Key events
Coach Ben Stokes, from ECB Towers
Ben will be further evaluated at the end of the Test. If required, he is expected to bat in England’s second innings
He will start playing half an hour earlyat 9.30pm BST, to make up for some of yesterday’s lost time. That extra half an hour would be crucial in New Zealand, as these eight wickets were to be taken in the last two days.
The beginning
So this is the 65th and final fixture of the England Test cricket year for the men’s team. They saved the worst at last, although after such an exhausting year we could let them go. England have played 17 Tests, one short of the all-time record, and the players are ready to put on the silly hat, pull some crunches and forget about the challenges of the wobble seam for a bit.
The year was a mixed second event with nine wins and eight defeats after this game. But while there are still many imperfections, England has emphatically achieved its first goal of 2024: to regenerate the team before the bumper 2025 in which they play two five-test series against … ah I can’t remember who it is. now
Shoaib Bashir, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Smith, Brydon Carse and Jacob Bethell have all done their due diligence in 2024, and have all caught the eye to varying degrees. Bashir’s regression is a concern, but let’s not forget that he didn’t accomplish anything; Had he taken one wicket yesterday, he would have become the second youngest player in Test history to take 50 wickets in a calendar year.
You will notice that we did not discuss the situation. There is nothing. England will repeat the 18th for two hundred and 107 runs to win the game. Of particular interest are how Jacob Bethell has an increasingly scary Will O’Rourke with another attack, whether Ben Stokes is fit to bat, whether Ben Stokes bats even if he is not fit to bat. And, most importantly, how many wickets does the great Tim Southee take on his last day as a Test player.
Ben Duckett was reminded of a few eternal truths yesterday, picking up his 390th wicket. Southee, Trent Boult, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, who scored more than 2,000 Test wickets, were the next to go. (I was going to say ‘the next generation’ but as Matt Henry is 33 and Chris Woakes is 35, that doesn’t seem quite right.
Futura invades the pace of both, and the beloved shaky seam, looks quite good hands.
Alright, let’s end on a positive note. These are England’s most serious Test defeats by runs; now they trail New Zealand by 639. For richer and poorer, this English team is doing their thing. Don’t change, boys.
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562 runs Australia, The Oval, 1934
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434 runs India, Rajkot, 2024
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425 West Indies, The Oval, 1976
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409 fled Australia, Lord, 1948
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405 runs Australia, Lord, 2015