Has a team ever played better than New Zealand and been whitewashed? Caught cold on the first day at Lord’s, they responded by bowling England out for 141. Reduced to 56-4 in their second innings, they recovered to 285. They then had England reeling at 69-4, with Jonny Bairstow gone, and were only thwarted by a mixture of majesty from Joe Root and mayhem from Ben Stokes.
At Trent Bridge, the New Zealanders – missing their captain, Kane Williamson, and their all-rounder, Colin de Grandhomme – were put in to bat and still made 550. At Headingley, they made 300 in both innings. In every game they could afford to get into a hole, knowing that Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell would dig them out of it. And yet they lost all three Tests, because it turned out that England had shed their fear. Or had had nothing to fear but fear itself.
And that’s us done. Thanks for your company and correspondence, which has been full of boggle-eyed astonishment. Thanks to Jim Wallace for handling all the action – and the rain - with his usual delighted aplomb.
We’ll be back on Friday for the long-delayed denouement to the Test series from last summer, which stands at 2-1 to India with one to play. Don’t tell the Indians, but England have changed a bit since then.
We’ve been dwelling on the batting feats in the series, but apparently there were some bowlers present too. The leading wicket-taker was Trent Boult with 16. He was roughly treated today, but he produced some wonderful stuff, taking out England’s top three in the first innings here, all bowled, for diddly-squat.
He just didn’t have enough support, as you can see from the list. Behind him are four England bowlers in a row – Matthew Potts with 14 wickets in his first series, Jack Leach with 13 in his good series at home, and the old firm, Stuart Broad with 13 and Jimmy Anderson with 11. One of them was quite expensive, and it wasn’t Anderson. Ben Stokes will probably be pleased with Broad for that, as one of the problems under Joe Root was that the two of them cared too much about economy.
The six most expensive bowlers in the series by RPO were all New Zealanders, led by their two spinners: poor old Ajaz Patel, who got only two overs, and even poorer old Michael Bracewell, who managed to rack up a century today (15.2-0-109-1). He was spirited in his first two Tests but did rather look like a wicketkeeper who had taken up off-spin late in life.
Yesterday’s Sunday Times had a little box showing England’s fastest team innings in Tests (minimum 275 runs). Top was their run-chase at Trent Bridge on 14 June, when they reached 299-5 by rattling along at 5.98 runs per over.
Second was an innings against Bangladesh at Chester-le-Street in 2005 (447-3 at 5.73), now widely forgotten, but a vital step towards the famous 407 all out in a day at Edgbaston in that summer’s Ashes, which came fourth in Sunday’s list with 5.13.
When the box was published, England’s first innings in this match – 360 at 5.37 an over – was lying third. Not any more: today’s run chase ended up at 296-3 off 54.2 overs, making a run rate of 5.44. So, of England’s four fastest team innings in 145 years of Test cricket (min. 275), three have come in the past fortnight. We really are talking ’bout a revolution.
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BBC diversity group unhappy about Vaughan
The news just keeps on coming. Now a BBC Sport diversity group has laid into the Beeb’s decision to keep Michael Vaughan on as a TMS commentator when he faces a charge of bringing the game into disrepute, calling it “a shocking miscalculation”. Simon Burnton has the story.
“Goes to show,” says Andrew Benton, “how important a supportive, intelligent and positive working environment is for success. It was pretty much the same individuals in the team, only their working environment has changed. An example for all business managers everywhere!”
Bazball the book, coming soon to an airport near you. Subtitle: “The 7 secrets of Brendon McCullum’s revolutionary approach to management.” It could be the slimmest volume in the shop.
“I was keen to see,” says Max Harrison, “if Root had overtaken Khawaja at the top of the 2022 Test runs table. He has, sort of, because Bairstow has leapfrogged them both and is now no.1. Blimey.”
Yes, Bairstow has the most runs – 774. Usman Khawaja has the highest average, a princely 125. Both have four centuries, the same as Root. With Daryl Mitchell sneaking up on the rails and his mate Tom Blundell just behind him, the top six are all over 30 apart from Liton Das of Bangladesh. Full list here.
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In the course of that interview, Nasser asked McCullum the big question.
“What is Bazball?”
“I dunno!” he said. “You tell me!”
A round of applause to Nasser for asking that, and confirming that the best questions are the short ones. Can someone tell a few of the other players turned interviewers?
