England were stuffed out of sight by an innings for just the third time by New Zealand who gratefully accepted all the gifts that came their way on an insipid final day.
From Joe Root’s indecision that offered a tame catch in the gully, to Ollie Pope’s extraordinary carving of a wide full toss to Mitchell Santner-Claus at cover, to Jos Buttler’s criminal leave that bowled him, England were a country mile away from producing the skills required to draw the game.
Stuart Broad said confidently before the day began with England on 55-3, and 207 adrift: “We don’t just believe we can draw the game, we expect to.”
With Neil Wagner trapping him lbw for nought first ball to wrap up the game with more than 20 overs left it is fair to say their expectations could do with some revision.
(Image: Gareth Copley)
“Clearly some of the shots today were not good were they?” Said skipper Root. “Everyone is very aware of that.
“I put my hand up as well, that ball was treated with far too much respect and sometimes when you find yourself in a situation like that you can be too insular and too negative.
“It is about balancing out not giving anything to the opposition and playing the ball on its merit and managing the situation and we got that wrong.
(Image: Phil Walter)
Wagner was the star of the show on the final day in taking 5-44 to complete a horror match for England where they were out performed in every single department.
In trying to save they game they went for the ‘thou shalt not pass’ approach and although Root fell cheaply for 11 in the first session, the method appeared to be working.
Joe Denly was batting in his own bubble outstandingly well alongside Ben Stokes and at lunch the draw was inching ever closer.
But just as in the first innings, a minor miscalculation from Stokes cost the team so much more than just his wicket when he tried to cut Tim Southee and chopped on to the stumps.
(Image: Phil Walter)
From that point on the game seemed to hurry to its conclusion as all bar Denly, who got a snorter from Wagner, played a big part in their own downfall.
There was a minor pause in the procession as Jofra Archer and Sam Curran added 59 rather breezy and uncomplicated runs, which made you wonder what might have happened had England batted more positively.
But it all came too little too late as Archer and then Broad fell one after the other to provide New Zealand with the win their efforts deserved.
(Image: Gareth Copley)
A draw on the final day would have saved England’s blushes, but Root knows that it was in the first innings where his batsmen really let the side down, failing to cash in on such a good pitch.
And this is the area that needs most work.
“I think we missed an opportunity if we’re being brutally honest with ourselves,” added Root. “We could have done with getting those bigger scores and getting past 450 and using that scoreboard pressure as another fielder almost.
“I think we did a lot of good stuff but we need to do it a bit longer. It is going to take a bit of time to play the kind of cricket we are looking to and there are areas we need to address and get better at.
“We have to be honest with ourselves. We need to not panic and not think this is the end of the world, we’ve still got an opportunity to level things up.”
