New Zealand v England: 1st Test, Day 2 - Rain Simply Prolongs the Agony

 

New Zealand v England: 1^st Test, Day 2

Rain Simply Prolongs the Agony

March 23^rd 2018

In England’s current situation, not even selecting Noah and making him captain would be likely to save them. In fact, even two days of solid rain will not save England in this Test: you would bet a lot of money that four full sessions of play will be enough for New Zealand to wrap up the game. However, Moeen Ali made a contribution to the match far more vital than his duck yesterday, by provoking a downpour as soon as he came on to bowl. These abilities would be much-appreciated in certain drought-stricken regions and have brought some respite for England but, in the 90 minutes of play that were possible, it became obvious that those who thought that England could take a wicket or two before the new ball and then two or three more with it were just fantasists.

Kane Williamson batted on slowly and steadily to his century before finally falling to Jimmy Anderson, who is already looking a good bet for a 5-for, albeit one a tad more expensive than Trent Boult’s was. New Zealand are doing nothing flashy: the runs are being ground out at 2.5 an over; there is no need to hurry unless the weather gets a lot worse. In two sessions more the lead will be well over 300 and New Zealand will be able to decide when to declare at their convenience. That is the advantage of having bowled out the opposition in under an hour and a half in the first session of the match. The forecast looks dodgy for Day 3, but then better for Days 4 & 5, when time can be made up. Everything suggests that England have just two chances in this game: slim and fat.

Kane Williamson is a familiar name on the county circuit, having been one of a list of New Zealanders who came to the West Country to play and to learn. In 2009 Gloucestershire were fielding three New Zealanders (Craig Spearman, James Franklin and Hamish Marshall). When Spearman left, at the end of the 2009 season, Gloucestershire reduced to “only” two New Zealanders, until Kane Williamson was signed as their third for 2011 and a fourth player (James Fuller) also had a very strong New Zealand connection. Having just missed out on promotion to Division 1 in 2009, Williamson’s arrival as a 21-year-old saw Gloucestershire fall agonisingly short, once again in 2011, in what must be the best Division 2 promotion race in recent times. Spearman is long-retired, as is Marshall and James Franklin – now with Middlesex – is reaching the end of a career where he never quite hit the heights, but Williamson is going from strength to strength and is expected to leave all records set in the past by Glenn Turner and Martin Crowe, far behind him.

Having got past Williamson, there is an opening. The remaining batting is nowhere near as strong and a confident side, full of self-belief, could just knock it over in a session and keep the lead well under 250. Even that would leave a mountain to climb, but you sense that England simply do not have that self-belief right now. Australia have left some deep scars in the collective psyche and the suspicion is that Trevor Bayliss is no longer able to heal them. It is a pity that Ben Stokes felt a twinge in his back when coming in off his full run the day before the game: you sense that the situation is set up for one of his Bothamesque spells to breathe some life and self-confidence into his battered teammates. It is not impossible that Stokes could bowl if the match goes to a fifth day but, what is needed more than anything, is to have a bowler who can send it down regularly at around 90mph, when the current attack is bowling low-80s. You can get away with low-80s when the ball is seaming or swinging, or if you are inhumanly accurate. Save for James Anderson, none of the seamers seem to be consistently enough pin-point in length and line to make the batsmen really uncomfortable.