“Winning the match and finishing the series with a Bairstow six,” writes Colum Fordham, “says just about everything about the turnaround created with McCullum and Stokes at the helm. It’s been extraordinary although my heart bleeds a bit for the Kiwis who have put up a fight and didn’t deserve a 3-0 whitewash. I suppose the first question that springs to mind is this. Can we reproduce this brand of cricket – and be successful – against India later this week? And in the future? Can’t wait to see. But England are oozing confidence.”
They are. And Stokes won’t back down, so the wait will not be a long one. But the real test of this little revolution will come when they go on tour, starting with Pakistan in November.
“Um... what just happened please?” wonders Brendan Large. “I was expecting to come back from the shops with a good few runs left & a nervous couple of hours to enjoy/suffer through. But no it’s bloody Baz ball and it’s gotten more ridiculous by the Test. Are England good at Test cricket again?”
Yes.
Brendon McCullum is talking to Nasser Hussain and making it all about Stokes. Fair to say you’re both cut from the same cloth, says Nasser. “I’m aggressive,” McCullum replies, “but I reckon he might have me covered! Last night I think we needed 297 or something off 40 overs [plus a whole day] and he said ‘we’ll just knock it off tonight – extra half hour, it’s only seven an over’. He’s been absolutely outstanding, he’s clearly a leader that the guys want to follow.
“He’s so consistent with his messaging as well, no matter how much is on the line. Those key moments when you see guys look round to see if he’ll stay on message, and he says ‘let’s do what we’re doing’. Run towards the danger as we’ve been saying.
“His ability to control the field has been very good too, always making plays, which makes my job as coach very easy.”
Ben Stokes is lifting his first trophy as Test captain. Rather than dancing about in a spray of champagne, his team are arrayed behind him, arm in arm. Elegant.
Eoin Morgan retires
Ali Martin’s scoop this morning, revealing that Eoin Morgan was thinking about quitting, has turned out to be spot-on. More from Ali – and Moeen Ali – here.
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“This morning,” says Smylers, “I took my spouse to her first cricket match, hoping England would bat quickly enough for the match to finish (one way or the other) before we had to collect the children from school. In the event we saw exactly one over, featuring Pope’s wicket, before having to dash off at 1.35. On the way to the bus stop we heard a roar that I presume was a six. We get home and I briefly have time to check how they’re doing, and discover we’ve missed the whole thing. Oh, well. That’s cricket. Hope those who were still there enjoyed themselves.” I have a feeling they did.
New Zealand’s player of the series is easier to predict. It’s Daryl Mitchell, who made even more runs than Root (538!) at an even higher average (107!). And he did it with a strike rate of 50 - in other words, by playing Test cricket as we knew it from 1877 to May 2022.
Root finished the series with 396 runs at an average of 99. Bradman would approve. Bairstow managed a mere 394 at 78 – but his strike rate was 120, which is staggering. The next-best by a non-tailender was 82 by Ben Stokes. Root, meanwhile, was dawdling along at 74.
England’s player of the series is ... not Jonny Bairstow! It’s Joe Root.
The player of the match is ... not Jonny Bairstow! It’s Jack Leach, for his ten-for.
The presentations are about to unfold. The cameras find Joe Root, deep in conversation with Kane Williamson, both of them radiating decency.
Thanks Jim and afternoon everyone. Funny things happen to people who go to Glastonbury. I drove home, got some sleep and dreamt that England won a Test match by scoring a hundred runs in an hour. Ridiculous!
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I have to shoot off now but here is Tim de Lisle, fresh (?!) from Glastonbury - still in his welly boots and with Macca ringing in his ears - to get stuck into the post match stuff. Thanks for your tweets and emails, bye!
England win by 7 wickets!
Bairstow seals it in style, a cut for four and a huge six and that is emphatically that. England have scored 130 odd runs in just over an hour. Absolute carnage. The strangest thing? It never seemed to be in doubt. Even as New Zealand were eking out the lead yesterday afternoon it seemed pre-ordained that England would chase down the runs.
Bairstow finishes on 71* off 44 balls and Joe Root on 86* off 125 balls. Two Yorkies there at the end to see it home.
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54th over: England 286-3 (Root 86, Bairstow 61) Wagner sends down a maiden but...
53rd over: England 286-3 (Root 86, Bairstow 61) Root gets down onto his haunches and powerfully sweeps another four.
52nd over: England 281-3 (Root 81, Bairstow 61) Southee this time fires one away for four byes. Then light has gone out for New Zealand. England need just 15 more runs for a memorable 3-zilch series win.
