Shortly before lunch on Saturday, New Zealand were 404 for 3, building a lead, and England’s new era was heading for a difficult start. At 6pm on Monday, with less than 10 overs of a compelling Test match remaining, Trent Boult upper cut Stuart Broad towards third man when Moeen Ali, stationed there by Alastair Cook but not right on the boundary edge, took a superbly judged running catch to earn England a 124-run victory and complete a remarkable turnaround.
Less than a year after falling one wicket short of beating Sri Lanka on this ground England were just beginning to get twitchy as Boult and Tim Southee negotiated eight overs with the ball starting to fall short or wide of fielders. But Broad, from round the wicket, dug the ball in and Boult, who had blocked unconventionally, could not resist playing. That it was taken at a position that needed some astute captaincy was the perfect finish for Cook, who had been so central to England’s fightback with his 162.
It was a combined effort to bowl New Zealand out for a second time; James Anderson and Stuart Broad firstly reducing them to 12 for 3 before lunch, but it was Ben Stokes who really lit up Lord’s for the second afternoon running with an electrifying over in which he removed two of New Zealand’s lynchpins, Kane Williamson and Brendon McCullum, in consecutive balls to leave them 61 for 5.
Corey Anderson and BJ Watling made contrasting half-centuries in a free-wheeling 107-run partnership but, with 26 overs remaining, Mark Wood produced a wicked delivery to brush Watling’s glove and three overs later Joe Root trapped Anderson lbw. Stokes was not finished, either, and returned to removed Mark Craig then next ball Moeen took an excellent return catch off Southee. Moeen’s next catch would be even better.
There have only been nine higher totals than New Zealand’s 523 in defeat and England had only ever won three times having conceded more. The change in fortunes centred around England’s second-innings 478, anchored by Cook’s marathon innings and ended 11 overs into the final morning to leave New Zealand 345 to win 77 overs.
Anderson and Broad gave England the ideal start with the ball as both openers departed for ducks – Martin Guptill edging to slip to become Anderson’s 399th Test wicket and Tom Latham lbw to Broad’s first delivery – then Ross Taylor also fell in single figures, before Williamson and Watling, who was tactically promoted to No. 5, brought a little stability.
But life was never easy and then Stokes, from the Nursery End, made his latest indelible mark on the match. After twice beating Williamson with deliveries that nipped away to beat the outside edge he lured him into pushing at a slightly wider ball and Root took a low catch in the gully. Next ball he bent one back into McCullum and the New Zealand captain deflected it down into his stumps.
Lord’s, populated by people who had queued around the ground for final-morning tickets on a Bank Holiday, roared its approval of a cricketer who, if he doesn’t already, will soon have hero status. The hat-trick ball to Anderson was greeted by six slips, a short leg, leg gully and short cover. Stokes continued to challenge the batsmen and his duel with fellow allrounder Anderson was absorbing as the New Zealander took a similarly aggressive route to Stokes, which included two crunching fours and a mighty pulled six into the Mound Stand.
Anderson also attacked Moeen, who struggled to settle into his spell, and quickly overtook Watling who had a 17-run head start on him. Continuing to play his strokes as tea approached, three consecutive boundaries off Moeen took him to a 44-ball half-century – 46 of the 51 runs coming in boundaries.
Watling, who did not kept wicket since lunch on the first day due to a knee injury, has performed some monumental match-saving efforts for New Zealand, and the partnership took the visitors to tea with 36 overs remaining in the day.
Runs continued to flow freely at the start of the evening session before Wood, who impressed hugely in his debut Test, found a delivery to bounce from short of a length and England had their opening into the lower order. Moeen’s struggles meant Cook turned to Root and his Midas touch continued when he won an lbw verdict that the DRS upheld, with the ball just shaving leg stump.
Craig was beaten by a full delivery from Stokes and Southee, certainly more a basher than a blocker, chipped one low to Moeen’s left and the bowler plucked it out. The floodlights came on as the evening became gloomy and the final hour was beginning to advance when the final wicket was extracted.
Boult, whose day started much more brightly when he secured a place on the honours board with 5 for 85 as he claimed the final four England wickets, stood forlornly at the striker’s end before being joined by Matt Henry. New Zealand will know a fantastic opportunity escaped them, but they were part of a wonderful match.
England 1st innings 389
England 2nd innings 478
New Zealand 1st innings 523
New Zealand 2nd innings
MJ Guptill c Ballance b Anderson 0
TWM Latham lbw b Broad 0
KS Williamson c Root b Stokes 27
LRPL Taylor lbw b Broad 8
BJ Watling† c †Buttler b Wood 59
BB McCullum* b Stokes 0
CJ Anderson lbw b Root 67
MD Craig b Stokes 4
TG Southee c & b Ali 20
MJ Henry not out 10
TA Boult c Ali b Broad 10
Extras (b 5, lb 7, w 2, nb 1) 15
Total (all out; 67.3 overs) 220
Fall of wickets 1-0 (Guptill, 0.2 ov), 2-0 (Latham, 1.1 ov), 3-12 (Taylor, 5.3 ov), 4-61 (Williamson, 23.4 ov), 5-61 (McCullum, 23.5 ov), 6-168 (Watling, 50.3 ov), 7-174 (Anderson, 53.5 ov), 8-198 (Craig, 58.6 ov), 9-198 (Southee, 59.1 ov), 10-220 (Boult, 67.3 ov)
Bowling
JM Anderson 14-5-31-1, SCJ Broad 16.3-3-50-3, MA Wood 13-3-47-1, BA Stokes 11-3-38-3, MM Ali 8-3-35-1, JE Root 5-3-7-1
MATCH DETAILS
Toss – New Zealand, who chose to field
Series – England led the 2-match series 1-0
Test debuts – A Lyth and MA Wood (England); MJ Henry (New Zealand)
Player of the match – BA Stokes (England)
Umpires – M Erasmus (South Africa) and S Ravi (India)
TV umpire – RJ Tucker (Australia)
Match referee – DC Boon (Australia)
Reserve umpire – NJ Llong
