The soft hands of BJ Watling

Here's two photo's of BJ Watling's defensive technique.

This picture is of his normal block shot. You can see that he  has a very loose bottom hand.  The bottom of it is so far forward of the bat that you can't see the grip.

Bottom hand is loose on the bat handle.

This next one is the ball that he edged and was dropped at slip. Here you see that his bottom hand is tightly onto the bat.

Using hard hands to defend.

I'm not really a batting coach, but this is something that young batsmen should learn.  If you are going to play a defensive shot, make sure you keep your bottom hand loose.  It means that if you edge it, then it won't carry to the slips. 

Mini-session Analysis, 1st Test, England vs New Zealand, Lords, 2013

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the first test between England and New Zealand at Lord's, London, England

A mini-session is (normally) half a session, either between the start of the session and the drinks break or the drinks break and the end of the session. Occasionally a long session will have 3 mini-sessions where it will be broken up with 2 drinks breaks.

Mini-Session	Score	Winner
1-1a	England 37/0 off 15	England
1-1b	England 19/1 off 14	New Zealand
1-2a	England 28/1 off 13	New Zealand
1-2b	England 29/1 off 14	New Zealand
1-3a	England 31/0 off 17	draw
1-3b	England 16/1 off 7	New Zealand
2-1a	England 26/0 off 14	draw
2-1b	England 23/4 off 10	New Zealand
2-2a	England 23/2 off 8.2	New Zealand
2-2b	New Zealand 54/2 off 19	England
2-3a	New Zealand 65/1 off 18	New Zealand
2-3b	New Zealand 34/1 off 12.4	England
3-1a	New Zealand 29/2 off 12.2	England
3-1b	New Zealand 25/4 off 7	England
	England 12/0 off 2
3-2a	England 46/2 off 13	New Zealand
3-2b	England 33/0 off 11	England
3-3a	England 65/0 off 22	England
3-3b	England 24/4 off 11	New Zealand
4-1a	England 33/4 off 9.3	New Zealand
4-1b	New Zealand 29/6 off 11.4	England
4-2a	New Zealand 39/4 off 10.5	England

Final update, click here

New Zealand won the mini-session count 10 - 9, but England won the match.

First drinks, Day 1: England lead the mini-session count 1-0

A slow but safe start from England. Boult and Southee both bowled some deliveries that had the batsmen troubled, but they generally looked composed and patient. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 1: The mini-session count is tied up, 1-1

The first wicket came in a rather unexpected manner. First was the bowler, Bruce Martin. With all the pre-match talk about the swinging conditions, there would not have been many expecting him to be bowling over 22, let alone there to be no wickets down. Then the fact that the ball genuinely turned. It was pitched on a good length, shaping towards middle and off, and moved away towards first slip. Compton went after it, but was beaten both in flight and by the turn, and ended up just spooning it to point.

While England have only lost one wicket, they have only put on 56 runs. Boult has bowled 8 overs for 6 runs and Martin 4 overs for 3 runs. It's really quite an impressive feat of discipline from both teams so far. The opening is quite even, but New Zealand are probably slightly ahead. - Mykuhl

Middle drinks, Day 1: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 2-1

England are now down to two an over. There was a lot of talk that New Zealand had prepared low, slow wickets because they were scared of England's pace bowlers. Perhaps England are also scared of New Zealand's bowlers? Boult's return so far would suggest that would be sensible: 13-4-23-1. - Mykuhl

Stumps, Day 1: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 4-1

The promised rain finally arrived, just after Wagner managed to get Bell to angle one to Watling. The match position is certainly advantage New Zealand. They start tomorrow with a new ball and only 2 wickets before getting amongst the bowlers. If the ball swings tomorrow like it did today, the two left-armers could be very difficult for the English bowlers to handle. - Mykuhl

First drinks, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 4-1

While England only scored 26 runs in the hour, they managed to survive 14 overs with the new ball without losing a wicket. The New Zealand bowlers managed to cause some problems, but it was really just more attritional cricket. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 5-1

