England back to Baz-ics as New Zealand seek to follow perfection

Big picture: Back to Baz-ics?

How on earth do you follow that?

New Zealand’s 3-0 Test series win in India may not have been the greatest result in their country’s cricketing history, but it was surely in the top one. Three deeply contrasting matches, in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai, were united by a single unquenchable spirit, as Tom Latham’s men blended moments of virtuoso skill with down-and-dirty grit and tenacity, to find the right heroes at the right moments in each and every contest.

If England happened to be looking on from afar during a rare month of red-ball downtime, they might well have felt a flicker of envy at New Zealand’s exploits. For all the astonishing cricket they’ve produced in the past two-and-a-bit years, the Bazballers’ lack of such ruthlessness has cost them time and again since the start of 2023 in particular, including on their last trip to these parts some 20 months ago.

And so, as they reach the end of a calendar year in which they’ve lost as many Tests as they’ve won, including two thumpings in Multan and Rawalpindi that left their record in Asia alone at a grim P8 W2 L6, it feels they have reached a bit of a pinch point in their evolution. The selection of Jacob Bethell at No. 3 might imply otherwise, but with Ben Stokes once again apologising on the eve of the Test for his rattiness on the Pakistan tour, it’s clear that the fun factor isn’t quite what it had been before the beatings started stacking up.

As a consequence, it may be back to Baz-ics for Bazball over the next month or so. It would be deeply disrespectful to describe this three-Test stop-over as a rest cure – New Zealand’s proud home record would have seen to that, even before taking last month’s astonishing exploits into account – but there’s arguably nowhere on earth that this particular England team would rather be right now.

From the conditions, to the culture, to the unavoidable anonymity of a tour that takes place on the other side of the world and then some, a series in New Zealand leans into the more permissive aspects of England’s current regime. It’s a chance to walk the talk with fewer consequences than you might find elsewhere – not least in the backyard of those noisier trans-Tasman neighbours who are awaiting for 12 months hence – and to revisit the principles that ruled the roost back in 2022, when the stress of the international treadmill first invited the belief that there must be a better way.

Stokes himself arrived in Christchurch early to catch up with his extended family, having conceded that the Pakistan trip was one of the hardest of his career, while Brendon McCullum is back in his fiefdom too: even his famously unflappable persona could benefit from a reset, as he seeks to turn that serenity back onto England’s somewhat battered foundations.

The challenge that awaits England is writ large across their opponents – New Zealand’s seamers routed India for 46 in Bengaluru last month, and if Hagley Oval behaves anything like it did for South Africa’s visit in 2022, then bowling first could be another shortcut to dominance.

That said, England could and perhaps should have won 2-0 at a canter on their last trip – the enforcing of an unnecessary follow-on at Wellington, and the subsequent unfurling of Kane Williamson’s finest form, saw to that. But that result was one of many lackadaisical moments that have left England distant stragglers in the race for the World Test Championship final. By contrast New Zealand, inaugural champions in 2021, are most definitely back in the hunt. Another 3-0 series win would propel them ever deeper into the mix. And if that might, on the face of it, seem a tall ask, it’s nothing compared to the triumph they’ve only just secured.

Form guide

New Zealand WWWLL (last five Tests, most recent first)
England LLWLW

In the spotlight – Jacob Bethell and Kane Williamson

We’re becoming inured to England’s edgelord tendencies, with their rejection of conventional selection criteria in favour of a churn of “high-ceiling” players. And while nothing takes the biscuit quite like Josh Hull’s Test debut against Sri Lanka, there’s still something extraordinarily funky about Jacob Bethell‘s impending bow at No. 3. Clearly he made a strong impression on the white-ball tour of West Indies, but with a first-class best of 93, he presumably would not be in New Zealand at all had it not been for Jamie Smith’s absence on paternity leave. Now, however, a broken thumb for Jordan Cox has upended England’s applecart, and true to form, the management have sought to make a virtue of chaos. Can the precocity of Bethell’s youth win out? This debut could go either way, but he’ll no doubt be made to feel 10ft tall before he steps out to take his guard.

Kane Williamson isn’t in the habit of making people look inadequate… not deliberately at any rate. But should Bethell wish to feel a touch of vertigo as he takes guard, he need only consider the record of his opposite number at first-drop. New Zealand’s leading run-scorer has batted at No. 3 in all but 20 of his 180 Test innings, making a cool 8263 runs at 57.38 in the process. He’s back at the age of 34 after a long-standing groin injury, and adds an extra layer of gravitas to a line-up that got down to some very serious business in their historic series win in India.

Team news: Williamson returns, Pope takes England’s gloves

Williamson’s return is a given, although his inclusion could be tough luck on Will Young, player of the series in India, who may suffer on the last-in-first-out principle. Coach Gary Stead admitted it was all causing a significant selection headache. On the bright side, Young did at least make the squad in the first place, unlike the spinners who secured that result for the ages. Ajaz Patel – the 11-wicket hero of New Zealand’s whitewash win at the Wankhede – is once again surplus to requirements in home conditions, while Mitchell Santner, who claimed 13 in Pune, is still feeling a side strain, meaning that Glenn Phillips will carry the spin burden. Nathan Smith, the allrounder, looks set for a Test debut, ahead of Jacob Duffy.

New Zealand: (possible) 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Glenn Phillips, 8 Nathan Smith, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Matt Henry, 11 William O’Rourke

Bethell’s debut is the jawdropper for England, but Ollie Pope‘s rejigged role is barely less fascinating. After emerging from a grim tour of Pakistan with 55 runs in five innings, even Pope’s most ardent supporters might have conceded he is far too skittish to be a full-time No. 3. However, the timing of Cox’s thumb injury means he can now cloud the issue by reverting to his role of part-time wicketkeeper. Remarkably, it is five years to the week since Pope first stood in for Jos Buttler, also against New Zealand in Hamilton in 2019, while his emergency stint in Pakistan in 2022 was so successful (with a quickfire century in England’s epic win in Rawalpindi) that he kept the role for the second Test despite Ben Foakes’ recovery from illness. He averages 52.40 in three Tests as a keeper, compared to 33.74 overall. Stokes slips to No. 7, which feels unduly low even allowing for his own fallow form in Pakistan, while the seamers, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse, will hope for more hospitable conditions than they encountered in their last outing as a trio in Multan.

England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ollie Pope (wk), 7 Ben Stokes (capt), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Brydon Carse, 11 Shoaib Bashir

Pitch and conditions: Seamers to the fore

It looks a green meanie at the moment, though New Zealand’s pitches have a tendency to be misleading, with the livid grass at the toss rarely lasting much beyond the first session. However, there’s been overnight rain in Christchurch to keep the conditions fresh, and neither side anticipates spin being a major factor.

Stats and trivia

Quotes

“I think we do know what we’re doing. There is thought and there is process towards it, even if it does raise a few eyebrows. We’re not picking people just to wind people up.”
Ben Stokes, England’s captain, defends Bethell’s impending Test debut despite his lack of first-class record