England's Headingley 1981 Moment

 

 

Ashes 2015

 

For My Next Trick

 

May 26^th 2015

 

 

For three days the Obituary writers have been working on their drafts for Alistair Cook. England hopelessly off the pace, being brutally pushed around by a team that has only beaten them eight times in Test history and that has lost 7 of its last 8 Tests in England over three tours. The New Zealand new ball bowling was more incisive. The New Zealand batting was positive and brutal.

At 403-3 on Day 3, with New Zealand already ahead and then, again, at 470-5, with the lead growing and again two set batsmen at the crease you could only wonder about just how much this New Zealand side has progressed in the last few years on such limited resources. Most pundits thought that the last two days would turn into a fight to avoid an innings defeat. Even when the tail crumbled, it seemed too little too late: after all, apart from Ricky Ponting’s Australians, how many sides come back from a deficit of 134 in the first innings? When England fell to 25-2 in under 8 overs, the spectre of the match not going into a fifth day was all too real.

Occasionally though you get a moment that defies logic, or a player who suddenly turns things around so that the whole tenor of a game changes. At Headingley in 1981 it was Ian Botham who supplied the impulse and Bob Willis who took advantage, although it was actually Graeme Dilley who set up Botham’s fightback by starting to fling the bat with great effect to the tune of a murderous 56. Here it was Ben Stokes’s fastest hundred for England since Jessop in 1902 and, to boot, the fastest ever hundred at Lord’s. However, as Botham’s innings at Headingley would never have happened without Graeme Dilley’s knock, Ben Stokes’s would not have happened without Joe Root. While a gloriously revived Alistair Cook blocked-off one end, accumulating slowly, Joe Root started to counter-attack in a marvellous innings of 84. Root, with 98 and 84 missed out on a century twice in the match but, in both innings, was the heart of the England fightback from a desperate position.

 

This was England's Headingley 1981 moment. Will it produce such a glorious turnaround in fortunes as that one did?

Back in 2012, Australia found a desperate, prodding Root who had been promoted to open when clearly not ready for it technically. This Joe Root is definitely a different proposition; he looks set to put attacks to the sword for years to come. Root though, just set the stage for Ben Stokes to follow up his first innings 92. By the time he had departed, 26.3 overs later, New Zealand were in full retreat and the momentum in the game had changed irreversibly.

Even a strategic collapse on the last morning worked in England’s favour. If Alistair Cook had had to make a declaration it would, inevitably, had come shortly before lunch and would have been necessarily conservative: no one would have forgiven Alistair Cook for losing a match that should have been safe, especially in a two-match series. Instead, 429-6 became 478ao in just 11 overs. New Zealand certainly had a sniff if they got a good start, but that was probably their undoing: when batting for a draw should have been easy, the New Zealand approach was to chase the runs even when 8-down and heading for a heavy defeat. Any thoughts of winning should have been ended when they were 0-2 after 7 balls and then 12-3 in the 6^th over. While Jimmy Anderson made the initial breakthrough, Stuart Broad steamed in and did what this detractors say that he never does: decapitate the innings with the new ball.

From then on it was a matter of keeping up the pressure. Even so, there was a possibility that New Zealand could frustrate the bowlers, but then it was Alistair Cook’s day, every bowling change seemed to work: with Williamson and Watling re-building and, at the same time, keeping the required run rate well under control, there was a danger that the situation could slip out of England’s control. With nothing match happening after lunch, Ben Stokes was given a fairly new ball and instructions to let it go fast. Nine balls without conceding a run and then, after two absolute jaffas to set up Kane Williamson, an outside edge and into the safe hands of Joe Root. Next ball, McCullum was bowled and you sensed that it was all over provided that England maintained their focus.

Incredibly, Watling and Corey Anderson kept attacking and the hundred partnership came in 136 balls. At this stage New Zealand were still thinking of winning and, in doing so, giving the bowlers a chance. In such circumstances it is just a matter of when the mistake comes. At 168-5 New Zealand were getting back to parity; at 174-7 an end was open. Even then, Tim Southee kept hitting as if he wanted to knock off the runs quickly and get out for a celebratory drink before the crowds arrived.

Even with the last pair at the wicket and play deep into the last hour, the calypso cricket continued when some serious blocking was indicated: how many times in this situation do you see the last man caught at third man from an attacking stroke? Positive cricket is one thing, but New Zealand seemed incapable of coming out of IPL mode to save a Test that should never have been lost. It was brainless.

This Test has produced a host of astonishing numbers and comparisons:

·         The highest aggregate in a Test in which all 40 wickets have fallen since 1930.

·         This was only the 14^th time that a side has scored 500 in the 1^st innings of a Test and lost.

·         This was the 10^th highest losing 1^st innings score and the highest ever by New Zealand.

·         Remarkably, seven of the 14 instances of a side scoring 500 in the 1^st innings and losing have come since December 2003, two of them in consecutive Tests in 2006.

·         Previously, New Zealand’s highest losing 1^st innings score had been 433 v Australia at Christchurch in 2005.

·         This was the fifth time that England had conceded 500 in the 1^st innings and won (although one of the these was the famous forfeited Test).

·         In the 2006 Pakistan series, Pakistan scored 538 in the 1^st innings at Headingley and 504 in the 1^st innings at The Oval and lost both matches.

Certainly, Ben Stokes looks a different player since moving up to #6 and a better bowler with Paul Farbrace giving him a clearly defined role to bowl quickly. And Alistair Cook looks a better captain with a more balanced attack and is scoring runs for fun again.

However, not all is well. The top order failed twice in the Test, falling to 25-2 in both innings (and, in the 1^st innings, to 30-4). Adam Lyth managed just 7 and 12 and now has just two more innings to “bed in” before the Ashes. Moeen Ali does not look like a strike bowler at the moment, although his last four Test innings have been 58, 8, 58 & 43, allaying some concerns about his batting. And the bowling attack looked singularly toothless for long periods as New Zealand accumulated on Day 2 and early in Day 3.

Certainly, New Zealand let England off the hook three times in the Test and batted in a remarkably cavalier fashion when they should have been able to save the Test had they buckled down. It is hard to imagine that Australia will be so accommodating. However, it was a remarkable win. In the morning a disgruntled fan told CricInfo that the difference between a mediocre side and a good side was that the latter sees an opportunity and seizes it, suggesting that England would let the game slide into an aimless draw instead of going out to win: no one can say that England did not seize theirs.

The sides move to Headingley on Friday with England guaranteed at least a shared series. Five days ago that would have seemed like riches beyond belief.