England 227/4 in 48.1 Overs

Black dot for the Black Caps – 2005 tri-series final between England and Australia at Lord’s. The match ended in a draw and Nasser Hussain in the air joked – It was almost like a victory for England, because Australia could not lose in the finals! Yes, those were the days. When it comes to the theory of relativity, let’s talk about Kiwis – they don’t drop catches! Especially after such a great performance in the last Test. But that’s why we say in cricket – 9 times out of 10, he gets that catch. Friday is one of the 10 occasions. In the third over of the innings, Ben Duckett edged one from Nathan Smith straight to third slip – only to see Henry Nicholls grab a sitter. He was at 8 then and England at 8/1, having just lost Emilio Gay in the last over. Then, in the 21st over, Duckett led by one again. This time from the bowling of Mitchell Santner. For some reason, Daryl Mitchell was standing at wide first slip, in an unusual position. In a normal scenario, he would have swallowed it as the ball went straight there, in its usual position, to his right. Being wide, he couldn’t even put a finger on the ball. Duckett was on 74 at this stage, well placed and dangerous – England were racing at 120/1. Given how the pitch behaves, as England found out on Thursday, chances here are like Halley’s comet – rare. And if an opportunity comes and you miss it, you have to wait an age for the next one. Also, not very New Zealand, they never found a way to stop the home scoring rate, which comes as a surprise, given the way they kept the hosts at bay at The Oval. Is Matt Henry a big miss? None of the bowlers looked impressive and if the scoring fell in the final hour, it was more due to the fact that England pulled the curtains for the finish. Also, hit by a Jofra Archer bouncer earlier in the day, Blair Tickner suffered concussion symptoms and was ruled out of the match. New Zealand did get a concussion replacement in the form of Zakary Foulkes, but only time will tell how well that replacement does.