Another hour to New Zealand. England will probably struggle to get to 260 now. After winning the toss and choosing to bat, that's hardly a good return. The best moment in that hour for England was in the final over, when Martin managed to get a ball to spit out of the footmarks. It was harmless coming from Martin and spinning away, but it would have be a different story from Swann. - Mykuhl

Change of Innings, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 6-1

New Zealand managed to clean up the English tail reasonably cheaply, despite some stubborn resistance. England did manage to get their overall rpo over 2, but not by much. Despite not looking very comfortable at any point at the crease, Bairstow ended up being the top scorer with 41. - Mykuhl

Stumps, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 7-3

Someone needed to take the attack to the bowlers in this match, and Ross Taylor was the man. It was the old Taylor, the one who smashed the ball through the covers, rather than the one we're more used to seeing recently who had put his cover drive away. He scored 10 boundaries through the off side. New Zealand are dominating the mini-session count, but the game is really much closer than 7-3 would suggest. - Mykuhl

First drinks, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 7-4

England are well into this match now. New Zealand now really need a good partnership from Southee and Watling. Even Watling (who normally is very assured on defense) was playing away from his body with hard hands. That was a product of the pressure that the English bowlers have managed to exert on the New Zealand batsmen this morning. We are generally getting a display of quality bowling. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 7-5

England are now starting to take control of this match. That may prove to be the decisive hour in the course of the match. England cleaned up New Zealand's tail, and then set an aggressive platform with the bat. - Mykuhl

Middle drinks, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 8-5

This game is turning into a great match. New Zealand have probably played the most good cricket, but England is probably in the lead by a small margin. New Zealand won't want to be chasing more than 270. - Mykuhl

Tea, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 8-6

New Zealand slowed the game down considerably in that hour, trying to stop England's progress. It was to no avail. England have moved into a convincing lead now. - Mykuhl

Final drinks, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 8-7

New Zealand are in some serious trouble now. The way things are going at the moment, England are looking like they are heading towards a substantial lead. Trott and Root have been magnificent. The pitch seems to be getting slightly better, but I'm not sure if it's getting better quickly enough for New Zealand to be able to chase down a score near 400. - Mykuhl

Stumps, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 9-7

And in the space of 7 overs the game changes again. This game is now pure intrigue. With the chance of rain on Monday, all 4 results are still possible. It's hard to say who is in the lead at this point in the game. It is quite conceivable that New Zealand will bowl out England for another 40 runs, and then knock off the target. It's also not beyond the realms of possibility that 14 wickets could fall tomorrow, and England win in a canter. This is exactly why test cricket is the ultimate in sporting events. - Mykuhl

Change of Innings, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 10-7

New Zealand will be happy with that. Southee was irresistible, picking up 10/108, the second best match figures by a New Zealander in England after Dion Nash's 11/169. New Zealand need 239 to win. The game is evenly poised, but New Zealand are probably slight favorites. - Mykuhl

Lunch, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 10-8

And just like that the game swings totally in England's favour. Stuart Broad has treated the New Zealand batsmen like a Jack Russell terrier treats a rat. He's shaken them up, and then killed them off. It's a demonstration of cricketing virtuosity. - Mykuhl

End of match: New Zealand win the mini-session count 10-9 but England win the match.

And England clean it up. A match that was evenly balanced was completely turned on it's head in one decisive hour. Broad has threatened to do this a number of times, but today he has realised the potential that he has shown in the past. - Mykuhl

A good problem to have.

New Zealand have 4 good quick bowlers at the moment. However there's only space in the team for 3.  This means that one of them has to miss out.  Here's a quick look at the 4 contenders, and their strengths and weaknesses.

Concentration vs Technique revisited

Ed Cowan, often uprooted after getting in.

A couple of years ago I wrote an article looking at players who capitalised on getting a start, and at players who struggled to do so.

With the gap between test matches at the moment, it's a good time to look at the numbers again.

I looked at all players who had faced at least 250 balls in 20 or more innings in last 3 years. I also restricted it to players who had at least 7 innings of less than 20 and at least 7 innings of 20 or more in that time.

