-

Monday, March 17, 2008

Sidebottom sets the pitch for the Napier test ..


England has squared the three-Test series at 1-1 after mopping up New Zealand's final four wickets on Monday morning to record a 126-run win in Wellington.

Following his 10-wicket haul in Hamilton, England's new bowling hero Ryan Sidebottom picked up another bag of wickets and finished with 5-105.

Resuming on 6-242, still 198 runs from an unlikely victory, Daniel Vettori didn't last long and was caught at gully by Alastair Cook from Sidebottom's bowling for a duck.

That basically signalled the end to New Zealand's hopes as with Vettori and Brendon McCullum at the crease, faint hope was held but it was unlikely the last three of Kyle Mills, Mark Gillespie and perennial No.11 Chris Martin could conjure up a miracle.

They couldn't, although Mills showed he knew the right way to hold a bat, slapping Sidebottom for a couple of boundaries before given to a dubious lbw decision by the same bowler on 13.

McCullum, 43 not out overnight, took the opportunity to swing merrily and showed English fans he could thrill in the Test arena as well as coloured clothing.

Day 5 Highlights :

Day 5 Short Highlights 2nd Test New Zealand vs England at Wellington Video Clip


His half-century came up off 80 balls, quite slowly in McCullum terms, then he unleashed with a couple of brutal hooks off Sidebottom and other shots right around the ground.

He and Gillespie proved nuisance value for England in adding 41 for the ninth wicket, during which Gillespie brought up his first run in his third Test.

He stuck around ably for his more accomplished partner for 39 balls until James Anderson took the first and only wicket in the innings from the R.A Vance Stand end, caught behind for nine.


McCullum was dropped on 82 three balls previously, and finally perished in the next over when he looked to move towards his third Test century.

He couldn't manage it and was dismissed for 85 from 116 balls, including nine fours and three sixes for what was New Zealand's highest individual score in the match.

It was fitting that the final catch was taken by Sidebottom in front of the Barmy Army contingent off Monty Panesar - the only wicket that fell to spin in the match.

It kicked off a surge of elation for England, far and away the better side throughout the match and now all attention goes on the final Test in Napier, starting on Saturday.

England 1st innings 342
2nd innings 293

New Zealand 1st innings 198

2nd innings
J How c Bell b Sidebottom 8
M Bell c Ambrose b Broad 29
S Fleming b Broad 31
M Sinclair c Bell b Anderson 39
R Taylor lbw Sidebottom 55
J Oram c Pietersen b Sidebottom 30
B McCullum c Sidebottom b Panesar 85
D Vettori c Cook b Sidebottom
K Mills lbw Sidebottom 13
M Gillespie c Ambrose b Anderson 9
C Martin not out 0
Extras 12 (lb 11, w 1)
Total 311 (for 10 wickets, 100.3 overs)

FoW 1-18, 2-69, 3-70, 4-151, 5-173, 6-242, 7-246, 8-270, 9-311, 10-311

Bowling
R Sidebottom 31-10-105-5
J Anderson 15-2-57-2
S Broad 23-6-62-2
P Collingwood 9-2-20-0
M Panesar 21.3-1-53-1
K Pietersen 1-0-3-0

No comments: