Player of the Match
Player of the Match
1859dThe Report by Nikhil Kalro

Rain ruins second day after Williamson's record century

New Zealand's best Test batsman Kane Williamson brightened up a gloomy day in Auckland with his 18th Test hundred, passing Martin Crowe and Ross Taylor to become the country's leading century-maker

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

HM Nicholls
HM Nicholls
145(268) 18x4 - 0x6
Control %87%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 29 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
22 9 14 14 36 11 15 24
KS Williamson
KS Williamson
102(220) 11x4 - 1x6
Control %90%
  • Productive Shot
  • cover drive
  • 28 runs
  • 4x4 - 0x6
9 6 16 9 33 4 16 9

Best performances - Bowlers

TA Boult
TA Boult
O10.4
M3
R32
W6
Eco3.00
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W1W
2W
TG Southee
TG Southee
O10
M3
R25
W4
Eco2.50
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
1W1W

Match Details

Toss

New Zealand , elected to field first

Player Of The Match

Series result

New Zealand led the 2-match series 1-0

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

14.00 start, Tea 16.00-16.20, Dinner 18.20-19.00, Close 21.00

Match days

22,23,24,25,26 March 2018 - day/night match (5-day match)

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Scorer: @Cricket_Lama | Commentator: Varun Shetty

8:19pm England's form in their last 12 away Tests is disappointing reading at the moment: LDLLLLLLLDLL.
Will they be able to sort themselves out before Christchurch? We'll see you there. Thanks for joining!

Caleb: "You can talk up bowlers like Boult, Starc, Anderson, Hazlewood and Rabada, but really is there a more determined, big hearted bowler than Neil Wagner. He never gets to bowl at the times that are great for fast bowling, but he is still very much a match winner. An average of 27 for the time of the innings he bowls is absolutely outstanding, fantastic bowler!" --- Yes, superb. Our stats man Shiva Jayaraman tells me that since Wagner's debut no bowler has taken more wickets in Tests off short balls than Wagner himself: Wagner - 39, Rabada - 24, Morkel - 21

GBA: "This is shaping up to be the most perfectly timed declaration in cricket history!* Innings defeat by a handful of runs with just a handful of remaining overs! * - yes, there are probably closer declaration based innings defeats, please excuse my hyperbole."

Trishank Sharma: "Wagner once again played a crucial role in this innings, still remember how well he fared against India when they last visited NZ, certainly a good left arm fast bowler in tests and the effort that he put in today was commendable"

Brad Bainbridge: "its Monday here, but I will have a beer still. Thanks cricinfo, great service as always- even the politics around who-lives-where-in-Auckland and their weather forecasts."

Dickson: "That is a famous victory for us tonight, correcting the result from 5 years ago. Incredible efforts from all NZ bowlers, backed by some very resolute batting from Williamson and Nicholls. Bring on the second test!"

Jimmy: "Just glad it was a time stamp without the word Draw in it. The weather certainly was a excitement factor."

Williamson: It was a fantastic performance from us. If we go back to that first innings, we bowled great lengths and also got lucky to find the edges. They fought really hard but it was great we were able to fight the pressure and come through. [On the declaration strategy] At the end of the day, you have to execute after making your choice. All our partnerships were slow-going but in the end they added up for this win. We knew we wanted to come out and play the long game. We didn't wanna get ahead of ourselves. We knew we had an old ball. We tried to build pressure and then a couple went our way. It was great to come out in the last session and do it in front of this crowd. Toddy bowled brilliantly, the wicket took a bit of turn. He had to bide his time but with the pink ball you had to measure what it would do. He was patient and when he got his chance he took it.

Root: Yeah we weren't good enough [on day one]. We have to learn some lessons quickly. It's difficult to single any one things out, we didn't deal with the swing and seam very well. I thought the character of the dressing room today were fantastic. I thought today was a great exhibition of the guys determination of playing for the country. Finger's fine and I should be fine to play next game.

Trent Boult is the Man of the Match

Wagner: I don't know [how many overs on the trot] but it's a very special feeling. We knew we were going to have to take it deep. Tried to get the game into the night but it wasn't doing too much. The boys stuck it out though. The catching was great - with the amount of training we've been doing under lights catching the pink ball. Lot of variables with the pink ball, but we are accustomed to it. you summon your strength for the team and the country, and I'm happy.

7:57pm, Day 5 Did you think we would get to this timestamp on Thursday afternoon? Annoying as it might have been, the rain brought dimensions to this game we might not have witnessed otherwise. Some fantastic cricket from England during the final phase of this game - they batted 126 overs and came really really close. But it was a reality check in the end. You don't get results in your favour if you're bowled out for 58. And you don't get an easy draw when Neil Wagner's running in at you on the final day. Some top efforts from both sides, but this moment belongs to Wagner who got three out of England's four half-centurions.

126.1
W
Astle to Anderson, OUT, chips it straight to mid-off! That's the victory! Todd Astle's chucked one up full and wide outside off. Anderson, known in some parts as the Burnley Lara, doesn't go through with his big cover drive after getting in good position for it. Checks his shot, finds the fielder

JM Anderson c Boult b Astle 1 (5m 5b 0x4 0x6) SR: 20.00

END OF OVER:
126 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | ENG: 320/9

  • James Anderson1 (4b)
  • Stuart Broad1 (19b)
  • Neil Wagner32-11-77-3
  • Todd Astle16-5-39-2

Anshit Agrawal: "12th over in a spell for a fast bowler who is running in hard and trying to bowl bouncers half of the them... commendable!!"

125.6
1
Wagner to Anderson, 1 run, good length at leg stump, hangs the bat out and gets this down to fine leg off the inside half
125.5
0
Wagner to Anderson, no run, short of a length at off stump, defended off the back foot
125.4
0
Wagner to Anderson, no run, short one at off stump, nicely behind this to drop it in front of silly point with soft hands
125.3
0
Wagner to Anderson, no run, is there glove there? No says the umpire. New Zealand won't review. This fizzes past his chest as he fends at it
125.2
W
Wagner to Woakes, OUT, has he got him? Yes he has! Wagner has Woakes fending. That's an unplayable bouncer. Headed straight for his face and he has no way to get out of the way. Jabs at it with his feet off the ground. Gets it on the gloves and it lobs up for short leg to take a simple catch to his right. Simply incredible from Wagner to get that sort of lift in his 12th over of the spell, break in the middle or not. He screams as he sprints away in celebration and is promptly mobbed. What an effort

CR Woakes c Nicholls b Wagner 52 (164m 118b 8x4 0x6) SR: 44.06

England 3rd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st6AN CookMD Stoneman
2nd88MD StonemanJE Root
3rd38DJ MalanJE Root
4th10DJ MalanBA Stokes
5th39JM BairstowBA Stokes
6th36MM AliBA Stokes
7th83CR WoakesBA Stokes
8th4CR WoakesC Overton
9th15SCJ BroadCR Woakes
10th1JM AndersonSCJ Broad