New Zealand v England - Second Test

Carisbrook, Dunedin

NZL: GM Turner, MH Richardson, BE Congdon, MD Crowe, *JR Reid, JV Coney, RJ Hadlee, +KJ Wadsworth, BR Taylor, RO Collinge, SL Boock.
ENG: JB Hobbs, *L Hutton, WR Hammond, MC Cowdrey, LEG Ames, AW Greig, +TG Evans, JC Laker, H Larwood, JA Snow, RGD Willis.

Debuts: TG Evans (ENG)
Umpires: RS Dunne & DB Cowie
Toss: England

The English touring party was struck by an injury crisis so bad in the lead up to the second Test that they took the field in Dunedin with their only fit XI; May, Rhodes, Barrington, Trueman and Statham were all unavailable, so Godfrey Evans made his debut by default and Les Ames played as a specialist batsman.

To make matters worse, Len Hutton put New Zealand in upon winning the toss, obviously having seen something in a flat Carisbrook wicket that had gone unnoticed by everyone else in the ground, and over the course of the next two days the Blackcaps took full advantage of the English skipper's benevolence. By the end of day one New Zealand had coasted to 290-2, an advantage that they stretched to 370-3 at lunch on the second day. Turner's fourth ATG century got the innings off to a sound start, then Bevan Congdon took over, adding 166 with Turner for the second wicket - a Kiwi record - on the way to a career best 146.

A further 133 runs were posted with Crowe (50), but then the innings lost its way as England's reshaped attack finally found a purpose, with Greig and Snow sharing the last five wickets to end New Zealand's run gathering six short of 500. Hutton would now have the chance to bat on a wicket that clearly held none of the devils that he thought it might, and after the relatively early loss of Hobbs for 27, he and Walter Hammond set about booking in for the day. Progress was serene, and by stumps on day three only one further wicket had gone down, that of Hutton who played on against Boock for 94. England were 282-2 at this stage with Hammond, who had survived two close lbw shouts early in his innings, having reached his century despite not being at his fluent best.

The ante was upped on day four however, and England reached 400 with only three wickets down, Hammond purring past 200 on his way to a career high 258. He was finally bowled by Hadlee with the new ball as England lost five wickets for sixty runs either side of tea, but a ninth wicket stand of 66 between Larwood (44) and Snow (29) propelled the total to 559, England's fourth highest total ever, and New Zealand faced a deficit of 65 early on day five.

A draw now seemed a cast iron certainty, and the Kiwis batted without much cause for alarm, reaching 57-0 at lunch and 110-2 at tea, but Messrs Willis, Snow and Larwood gave New Zealand the fright of their lives in an evening session as hostile as anything since bodyline. Crowe was forced to retire on 22 when he was struck a shuddering blow to the chest by Larwood, and in a flash the Blackcaps had been reduced to 133-6. Taylor fought back though, and his unbeaten 27 ensured that New Zealand got the draw that keeps the series alive going into the final Test. Had Hutton elected to bat on the first day then maybe things would have been different, but given England's problems going into this game, a draw was probably a satisfactory outcome for both camps.

Scores
NZL 1st Inns 494 (Congdon 146, Turner 123, Crowe 50, Coney 40; Greig 4-91)
ENG 1st Inns 559 (Hammond 258, Hutton 94, Cowdrey 52, Larwood 44)
NZL 2nd Inns 170-7 (Turner 42)

MATCH DRAWN


Man of the Match: WR Hammond