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32nd over: New Zealand 108-7 (Phillips 3, Smith 10) Carse’s first delivery careens back into Phillips and very nearly slices him in two. Later Smith gets off the mark with four, hit with very little power but obviously nice timing and off it trundles past mid-off. He was clearly saving the power for the next one, which he bludgeons over deep square leg for six!
31st over: New Zealand 97-7 (Phillips 2, Smith 0) Just the one single off Atkinson’s over, most of which to be frank was bowled while I was still thinking about the previous one.
30th over: New Zealand 96-7 (Phillips 1) A Goldilocks over from Carse: the first is too full=, and Blundell punches through cover for a couple, and the next is too short, and Blundell pulls for four. Then he gets one just right.
WICKET! O'Rourke lbw b Carse 0 (New Zealand 96-7)
And another one! The nightwatchperson trudges off with a 26-ball duck after being trapped profoundly leg before wicket!
WICKET! Blundell b Carse 16 (New Zealand 95-6)
That’s lovely from Carse, similar to the one that was too good for Kane Williamson yesterday (but turned out to be a no ball), and it’s too good for Blundell as well, doing just enough to beat his defensive push and clipping the top of off.
29th over: New Zealand 89-5 (Blundell 10, O’Rourke 0) A single for Blundell, who roars into double figures off his 16th ball, and three more for O’Rourke who has now faced 25 without scoring. The New Zealand Met Service helpfully publish laundry drying times, which tomorrow they put at between one and three hours. Morning showers unhelpful; severe gales quite handy.
28th over: New Zealand 88-5 (Blundell 9, O’Rourke 0) A Carse maiden to O’Rourke, who’s well beaten by a yorker that flies six inches wide of off stump. Meanwhile Ian Rivett sends me tomorrow’s forecast from the New Zealand Met Service, which sounds concerning: “Showers developing in the morning. Northwesterlies, rising to severe gale in exposed places in the afternoon gusting 140 km/h.”
27th over: New Zealand 88-5 (Blundell 9, O’Rourke 0) Gus Atkinson to Blundell, whose focus is very much on defence. The best ball catches the inside edge and from there hits the batter in the thigh. There’s a couple off the fifth.
“If every partnership gets us 20-30 that gets us pretty close to their score with hopefully some good seam bowling conditions this arvo for us,” says Nathan Smith. “Probably today you’ll see the last of the seam-friendly conditions before it flattens out.” Let’s see, shall we?
Lord David Gower on the telly is sounding quite croaky this morning. He’ll be positively gravel-voiced after a long day’s commentary. The players are currently loitering on the boundary edge, readying themselves for action.
“Apparently it’s said here that ‘you can’t beat Wellington on a good day’,” writes Mark Hollingsworth. “Well it’s pretty well perfect today, so let’s hope England can put a dent in that local theory …”
Ah, so you’re on the ground, you lucky thing. Google tells me it’s cloudy in Wellington today, but the TV pictures suggest it’s glorious sunshine.
What with the Guardian & Observer NUJ chapel being on strike most staff were not working yesterday, so here’s PA Media on Harry Brook:
Hello world!
Well, then. This feels like the day this Test, and with it the outcome of the series, will be decided. New Zealand start it on 86 for five, still 194 behind, and with 15 wickets falling on day one everything is scuttling along at great pace. With Will O’Rourke, who has so far taken 16 balls over his zero after coming in as nightwatchperson, nursing a Test average of three the responsibility falls on Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips to dig their side back into the contest.
Day one featured another spectacular success for Harry Brook, whose 123 took his average in away Tests to 91.50, 11 and a bit behind Don Bradman and 22 and a bit ahead of anyone else (to have played at least 10 away innings) in the history of Test cricket (for completeness, his home average of 38.05 is good enough for 311th in that list).
He’s obviously a wonderful player, but given that he is assumed by many to be the team’s next captain, having dipped his toe into the captaincy waters across this English summer, I found his interview with the BBC for today’s TMS Podscast interesting: along the way he admits that “to be honest I try to stay away from the toss talks and chats” and also that “I’m the worst at judging pitches”. His uncluttered thinking – inasmuch as he thinks at all rather than simply relying on instinct he thinks about his own job and not about anyone else’s - is clearly one of the reasons behind his success and perhaps when Ben Stokes’s time comes to an end England will be better off looking elsewhere.
Anyway, and most importantly, welcome!