51st over: England 275-3 (Root 80, Bairstow 60) Williamson calls for a review for a caught behind as Bairstow attempts a reverse sweep and the ball loops to slip. NOT OUT...the replays show that the ball looped off Bairstow’s fleshy forearm and nowt else. Kane and New Zealand burn off their last review, not that it matters anymore. Bairstow cuts Bracewell away powerfully for four. Of course he does.
50th over: England 269-3 (Root 79, Bairstow 55) Bairstow takes eight off the over. His 50 off 30 balls was England’s second fastest Test fifty on record, IT Botham’s 28 ball effort in Delhi in 1981 still tops the pile. Not for much longer you’d think...
Bairstow brings up his FIFTY off just 30 balls!
Six fours and two sixes. My oh My. England need 29 more runs to win.
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49th over: England 261-3 (Root 79, Bairstow 47) Bairstow slaps Bracewell down the ground for SIX with something verging on sheer contempt.
48th over: England 251-3 (Root 77, Bairstow 40) A Bairstow clip wide of mid-on brings another three and brings Root back on strike. He then reminds us all that he’s out there too with a step across his stumps and a wristy flick to the mid-wicket fence. It was knocking all three out if he missed... but he doesn’t tend to lately. Bairstow guides the last ball through the vacant third area for four more! New Zealand almost utterly helpless in the face of this England run glut.
47th over: England 239-3 (Root 72, Bairstow 33) Bracewell replaces Boult but the result is largely the same, nine runs come from the over. First ball Bairstow sweeps for four before attempting another that top edges over the keeper and brings three more. It all just seems so inevitable, weird eh?
46th over: England 230-3 (Root 71, Bairstow 25) All too easy for England. They need just 66 runs to win now. Root and Bairstow pick up singles and twos at will. Root even tries one of his audacious reverse ramps again but only manages to get a cue end on it. Not this time, Joe.
45th over: England 225-3 (Root 68, Bairstow 23) Boult has been truly blunted. He looks to have no rhythm at all as he sprays one down the leg side that clips Bairstow’s pads and runs away for four. Eight off that over with some good, sprightly running.
44th over: England 217-3 (Root 66, Bairstow 21) Root has basically just stood back, lent on his bat and watched since Bairstow arrived. SIX! Bairstow plops Southee back over his head for a maximum. This could be over very quickly at this rate!
43rd over: England 209-3 (Root 65, Bairstow 15) Bairstow collects seven off Boult’s latest, the bit is firmly between the ginger-one’s gnashers. A square drive on the up for a blistering four. Boult has a response though, beating Bairstow with a full ball that nips away at the last.
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42nd over: England 202-3 (Root 65, Bairstow 8) Southee sends down a maiden. And breathe. Thank you Tim!
41st over: England 202-3 (Root 65, Bairstow 8) Here’s Jonny! Bairstow joins fellow Yorkshireman Root at the crease and his arrival creates a frisson around the ground. He seems to give Root further impetus too as the set man cuts and punches Boult for two back to fours! A single brings Bairstow on strike and he picks up where he left off - a glide and a flick bring him two fours and it is 17 off Boult’s over!
Wicket! Pope 82 b Southee (England 185-3)
Apologies... I was caught out by the resumption of play Gah!
What have I missed? Well Ollie Pope is OUT, cleaned up by an absolute beauty from Southee, stumps splattered, he had to trudge off for 82 and the 134 run partnership is broken.
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They’ve taken an early lunch at Headingley... but the good news is that there is a clean up operation underway and we should have play this afternoon.
Time to raid the fridge, keep your emails and tweets coming in!
I’ve done some dancing AND doom scrolling in the nappy aisle of late too, Rob.
Haha, I can appreciate. I was sent off to Morrisons in Reigate for emergency supplies as our eighteen month old was unwell and was listening to a portable radio with headphones as that Test came to an end. Cue me punching the air and skipping around the nappy aisle.
— Rob Lawman (@robert_lawman) June 27, 2022
Very nice this. Whilst we wait for the rain to beggar off in Headingley do tune in to Taunton where England’s women are duelling with South Africa - Oh and I see that Bell and Wong have both picked up their first Test wickets already!
