Broad shatters stumps and dreams

By Rahul Patil

England 1^st innings 325 for 9 declared (Duckett 84, Brook 89, Wagner 4/81) vs New Zealand 1^st innings 306 all out (Conway 77, Blundell 138, Robinson 4/54, Anderson 3/36) England 2^nd innings 374 all out (Root 57, Brook 54, Foakes 51, Tickner 3/55, Bracewell 3/68) New Zealand 2^nd innings 63 for 5 (Bracewell 25*, Broad 4/21)

In the year 1984 Metallica came out with album called “Ride the lightning”. The first track of this album was a song called “Fight fire with fire”. Neil Wagner has made a career out of picking wickets with the short ball. With the sun blazing down and the pitch being at its best for batting the blackcaps decided to test ‘Bazball’ with some chin music.

This England side though is not one to take a backward step. Just like Metallica they decided to fight fire with fire. The cut, the pull and the hook were played regularly along with some exquisite tennis forehands that would have made Roger Federer proud.

For probably the first time in his career Neil Wagner looked clueless against the onslaught. The wickets of #nighthawk i.e. Stuart Broad and Ollie Pope did come to short deliveries, but Wagner’s 13 overs in this innings were plundered for 110 runs at an economy rate of 8.46 per over. That is expensive by T20 standards and unheard of in test cricket.

Test cricket is like a game of chess in which both planning and strategy play a huge part. Even when you move a single pawn you have to anticipate what your opponent is likely to do and have your next five moves ready in your head. Bowling short as plan A was a good start but when that started backfiring the blackcaps had no plan B.

Stephen Fleming is still regarded as one of the sharpest cricket captains ever. One of the reasons for his success as a leader was the fact that he always had multiple plans up his sleeve. For long periods today Southee looked like he was hoping for wickets rather than proactively looking for them.

England have worked hard to build brand ‘Bazball’ over the last 9 months. But on a number of occasions during this test match you cannot help but wonder if at times they are playing to just protect brand “Bazball”. In the first innings England were 152 for 3 and had just lost the wicket of Pope. Two runs later Root got out trying to reverse ramp Wagner into the hands of slip.

In the second innings with an over to go for tea Root got out trying to reverse sweep Bracewell, again caught at slip. With a lead of 312 England were still not in the safe zone when Ben Stokes decided to run at Bracewell in an attempt to hit him to Tauranga from Mount Maunganui. Stokes was so far down the track that it really should go down as a run out rather than stumped. Trying to be aggressive at all times is great but it has to be blended with game awareness if you want to be consistent.

England couldn’t have hoped for a better script. In both innings they managed to have a crack at the blackcaps top order when conditions are extremely bowler friendly. But bowler friendly conditions alone do not guarantee wickets. You still have to put the ball in the right areas and be patient.

Stuart Broad was in the zone in New Zealand’s second innings. The ball that he got Kane Williamson with was as close as you can get to perfection. Pin point line and length and just doing enough to find the slightest gap between bat and pad to hit the top of off stump. Chasing 394 for a win in the fourth innings of a test match in New Zealand has never been achieved before. At 28 for 5 in the 14^th over the run chase was practically over. Only a miracle can prevent the inevitable on day four now.

Henry Nicholls has been struggling to deliver the goods with the bat for a while now. An average of 38 after 50 tests is a pass mark at best. When you are out of form you know that the tide will turn one day. But a flawed technique doesn’t come and go like form. One needs to work on it away from the international game. The selectors will be doing Nicholls a service if they let him go and work on his game in domestic cricket. One last opportunity at the Basin to present his case might well be the verdict of the post mortem of the first test.

Regardless of the result on day four the pink ball test at the Bay Oval has been a resounding success. Tui Brewery might just have found themselves a new billboard which says “Nobody watches test cricket. Yeah right.” Over 8000 enjoyed a glorious day of test cricket at the Bay Oval on Saturday while the Basin Reserve in Wellington has already been sold out for the second test. Long live test cricket.

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