Black Caps: Neil Wagner won’t back down

Neil Wagner appeals
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Little more than a week ago, Neil Wagner bore the brunt of England’s Bazball revolution, battered in one of the most expensive bowling spells in test cricket history.

His bouncer barrage that was once so feared was countered with breath-taking batting, baseball swings and brutal cut shots leaving the 36-year-old scratching his head as the ball soared over the boundary again and again.

The eulogy’s were being written. Wagner was done. Finished. This new brand of test match cricket was likely ending a storied career.

Even I wrote that time was coming up for the brilliant bowler, that he lacked the pace and spark which propelled him to the top of the game. (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/484502/analysis-tim-southee-s-leading-a-futile-fight-against-time)

While I still believe that to be true, that we are seeing the last of one of New Zealand’s greatest bowlers, Wagner more than anyone showed what a difference a week can make, and left us with a memory as good as any to savour.

The heart and soul of this New Zealand team, Wagner was involved in each of the last five wickets, and his energetic final spell dragged his country to one of its great test wins.

Wagner’s rejuvenation played a major role in the win, but New Zealand’s brains trust clearly learned a lot from the first test and the first innings of this match, and had better plans in place to combat England’s aggressive approach when it mattered most.

In the first innings, England’s top order could do little to combat a fresh, green Basin Reserve pitch, and accurate opening spells by captain Tim Southee and Matt Henry.

But after early wobbles, Bazball returned to full flight.

Before taking their mark, England’s batters seemed to know who they would target and how. England knew New Zealand entered the match a bowler light. They relentlessly targeted Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell as a result, and again showed no fear when facing Wagner.

But New Zealand just let it happen.

Bowlers failed to build pressure after the opening hour or so, and the fields allowed the likes of Harry Brook the freedom to play his favourite shots, pounding anything slightly full down the ground for four or six.

And that’s where things changed in the fourth innings. Credit should go to captain Southee, and likely Kane Williamson and Tom Latham too, two men the skipper often approached for advice and ideas.

The basic idea of Bazball is for batters to take the aggressive approach and put mountains of pressure on the bowlers.

They do so by changing their depth in the crease, often advancing down the wicket and turning difficult-to-play length balls into harmless, overpitched, driveable deliveries, or by covering off or exposing their stumps, opening up access to parts of the field the bowler thinks they’re able to protect.

Tim Southee made two masterful decisions in the second innings which didn’t allow England to break the shackles.

Neil Wagner gets a hug from Matt Henry
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

First, he asked wicketkeeper Tom Blundell to keep up to the stumps off the pace bowlers. This meant batters didn’t think they could advance down the wicket, allowing New Zealand bowlers to settle into better lengths, and to use the short ball more effectively.

It also meant England’s batters played at the ball more often. I can’t explain it, but when the wicketkeeper is breathing down your neck, judgement outside off stump becomes harder and you feel like you have to hit the ball. You could see that throughout the English innings.

The second thing Southee did was opt for what could be perceived as negative fields which limited the free-flowing boundaries we’ve come to expect from England.

In Tauranga, England scored a boundary essentially from every seventh ball in the first innings, and from every ninth ball in the second. In the first innings in Wellington, they scored a boundary with every 10th ball they faced.

In the second innings England scored a boundary once for every 13.5 balls faced, almost half the rate of that first innings in Tauranga.

Boundaries are a release for the batting side, giving the illusion that things are going well. Hitting singles doesn’t feel the same, even if you’re playing at the highest level.

And boundaries have the opposite impact on the bowling side. In the long game of test cricket, linking together dot balls and hopefully maiden overs gives the bowling side a feeling of control. When a boundary comes, control is lost.

For Tim Southee yesterday, singles were as good as dot balls. Preventing the boundary ball was a key goal, and the Black Caps did it well.

New Zealand’s overall performance could have done with more polish, with the first innings batting effort abysmal, and bowling depth is still a major issue.

But the Black Caps may have found a blueprint for beating Bazball, forcing England to play their aggressive brand in ways they’re not quite comfortable with.