Ben Stokes’ appointment as Test captain and Brendon McCullum’s appointment as head coach has had an instant positive effect on England cricket, as evidenced by the hosts’ unassailable 2-0 series lead against New Zealand. The first Test, which England won by five wickets, saw them post 141 in response to New Zealand’s 132, chasing down 277 at Lord’s, while the second Test saw them sprint to a goal of 299 on a hectic fifth day of play at Trent Bridge.
Trent Boult, who claimed eight wickets in the second Test, including a wicket in the first innings, credited England’s bold strategy to the arrival of McCullum while acknowledging that New Zealand’s failure to uphold the standards they’ve been proud of in recent years was the reason for being 0-2 down in the three-match series.
“They are performing as I believe McCullum instructed them to. For English cricket, it’s a novel change. What a start; both of the games thus far have been true thrillers. Hopefully, there will be many more matches like that in Test cricket overall, and there will be a lot more viewers “Boult stated.
“Being 2-0 down in the series must be difficult. However, there is a great deal of pride in some of the performances we’ve given over the past few years in that dressing room. It’s wonderful to have one game to go out and perform like we know we can because, if we’re being honest, we definitely haven’t been at the standards we want to be as a team.”
In a noteworthy post-tea session on Day 5 of the second Test, Boult praised Jonny Bairstow’s performance. The middle-order batsman, who had been on 43 off 49, finished with 136 off just 92, scoring 14 fours and 7 sixes, to lay the foundation for England’s victorious chase.
“He played in a very unique manner on that last day. He truly grabbed hold of the situation and didn’t let go. He’s undoubtedly a key player for them in the middle order, and we are all aware of his destructive tendencies since he has done it repeatedly. To be on the wrong side of that result was fairly tough, but I think a lot of credit’s going to some wonderful cricket that’s been played there. Nothing too much changes for us [in the third Test] but ideally we get into him nice and early with the ball a bit new, and we’ll see what happens,” Boult added.
In addition to injuries and an increase in Covid instances in the weeks leading up to the third Test, New Zealand was without the services of Kane Williamson, who was disqualified from the second Test after testing positive for Covid-19. Cam Fletcher and Kyle Jamieson were ruled out of the series due to injury but the good news in the camp is that Williamson, along with Michael Bracewell and Devon Conway, have recovered from Covid.
The New Zealand captain, according to Boult, “is a major player for us.” “Everyone is healthy and up for selection, and his record speaks for itself. We’ll see what happens because it appears to be another nice wicket. Williamson is constantly eager to enter the nets. He regretted having to miss the previous game. It was a significant game for us. He is eager to lead the side and is in dire need of some runs. I know the boys are looking forward to the task. There have been some nice talks going on off the ground. We’ll hopefully let the bat speak for itself and take it from there.”