Print

Mail

wiki links

Long wait ends as England win Test

England's two-year wait for a touring Test victory ended yesterday when they beat New Zealand by 126 runs to level the three-match cricket series 1-1.

After losing the first Test in Hamilton by 189 runs, England achieved a massive turnaround in less than a week to win abroad for the first time in 10 Tests, since beating India at Mumbai in March 2006, and only their second win in 17 overseas matches.

England set up the win by scoring 342 after being sent in to bat, and bowled much better with a rejuvenated attack to dismiss New Zealand for 198 and a 144-run first-innings lead.

They then built a 437-run advantage by scoring 293 in their second innings and dismissed New Zealand again for 311, ending the match shortly before lunch on the final day.

England made two key changes after their loss at Hamilton, dropping veteran fast bowlers Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard and recalling youngsters James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Anderson took five-for-73 to wreck New Zealand's first innings and Broad complemented an attack in which Ryan Sidebottom was again the leading figure.

England's only downside was their catching, but Vaughan hoped that would improve along with other aspects of England's game in the deciding third Test at Napier, which starts on Saturday.

Vaughan praised his team for recovering so quickly after the heavy loss at Hamilton.

"A week in cricket is a long time as it's just shown," he said. "What we tried to do in this match was respect the game, play as well as we can and come out with a victory and we'll do exactly the same over the next week."

"It sets the series up brilliantly now. It's 1-1, I keep getting told it's going to be a flat wicket [at Napier]. We hope to play an even better game than we've done here because there are areas we need to work on and improve," Vaughan said.

He singled out Sidebottom for praise after the right-armer recorded figures of 5-105 in New Zealand's second innings.

He also praised wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose, describing his innings of 102 in England's first innings -- the only century of the match -- as the "defining moment."

Ambrose lifted England from 136-5 between lunch and tea on the first day to 342, through a 164-run partnership with Paul Collingwood in difficult batting conditions.

"I can only say how delighted I am for this set of players and the management because we haven't won many games," Vaughan said. "We've all worked very hard and it's nice to be in a dressing room with a victory under our belts."

New Zealand never recovered from their heavy first-innings deficit. They managed to dismiss England for 293 in their second innings but were left in an untenable position, needing 438 to win the match over the last two days.

The highest winning score in the fourth innings of a Test match is 418-for-seven, made by the West Indies against Australia five years ago. The small hope New Zealand had of winning died when they lost Jacob Oram in the last over before stumps on Sunday to enter the final day at 242-6, still 196 runs behind.

England needed only 19.3 overs to capture the last four New Zealand wickets yesterday, Brendon McCullum offering the most resistance with a defiant 85.

"It's a very disappointed dressing room," New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said. "If we reflect back on the Test match it was a pretty even one apart from the third session on the first day when we let Tim Ambrose get away through some poor bowling and feeding his strengths."

"If you follow the rest of it, it was a pretty even contest the rest of the way," he said.
This story has been viewed 495 times.