England beat New Zealand by eight wickets: first men’s cricket Test, day four

Key events

That’s all for tonight. Ali Martin’s report will appear shortly, as if by magic, and we’ll be back for the second Test later in the week. Bye!

Ben Stokes’ verdict

Yeah, very good. Very happy with the way we fought, particularly when we were put under pressure on day two. To go from 40 for 3 to 499 was very nice, and I thought our bowlers were relentless the whole time. So yeah, a very good start.

[On Harry Brook’s 171] You need luck at times but you have to make it count. When the opposition are dropping catches left, right and centre you do want to go on and make a big score, Brooky always seems to find the funny side of everything but he’s an incredible player, an incredible talent, and he’s constantly looking to put pressure on the opposition regardless of the situation. He’s going from strength to strength as a player.

[On Brydon Carse] Amazing. I’ve been fortunate enough to grow up with Brydon at Durham and I’ve always known how much talent and potential he had. To see him come into the team and make such a big impact so early in his career is amazing. He’s an absolute workhorse; he charges in all day whether the conditions are in his favour or not. We saw that in Pakistan. To see him get the rewards this week was amazing.

[On Jacob Bethell] Chasing those little targets can sometimes be a bit difficult. Everyone knows how we take them on, and Beth came into his own in that little period. He’s been playing like that all summer in the white-ball team so it was nice to see him do it in whites.

[On his 80 in England’s first innings] Yeah it was good. I batted slightly down the order. When Gus and Carsey came in and started hitting sixes, I was sort of giving them the strike and thinking, ‘Hang on, I should be doing that role’.

[On his injury, although he doesn’t specify whether it was his hamstring] It’s been a heavy week, with a lot of time in the field. I bowled 20 overs and I hurt my back diving in the field as well. It was just management more than anything else. I’ll be raring to go in Wellington.

Tom Latham’s reaction

After being put in on that surface we were happy with our score and the position we had them in [71 for 4]. We had our opportunities. On a different day those catches go to hand and the outcome might be different, but unfortunately that’s the sport we play.

Some days it just doesn’t fall your way. Guys certainly don’t mean to drop catches. That’s cricket and hopefully we can do better next time.

When you play a quality time like England, who put you under pressure, sometimes those mistakes can hurt you. We’re all working extremely hard to keep producing runs and wickets and that won’t change.

For us it’s always about trying to stay level. Things haven’t gone our way here but we’ll get another opportunity in a few days.

The player of the match is the seriously impressive Brydon Carse

It’s very satisfying to be able to win as a team. We were thrown different challenges throughout the game but as a group we stuck to certain plans and we got our rewards.

Everyone contributed in different ways. We had different fields for each bowler, there were conversations with Stokesy throughout both innings and it all paid off towards the end.

The surfaces in Pakistan were obviously very different to this. There’s more carry and bounce here which suits my style of bowling. Yeah, I’m very happy with my personal performance.

Me and Gus [Atkinson] have quite a good relationship off the field and we had a good conversation about our batting last night. He scored more runs but I just edged him with the sixes.

England win by eight wickets!

12.3 overs: England 103-2 (Bethell 50, Root 23) A perfect finish for England, with Jacob Bethell reaching his maiden Test fifty while hitting the winning runs. He hooked Smith for a big six, uppercut two more to move to 49 and then pulled a single to deep square. In the first innings Bethell fought doggedly to make 10 from 34 balls; today he smashed 50 from 37.

12th over: England 95-2 (Bethell 41, Root 23) Thanks Tanya, hello everyone. England don’t muck about in runchases, do they. Root moves them closer to victory with a breezy pick up for six off O’Rourke, a shot that could only be played by somebody who is a) a genius and b) playing with total freedom. Nine to win. But first, a drinks break.

11th over: England 86-2 (Bethell 39, Root 16) Southee signs mini-bats on the boundary as Bethell picks up yet another four – a floppy O’Rourke can’t stop the music on the rope. Nine from the over, 18 to win, and I’ll hand over to Rob Smyth to carry you through the final throes of this match. Thanks for all your messages – good night!

10th over: England 77-2 (Bethell 33, Root 14) Bethell wriggles four from O’Rourke’s bouncer – and New Zealand think they have him next ball caught behind. But the umpires – both on pitch and behind the screen- disagree.

9th over: England 71-2 (Bethell 28, Root 13) Three dots, ~~a no ball~~ and three singles makes Smith a temporarily happy boy.

8th over: England 67-2 (Bethell 26, Root 12) England cruising. Root slips into Duckett’s shoes and slides three consecutive fours under the door – the first a risky whisk through the slips, the second a charming drive, the third, a short ball pulled handsomely.

“‘OBO’ers still awake’?!

Surely a category error, Tanya? Or is it just a tautology?

I have no opinion on the apostrophe btw. [oh you rotter Brian Withington]

Interesting batting in passing …

WICKET! Duckett c Henry b O’Rourke 27 (England 55-2)

Duckett hits one straight into the bucket (hands of Matt HEnry at deep third). He tips his head back in disappointment.

