adminThe Black Caps stunning late victory over England has won admiration from UK cricket writers. Writing in The Times, Mike Atherton said the final day “was the most dramatic of days to end a brilliant, absorbing Test match”.
“A capacity crowd sat enthralled through numerous twists and turns as both teams slugged away at each other, New Zealand to maintain a proud home record, England to finish a flawless winter.”
The former England captain noted his side’s present coach has a formidable history at the ground. “Brendon McCullum, England’s coach who once scored a triple hundred on this great ground for New Zealand, may have had mixed feelings about it all. “One run was the margin, finally, just one run — for only the second time in Test history. It seems such a cruel divide after a match like this, but it was the difference, eventually, between contrasting statistics.
“New Zealand have lost so many close games against England of late, not least the World Cup final in 2019 to a Super Over, not many in the ground would have begrudged them their success.
“In the second half of this game, they showed heart, guts and resilience and had done their countrymen proud. It was [Neil] Wagner, a cricketer who defines the qualities of New Zealand cricket, who was to have the final say. By the barest of margins, again.”
In the Mail Online, Paul Newman said it was one of the “most incredible Tests of all time”.
He noted “controversy” around the fact that the penultimate ball of the match was “perilously close to being called wide”. “But umpires Chris Gaffaney and Rod Tucker gave him the benefit of the merest hint of doubt. With two needed Anderson, who had smashed a four off Neil Wagner’s previous over, got the faintest of tickles down the legside off the left-armer into the safe hands of Tom Blundell to give New Zealand victory, to coin a phrase, by the barest of margins. — New Zealand Herald.
Online Reporter