keeper batter has managed to score just 144 runs @ 14.40, not posting a single fifty-plus score. Given the man whom he replaced (BJ Watling) was a run-machine, Blundell’s returns with the bat have thus far simply not been good enough.
New Zealand have no business being ahead in the first Test following the disastrous showing with the bat in the first innings, but they’ve been handed a lifeline by their bowlers. For the Blackcaps to script a miraculous win, though, they will need their batters to bring out the form they showcased in the first WTC cycle.
