Brendon McCullum has tried to show off the very best of New Zealand’s hospitality on this whistle-stop tour of his homeland, but 15 years ago, on the other side of the divide, England’s head coach was far from happy about it.
This was a pivotal moment in the record-breaking career of Jimmy Anderson. Aged 26 and averaging 39 with the ball after 20 caps, Anderson found himself flirting with the tag of an unfulfilled talent during the 2008 tour and was low on confidence thanks to the flashing blade of McCullum during the one-dayers that came first.
Come the first Test in Hamilton, he was due to carry the drinks but through a contact of England’s bowling coach, Ottis Gibson, came a surprise offer to play for Auckland against Wellington in the State Championship. It caused a fair old stink. New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive at the time, Justin Vaughan, said he was “not particularly enthusiastic about it”, while his equivalent at Wellington, Gavin Larsen, went further.
“We can’t get our heads around this,” said Larsen, who has since become New Zealand’s chief selector. “It really hits me in the pit of my stomach. To paint the worst-case scenario, Anderson takes seven for 30 against our boys, Auckland have bowled him into form, and before you know it he’s opening for England [in the second Test].”
The numbers were not accurate – Anderson claimed two for 95 from 38 overs in an innings defeat – but the prophecy still came to pass.
With England 1-0 down after Hamilton, the head coach, Peter Moores, plumped for youth, swapping the old guard of Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard for Anderson and Stuart Broad. When Anderson immediately knocked over New Zealand’s top five in Wellington cheaply, it kickstarted a thrilling 2-1 series turnaround in which the pair shared 16 wickets and a famous alliance was forged.
England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 36-year-old oversaw the transformation of England’s white-ball side from also-rans in 2015 to 50-over world champions at Lord’s four years later.
He called time on his international career last year but continued to play county cricket for Middlesex and represent London Spirit in The Hundred. Morgan intends to remain involved in the game, working as a commentator and pundit.
“It is with great pride that I am announcing my retirement from all forms of cricket,” Morgan posted on Twitter. “I believe that now is the right time to step away from the game that has given me so much over the years.”
Dublin-born Morgan began his international career with his native Ireland in 2006 but switched his allegiance to England in 2009, citing a lifelong desire to play Test cricket.
The left-hander went on to play 16 Tests, scoring two centuries, but did not cement a place in the five-day side and became seen as a limited-overs specialist. Last year, he retired as the country’s record one-day and T20 run-scorer, posting 6,957 and 2,458 in the respective formats.
“Thanks to cricket, I have been able to travel the world and meet incredible people, many of whom I have developed lifelong friendships with,” continued Morgan, whose franchise career took him to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Australia, Barbados and South Africa.
“I will undoubtedly miss the adventure and challenges of playing professional cricket.” PA Media
“It was amazing for me,” Anderson said on Monday, as the driving wind and rains of Cyclone Gabrielle forced preparations for his 178th Test into the indoor turf nets at Bay Oval. “It turned out to be a very good decision. I bowled a lot of overs – didn’t set the world alight – but it got me into a good rhythm to play the next Test. Baz [McCullum] brought that up the other day. He was fuming at the time. Apparently, the whole New Zealand team were fuming with Auckland.
“It was huge for both of us. And not just the way we played, but with Hoggard and Harmison having been such a massive part of England’s success – the 2005 Ashes and Harmy being No 1 in the world at one point. Them being those senior bowlers and us taking their places gave us so much confidence to go on and try and emulate them. We never looked back.”
England have not won a Test series in New Zealand since and these days Anderson, 40, and Broad, 36, are the senior pros with younger men nipping at their heels. Both are expected to play in Thursday’s day-night first Test, with Ollie Robinson the other frontline seamer in the likely XI. But waiting in the wings are Matthew Potts, Kane Williamson’s kryptonite in the 3-0 win at home last summer, and the pacier Olly Stone.
Anderson said: “To be able to bring these two guys back into the squad after having Mark Wood in Pakistan, and with Jofra [Archer] getting back fit, it feels like we’re building up a real good bank of fast bowlers that will be able to win games in any conditions anywhere in the world.
“Whether they’re young or old, guys always keep you on your toes. I mean Broady’s keeping me on my toes, we’re pushing each other in the nets all the time.
“At the minute, Ollie Robinson is probably one of the best bowlers in the world. He just doesn’t miss, can swing it both ways, nips it, gets bounce – he’s comfortably the one bowler the guys don’t want to face in the nets here. Everyone keeps you on your toes and it keeps those standards really high.”
As Anderson spoke in the pavilion at Bay Oval, four tractors were stationed on the square to prevent the tropical storm from blowing off the covers. The locals were confident the ground’s advanced drainage would prevent the outfield from becoming a quagmire before Thursday but clearly the situation was suboptimal for the two teams.
The grounding of internal flights also meant five of New Zealand’s players and three support staff were yet to join the camp on Monday. Tom Blundell, their wicketkeeper, was at least occupied in Wellington after the recent birth of his second child, while Matt Henry was in Christchurch awaiting the arrival of his first.
On Tuesday morning it was confirmed that Henry would miss the first Test but a greater setback came with the news that Kyle Jamieson is out of the series after an apparent recurrence of the lower back stress fracture that has seen him miss the last seven months of cricket. Seamers Jacob Duffy and Scott Kuggeleijn were called up.
Their head coach, Gary Stead, appeared relaxed about the chaos 24 hours earlier and full of praise for England’s transformation under McCullum, calling it “the talking point of world cricket” while expressing pride in his team playing a role in its emergence last year.
Such generosity of spirit has long been synonymous with New Zealanders, even if it helped spark Anderson’s remarkable rise back in the day.
