As the spectators filtered out of the Basin Reserve and into the streets of Wellington, the events witnessed were yet to truly sink in. Eyes were like saucers, jaws long since dropped, and, whatever the allegiance – New Zealand or England – their free tickets had turned into lottery winners.
This was an electric day of Test cricket and, by definition, one that delivered the rarest of margins. A one-run victory over this marauding England side had seen New Zealand become just the second team in the 146-year history of Test cricket to triumph by this scoreline – and only the fourth to prevail after being asked to follow on.
With it Tim Southee’s men had inflicted the second defeat of England’s startling resurgence under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum and extended their proud unbeaten record at home to 11 series. Kane Williamson was player of the match at the end of this memorable 1-1 series draw, his seven-hour 132 in the third innings having help set England the 258-run target they so very nearly reeled in.
Where better to start than the end? As Jimmy Anderson, 40 years young and 179 Tests on the clock, walked out to join Jack Leach in the middle after Ben Foakes had fallen for a defiant 35, the ground was transfixed. Seven runs needed, nine wickets down, was Anderson’s recent insistence he had no interest in ever hitting the winning runs – “I don’t like batting, simple as that” – about to end with that frown upside down?
It wasn’t to be. Despite crunching his fourth ball through mid-wicket for four in a calculated charge, and seeing a perilous single from Leach then make it just two runs to win, Anderson could only stand there stationary when, at 4.05pm local time, the lightest of tickles down leg off Neil Wagner flew into Tom Blundell’s gloves to spark jubilant scenes for the Black Caps and their delighted supporters.
Anderson had wondered whether Wagner’s previous ball – a bumper – had been a wide but after five undulating days and such a nail-biting finale, it wasn’t the story. No hard feelings followed. These two teams get on famously, England having been influenced so heavily by their hosts in recent times, and both teams knew how lucky they were when the line of handshakes snaked across the outfield.
It was fitting that Blundell should take the catch, having spent large portions of the day standing up to the stumps as a constant flea in England’s ears. The same goes for Wagner inflicting the coup de grâce, 10 overs into one of those lionhearted spells on which his reputation was forged. Manhandled all series going into this final day and aware that, on the brink of turning 37, many in New Zealand were questioning his future, Wagner had produced the precious breakthroughs – Stokes for 33 and Joe Root for 94 – which had blown the door wide open.
Root had appeared to be leading England home in classical style, spurred on by thoughts of atonement after his role in Harry Brook being run out for a duck in the morning. After a slightly frantic 14 from Ollie Pope was terminated at slip, Root had guided the very next delivery behind square and set off, only for Michael Bracewell to swoop round from slip and laser his throw to Blundell at the stumps.
There were shades of Geoffrey Boycott running out hometown hero Derek Randall at Trent Bridge in 1977, Root stood mortified with hand on his head as Brook, a centurion in the first innings and England’s breakout star of the winter, trudged off dolefully without facing a ball. Nasser Hussain barbecuing the coming man, Andrew Strauss, in his final Test at Lord’s 19 years ago was another that sprung to mind here.
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As if to purge himself of the Brook run-out, Root soon got the scoreboard moving by taking Michael Bracewell for 17 runs off an over. And from 80 for five after 50 minutes of play – both nightwatchman Ollie Robinson and Ben Duckett having fallen early – he and Stokes began compiling a 121-run stand over 35 overs that, with Matt Henry struggling with a back spasm, New Zealand seemed powerless to prevent.
But while Root was displaying the same poise and perfection witnessed during that unbeaten 153 in the first innings, Stokes was again struggling with that longstanding knee injury and lacking fluency. Bracewell was a different proposition bowling to the left-hander, too. Finally, driven to distraction, he went for a giant heave off Wagner only send a top-edge into the leg-side. When Root followed suit in Wagner’s next over, England were suddenly six down, still 56 runs required.
Once Stuart Broad came and went, a gripping contest of cat and mouse then followed as Foakes, having walked out to the middle on a pair, shepherded the newly arrived Leach. It so nearly came off, Leach reprising his role from Headingley as the bespectacled wall of resistance at one end, while his senior partner, though short of boundary options, chiselled away at the other.
But with the finishing line within touching distance and the short balls relentless, Foakes eventually holed out to a sparkling diving catch at long leg from Wagner, bringing Anderson to the crease and, very soon, this epic to its conclusion.