Bairstow - he who stole from the rich, and gave to the poor.

Jonny Bairstow launches a withering post-tea assault on the Kiwi attack, lifting his team to an extraordinary win ... with the help of an improving support cast!

Oh Jonny; you stole from the rich and gave to the poor.

Is it true? “Robin Hood was of ginger persuasion?” I’m not sure. ‘I never saw him without his bycocket on!’

What might be true, though; is the whole Robin Hood thing might have been a figment of an author’s imagination, or worse, a collection of old wives’ tales.

There was nothing fictitious about this Test match.

What transpired on the grounds of Trent Bridge Tuesday afternoon was nothing short of extraordinary. The venerable Agatha Christie could not have scripted a more devilish plot. It was real, real Test cricket.

Jonny Bairstow looking up on a friend.

Jonny Bairstow plundered the second-fastest Test century by an English player (77 balls), instigating an arresting victory over a predictably gallant New Zealand. This after almost five days of back and forth.

Bairstow finished with a breath-taking 136 from only 92 balls, leading England’s charge toward their fourth-innings target of 299. Amazingly, they reached this with 22 overs to spare. ‘Extraordinary’. As Aggers would say.

The first three days meandered along like a Sunday morning walk in the park.

If there was any drama, it was before a ball was bowled. England, after winning the toss, were asked to make a decision on the wicket; it showed grass; it was presumably firm, but not too dry, and I expect there was some encouragement from Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad to give them first crack at the re-shuffled New Zealand top-order.

Bowl they did. And, Anderson and Broad bowled as they do. However, there was little to show for their efforts, with New Zealand closing day one at 4-314.

Solid contributions from the top four had them positioned at 4-169. All of them would have been disappointed not to convert promising starts; the lowest score being 26, and the highest 47. However, the run-rate (RR) was acceptable, a tick over four, and this preempted the partnership that had troubled England the most in the first test.

Daryl Mitchell, the leading batter in the series to date, and Tom Blundell, set about doing what they do. Firstly, ensuring there was no double break; patiently building the platform, then counter-punching effectively. The partnership grew to 145* when play ended. Both taking toll on the ineffective spin of Jack Leach, especially Mitchell, who frequently hoisted him back over his head, making sure the crowd were not dozing.

Jack Leach is playing in a team on the improve, benefitting from a balanced attack, with Stokes at full capacity; it’s hard not to mention his relevance though. In short, his bowling seems more designed to hold an end when the quicks are either fatigued, or the new ball is imminent. Leach looks like a ‘slow bowler’ rather a ‘spin bowler’ there is a significant difference.

New Zealand eventually closed their first innings at 553 from 145 overs (RR - 3.81) Daryl Mitchell was outstanding again (190 from 318 balls, with 23 fours and four sixes) - Jimmy Anderson returned the best figures for England (3-62 from 27 overs, economy-rate (ER) 2.29)

A slight detour into some ‘coach talk’  As I split batting-orders into three parts: top, middle, back.  So, three separate pods.  I know - inventive jargon!  There are variations, however, for the sake of here - that’s what they will be.

~ Top - are spots: 1, 2 and 3

~ Middle - spots: 4, 5, 6 and 7

~ Back (not bottom) - spots: 8, 9, 10 and 11

New Zealand’s first innings numbers were:

• Top - 119 from 192 balls, SR 61.9.

• Middle - 375 from 655, SR 57.2

• Back - 34 from 34 balls, SR 100.0

In comparison England’s batting numbers were - 10-539 (128 overs)

• Top - 216 from 370 balls, SR 58.3

• Middle - 286 from 359, SR 79.6

• Back - 21 from 41 balls, SR 51.2

What to make of this? England’s middle numbers are outstanding, boosted mainly by Joe Root’s masterpiece, also given a turbo boost by the Ben Stokes cameo, which arguably changed the course of the innings. And then dependable partnership batting from Ben Foakes from the seven spot. Batting through the second half of day two, and most of day three, would be arguably, the easiest period to bat in

Both sides would ask for more from the ‘Back’ pod. In the case of New Zealand, they were looking to push the game forward, so allowances should be made for their lack of output. As for England, the ‘back pod’, in my opinion, should have been supporting Foakes, with more thought given to partnerships over individual gain. As it turned out, this oversight might have helped the overall outcome. Remember, a coach is hired to be fired!

There is a deeper dive into these stats - we can look at that another time.

Back to game, and specifically the final day.

New Zealand closed day four on 7-224.  A lead of 238 - this after some fretful batting from their ‘middle’ late in the day.  Specifically, Michael Bracewell, who was equally as frantic as Ben Stokes, was for England, in his first innings.  A miscued six hit to mid-on showed as a very tame out, opening the door for England to expose New Zealand’s 'back four.'

The early part of day five was sedentary, when you think of how it finished.  England prized out the remaining three wickets for another 60 runs - with Williamson remaining unbeaten on 62 - taking his match tally to 252 for once out.  He batted 449 balls in total, stroking 27 boundaries, and five sixes.  At this stage, a legit contender for man-of-the-match.  Little did we know.

England’s ‘top’ three cumulatively added 216 in their first innings, more of the same, please. This time around it was 62, leaving a balance of 238 to be made by the ‘middle’ and ‘back’ pods. The score then lurched toward 4-93 when Alex Lees was dismissed. Bringing together Jonny Bairstow and his captain Ben Stokes.

What happened next …

Bairstow plundered the second-fastest Test century by an English player. He finished with a breath-taking 136 from only 92 balls, leading England’s charge toward their fourth-innings target of 299. Amazingly, they reached this with 22 overs to spare.

Eight-six of Bairstow’s runs came in 46 balls in the hour after tea.  His stroke-play was both fearless and violent, including 14 fours, and seven sixes.  

The six-hitting was crazy; not once did he look to ‘roll and crunch’ a pull-shot, or hook-shot.  Every horizontal bat-swing was either low-to-high, or neutral-to neutral. Most being low-to-high.  It seemed like Trent Bridge had shrunk during the tea break; it simply wasn’t big enough for New Zealand to defend.  And Bairstow had no thoughts of not clearing the rope.  Spectators were simultaneously clapping, and running for cover.

Ben Stokes played his part to … with the bat, and through his words.

He made it clear that playing for the draw had never entered England’s thoughts.

“I’ll say it simply, we were either winning this game or losing it,” he said. “That was the mentality we wanted all the batsmen coming in to have.” “When you have the backing of the coach and myself, it rubs off on the players in a very, very positive way. So you’re not fearing failure.”

A bi-lateral message was delivered during the final tea-break. Coach and Captain in unison. Although, it’s likely it was scripted in South Dunedin!

“Run into the fear of what the game was rather than stand still, or back away from it”. From South Dunedin, to West Yorkshire - Jonny Bairstow listened, and acted like a batter possessed.

It was Stokes who hit the winning runs, a thunderous back foot cover drive, but it was Bairstow who blew the game open. And, it was New Zealand who played their part in this epic.

As Mike Atherton has written previously ‘It takes two to tango’ - a year ago (first test at Lords) England played a very different role in the proceedings, choosing a safety-first approach against the same opponent. New Zealand looked for a dance partner for the entirety of the last day. England sheepishly kept their backs to the wall.

Full credit to New Zealand. This time they were less the front-runner, and more an equitable partner in a fascinating contest.

This Test match was a game you had to be in - there were no options to fold, nowhere to go other than remain sitting at the table, and be all in when you had to be.

England would be wise to trademark the hashtag “Run into the Fear.” If you can.

PS. please feel free to leave comments. I will get back to you.