Black Caps Black Book .../Diary - Day Two, A Buck Each Way
There's a reason I don't subscribe to this theory of comparing where a team was at the start of their innings or the start of the Test to where they finished up - 'they were 2/2' type of thing. A lot happens in a session and a whole lot can happen in a day, lots of little moments, changes in momentum, good swings, bad swings, cloud cover and the lights can come on.
We've had seven days of Test cricket and they have all been extremely competitive, beautiful days of Test cricket where each team has enjoyed success and pain. Day two of the second Test was all that in a nutshell.
With all that has happened around England cricket, not necessarily involving this English Test team, I think we all need to remember that they have England's best batsman and bowler in their midst. James Anderson went to the top of their wicket taking list in the West Indies and Alistair Cook became England's leading run scorer, ever, on day two. This England team has the best opening batsman in the world and the best swing bowler in the world.
Man, those runs early in the day from Mark Craig, Matt Henry and Trent Boult were exactly what we needed. Sure, there is a bit to lose if they try to score quickly and are dismissed equally as quickly, but the pay off was huge. 50-odd extra runs in a game where things change quickly is handy.
England batted well with Alistair Cook and Adam Lyth putting together a nice opening stand, shout out to Lyth for his first century at his home ground #buzzing. However, I was super pleased with our bowlers and I've got to give praise where it's due which means Craig deserves his.
Craig bowled much better in all departments. His pace, his length and his line were all improved which saw him bowl 22 overs for 38 runs with the big wicket of Cook to get the kiwis back in the action.
Craig's efforts helped tie up one end, Brendon McCullum could count on Craig to keep things tight which gave McCullum the option of rotating his three pace bowlers a bit more.
Boult, Henry and Tim Southee were all pretty good as well and the rewards for a solid day with the ball came late in the day. Cook and Lyth were made to work hard for their runs, nothing came easy which meant that England were never able to really run away from the Black Caps.
Then the cloud cover came, the lights went on and we struck.
Test cricket is about showing up all day and we did that. Wickets late in the day are a reward for effort. England had the luxury of options with the ball, no bowler bowled more than 18 overs in the 72.1 overs they bowled in their first innings while the kiwis had Henry bowl 18 overs while Boult, Southee and Craig bowled more than 20 overs of the 88 overs in the innings. That's called getting it done and late wickets gives everyone a boost, the toil paid off.
And we'll be in with a sniff tomorrow as the weather should give us some hope as it'll be moist in the air and the ball should move. Do we have the killer instinct? England are only five wickets down and Ian Bell is at the crease with Jos Buttler, a lack of that ability to stick the nail in the coffin would mean we give up our lead.
Compare the run rates of each innings and it makes for interesting reading: we scored 350 at 4.84 runs an over while England have scored 253 at 2.87 runs an over. There's many factors at play here but you could point to an overall far tighter effort with the ball, or the counter punching style of the first innings with the bat.
Poor Tim Southee has scored more than 44 only once since January 26 in 2012. Shit the bed.
Day Three Mission Objective: Killer instinct, show some clutch and bowl England out.
Enjoy Ya Dinner: Mark Craig, you must be an avid reader?
Daily Thought: Gary Ballance is up struggle street at the moment.
Daily Thought Two: Practice the leave kids, leave the wide ones like Cook then wait for the straight one and knock it for four.