The former left-arm wrist spinner of Australia, Brad Hogg, has made fun of England’s coined aggressive batting ‘Bazball’ after seeing the stupid shot of their opening batter, Ben Duckett, who, during their 650-run chase, used his feet and looked to smash Tim Southee out of the park.
England came into the third Test of the three-match series at the Seddon Park in Hamilton with already packing the series by a 0-2 margin. Their captain, Ben Stokes, on winning the toss, decided to bowl first under bright sunshine. The 105-run opening stand put a great platform for the home side.
The visitors, however, made a good comeback with constant wickets in the middle order as Stokes set some of the aggressive field placement to get the batter’s hole out in their plans. Tom Latham, the Kiwi captain, perished for 63 runs, but it was Mitchell Santer who stood at one end for his 76-run knock in 117 balls with the help of ten boundaries and a couple of sixes to carry them near 350.
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England had their same aggressive start with the blade as 32 runs came in the fifth over, with a struggling Zak Crawley going off to a flier for his 21 runs in 14 balls at the strike rate of 150. But it didn’t last long as Matt Henry wrote his name in the record book for the record-fifth time.
Brad Hogg ridicules England’s aggressive batting against New Zealand
The entire batting lineup of the Three Lions trembled from there on. Joe Root looked decent for his 32 runs in 41 balls before he failed to guide the short ball and found the slip fielder. Harry Brook, the main survivor for England, got an absolute peach from William O’Rourke. But none of the batters could stand out in the run department as they were bundled out for just 143 in 35.4 overs.
The Blackcaps decided not to enforce the follow-on. It was a genuine struggle for the visiting side, who were 134/5 at one stand and lost their last five wickets for nine runs. Will Young, who missed out on a well-deserved half-century in the first innings, smashed 60.
But the story was about Kane Williamson, the former captain of the side, who celebrated his 33rd century of the format in the form of his 154-run knock in 204 balls with the help of 20 boundaries and one six at a strike rate of nearly 80. Daryl Mitchell also smacked 60 runs at a quick rate, as the England bowlers were made to toil hard to be set a target of 657 runs.
The biggest setback for the tourists came when their captain, Ben Stokes, got injured while bowling as he left the field in the middle. The biggest talking point was the shot from Duckett, who, even with six overs left on the day’s play, used his feet to cream Tim Southee for a boundary before seeing the new ball uprooting the stumps.
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“Chasing 650 with 2 & bit days left in the Test & your opener is charging the 10th ball of the innings, you’re on a hiding to nothing. There is Bazball & then there’s laughable!!!” The former spinner for the Australian side, Brad Hogg, wrote on his ‘X’ account (known as Twitter).
England went on to finish their second innings on 234 in 47.2 overs with respective half-centuries from Jacob Bethell and Joe Root. Even though they went on to lose the contest by more than 400 runs, it’s their maiden Test series victory in New Zealand since 2008.