7th over: England 55-1 (Duckett 27, Bethell 26) New Zealand suddenly on the wrong end of a spanking here. 16 from the over as Bethell wipes four fours off new bowler Smith – the best a planking straight past the bowler with a sneer and a heel-rubbed cigarette.

6th over: England 39-1 (Duckett 27, Bethell 10) Bethell joins in as he disrepectfully wangs Henry through long-off.

5th over: England 31-1 (Duckett 26, Bethell 4) Biff-bash-boosh. Duckett isn’t hanging around as he crashes Southee for two fours and a six from the over.

4th over: England 15-1 (Duckett 10, Bethell 4) Henry probes, but a thick inside edge off Bethell’s bat flies past the diving keeper for four.

“I’m currently trapped in purgatory, otherwise known as trying to get home from deansgate [my sympathies] on a Saturday near Christmas, and wondering what Crawley’s recent average is? Obviously looking for something more accurate than “shite”! At least Duckett has just started providing some entertainment!”

Well, Michael Robinson, cricinfo tells me that in the seven Tests Crawley has played since July this year – he has made six single figure scores and only twice passed 29.

3rd over: England 11-1 (Duckett 10, Bethell 0)

After Duckett is given a three-ball working over by Southee, he shuffles, hops, and scoops four down to fine leg. Four more follows as the next ball is flicked away.

2nd over: England 1-1 (Duckett 0, Bethell 0) Alas, poor Crawley. Another disappointed trudge home.

OBO’ers still awake may like to know that England have only once failed to chase a target of 102 or fewer: the 1882 Test that led to the creation of the Ashes. They needed 85 and were bowled out for 77.

WICKET! Crawley c and b Henry 1 (England 1-1)

Crawley plonks his big foot down the pitch and hits the ball straight back to Henry who holds on with one hand at hip height.

1st over: England 1-0 (Crawley 1, Duckett 0). Another blast of Jerusalem on the Barmy trumpet. Tim Southee immediately on the money. A honeyed peach fifth ball beats Duckett’s bat and skims the top of off stump. A discombobulated Duckett then flings the bat wildly to the last delivery.

England need 104 to win!

Here come Crawley and Duckett. Will today be their dancing day?

Shane Bond is impressed by Brydon Carse. “Ten wickets away from home – the last man to that in New Zealand was Ryan Sidebottom. I liked his combativeness, he was really clear about his plans and ran in hard all day.”

Stokes update

Talk trickling in from the camp suggests that Stokes has a stiff lower back – and stepping away from bowling was a precautionary rather than urgent measure.

Time for me to stretch my legs – back shortly.

No news yet on Stokes, who pulled up half way through an over mid-morning. Presumably he is now being forced to sit down with a cold compress and a cup of tea.

WICKET! Mitchell c Woakes b Carse 84 (New Zealand 254 all out lead by 103)

Mitchell drives – but this time straight to long off. New Zealand start to walk off, but all is paused while the umpires check for a non-existent no-ball. Finally given the go-ahead, they stroll off for lunch.

A smashing innings from Mitchell, excellent defence from O’Rourke and Carse finishes with 6-42 and ten in the match. He leads England off, ball in hand.

74th over: New Zealand 254-9 (Mitchell 84, O’Rourke 5) Green, green grass, blue, blue skies and O’Rourke declines another single. Even the Barmy Army have gone quiet. David Gower asks someone to explain “ice-ice baby”

73rd over: New Zealand 252-9 (Mitchell 83, O’Rourke 5) A maiden from Carse, who replaces Bashir.

”I’ll take John Wailes’ shout out (approx half an hour ago) in the spirit I believe was intended,” mulls
Brad Mcmillan

”I can think of little more tediously exciting than the prospect of an England test match resolution on Sunday morning happening before the end of a gloriously turgid Saturday night snooker semi-final, and simultaneously watching both live while tipsy after a rare night in the pub.

”I might think differently in 24hrs time, but that’s for future me to worry about!”

Tedious excitement. One for the ECB marketing gurus.

72nd over: New Zealand 252-9 (Mitchell 83, O’Rourke 5) The last over before lunch isn’t the last over before lunch as I think we’re taking the extra half hour. The field comes in after three balls and Mitchell says thanks very much and rolls his wrists for four. Four more follows through square leg.

At 43, this is now the second biggest stand of the innings in just over 10 overs, behind only Williamson and Mitchell’s 69.

71st over: New Zealand 244-9 (Mitchell 75, O’Rourke 5) Mitchell breaks the spell with a hop and a skip and a SIX flayed straight and high. A possible first boundary in Test cricket by O’Rourke (in his eighth Test) is hauled back from the rope, so he has to contend with a first three – which brings him to his highest Test score!

70th over: New Zealand 233-9 (Mitchell 67, O’Rourke 2) A bird’s-eye camera shows a beautiful set of striped pitches surrounding the cut strip. Woakes goes again, screams past the outside edge of O’Rourke’s bat.