New Zealand managed to avoid a whitewash in the three-match Test series against England and in some style as they registered their joint-biggest victory in the longest format of the game in terms of runs – by 423 runs – on Tuesday, December 17 at the Seddon Park in Hamilton. The Kiwis handed a colossal 423-run loss to England as the visitors folded for 234 runs, chasing a massive target of 658 runs in the fourth innings.
Jacob Bethell and Joe Root staged a limited fightback from England with respective fifties but there was not much support from others. 658 was always going to be a too steep a mountain to climb but England playing effectively with nine wickets since skipper Ben Stokes was unavailable after hurting his hamstring, did rally around a bit, but they could do only as much so.
Mitchell Santner, who has found a second coming in Test cricket, won his second consecutive Player of the Match award after the Mumbai Test against India with seven wickets in the match and returns of 76 and 49 with the bat in the two innings. England would be disappointed with the Hamilton outing. They had their moments in Hamilton but New Zealand proved to be too good and strong. Overall, England will be glad to leave the New Zealand shores with a series win after the disappointment in Pakistan.
Kane Williamson’s return to form would be great news for New Zealand but with the Kiwis not scheduled to play a Test match before July next year and the former captain not being a contracted player anymore, how long he will continue playing in whites for the Black Caps is another story. His great mate Tim Southee retired from the format with 391 wickets in Tests and 776 overall in international cricket in addition to his 98 sixes with the bat.
New Zealand’s era after Trent Boult, Southee and Neil Wagner in Test cricket begins now and the future looks promising with Will O’Rourke, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Ben Sears, Blair Tickner and Nathan Smith in the ranks.
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With the series coming to an end, the current World Test Championship (WTC) cycle came to an end for both New Zealand and England. New Zealand moved up one place with the win and were in fourth spot with a PCT of 48.21 while England stayed in sixth place with 43.18 PCT. New Zealand can’t drop beyond sixth place given Sri Lanka and Pakistan have a few games remaining.
After winning the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship, New Zealand have been disappointing in the last two campaigns with a sixth-place finish in the 2021-23 cycle and out of the top two in the current one as well. England, on the other hand, have failed to reach the final in each of the three so far but playing 20-plus Tests in every cycle will always go against them as far as qualification for the final is concerned.
New Zealand will be in action 10 days later in a white-ball series against Sri Lanka while England have a month-long break before they travel to India for an eight-match white-ball tour (five T20Is and three ODIs), starting January 22.