For the average from 20, I subtracted 20 from their average in innings with a total score of 20+.

Here are the players who have the biggest positive difference between their average from 0 and their average from 20.

Name	Innings 20+	Innings under 20	Average	Average 20+	Difference
MS Wade (Aus)	7	15	34.61	96.25	61.64
MG Johnson (Aus)	8	23	17.85	56.40	38.55
CA Pujara (India)	12	10	65.55	101.88	36.33
IR Bell (Eng)	28	20	56.15	84.31	28.16
AN Cook (Eng)	32	29	55.59	82.20	26.61
KC Sangakkara (SL)	32	21	62.48	84.48	22.00
JH Kallis (SA)	26	17	63.47	84.61	21.14
SCJ Broad (Eng)	12	24	24.36	45.00	20.64
MJ Prior (Eng)	29	21	50.82	70.52	19.70
MJ Clarke (Aus)	32	25	53.70	73.27	19.57
M Vijay (India)	9	11	40.25	58.77	18.52
KP Pietersen (Eng)	28	25	48.50	66.80	18.30
RT Ponting (Aus)	20	24	34.52	52.27	17.75
HMRKB Herath (SL)	10	29	17.85	35.00	17.15

The two names at the top of this list were fascinating. I had no idea that those two had been so good at capitalising on a start. It suggests that early wickets down the order will be very important for England in the upcoming Ashes series.

The other end of the table is the players who have a tendency to throw away their wickets after getting a start.

Name	Innings 20+	Innings under 20	Average	Average 20+	Difference
AN Petersen (SA)	29	12	37.64	28.17	-9.47
EJM Cowan (Aus)	19	11	32.9	27.78	-5.12
AB de Villiers (SA)	34	9	70.34	66.00	-4.34
GP Swann (Eng)	15	22	19.15	15.53	-3.62
SR Watson (Aus)	27	17	32.48	29.50	-2.98
DG Brownlie (NZ)	13	8	32.8	29.91	-2.89
HAPW Jayawardene (SL)	17	15	30.57	28.00	-2.57
G Gambhir (India)	23	18	30.57	28.21	-2.36
AJ Strauss (Eng)	29	19	34.06	32.67	-1.39
Tamim Iqbal (Ban)	13	9	37.86	37.07	-0.79
GC Smith (SA)	30	17	44.4	44.07	-0.33
AB Barath (WI)	11	13	21.58	21.90	0.32
V Kohli (India)	19	12	41.96	42.94	0.98
CS Baugh (WI)	9	17	17.25	18.25	1.00

It's surprising to see two openers at the top of this list. These two do the hard work regularly, both getting to 20 roughly twice as often as they don't, but then they don't make the most of it. In fact it was a tweet from Gary Naylor from 99.94 that made me think about redoing this analysis, as Cowan's record is quite remarkable.

Does any opening bat get in and get out more often than Ed Cowan? 40 and 35 vs Durham - but he seems to score that in every match!
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) May 1, 2013

It made me wonder where these two sat overall among openers. Using the same conditions, I compiled this list, looking only at innings where a batsman was opening the batting:

Name	Innings 20+	Innings under 20	Average	Average 20+	Difference
AN Petersen (SA)	31	11	38.36	28.96	-9.40
CM Spearman (NZ)	17	12	23.96	16.70	-7.26
RW Barber (Eng)	22	11	38.62	31.54	-7.08
BM Laird (Aus)	26	14	35.28	29.76	-5.52
H Sutcliffe (Eng)	65	18	61.10	55.82	-5.28
A Turner (Aus)	17	10	29.53	24.25	-5.28
CJ Barnett (Eng)	14	7	39.65	34.53	-5.12
BK Kunderan (India)	13	8	41.15	36.15	-5.00
UC Hathurusingha (SL)	25	17	30.73	26.12	-4.61
Imran Farhat (Pak)	45	31	31.85	27.25	-4.60
GS Camacho (WI)	12	9	30.33	25.75	-4.58
B Wood (Eng)	10	11	21.61	17.50	-4.11
EJM Cowan (Aus)	18	11	33.20	29.11	-4.09
RB Simpson (Aus)	52	18	55.51	52.00	-3.51
JB Hobbs (Eng)	70	27	56.37	52.98	-3.39
Imrul Kayes (Ban)	12	20	17.15	13.91	-3.24
SM Katich (Aus)	42	19	50.48	47.46	-3.02
IR Redpath (Aus)	40	19	44.50	41.57	-2.93

