England Win a Test Finally
The England cricket team have finally one a Test match on foreign soil for the first time in over 2 years, despite making exceedingly hard work of it towards the end.
Having been thumped in the first test against the Black Caps, they bounced back with a good first innings performance in Wellington and should have gone on to win within 4 days. However, having put themselves in a winning position by the start of the Day 4 they once again got complacent and failed to drive home their advantage, dropping 5 yes FIVE catches and missing a stumping. On another day and in another situation this could have been crucial - however, fortunately they had time to spare this time round, and needed only 90 minutes of Day 5 to wrap up the win.
The highlights of the Test was the bowling (Sidebottom in particular) the reliable Collingwood and a maiden Test 100 from Tim Ambrose. The low points were the fielding on Day 4, and the fact that Strauss, Vaughan, and Pietersen once again failed to impress.
Overall, its a good result as we won, but let’s not get too carried away. We know with England that its generally one step forward and two steps back and there is no reason to suspect that this will be any different. Their frailties and lack of “killer instinct” were there for all to see again and it won’t take much to knock them off their pedestal. But being and eternal optimist I will expect them to win the series now!