NZ VS ENG: England six matches winning streak in test matches has been halted by New Zealand, Tim Southee-led side won the test match against Ben Stokes-led side by 1 run at Wellington. Visitors were leading the series by 1-0 before this match, but Black Caps leveled the two-test match series by 1-1.
The Kiwis side became the fourth team to win the test match after being imposed follow-on, English skipper Stokes supported his decision by saying that you can’t live by hindsight.
Stokes elaborated various reasons to support his decision of imposing follow-on Kiwi side-
“You look back to that point, and in the three innings before, we managed to rip through their top order. In Mount Manganui twice and here as well,”
“We said early on, before we took the field that day that if we have the opportunity to enforce the follow-on, we will do it. And I knew that New Zealand would have to play pretty much the perfect game to win this game,” said the English skipper.
Tim Southee-led side also became the second team in 146 years of history of test cricket to win the game by 1 run margin. The Kiwi side was trailing by 0-1 before coming to the Wellington game, what is famously called ‘Bazball’ now has been halted by the Black Caps.
We all are cricket fan for such moments. Anything extraordinary in the T20s does not move me anymore, but this is pure goosebumps. Their celebration in that huddle tells you how important Test Cricket is, how important this win is. #NZvsENG pic.twitter.com/EXp11RCG7x
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) February 28, 2023
“You can hold up your hand and say that, this week when it came to the crucial moments, New Zealand were ahead of us. And we’re absolutely fine with all the decision-making, I’ll stand by it. I know that with Jimmy, Broady with the ball, teams have to play incredibly well and New Zealand managed to do it,” he further added.
“The conditions were overcast, the wicket was still doing plenty. If it’s a pretty flat wicket and we find ourselves in that situation again, obviously I have to think about that. But I thought, thinking back to the way in which we ran through the New Zealand top order in three previous innings… I thought it was the right decision,” said Stokes.
The left-handed batter became the fastest skipper from England to win the 10th longer format game, breaking Michael Vaughan’s record. New Zealand lost the first test match against England by 267 runs, the Black Caps were unable to chase down the target of 394 runs in their second innings and were bowled out for 126 runs at Mount Maunganui.
“People might not have thought that enforcing the follow on was the right call, because ‘what-if’ New Zealand did what they did. But you can’t live life, or captain an international cricket team, living by hindsight,” concluded England’s star all-rounder.
Earlier, the home side won the toss and opted to field first, England with the impressive performance by Harry Brook and Joe Root added the massive total of 435 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Ben Stokes-led side declared the innings on the morning session of day 2, while, Kiwis were bowled out for 209 runs on day 3 after playing 53.2 overs.
On day 3 after lunch, England imposed follow on the home side, the Black Caps scored brilliant 483 runs in their second innings with their star batter Williamson’s 132 runs. Visitors were given the target of 258 runs to chase after the home side got bowled out at post-tea season on the third day.
With the help of Neil Wagner and Southee’s tremendous pace bowling spell, the home side avoided a series lost in their condition after getting defeated against South Africa in 2017. The European giants were on six test match winning streak before losing this game.
Also read: NZ vs ENG: Neil Wagner Is One Of The Toughest That I’ve Come Across – England Coach Brendon McCullum