Both batsman make this list, with Alviro Petersen again clear at the top. Interesting to note that three of the batsmen regarded as some of the greatest openers ever (Herb Sutcliffe, Jack Hobbs and Bobby Simpson) on the list.

The final batsman that I want to look at is Ross Taylor. He was near the bottom of the list last time I did this analysis, with an average of 40.21 and then 40.38 once he got to 20 (a difference of 0.17). In the past 3 years he has improved both numbers. This time he has averaged 41.79 and then 47.73 once he gets to 20 (a more respectable difference of 5.94). Perhaps he actually is the player who will disprove Martin Crowe's infamous assertion that Polynesian players didn't have the concentration required for cricket.

How good was Gayle's demolition of Pune

Chris Gayle, picture from RCB's Flickr stream

Chris Gayle played one of the most incredible innings on Tuesday night. His 175* (66) broke all sorts of records, both for the IPL and for t20 and cricket in general.

He is without question an incredible player, and is an absolute phenomenon in the IPL.

But how good was that innings in the context of the rest of the IPL? I heard some people say that it was meaningless, because the pitches and grounds in India are so easy to score runs on, and the bowlers in the IPL aren't up to much. I heartily disagree with both of these statements, but the only real way to look at the innings is to look at how others have gone in similar conditions.

To do this I'm using my modified batting index for each innings. This system rewards scoring runs, and being not out, but adjusts it for the number of deliveries faced. To put these scores in context an index of 100 would be 70*(49) or 60(33). It doesn't take into account the context of the match, so there can be some high scores that cost a team, and low ones that win a match, but I think it's better than just looking at the runs scored or the strike rate by themselves.

Here's the top 20 innings in the IPL so far this year:

Name	Score	For	Against	At	Index
CH Gayle	175* (66)	RCB	Warriors	Bangalore	464.02
V Kohli	93* (47)	RCB	Sunrisers	Bangalore	184.02
SR Watson	101 (61)	Royals	Super Kings	Chennai	158.95
V Sehwag	95* (57)	Daredevils	Mum Indians	Delhi	158.33
DA Miller	80* (41)	Kings XI	Warriors	Mohali	156.1
CH Gayle	92* (58)	RCB	Mum Indians	Bangalore	145.93
KD Karthik	86 (48)	Mum Indians	Daredevils	Mumbai	145.13
CH Gayle	85* (50)	RCB	KKR	Bangalore	144.5
MEK Hussey	88 (51)	Super Kings	Royals	Chennai	143.22
MEK Hussey	86* (54)	Super Kings	Kings XI	Mohali	136.96
RG Sharma	62* (32)	Mum Indians	Warriors	Mumbai	120.13
AB de Villiers	64 (32)	RCB	Super Kings	Chennai	118
RG Sharma	73 (43)	Mum Indians	Daredevils	Delhi	115.44
RG Sharma	74* (50)	Mum Indians	Daredevils	Mumbai	109.52
Mandeep Singh	77* (58)	Kings XI	Warriors	Mohali	102.22
AB de Villiers	31 (8)	RCB	Warriors	Bangalore	100.75
DA Warner	77 (56)	Daredevils	Royals	Delhi	99
LJ Wright	34 (10)	Warriors	Kings XI	Mohali	98.6
SPD Smith	39* (16)	Warriors	Super Kings	Chennai	95.06
EJG Morgan	47 (21)	KKR	Sunrisers	Kolkata	94

There's a significant distance between Gayle and the next best innings.

