Ghosts of Lord’s haunt Caps as world test revenge looms
Reminders of that painful World Cup ODI final are never far away, as Williamson’s men return with a bigger prize at stake. Mark Geenty reports.
Reminders of that sunny, then gloomy, Sunday evening at Lord’s in July 2019 are never far away as Kane Williamson and his Black Caps stride back into the Long Room this week.
Indeed, the touring side were greeted by a full replay of their World Cup ODI final agony on their hotel TVs soon after they settled in at their Southampton training bubble, overlooking the Ageas Bowl. Let the gamesmanship begin.
Senior man Ross Taylor was offered a soothing walk down memory lane, with Wisden India. ‘‘It took me a week to have a proper sleep after that, umming and ahhing what we could have done differently,’’ he said. It was one match that was never reviewed.
Nearly two years on, this much-awaited tour and another shot at a world title for New Zealand, opens at the home of cricket in leafy St John’s Wood, against Joe Root’s undermanned England side on Wednesday night (NZ time). Lord’s was originally the venue for the June 18 World Test Championship final against India, but Covid-19 bubblefriendly Ageas Bowl got the nod.
England are missing star men Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer (both injured), and Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran and Jonny Bairstow (rested post-Indian Premier League), which removes some gloss and gives the impression of two sparring sessions before the bantamweight takes on cricket’s heavyweights India.
The prospective giant-slayers shape as the strongest test XI New Zealand have ever fielded, assuming Devon Conway takes his rightful place at the top of the order and swing bowler Trent Boult joins them for the second England test at Edgbaston on June 10.
With Williamson the topranked test batsman and Neil Wagner (third) and Tim Southee (sixth) high on the bowlers’ list, plus the support cast, never have they fielded so many world-class players. Kyle Jamieson provides the X-factor after winning his first six tests and posting some ridiculous numbers, as the Black Caps touched No 1 in the world before India overtook them again.
Still, the Lord’s factor contributes some intriguing threads to the tour narrative, as the Black Caps eye a confidence-boosting start to their epic June. England are vulnerable without Stokes, especially, the Black Caps’ ODI nemesis, but have county cricket under their belts and the Jimmy Anderson-Stuart Broad double act plus the express pace of Mark Wood to probe any batting frailties. Lord’s is a magical venue for any cricket tragic, not least the players, but the demons for the Kiwi cricketers extend back 90 years. Since their first tour in 1931, they’ve played 17 tests there and won just one, in 1999 under Stephen Fleming. Taylor and Southee are each having their fourth crack there.
At Edgbaston, Birmingham, New Zealand are 0-4, joining the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Sydney Cricket Ground, Old Trafford, Eden Gardens, Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bangalore), Kingsmead (Durban) and Queen’s Park Oval (Trinidad) among those where New Zealand’s never won a test.
It raises again the nagging doubt about the Black Caps’ away record against top sides. Yes,
their Colombo win against Sri Lanka was the best of this campaign, and Pakistan were beaten memorably in a spin-dominated series in the desert in 2018.
The 0-3 sweep in Australia was a massive bubble-burst and the formline looked shaky when India went there a year later and won a series. At home, in seam friendly conditions for both pace attacks, the Black Caps beat India 2-0 in February 2020 after that Aussie shambles in a strong bounce back, albeit amid home comforts.
In the Black Caps’ favour here is two England tests while India go into a bubble, and with the International Cricket Council overseeing pitch preparation as it did at the World Cup there will likely be seam movement on offer. India’s pace attack is strong, but it’s advantage New Zealand if that’s the case, more so if overhead conditions allow swing for Southee, Boult and Jamieson, with Wagner their fourth prong to charge in and cause mayhem on the later days.
The spin threat so familiar in India will be minimal in the UK in June.
In terms of preparation, New Zealand carries a question mark. The first test tour since Australia, clouded by Covid, had players descending from everywhere with no serious match practice and Boult returning home to be with his family after the abandoned IPL.
An intra-squad two-day match is it, after the New Zealand-based players had two Lincoln camps with the Duke ball.
But captain Virat Kohli’s India of all the powerhouse nations give New Zealand’s men the most confidence of hauling themselves through the dirt to the top of the cricket world. Finally.