OUR WORST RUN SINCE THE WAR!
England crushed on the road again
To lose in India and Australia could be regarded as misfortune, but to now lose in New Zealand looks more than just carelessness from england. Their Test travel sickness is becoming acute.
england’s failure to bat out the last day of the first Test here leaves them with no margin for error in the last match of their longest modern winter tour. They have to win in Christchurch to arrest their worst away run since the war.
The statistics are damning. england are without a win in 12 away Tests and have lost 10 of them, five innings defeats coming in their last eight games.
The last time it was this bad was between 1938 and 1948, when the country was concerned with a rather more important skirmish going on at home and overseas that stopped play for six years.
Joe Root made all the right noises after england had failed to pull off a second great escape in Auckland in successive tours, but he must know there will be serious questions if this two-Test series is not squared.
england were much better in their second innings at eden Park — they could hardly be worse — before being bowled out for 320 with less than 19 overs left to hold out, but too many batsmen were complicit in their own demise again.
It says something about england’s lack of application that they should lose a wicket in the last over before a break in three successive sessions, starting with the captain’s latest failure to turn a half- century into three figures on the fourth evening. Whatever happened to playing for the interval?
It may be harsh to single out Ben stokes when he batted so well for his slowest half- century in Tests, but his 66 off 188 balls was ended by a brainless piece of cricket all too common in england’s Test batting.
Neil Wagner had been undertaking one of his trademark long spells full of short-pitched, aggressive bowling when he rattled stokes and tempted him into a terrible shot that saw him hole out to point three balls before the dinner break.
At that stage, with england at 300 for six, stokes and Chris Woakes had batted throughout the middle session and england really did look like replicating their nail-biting draw here in 2013 when they ended up nine wickets down.
Alas, it was not to be and once stokes had gone the end was nigh for england, the wholehearted Wagner ending with three victims in an excellent New Zealand display.
Worryingly, stokes had to take painkilling tablets for soreness in his back towards the end of his innings and there will be another ‘will he play, won’t he play’ debate ahead of the second Test in his home city.
It is a crucial question for england because even though their talisman is good enough to play as a specialist batsman, he brings so much more to the team and creates a perfect balance when he is fit to bowl.
As IT is, Root is a reluctant No 3 and Dawid Malan looks a little too high at four. Friday’s second Test will also be a huge match for Mark stoneman, who is running out of time to prove he belongs at the highest level, and also two of the most important england players — at least when they are at home.
Moeen Ali had a miserable Ashes and had another poor match here, despite the confidence boost he should have gained from a successful return to one-day cricket.
He has taken just five wickets at a whopping 126 each in six Tests this winter and is as short of runs as he is wickets. When england were bowled out for 51 in Jamaica in 2009 they dropped Ian Bell. That proved a catalyst for their improvement under new captain Andrew strauss.
Now, as Root continues making his way as a leader, there is a case to replace Moeen with a wildcard in lancashire’s liam livingstone or a specialist spinner in somerset’s Jack leach to shake things up. It has reached the point where there is very little to lose.
similarly, Woakes might have made a battling half- century yesterday and almost taken england to safety but, while it would be unthinkable to drop him at home, his record in his principal role as a bowler overseas is getting worse.
Woakes went wicketless here and is now claiming his victims away from home at more than 60 apiece. surely it is time to give the extra pace of Mark Wood a go. If england do not trust his fitness, there is no point in him being here.
To dwell on england’s shortcomings would be to deny New Zealand proper praise, for this was arguably their best all-round display under the leadership of Kane Williamson.
Boult and Tim southee were magnificent in bowling england out for 58 on the first day, while the captain was superb with the bat and in the field. The unheralded Henry Nicholls showed england how to play the swinging ball, then Wagner came to the party on the last day.
It was all played out — Australia please note — in a fantastic spirit even when Wagner was charging in and doing his best to give stokes the evil eye. There really is much to admire in New Zealand’s cricket.
Not so much day- night Test cricket. england have played three Tests under lights now — at home last summer against West Indies, against Australia in Adelaide and now here — and evidence suggests the experiment is doomed.
The pink ball is not of a good enough quality and the players do not seem to enjoy the concept. More importantly, there is little evidence that the paying spectators do, either.
Thank goodness Friday’s second Test will be played with a red ball during the day at Christchurch’s magnificent Hagley oval.
It is a setting fit for a thrilling denouement to a Test winter of underachievement from england. Now all they have to do is turn up.