Another way to look at it is to look at what percentage of Gayle's index each innings got. Here's the top 10:

Name	Score	Gayle points
CH Gayle	175* (66)	100
V Kohli	93* (47)	40
SR Watson	101 (61)	34
V Sehwag	95* (57)	34
DA Miller	80* (41)	34
CH Gayle	92* (58)	31
KD Karthik	86 (48)	31
CH Gayle	85* (50)	31
MEK Hussey	88 (51)	31
MEK Hussey	86* (54)	30

How about how it stacks up against all T20 innings anywhere:

Name	Score	For	Against	At	Index
CH Gayle	175* (66)	RCB	Warriors	Bangalore	464.02
LP van der Westhuizen	145 (50)	Namibia	Kenya	Windhoek	406
GR Napier	152* (58)	Essex	Sussex	Chelmsford	398.34
BB McCullum	158* (73)	KKR	RCB	Bangalore	341.97
CL White	141* (70)	Somerset	Worcs	Worcester	284.01
A Symonds	112 (43)	Kent	Middlesex	Maidstone	278.7
M Vijay	127 (56)	Super Kings	Royals	Chennai	276.68
ST Jayasuriya	114* (48)	Mum Indians	Super Kings	Mumbai	270.75
SB Styris	100* (37)	Sussex	Gloucs	Hove	270.27
RE Levi	117* (51)	South Africa	New Zealand	Hamilton	268.41
CG Williams	116 (48)	Namibia	Scotland	Windhoek	268.25
CH Gayle	128* (62)	RCB	Daredevils	Delhi	264.26
DA Warner	135* (69)	NSW	Super Kings	Chennai	264.13
H Davids	112* (48)	Cape Cobras	Warriors	Cape Town	261.33
KJ O'Brien	119 (52)	Gloucs	Middlesex	Uxbridge	260.88
Ahmed Shehzad	113* (49)	Barisal	Rajshahi	Dhaka	260.59
A Symonds	117* (53)	Chargers	Royals	Hyderabad (Deccan)	258.28
YK Pathan	100 (37)	Royals	Mum Indians	Mumbai (BS)	256.76
CL White	116* (53)	Somerset	Gloucs	Taunton	253.89
AC Gilchrist	109* (47)	Chargers	Mum Indians	Mumbai	252.79

And then the "Gayle Points" for the top 20 innings of all time:

Name	Score	Gayle points
CH Gayle	175* (66)	100
LP van der Westhuizen	145 (50)	87
GR Napier	152* (58)	86
BB McCullum	158* (73)	74
CL White	141* (70)	61
A Symonds	112 (43)	60
M Vijay	127 (56)	60
ST Jayasuriya	114* (48)	58
SB Styris	100* (37)	58
RE Levi	117* (51)	58
CG Williams	116 (48)	58
CH Gayle	128* (62)	57
DA Warner	135* (69)	57
H Davids	112* (48)	56
KJ O'Brien	119 (52)	56
Ahmed Shehzad	113* (49)	56
A Symonds	117* (53)	56
YK Pathan	100 (37)	55
CL White	116* (53)	55
AC Gilchrist	109* (47)	54

How good was Gayle's innings? It was about 14% better than the next best innings ever. That's how good it was.

24 IPL moneyball players, and one other

The IPL is almost here, and a lot of people will be playing the fantasy competitions.

I've been working on developing a "Moneyball" type system of analyzing cricket statistics to make sensible predictions about how well players will go at the next level. My system is not nearly finished, but I've used some of the things that I've learned to have a look at some of the players who I didn't know much about in the IPL.

As the system isn't completed yet, I can't give too much justification, other than to say here are the players:

Name	Team
Imtiaz Ahmed	CSK
Ankit Rajpoot	CSK
Manprit Juneja	DD
Kedar Jadhav	DD
Sidarth Kaul	DD
Shahbaz Nadeem	DD
Pawan Negi	DD
Siddharth Chitnis	KXIP
Debabrata Das	KKR
Iqbal Abdulla	KKR
Laxmi Shukla	KKR
Amitoze Singh	MI
Yuzvendra Chahal	MI
Sushant Marathe	MI
Stuart Binny	RR
Ajit Chandila	RR
Mayank Agarawal	RCB
Arun Karthik	RCB
Karun Nair	RCB
Vijay Zol	RCB
Anand Rajan	SH
Sachin Rana	SH
Eklavya Dwivedi	PWI
Ali Murtaza	PWI

There is one other player that I would add into the list as players who I think might succeed, and that's Harmeet Singh from Rajastan Royals. I add him in, because I saw him play, and thought he was phenomenal, despite his numbers not being particularly impressive.

