England lose second Test by just one run in historic series finale

England and New Zealand have draw the two Test series following a rare one run victory for New Zealand in the final Test.

The memorable second Test concluded with Anderson edging a ball from Neil Wagner, right into the gloves of Tom Blundell, resulting in England finishing on 256 all out, just two runs short of the 258 needed.

This becomes just the second time in Test history a match has been won by just a single run.

The first innings set off to a shaky start, with opener Crawley falling on just two after edging the ball to Blundell. This was swiftly followed by the wickets of Pope and Duckett who were both caught by Michael Bracewell, bringing England to just 21-3.

Despite this setback, a sensational innings from Joe Root and Harry Brook, scoring 153 not out and 186 respectively, contributed towards an impressive score of 435-8 leading to captain Ben Stokes declaring. This declaration meant that the England squad quickly bowled out New Zealand for just 209, including Jimmy Anderson removing captain Kane Williamson for just four.

However, Stokes’ decision for enforce a follow-on resulted in the tourists struggling to remove New Zealand wickets. This decision means England have become the fourth team in the histroy of Test cricket to lose after enforcing a follow-on.The second innings opened with a strong 149-run partnership from New Zealand’s openers Tom Lathan and Devon Conway, with no wicket falling until the 52nd over.

Despite the openers being removed in quick succession, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson helped set England’s target higher. A partnership between him and Blundell brought New Zealand to over 400, with the England squad struggling to make progress.

However, it was batsman Brook who successfully removed Williamson for 132 after he very slightly edged the legside ball behind to Foakes. This marked Brook’s first ever Test wicket, adding to his many achievements in this Test series.

Brook has now become the first ever batsman to score above 800 runs in their first nine innings in Test cricket

After a much-needed batting collapse, New Zealand were finally all out for 483, leaving England a higher than anticipated target of 258. But the early signs of defeat were already sown with a rapid falling of top-order batsmen. By the 20th over, England were already four wickets down with just 80 runs on the board.

This left Brook to come in at 6, with many expecting him to score an impressive number of runs England needed. However, instead one of the strangest moments in Test cricket was seen when Brook was run out without facing a ball. Even David Gower, the former England captain exclaimed “Oh my word! What on Earth is going on?” after the confusing call from Root resulted in Bracewell at third slip throwing the ball straight to the wicketkeeper.

With Stokes coming out to join Root, pressure was on England to reach the target. Root put in a spectacular effort, which is no surprise considering he was ranked first in the ICC’s Men’s Test Batting Rankings in summer 2022. At one point, Root hit 17 in just one over from Bracewell leaving New Zealand struggling to make progress. This strong partnership between the two brought England back into a chance of winning,

Wagner finally made the break New Zealand needed, removing Stokes for 33, leaving the team on 201-6. However, the fall of Root for 95 during Wagner’s next over continued the pressure for England who still needed 56 runs.

Jack Leach came on after the quick removal of Broad to help the more senior Foakes score runs England desperately needed. Foakes’ top edging of the ball resulted in his departure for 35, leaving England just single figures from their target.

This led to a tense atmosphere, increased by Anderson scoring a four while facing Wagner. This left just two runs needed for England to be victorious. This ultimately was not to be when Anderson was caught behind, resulting in the conclusion of one of the closest matches in Test history.

Though England failed to emerge victorious, this marks just the second loss in the 12 Tests since the captaincy of Stokes and Brendon McCullum becoming head coach. To put this into perspective, England’s captaincy under Root saw a record-equalling number of Tests lost in 2021. Of his 53 Tests overseen over his whole captaincy, England were only victorious in just over half.

Furthermore, the series has highlighted the incredible talent of Brook, who was ultimately chosen as Player of the Series. Despite the 24-year-old only making his international Test debut in September 2022, this series has resulted in the batsman breaking more cricketing records.

He broke a 30-year record held by Vinod Kambli, beating Kambli’s first nine Test innings record of 798. Brook has now become the first ever batsman to score above 800 runs in their first nine innings in Test cricket. It took Don Bradman, who is widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time, 11 innings to reach this figure.

With the 2023 Ashes in England this summer being the first for the Bazball-era cricket, it is an exciting time for Test cricket fans. Following a disappointing 4-0 defeat down under, Stokes will certainly have his eyes set on victory after his predecessor failed to lead England to victory in an Ashes series.