NZ v England, 2nd Test – “It wasn’t mentioned at all” – Wellington 2023 hasn’t crossed teams’ minds
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NZ v England, 2nd Test – “It wasn’t mentioned at all” – Wellington 2023 hasn’t crossed teams’ minds

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

There has been much talk about when New Zealand last hosted England in Wellington ahead of Friday’s second Test. And it’s fair to say that players are bored with it.

“The only conversations I’ve had about it are with you (the media),” Ben Stokes said when the 2023 one-run thriller was brought up on Thursday. This time, public entertainment is not the focus: “Any victory, no matter what form, in whatever form.”

New Zealand captain Tom Latham felt similarly, although the spirit of this special result must be evoked here and now. Just like then, New Zealand are 1-0 down in the series and are once again in a strange state of flux.

They were in transition then and appear to be in the same limbo 22 months later. And yet an unchanged XI from the first Test, containing seven survivors of that Neil Wagner-inspired epic, does not wistfully romanticize the possibility of history repeating itself. Parity in the series must be fought for.

“It wasn’t mentioned at all,” Latham said. “We know it’s a completely different team, a completely different bowling attack to what we have here, a different batting line-up.”

The defeat in Christchurch leaves New Zealand with a mediocre record of five wins and five defeats from ten Tests so far in 2024. India’s success, professional and deserved, looks like the beautiful anomaly that it is.

Perhaps they should have resisted the temptation to make changes, if only to bring Will Young, the player of the series on this tour, into the eleven. New Zealand are in no position to leave out in-form players, especially when those out of form can be replaced with minimal fuss.

The man most under the microscope is Tom Blundell, who could have been swapped for Young, with either Devon Conway or Latham taking the gloves. A first-inning 17th, followed by a golden duck, dropped his average for the year to 15.88. His first and only fifty came eight innings ago, in which he scored five in single figures, including two zeros.

Clarity was key between tests. Players were informed more than 24 hours before Thursday’s start that they would get a chance to compete again, a chance at redemption to end the series. Including Blundell, who will be playing on his home ground where he averages 55.16 in six Tests.

“He always knew he was playing,” Latham said when asked if the player himself had doubts about making the squad this week. “We fully support Tom in terms of his ability to score runs and do a good job behind the stumps. We know what a good player he is.”

New Zealand’s training session on Wednesday and Thursday included catching sessions, which is nothing out of the ordinary at all, but certainly attracted more attention after their botched field attempt at Hagley Oval. Eight catches were dropped in England’s first innings, the most egregious being the first of five lives for Harry Brook on the 18th, before he departed for 171.

“We did a little bit of catching yesterday and today, like we normally do. We didn’t necessarily put a particular focus on it. We always put in the work behind the scenes, regardless of whether things went our way or not.” “

Latham is reserved at the best of times, but there is a wider sense that New Zealand are keen to take a more ruthless approach. Not necessarily towards the opposition, but towards themselves. The romance of Wellington 2023 hardly counts. Not the first test in this series either.

“Last week was last week,” Latham said. “We have another chance this week. We try to stay as balanced as possible. We’ve been in this situation before where things didn’t necessarily go the way we wanted in the first game.”

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