A number of these players my never play a game, but those that do are probably going to be worth watching. They have all shown (to me) that they are likely to be able to step up and succeed at the next level.

Mini-session analysis, 3rd test, New Zealand England, Eden Park, 2012/3

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the third test between New Zealand and England at Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand

A mini-session is (normally) half a session, either between the start of the session and the drinks break or the drinks break and the end of the session. Occasionally a long session will have 3 mini-sessions where it will be broken up with 2 drinks breaks.

Mini-Session	Score	Winner
1-1a	New Zealand 31/0 off 15	draw
1-1b	New Zealand 48/1 off 13	New Zealand
1-2a	New Zealand 48/0 off 15	New Zealand
1-2b	New Zealand 46/0 off 16	New Zealand
1-3a	New Zealand 36/0 off 13.4	New Zealand
1-3b	New Zealand 41/0 off 17.2	New Zealand
2-1a	New Zealand 24/1 off 14	England
2-1b	New Zealand 38/2 off 14	England
2-2a	New Zealand 53/1 off 10.4	New Zealand
2-2b	New Zealand 49/1 off 17.2	draw
2-3a	New Zealand 29/4 off 6	New Zealand
2-3b	England 50/2 off 25	New Zealand
3-1a	England 22/3 off 11.5	New Zealand
3-1b	England 20/0 off 17.1	New Zealand
3-2a	England 39/0 off 15	England
3-2b	England 45/1 off 14	draw
3-3a	England 28/4 off 6.2	New Zealand
3-3b	New Zealand 20/3 off 11	England
3-3c	New Zealand 15/0 off 12	England
4-1a	New Zealand 47/1 off 12.3	New Zealand
4-1b	New Zealand 94/0 off 13.3	New Zealand
4-2a	New Zealand 65/2 off 8.2	New Zealand
4-2b	England 45/1 off 16	New Zealand
4-3a	England 32/1 off 20	New Zealand
4-3b	England 13/2 off 16.1	New Zealand
5-1a	England 37/0 off 16.5	England
5-1b	England 31/1 off 14	New Zealand
5-2a	England 41/1 off 13	England
5-2b	England 38/1 off 14.3	draw
5-3a	England 38/0 off 17.3	England
5-3b	England 40/2 off 15	New Zealand

Final update, click here
The match is drawn, but New Zealand win the mini-session count 19 - 8

First drinks, Day 1: The mini-session count is tied up, 0-0

A steady, but unspectacular start from New Zealand after being inserted. I do wonder if McCullum was actually foxing about wanting to bowl first.

Lunch, Day 1: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 1-0

A good start by Rutherford and Fulton was soured by a loss of concentration by Rutherford at the end of the session. Still New Zealand are in a good position.

Final drinks, Day 1: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 4-0

England have almost seemed to give up on trying to get a wicket, and are hoping that these two batsmen will get themselves out. Their lines and lengths have not been what should be expected of a test attack. Only Stuart Broad has had the batsmen under any sort of pressure.

Stumps, Day 1: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 5-0

This pitch is not as easy to bat on as these two are making it look. I was watching the majority of that hour from square of the wicket, and the bounce was variable.

First drinks, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 5-1

England finally found a way through this partnership. It's the third largest partnership against England in New Zealand, and the third largest 2nd wicket partnership at Eden Park.

Final drinks, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 7-2

Southee batting at 8 doesn't make much sense when a team is trying to save a match. In a situation like this, however, it's a great move. He has taken the game to England, and New Zealand now have a respectable first innings score, and much faster than it was looking like.

Stumps, Day 2: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 8-2

Trent Boult picked up two wickets to make it well and truely New Zealand's day. England will need to bat well tomorrow.

