WELLINGTON: England romped to a second comfortable victory over New Zealand in two weeks to secure a Test series triumph on Sunday with skipper Ben Stokes apparently enjoying a Midas touch with his every decision turning to gold.
Stokes delivered the coup de grace at Wellington’s Basin Reserve himself, coming on to take the last three wickets at a cost of five runs to dismiss New Zealand for 259 and wrap up the 323-run victory with more than two days to spare.
Seamers Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson all played crucial roles in the victory, the latter with a rare hat-trick on Saturday to help scuttle New Zealand’s first innings for 125.
Shoaib Bashir stepped up to remove Tom Blundell after the New Zealand wicket-keeper had marshalled the home rearguard with a defiant 115 on a surface that rarely offers anything for spinners this early in the season.
With the bat, the controversial selection of Jacob Bethell at number three paid dividends in only his second Test with an innings of 96, while Ollie Pope thrived with a key knock of 66 despite being dropped down the order as stand-in wicket-keeper.
Most of all, it was the brilliant innings of 123 from player-of-the-match Harry Brook on a tricky surface that laid the foundation for England’s biggest win by runs over the Black Caps, and a first series triumph in New Zealand since 2008.
“You look down that scorecard, there’s one guy that took it away from us,” said New Zealand captain Tom Latham. “Harry played a fantastic innings there. Credit where credit’s due, I thought that was a fantastic innings.”
Stokes agreed the fifth-wicket partnership between Brooks and Pope that took England from 43-4 to 280 in the first innings had been crucial.
“Scoring 280 and having five New Zealand wickets at the end of day one really set this game up for us,” the New Zealand-born all-rounder said.
“But a lot of that has got to go down to the way that Harry Brook and Ollie Pope took on the New Zealand bowlers and didn’t allow their very skilful bowlers to run up and put the ball where they wanted to.”
On Sunday, England had resumed on a blustery morning on 378-5 looking to quickly inflate their already imposing lead of 533 before sending the Blacks Caps in to bat.
Stokes was at the crease with Joe Root, who had been short of runs and is perhaps the least natural player of the “Bazball” style of aggressive batting England have played under coach Brendon McCullum.
Class is permanent, however, and the prolific 33-year-old even showed a real flash of creativity to secure his 36th test century with a glorious reverse ramp for four off seamer Will O’Rourke.
“He thought it was a good idea to scoop a six-foot-nine giant bowling rockets but it came off, it was just awesome,” chuckled Stokes.
“He’s desperate to do well for this team. He knows how important it is. When he does well, we generally do well.”
After Root edged behind for 106, Stokes, who was unbeaten on 49, immediately declared for 427-6 to present the Blacks Caps with a mammoth target of 583.
Woakes did the early damage to the New Zealand order by bowling the hapless Devon Conway for a five-ball duck and having Kane Williamson caught behind off a thin edge for four.
The impressive Carse chipped in with a brilliant caught-and-bowled dismissal of Latham for 24 before giving Pope more catching practice behind the stumps to remove Rachin Ravindra for six.
“Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson have been so good for us in the time that they’ve been out there playing for England,” Stokes said of the two seamers, who both made their debuts this year.
“Chris Woakes has been top-class as well. When you have a bowling attack … with the point of difference when it’s required, it’s massive for us.”
Blundell’s innings was a rare highlight at Basin Reserve for New Zealand, who had been outplayed by England with both bat and ball for most of the first two Tests.
“We’re obviously hurting,” said Latham, who lamented the pressure England were able to put on the home batters to break partnerships.
“Hopefully we can head to Hamilton, and if we’re able to get into a position of strength, we’re able to put the foot on the throat and put them under a pressure too.”
The third Test in Hamilton starts on Saturday.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND (1st Innings) 280
NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 125
ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 378-5):
Z. Crawley c Conway b Henry 8
B. Duckett b Southee 92
J. Bethell c Blundell b Southee 96
J. Root c Blundell b O’Rourke 106
H. Brook c O’Rourke b Phillips 55
O. Pope c Mitchell b Henry 10
B. Stokes not out 49
EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-1, W-8) 11
TOTAL (for six wickets decl, 82.3 overs) 427
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9 (Crawley), 2-196 (Bethell), 3-211 (Duckett), 4-306 (Brook), 5-327 (Pope), 6-427 (Root)
DID NOT BAT: C. Woakes, G. Atkinson, B. Carse, S. Bashir.
BOWLING: Southee 14-0-72-2 (1w); Henry 18-0-100-2; Smith 16-0-74-0 (1w); O’Rourke 18.3-0-104-1 (2w, 1nb); Phillips 16-0-75-1
NEW ZEALAND (2nd Innings):
T. Latham c & b Carse 24
D. Conway b Woakes 0
K. Williamson c Pope b Woakes 4
R. Ravindra c Pope b Carse 6
D. Mitchell c Pope b Atkinson 32
T. Blundell c Duckett b Bashir 115
G. Phillips b Bashir 16
N. Smith c Pope b Stokes 42
M. Henry c Bethell b Stokes 4
T. Southee c Woakes b Stokes 8
W. O’Rourke not out 1
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, NB-4) 7
TOTAL (all out, 54.2 overs) 259
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9 (Conway), 2-25 (Williamson), 3-33 (Latham), 4-59 (Ravindra), 5-106 (Mitchell), 6-141 (Phillips), 7-237 (Blundell), 8-247 (Henry), 9-254 (Smith)
BOWLING: Woakes 10-4-20-2; Atkinson 12-0-68-1 (2nb); Carse 11-0-53-2 (2nb); Bashir 19-2-110-2; Stokes 2.2-0-5-3
RESULT: England won by 323 runs.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Harry Brook
SERIES: England lead three-match series 2-0.
Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2024