“It’s very cool to be out playing for England with Wongy knowing we’ve both done Chance to Shine" - Lauren Bell
— England and Wales Cricket Board (@ECB_cricket) June 27, 2022
Debutants @_laurenbell2 and @Wongi95 have today become the first full @Chance2Shine participants to play for @EnglandCricket
Raising The Game: https://t.co/Ntye049KCf
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Ewan McDonald is on board with the Ceefax love in:
“Hi James, two of my fondest cricketing memories are Laxman’s 281 and Brian Lara’s great series against Australia in 1999. Of course, I didn’t see a ball of any of this and followed it all on Ceefax.”
Do we see Ceefax/Teletext as the OBOs clunkier older sibling? A highly pixellated great Uncle perhaps?
The OBO is always there for you...
@Jimbo_Cricket Well.
— notjarvis (@notjarvis) June 27, 2022
2016 T20 World Cup final. Had to listen on radio in car as was dropping daughter off at a party.
I remember confidently telling her and my wife that we should win when the West Indies had to get 19 off the last over 😬😬
@Jimbo_Cricket TGV across France for the last day of Edgbaston 2005. Mobile Internet in its infancy and I could only get updates when I briefly moved through the "right" network's patch.
— Sam Kelly (@CarlisleSam1980) June 27, 2022
Some odd looks when I started yelling after I found out about the last wicket.
“Hi Jim.”
Ello David Harris!
“On missed cricket epics, I might have mentioned on CC Live once or twice that on St Stevens’ Day, 21 May last year, I left at lunch when the DI was on 60, as it was the first chance to see an octogenarian parent since lockdown.
What followed was absolute carnage as Stevo flayed Glammy’s bowlers to all corners into the teeth of a howling gale, reaching 190 as part of a ninth-wicket stand of 166. Miguel Cummins, in the Jack Leach role, made an apt 1. I followed it on CC Live from the train, while it seemed like everyone else was watching on the stream.”
Lovely David. And I bet Stevo’s exploits made the memorable day even more special.
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These are great:
@Jimbo_Cricket trans Pennine express from manchester for the CWC semi final against aus in 2019. Couple a few seats ahead of me had sky on his phone, slightly ahead of my tms through bbc sport, went to google's live text and ended up slightly ahead of them. Well chuffed
— matt (@dvtavfc) June 27, 2022
@Jimbo_Cricket There will be heaps of these, but, 2019 CWC final. Gatwick airport. Plane taxiing, bad signal, no headphones. Was told in no uncertain terms by cabin crew to turn off my phone as England sneaked super over. Phew.
— Victor Manley (@VictorManley7) June 27, 2022
@Jimbo_Cricket Headingley 19. Sat on the tarmac at Leeds w/ plane delayed. Woakes had just fallen when had to turn off phones for the 1 hour flight & assumed it would be all over by the time we landed. Then frantically hitting refresh in the passport queue at the other end.
— JoannaWilliamsDurkin (@Durkbot) June 27, 2022
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TMS OVERSEAS LINK:
If you are overseas and wish to listen to Test Match Special, the link to our coverage is here on YouTube 👇
— Test Match Special (@bbctms) June 27, 2022
Not available to listeners in the UK, Sri Lanka, India, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh.#BBCCricket #ENGvNZ
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Gah! Still this thread of furtive OBOing is fun, keep ‘em coming!
And... the main covers are going back on. https://t.co/RwqkTAekba
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) June 27, 2022
“Hi James,”
Hello David Nicholson!
“Picking up on Elliot Brooks’ question, my most memorable experience of not watching cricket was the fourth and final day of the Trent Bridge Ashes Test in 2005. I was at a wedding of some very close friends with the wedding breakfast perfectly timed to coincide with the climax of the game. Not only was I furtively checking for updates on my phone and occasionally nipping out to the loo via a small TV in another bar, but I was also furtively trying to give hand signal updates to my brother who had been employed to play the cello all through the afternoon.”
Haha. This sounds like a Two Ronnies sketch, David. Also got me wondering what you mimed for Geraint Jones’s dismissal? Or Hoggard’s bunted drive for four?!
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This sounds so stressful Alex. I bet that jazz sounded particularly good after the result had finally sunk in though? Paaaaaaarp parp PPPPAARP!
@Jimbo_Cricket 2019 Cricket World Cup Final - Edinburgh Jazz Festival. Flicking between watching on my phone with sound off and OBO. Had no idea what had happened in the super over without commentary until OBO updated. England were celebrating but I still wasn't sure we'd won...
— Alex Mennie 🥃🍸 (@menniedrinks) June 27, 2022
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This is exactly what I was getting at John! DANGEROUS!