First drinks, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 9-2

Boult and Southee were in Sri Lanka form this morning. They looked unstopable. England are in serious trouble now.

Lunch, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 10-2

20 runs in the hour. While Wagner and Martin didn't make the breakthrough, they certainly kept things tight.

Tea, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 10-3

England were looking very good there until Prior made a bad call and played a shot that he will regret. New Zealand now have one end open with the new ball.

Change of innings, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 11-3

Trent Boult and Tim Southee finished off the tail. Boult was probably unlucky that Southee dismissed Root at the end, as he would have probably backed himself to pick up Monty fairly quickly and turn 6 into 7. McCullum chose not to enforce the follow on, which seems the right decision to me. It means he gets to chose the heavy roller twice, he gets to give his bowlers a rest and he isn't going to have to bat last on a potentially deteriorating pitch. I'd expect this pitch to take some real turn on the last day and a half.

Final drinks, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 11-4

What a disastrous start by New Zealand. Anderson and Borad have combined to leave New Zealand in tatters. England have a serious sniff now. Perhaps McCullum made the wrong call.

Stumps, Day 3: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 11-5

New Zealand see out the day, but what was their day suddenly took a dive at the end. Still New Zealand are in a stronger place at the end of the day than at the start of it. 11 wickets fell again today. This is starting to look very interesting.

First drinks, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 12-5

Fulton and Brownlie made some steady progress in the morning. They have gone close to getting New Zealand to safety. Probably New Zealand want about another 80 runs before a lunchtime declaration.

Lunch, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 13-5

With Fulton into the 90s, a lunchtime declaration is now probably off the cards. Perhaps once he gets to 100 it will be time to head back?

Middle drinks, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 14-5

McCullum took a lot longer to declare than I was expecting, but it might have been due to the runs being so easy to score this morning. The fear that one English batsman would "do an Astle" is probably too strong. Cook is likely to be criticized for his tactics in that hour, but they were sensible, given the situation.

Tea, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 15-5

An early breakthrough, and England are looking shaky now. They need a big partnership.

Stumps, Day 4: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 17-5

The thought that Kane Williamson would have provided the vital breakthroughs at the end of the day was quite surprising, but he certainly bowled well. Cook looked furious at himself, while Finn looked like a wicket waiting to happen.

First drinks, Day 5: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 17-6

Solid batting from Root and Bell. New Zealand really need a wicket before lunch, so they can bowl at new batsmen with the new ball.

Lunch, Day 5: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 18-6

The wicket came with the first delivery of the new ball. And there could have been more. First Bairstow survived an lbw shout that turned out to be very close, and then both batsmen were dropped off Boult's second over with the new ball. The big question now is if they will make the most of their lives.

Middle drinks, Day 5: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 18-7

England make steady progress through the day, but New Zealand chip out another one. Prior is living dangerously. His 20 has come off 24 balls, and has included a couple of top edges, some playing and missing, and two very close umpiring calls.

Tea, Day 5: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 18-7

It had started to look like these two were going to see it out, but then Wagner removed Southee to complete the session, and now the impetus is back with New Zealand.

Final drinks, Day 5: New Zealand lead the mini-session count 18-8

Superb from Prior and Broad. This is a big innings for Broad in particular. He has been talked up as a batsman for a long time, here is a chance for him to deliver.

Stumps, Day 5: The match is drawn, but New Zealand take the mini-session count 19-8

A thrilling end, even if somewhat of a let down for the home-town supporters. There was an older gentleman, probably in his late 70's or early 80's sitting a couple of seats along from me. When Anderson was dismissed he was up out of his chair, waving his hand above his head and shouting. No sport creates emotion like a test match. In the end New Zealand didn't do quite enough to win the match. They will rue the dropped catches, as well as the ball hitting Prior's stumps, but not knocking the bails off.

England will probably be more relieved than proud of their effort. Prior stood out like a sore thumb amongst his compatriots, while New Zealand had a number of candidates for an internal man of the match. It's a match that will live on in the memories of everyone who was fortunate enough to have watched it.