THE TORTURE SESSION
England bowlers suffer and Aussies will be taking note
ENgLANd may have had worse sessions in the field in recent times than the 80 minutes they spent being flayed to all parts of Headingley yesterday morning but it is difficult to remember any.
This was as deflating as Lord’s was inspiring — the sight of England’s big two bowlers, Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson, being destroyed by New Zealand’s tail-enders offering a worrying portent of what might lie ahead this summer.
Rain cut short England’s attempt at putting things right with the bat in this second Investec Test and increased their chances of holding out for a draw or pulling off a win that Joe Root last night insisted was still possible. Yet the Australians will have looked on with keen interest at the way New Zealand took England’s attack apart here and can be expected to employ a similarly positive policy when the Ashes begin next month.
Bare statistics of the truncated fourth day make depressing reading for an England team who desperately need Anderson and Broad at their best for an Ashes series they begin as firm underdogs.
New Zealand smashed 116 runs in the 16 overs before Brendon McCullum declared, at a staggering 7.25 an over, to end their second innings on 454 for eight from just 91 overs — an overall run rate just short of five per dizzying over.
And the fact that the men making mugs of one of the best new-ball pairings in English history were Mark Craig and Tim Southee will do little for Alastair Cook’s peace of mind.
Ottis gibson, looking to become England’s fulltime bowling coach for the second time, had said on Sunday that the plan was to be patient, pitch the ball up and try to hit the top of offstump. Well, it did not look that way when Broad in particular repeatedly bowled short and saw his deliveries flying over the boundary.
It is worth remembering that Broad is a matchwinner who has looked back to his best for much of this series after a difficult winter following surgery. Yet there are times when he lets his emotions take over, forgets what has been asked of him and instead tries to dismiss the opposition with bowling that is never likely to threaten the stumps.
Yesterday was a typical example, when Southee smashed 20 from Broad’s first over of the day after he had been denied the new ball and then when three sixes came off what turned out to be the last over of New Zealand’s innings. Clearly Broad, along with Anderson, does not like being driven but he is far too quick to abandon the full-pitched bowling that has characterised so many of those barnstorming spells which have won Tests.
It is at times like this when Broad and Anderson need a strong captain, but Cook will all too often let them get their own way, particularly with field settings aimed at saving runs rather than taking wickets. Anderson may be England’s most successful ever bowler and Broad may be an accomplice good enough to be nearing 300 Test wickets himself, but sometimes they need reining in by Cook. Things may have been less embarrassing for England yesterday had Ian Bell gone for the slip chance provided by Southee off Mark Wood at the start of his innings rather than leaving it for gary Ballance. The ball flew to the third- man boundary and summed up the problems England have with a slip cordon who have squandered too many chances in this mini-series.
Bell dropped two catches at Lord’s and has left two that should have been his here. It was interesting to hear graeme Swann saying on Test Match Special that Bell has to be cajoled into fielding there. In that case, the time has clearly come for Adam Lyth, an outstanding second slip for Yorkshire, to field there for England, with Bell moving back to short leg where he has few peers.
The reprieve allowed Southee to smash 40 off 21 balls while Craig finished unbeaten on 58 and became the eighth New Zealand batsman to hit a six in the innings.
That statistic alone proves it was New Zealand’s vibrant, attacking policy that sparked England’s lack of discipline with the ball. It was a policy responsible for New Zealand turning this Test on its head — much as England turned the tables on them during that sensational first Test at Lord’s.
England, who managed just two wickets in that excruciating 80 minutes yesterday, were left with a world record-breaking target of 454 to win in just over five sessions and made a positive start themselves through Cook and Lyth. But any remote chance of England making history surely ended when the rain came just after lunch. Now their only target will be to bat all day, clinch this series 1-0 and restore pride ahead of the Ashes.
Root was bullish last night in insisting England would still go for the win but his words were surely an attempt to camouflage shortcomings, for scoring 411 on the last day to win would represent the most extraordinary feat in Test history.
New Zealand will be hard done by if they fail to win and their sixseries unbeaten Test run comes to an end. Whatever happens, they have given England’s bowlers considerable food for thought before Australia arrive.
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1 ENGLAND have chased down a 300 plus fourth-innings target just once at Headingley — against Australia in August 2001.