@Jimbo_Cricket from your opening remarks this morning; are you suggesting that Baz & Ben are the 2nd coming of: https://t.co/iBkftldPZW ???
— john Gilfillan (@WS05sweep) June 27, 2022
It’s entertainment
“Morning James,”
G’morning Max Savochkin.
“Speaking of the best time not watching cricket, mine is definitely last winter when I was working in a German office, sat next to a French woman, following the first Test of the India series on the OBO. It was a godsend because all I wanted to do was discuss how magnificent Root’s start to the year had been, but without the OBO I would have had to content myself with explaining why cricket lasts five days and sometimes ends in a draw to some bemused Europeans. I must admit to getting a slightly odd look when I fist-pumped the Root 200 update!”
Ahh the silent fist pump, Henman-esque, that and the impromptu howl of despair probably the two most common furtive live text checking reactions I reckon?!
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@Jimbo_Cricket leaving home for Heathrow in 2005 and fully expecting England to wrap it up, only to find the pub rammed with Australia needing 9 to win. No time to watch, followed online and we won as I passed through the gate. You could hear the cheer a mile off. Great series
— Angus Stuart (@angstBali) June 27, 2022
Old School indeed, Dan.
@Jimbo_Cricket an old school entry for experiences of not watching the cricket: Kabir Ali’s final over rescuing a tie from the jaws of defeat against South Africa in 2005, experienced through the medium of Ceefax. Nothing quite like the interminable wait for the page to update…
— Dan Spicer (@spicer_dan) June 27, 2022
Here’s a lovely discursion from Elliot Brooks on email:
Morning James – keeping up to date with this third Test via the OBO, while being busy with work/life, reminded me of one of my most precious cricket experiences. I was at a horror film festival during the Headingley Heist in 2019 and, during the brief 10-minute gap between films, would check the OBO in utter disbelief at what I was seeing. It’s genuinely the most excitement I’ve had following a cricket match, and for one I wasn’t even watching live.
Question for fellow OBOers; what are your best experiences of not watching the cricket? I think this is a peculiar sport in that, because of the long run time, fans will always have missed some moment of greatness, so a lot of the lived experience of the sport is through desperately sought second-hand reporting.”
So true Elliot, one of the wonderful things about cricket is how it seeps into life, everyday or otherwise. Before I got the chance to write on the OBO, which is a real thrill, I would be that guest at a wedding furtively checking my phone under the table for the latest score or update or sneaking off from a birthday party to fire up the 4G in the gents. Who am I kidding, I still am.
What cricketing moments have OBOers ‘missed’ but not really missed? And where were you/what were you obliged to be doing instead? Fire away!
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As the rain pitter-patters at Headingley the Sky crew of Knight, Hussain and Atherton are discussing Zak Crawley’s skittish innings from yesterday. Nasser is inclined to give him the Edgbaston Test as a last chance saloon. Athers isn’t so sure.
Here’s Jonny Liew:
That’s not all, join the effervescent Tanya Aldred as she helms the County Champo live blog:
There’s plenty to keep you busy in the meantime. England’s women are in Taunton to play a Test (yes you heard that right...) against South Africa.
Join m’colleague Dan Gallan on the tools for that one:
Delayed start due to rain
The rain is falling in Leeds. The forecast is for it to clear up around lunchtime so we should still get a result in.
Headingley this morning. Delayed start nailed on, would be surprised if there’s play before lunch pic.twitter.com/2Hca5fXmnJ
— Matt Roller (@mroller98) June 27, 2022
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Here we go again...
Another day five of an absorbing Test match with the gates flung open to the masses. It’s easy to be cynical in this day and age and God only knows how long it will last but it does truly feel like the McCullum/Stokes partnership has given a big old shot in the arm for Test cricket in this country.
You can feel it in the stands, in the pubs and the taverns, in the excitable conversations on the train or on the walk to the ground, even in the press box. There’s a buzz. A Baz n Ben Buzz.
It feels fun, exciting and yes - a little bit dangerous. Who knows what the future might hold, frankly just thinking about the next week can be terrifying enough at the moment. So I for one am just going to enjoy the ride, the distraction. Whether it be Root’s reverse ramps, Bairstow’s backs against the wall blitzkrieg-ing or Matt Potts quietly but efficiently announcing himself on the world stage. Test cricket is one of the best things in life.
Gah... it is raining in Headingley. Cricket eh?
