New Zealand
v England: 2nd Test, Days 1 & 2
Dr Jekyll
and Mr England
March 31st 2018
In the classic story, Dr Jekyll takes his potion and changes from his mild-mannered
persona into the raging Mr Hyde. England swallowed a dose of Vince, Wood and
Leach (it sounds like something that Macbeth’s witches would brew up) and,
suddenly, if not the raging Mr Hyde, at least they transformed into something
that looked like a proper cricket team. Mind you, there was a moment when Mark
Wood was hammering the ball to all parts, when there was a bit of Mr Hyde and
even more when Stuart Broad was hurtling in with the new ball, bowling with a
pace and menace that he has not shown for a couple of years.
Having announced that Ben Stokes would not be fit to bowl and dropped
Moeen and Woakes, everything indicated that England would play Overton instead
of Vince. Bemusement would a mild way of expressing the reaction to the news
that Overton had been replaced by Vince in what appeared to be a four-man
attack. The fact that neither Woakes nor Overton have looked like taking
wickets meant that both were luxuries who would only play a holding role to
rest Broad and Anderson. In that sense it was a sensible decision to try to add
some bite to the attack. Woakes’s fall from grace since his triumphant summer
has been complete.
When you are put in on what seems to be an excellent batting pitch, it
can only be because the opposition fancies its chances of imposing another embarrassment
on a batting line-up that seems to lack all confidence. .
The decision seemed to be justified and everything following the script, when Alistair Cook fell cheaply… again and James Vince
got a start and gave it away… again. 6-1, 38-2 and a strong sense of “here we go
again”. Why Vince was preferred to Livingstone is a mystery to all but the team
management – surely England would have learnt more by trying-out a second
debutant? At the same time, what does one make of Alistair Cook’s sequence? His
last 18 Test innings have been 10, 243, 11, 23, 10, 17, 2, 7, 37, 16, 7, 14,
244*, 39, 10, 5, 2 & 2. When he gets a start, he is a run machine, but
there is no score between 39 and 243! Are Cook’s powers waning? Or are two big
double centuries worth a number of failures? Over the last 12 months he
averages only a fraction under 40, which is a much better number than many of
his colleagues, but more than half his runs have been in just two of his twenty-five
innings, meaning that the opposition frequently starts with the huge boost of
his wicket falling quickly.
Further traditions were honoured. After a dodgy start, Mark Stoneman
seemed to be on the point of the breakthrough innings that he needed. And Joe
Root, back at 4, owed England a big score. Fifty partnership with increasing
comfort – could this be Stoneman’s big day? Could Root turn a fifty into a
century? Not a bit of it! In the space of nine balls England slipped from a
relatively comfortable 93-2 to a punch-drunk 94-5, with the wolves baying for
blood. Two more batsmen had made a start and given it away.
On this occasion, England did not disintegrate. Freed of the malign
influence of Todd Astle’s long-hops, Jonny Bairstow was able to remember that
he is a very fine batsman. A fifty partnership with Stokes, another
mini-collapse and then Wood and Leach suggested that, in the second innings,
both will bat ahead of Stuart Broad. Wood showed the benefit of having a crazy
horse keen to catch the eye in the side, by flogging tiring bowling to all
parts. Even when Wood fell to the last delivery before the new ball, Leach
showed that he is a much better bat than he was when he came into the Somerset
side. In the end, 307ao was disappointing only because one thought that
Bairstow, Wood and Leach were batting so well that 350 was within reach.
307 looks like 500 when the opposition is 17-4 and Stuart Broad is
bowling like a demon with pace and fire. Tradition though was respected and
England allowed the New Zealand middle-order to recover in the same way that
their own had. However, with a wicket just before the Close, an end open and
the new ball due, New Zealand's tail will need to weather Stuart Broad and Jimmy
Anderson a lot better than their top order did. And, surprise! It was not a
four-man attack: Ben Stokes has had a short spell and had a couple of good
shouts and, always assuming that he has no reaction, will be lying in wait in
case Broad and Anderson cannot do the job on their own (so far the four opening
bowlers have all sixteen wickets in this Test).
With Jack Leach bowling nicely and the occasional ball turning big, a
first innings lead of 70-80 will look like a mountain to New Zealand. If
England can set 300, Jack Leach may well be the key to winning, with attacking
fields and pressure on the batsmen. One can dream…
Meanwhile, in the Champion County match, Jack Leach’s partner in crime
at Taunton, Dom Bess, was taking eight wickets and scoring a century. Moeen Ali
may have watched this development with some concern because next Winter’s tour
is to Sri Lanka and there is every chance that Leach and Bess will team up
there as if it were just another day in Taunton. With England looking at the
possibility of almost any combination of Cook, Stoneman, Gubbins, Robson and
Hameed opening against Pakistan in May, it is quite possible that the England
side could have a very different look to it come October. There is also the
option that the top three in Sri Lanka *could* be Gubbins, Hameed and Jennings,
with Jennings dropping to #3 where some think that he may be more successful.
There is talent there. There are options. At present Gubbins is injured and
Hameed and Jennings are short of runs, but a good start to the season for them could
see the current top three following the first squad announcement of the summer
very nervously.
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