New Zealand v England - Series Summary

Despite the ravages of an extraordinarily lengthy injury list, England triumphed at a canter in this series and now sit proudly at the top of the ATG rankings, ahead of Australia and South Africa. 16 players were used by the tourists over the three Tests, including four new caps, but the fact that the batting line-up remained largely unaffected by ailment was reflected in the scorecards: England only had to bat once in each match, and never once scored under 400. Hammond was the stand out, scoring 483 runs at the astounding average of 161, and since his poor showing at home against West Indies, his run of scores reads 170, 0, 46, 39, 120, 40, 40, 258 and 185; that's 898 runs at an average of 99.78 in his last six Tests! Les Ames was also an instant success, and with both Jim Laker and Bob Willis showing good form, the team looks in good shape ahead of the upcoming Ashes series.

New Zealand on the other hand remain rooted at the foot of the rankings table, and there was little to write home about from this series. A shocking display in the first Test was at least followed up by performances with a little more backbone in Dunedin and Wellington, but with a bowling attack that remains nonthreatening, especially with Hadlee so woefully out of both form and luck, they are unlikely to change direction any time soon. Reid's maiden century in Wellington is likely to keep him in the team for the Pakistan series, and there seem to be few options or permutations left open to the New Zealand selectors as they try to break the cycle of defeat.

New Zealand - Batting
MD Crowe 270 runs @ 54.00, BE Congdon 244 @ 40.67, MH Richardson 231 @ 38.50, GM Turner 214 @ 35.67, JR Reid 138 @ 23.00

New Zealand - Bowling
SL Boock 11 wkts @ 33.18, JR Reid 5 @ 47.40, RJ Hadlee 5 @ 65.00

England - Batting
WR Hammond 483 runs @ 161.00, MC Cowdrey 165 @ 82.50, L Hutton 224 @ 74.67, LEG Ames 221 @ 73.67, JB Hobbs 211 @ 70.33

England - Bowling
FS Trueman 4 wkts @ 21.25, JC Laker 17 @ 21.29, RGD Willis 10 @ 22.50, H Larwood 9 @ 26.44, JA Snow 6 @ 34.67

ENGLAND WON THE SERIES 2-0

Players of the Series: MD Crowe & WR Hammond