Alastair Cook erased another long-standing entry in the England records books and Adam Lyth recorded a maiden Test century in front of an appreciative home crowd as the second Investec Test briefly settled back on to a more even keel. England’s approach was more in keeping with the steady rhythms of Test cricket but New Zealand continued to harry them, taking 3 for 9 late in the evening session to shake things up again.
New Zealand had toiled through much of the day, managing to remove just two England batsmen – one via a run-out – before rediscovering their sharpness with the second new ball. With the floodlights on, Headingley once again bestowed its favour on the bowlers and Trent Boult ended a tentative innings from Gary Ballance with a curling delivery that defeated his crease-bound prod. Tim Southee then removed Joe Root fifth ball with swinging delivery; the Western Terrace was as quiet as it can ever have been at 6pm on a Saturday.
Ben Stokes, the hero of England’s victory at Lord’s, was then dealt with efficiently in the penultimate over, again caught in the cordon, as New Zealand roared back. England have not passed 400 in the first innings at Headingley since South Africa’s visit in 2012 and New Zealand, seeking to extend their unbeaten run in Test series and hold on to the No. 3 ranking, may still harbour hopes of forcing a first-innings lead, with more unsettled weather forecast for Sunday.
Until those interventions, it had looked as if England would take a firm grip on the match. New Zealand’s innings, which finished with a few more fireworks on 350, lasted only 72.1 overs; at the same stage, England were a comparatively frill-free 215 for 1. After a fluctuating first day, England’s openers, Cook and Lyth, restored a sense of equilibrium, cruising past 150 in only their third innings together in comfortable batting conditions.
While they were in harness, England assumed the controlled, dominating mode of a few years ago, putting on a first century opening stand at home since Cook and Andrew Strauss added 186 against India at Edgbaston in 2011 – the Test after which they went No. 1 in the world. They were eventually separated on 177 – England’s fourth-highest partnership for the first wicket against New Zealand – when Cook was trapped lbw trying to sweep Craig, after S Ravi’s not-out decision was overturned by the DRS.
A few weeks after James Anderson broke Ian Botham’s Test wicket-taking record – he took his tally past 400 on Friday – Cook overhauled the run-scoring mark of Graham Gooch, one of his predecessors as England captain and a man who has contributed much wisdom and plenty more throwdowns during Cook’s professional career. It moved him up to 13th on the list of Test run-scorers, at the age of 30 and with the potential for a few thousand more to come.
Lyth’s first significant innings for England was the more fluent than that of his vastly more experienced partner, although he did weather a couple of difficult passages. Lyth spent 16 balls on 47 as New Zealand tested him with a series of short deliveries and then spent 45 minutes in the 90s. He survived chopping the ball down on to his stumps, failing to kick the ball away as it deflected back off his pad – but the contact was gentle enough to leave the bails undisturbed.
Realising that the pressure was building, he skipped out to Craig and was lucky that Neil Wagner, the substitute fielder at mid-on, did not pick up the flight of his lofted shot and initially moved the wrong way. That boundary moved Lyth on to 98 and he reached his hundred with a more convincing stroke two balls later, sweeping high over midwicket before soaking up the applause of a boisterous crowd. When he was run out, after a careless call from Ballance, his disappointment at not being able to make an even bigger statement was palpable.
Cook began his innings 32 runs from passing Gooch. Yorkshire might be the bedrock of English cricket’s strength – and the performance of Lyth added weight to such local arguments – but for peerless accumulation, you need to call the Essex boys.
A crisp square drive half an hour after lunch took him past Gooch’s 8900-run mark, which had stood for almost 22 years. Once again his game has a sense of maximum-level security about it, the Cook machinery well oiled and in fine working order – although it was with a top-edged cut over the slips that he went past 50 for the 68th time in Tests.
There was initially no let up in the pace of the game, as England paid dearly for the last two wickets in the first half hour. New Zealand continued to freewheel along, adding 53 runs to their overnight total in just 7.1 overs. Henry clobbered Ben Stokes for four off the fourth ball of the day and put Broad into the stands a deep midwicket before nicking another short delivery through to the keeper. He also managed to top-edge one pull into his own helmet and away for a couple more runs – a stroke symbolic of New Zealand’s dauntless approach.
Craig and Boult then lashed a further 40 for the last wicket, as England persisted with a policy of trying to bounce them out. Both took on whatever was thrown at them, with Craig striking another six down the ground off Stokes, before Boult played one slog too many and was caught at point. That gave Broad the colourful figures of 17.1-0-109-5 and the least-economical five-for in Test history.
New Zealand 1st innings
MD Craig not out 41
MJ Henry c †Buttler b Broad 27
TA Boult c Lyth b Broad 15
Extras (b 4, lb 14, nb 1) 19
Total (all out; 72.1 overs) 350
Fall of wickets 1-2 (Guptill, 2.2 ov), 2-2 (Williamson, 2.4 ov), 3-68 (Taylor, 14.6 ov), 4-123 (McCullum, 25.1 ov), 5-144 (Watling, 30.5 ov), 6-264 (Latham, 54.6 ov), 7-265 (Ronchi, 56.2 ov), 8-281 (Southee, 60.2 ov), 9-310 (Henry, 66.6 ov), 10-350 (Boult, 72.1 ov)
Bowling
JM Anderson 13-3-43-2, SCJ Broad 17.1-0-109-5, MA Wood 14-4-62-2, BA Stokes 17-4-70-1, MM Ali 11-3-48-0
England 1st innings
A Lyth run out (Boult/†Ronchi) 107
AN Cook* lbw b Craig 75
GS Balance b Boult 29
IR Bell not out 12
JE Root c †Ronchi b Southee 1
BA Stokes c Craig b Boult 6
JC Buttler† not out 6
Extras (b 14, w 3) 17
Total (5 wickets; 88 overs) 253
To batMM Ali, SCJ Broad, MA Wood, JM Anderson
Fall of wickets 1-177 (Cook, 58.6 ov), 2-215 (Lyth, 74.5 ov), 3-238 (Ballance, 80.3 ov), 4-239 (Root, 81.2 ov), 5-247 (Stokes, 86.2 ov)
Bowling
TA Boult 23-4-63-2, TG Southee 23-4-57-1, MJ Henry 18-4-76-0, MD Craig 22-10-38-1, KS Williamson 2-1-5-0
MATCH DETAILS
Toss – England, who chose to field
Test debut – L Ronchi (New Zealand)
Player of the match – tba
Umpires – S Ravi (India) and RJ Tucker (Australia)
TV umpire – M Erasmus (South Africa)
Match referee – DC Boon (Australia)
Reserve umpire – NA Mallender
