Stokes, Bashir, Crawley – your Wellington watchlist 2024

Stephan Shemilt

Chief Cricket Reporter in Wellington

• Published4 hours ago
• 173 Comments

England were hugely impressive in winning the first Test in Christchurch. New Zealand were woeful.

Now they arrive in Wellington for Friday’s second Test (22:00 GMT Thursday). The last time these two sides were here, England declared, enforced the follow-on and lost one of the greatest Tests in history by one run.

If Ben Stokes’ side manage a win at the Basin Reserve this time around, they will become the first England team to take a Test series in this country since 2008.

Here’s your Wellington watchlist.

Fast start, slow finish

A remarkable statistic of England’s Bazball era is their record in the first Test of away series. They have won all five of them: two in Pakistan, one in India and now two in New Zealand. It is all the more eyebrow-raising given England don’t really bother with warm-up matches.

Following those four previous opening-Test wins, England have gone on to win one series, the first of them in Pakistan two years ago.

There is context around the three series they failed to win. They missed out here in early 2023 because of that all-timer in Wellington, then lost in India and Pakistan this year in unfamiliar Asian conditions.

The theory goes that England can be an easy side for opposition to adapt to. Stokes’ men can sometimes be a little one-note – ultra-aggressive with the bat, and impatient in their hunt for wickets with the ball. Stokes himself even admitted on Wednesday he is capable of setting six different fields in a single over.

If a team can frustrate England’s batters or, even better, challenge them with a moving ball, and then have the patience to ignore captain Stokes’ many traps, there is a route to victory.

New Zealand played into England’s hands in Christchurch. The home side dropped catches and gifted wickets away. If they do the basics better in Wellington, then maybe they can grind England down. If not, then England will turn a first-Test win into an away series triumph.

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NZ creeping Crawley

Coach Brendon McCullum once said it was not Zak Crawley’s job to be a consistent performer at the top of the England order, only for Crawley to become Mr Consistent.

England’s leading run-scorer in the 2023 Ashes, that series began a period where Crawley averaged almost 44 up to when he broke his finger against West Indies in July.

Now Crawley is up against a New Zealand team that gives him the creeps. Scores of nought and one in Christchurch left the Kent man with an average of less than 10 in 17 innings against the Black Caps.

Crawley goes hard at the ball. He is suited to fast, bouncy conditions. New Zealand’s skilful bowlers invite the drive and challenge the edge with late movement. The trick is to play late, not throw the hands, like Crawley does. In Christchurch he toyed with batting out of his crease, to no avail.

On Thursday, during England’s training session, Crawley finished his net session and wandered to the middle, still padded up. He stood at the crease where he is due to bat and took a good look around the Basin. There was not another England player on the field.

A penny for his thoughts. Was the opener visualising his New Zealand new beginning?

Spin war

Shoaib Bashir didn’t have a great tour of Pakistan but bounced back with four wickets in the first innings in Christchurch. There was a dollop of fortune about his haul, but four wickets are four wickets.

The Basin Reserve pitch, green on Wednesday, started to show brown patches on Thursday. The weather is warm and Wellington is famously windy. The surface will get drier as the match progresses.

New Zealand have opted against the inclusion of Mitchell Santner and left their spin bowling to Glenn Phillips, possibly with a bit of Rachin Ravindra thrown in. Bashir is the only specialist in the match.

Home captain Tom Latham pointed to domestic matches at the Basin, yet the last time these two sides played here Jack Leach took eight wickets in the match, albeit he had to bowl more than 60 overs in the second innings because James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson were on their knees.

In the last Test on this ground, Australia’s win in March, 17 wickets fell to spin including 10 for Nathan Lyon. Aussie skipper Pat Cummins talked of the bounce in the pitch, which should have 6ft 4in Bashir licking his lips.

Bashir is a rarity in this England team: a one-dimensional cricketer. He is the only genuine tailender in the XI and his fielding needs work – he made a number of errors in the first Test. On Thursday he was practising boundary catches, belted by assistant coach Jeetan Patel.

There could be the opportunity for Bashir to build on Christchurch and play a telling role with the ball.

Another Stokes return

Much was made of Stokes playing in the city of his birth last week. He also lived in Wellington for two years before he moved to the UK at the age of 12.

As a youngster he trained in the indoor school beneath one of the stands at the Basin Reserve and once made a hundred batting with a broken arm for Plimmerton Primary School, about a 30-minute drive from the city centre.

There was concern when Stokes pulled up midway through an over on the fourth and final day in Christchurch. The captain allayed any fitness fears immediately after the match by saying he had stiffness in his back. He was being ultra cautious.

Still, when it comes to Stokes’ fitness, there is always an element of watching from behind the sofa. First there was the chronic left-knee problem, then his hamstring, now this.

In fairness, the 19.3 overs Stokes managed in Christchurch was his most in a Test for two years. He says he can play a full role as a bowler in Wellington.

All eyes will be on him when he does. Stokes is pivotal to everything England do, both as a player and a leader. A run of injury-free Tests would be a welcome Christmas present.

Better Black Caps?

If England played as poorly as New Zealand did last week there would have been calls to send them home.

The Kiwis were uncharacteristically bad, perhaps suffering a hangover from their historic 3-0 win in India. Their batting was wasteful and their catching, or lack of it, shambolic. Hanging on to just some of the eight they dropped would have altered the course of the match.

Kane Williamson, on his return after an injury, looked somewhere near his unflappable best with half-centuries in both innings and Daryl Mitchell made 84 in the second. Seamer Nathan Smith impressed on his Test debut and was a major victim of the drops.

The hosts have resisted change. Wicketkeeper Tom Blundell is under pressure and Tim Southee, on his farewell tour, looked innocuous once the new ball lost its shine. Batter Will Young, player of the series in India, remains on the bench.

New Zealand can’t be that bad again, can they?

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