The England Tour: You live, you learn

Once again I try to revive the blog after it has lain dormant for most part of a long period, and this time I hope to put down my thoughts more frequently, whether or not the Black Caps are playing. I look back at the England tour which promised much much but delivered little, at least in the tests.

Kiwi supporters tend to rate the team's chances of upstaging England higher than against Australia or South Africa because the poms are generally a lot more predictable, and are often plagued by the same worries - indifferent top order batting, and injuries. While the 3-1 victory in the one day series mirrored the events in New Zealand over the winter, the 2-0 defeat in the tests was a bitter pill to swallow because right up till the first day of the third test, England dropped their guard enough to create openings for New Zealand. As in the previous series between the sides, the opportunities were not taken and the ensuing passages were typical of NZ's test match play in recent years.

I suppose there are two ways of looking at NZ's defeats. One, the side was collectively inexperienced, and particularly in the wake of Stephen Fleming's departure, lacked a proven top order performer. This counted against them in important sessions in the last two tests. The other, more damning view is that inexperience or not, this tour followed the general pattern of most test matches during John Bracewell's tenure, a disturbing trend. The top order continues to be fiddled about, the bowlers lack venom when they need it most, dominant positions continue to be reversed, and 300-plus totals remain the exception. The way a 170 run lead was surrendered at Old Trafford seemed to suggest that a lack of self-belief may have permeated into the test side, though I certainly hope that is not true. For better or worse, Daniel Flynn, Tim Southee, Jamie How and Aaron Redmond have been rushed into the test cricket earlier than they might have imagined, and with the possible exception of Redmond, they are the future.

This series amply demonstrated the old cliche that test cricket is all about momentum. NZ won all the plaudits from the drawn first test at Lords, where some gutsy batting bailed them out and Vettori weaved his magic around Kevin Pietersen and the rest. This hard won momentum was well carried through to the first three days of the Old Trafford test, which featured an 80-run opening stand between Redmond and Jamie How, Ross Taylor's brilliant century, and more magic from Vettori with the ball which almost caused England to follow on. At this point, with so many runs to play with, the match and series was turned on its head. I'm not sure whether this reversal betrayed complacence or the part of Daniel Vettori's men, or just the sheer unfamiliarity of the situation; a team which is so used to playing catch-up could well be overawed when they suddenly find themselves with an open goal. It must have rankled Vettori no end that when it came to the crunch, Monty Panesar actually outbowled him. Now, Monty is a lot like Vettori himself, the sort of bowler who relishes the batsmen going after him, giving him a chance. Play him carefully and he eventually starts to tire. Application was what was called for at that stage, but the batsmen blew it, most of them perishing to ill-advised shots against Panesar.
In the third test, after their inability to capitalise on having England 86 for five after lunch on the first day, NZ were down and out. The bowlers tried hard, and while Chris Martin and Kyle Mills were not at their best for most part, they always kept NZ in the game. As usual, batting was the bigger problem.

Of course, there were positives to emerge from this eventful tour. Ross Taylor applied himself pretty well after a dreadful first test and looks set to be Nathan Astle's long term replacement. Jamie How looks the part at test level, and although Aaron Redmond did not, even that one 80 plus partnership suggested they should be a medium-term pair given the lack of obvious options at the top. Daniel Flynn played a couple of determined innings, though the blow from James Anderson which knocked off his teeth will keep opposition coaches interested. Flynn, McCullum and Oram make up a potentially strong middle order but without strong protection from the top four they won't be effective enough. Iain O'Brien bowled imprressively into the wind at Old Trafford and in swinging conditions at Trent Bridge, but his selection for the latter ahead of Tim Southee was one of two puzzling decisions made by the management. The other was the selection of James Marshall for the first two tests, and his place for Trent Bridge was surprisingly taken up by wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins, with McCullum moving up to number three. With Peter Fulton, a more accomplished batter continuing to be left on the sidelines, the batting is far from sorted. But hopefully, the young guns in the side are better for the experience and will adapt better to the needs of test cricket, while the likes of McCullum, Oram and Mills would have got a fair idea of the responsibilities that lie ahead of them.

At the start of this tour, my feeling was that even if the Black Caps lost 3-0, I would be happy to see something close to a settled lineup, especially with an Australia tour coming up later in the year. But the questions remain: Will Jamie How learn to convert his starts to bigger scores? Will Aaron Redmond be another opener consigned to the scrap heap? Will Peter Fulton get a decent crack at the test level? Will Tim Southee avoid the injuries which have plagued most of his predecessors? Will Dan the man finally bowl NZ to a test victory against major opposition? Uncertainty is forever, it seems.