England Win in Nottingham to Beat New Zealand 2-0
June 9, 2008
England (364 all out) beat New Zealand (123 and 232) by an innings and 9 runs.
England were expected to claim victory in this home series against the black caps and did so, in comfortable fashion. The tide of the series turned when New Zealand threw away a position of incredible strength at Old Trafford in the 2nd test to lose incredulously and they never recovered. England struck all the powerful, key blows after that point (Just ask Daniel Flynn, who lost 4 teeth to a James Anderson bouncer) and the Kiwis ended up surrendering rather tamely, with skipper Daniel Vettori conceding his side had been outplayed.
This 3rd test, as predicted by all the pundits, was decided by good, controlled swing bowling. In favourable conditions and with a new stand in the stadium that apparently aids swing, England’s more varied and talented attack was always going to count for a lot. The trio of James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad are becoming a well rounded front line and they clearly enjoy each other’s success. They offer three very different but complimentary styles of delivery. Sidebottom has the obvious difference in being a left armer, with his ability to swing the ball both ways proving too much for the Kiwi batsmen on day 4 as he picked up 6-67. Anderson, though still a bit expensive at times, bowls from a wide angle and it is therefore hard to predict the line of the delivery and the extent of swing. In this test, his first innings bowling of 7-43 was sensational.
The balls that got rid of Aaron Redmond and Brendon McCullum were stunning- exactly what you want as a bowler and as a spectator, to see the off stump fly out of the ground is aesthetically very satisfying. Finally Broad, who also batted very well in this series, offers more height and bounce and has the ability to bowl a lot of dot balls and therefore frustrate the likes of McCullum, Oram and Taylor, who like to spread their wings and score quickly. With Panesar waiting in case a pitch deteriorates, England’s bowling attack is looking strong as they move towards the next series against South Africa.
This game only briefly looked in doubt when England were inserted into bat and slumped to 86-5 on the first day. Kevin Pieterson’s sublime 115, with notable contributions from wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose (67) and Broad (64), took the score past the important psychological point of 350. On a ground that normally only brings the side batting first an average score of 215 this season, it looked like it would be enough to set up a win.
The margin of victory was still surprising, with the Trent Bridge crowd clearly disappointed that they were watching the presentation ceremony after only about an hours play on the fourth day. If you are the touring side, you know your team are struggling when the home crowd are cheering your every run in a desperate attempt to see more play. Jacob Oram offered some resistance but despite his cavalier hitting in an unbeaten 50, as soon as Chris Martin was forced to face one ball from James Anderson, you could see the big left hander getting ready to take his gloves off and head for the pavilion. It only took Anderson one ball. Martin was caught well by Collingwood and England could celebrate.
England’s powers of recovery have been tested in this series and they will be delighted to take attention away from the clamouring for IPL developments. They will face a much bigger test when South Africa come to town- England are now third in the test rankings, with S. Africa 4th. They have a very good pace attack as well, with more diversity than the one paced New Zealanders.
It has been a good start for many England players, most notably Andrew Strauss and the four bowlers. For Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell, there are a few notes of concern. Bell is young and clearly a favourite of the selectors who see him as an integral part of the future. Collingwood’s resilience and fighting spirit will be tested and I’m sure he will work hard on his game to iron out the flaws that have crept in just recently. He will look at Strauss as an example of how a player low on confidence and with a problem in his technique has overcome the worries and played a big part in this evolving, multi-dimensional and exuberant England side.
What do you think? Will South Africa be a much tougher test or will it be another comfortable series victory? Let me know, leave a comment!
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