England have done it. Monty Panersar span Michael Vaughan’s side to their first series win abroad for three years, against THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD. Wait…no, hold on cut, cut, I’ll go again.
England have won their first series abroad for three years, with Monty Panesar taking 6 wickets in the final innings. Michael Vaughan’s side made it difficult for themselves again, but when Ryan Sidebottom beat the immaculate defence of Chris Martin, the celebrations took over.
Vaughan was quick to highlight the need for improvement. And he’s right. New Zealand are astonishingly weak, possibly the worst test side (bar Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) for 20 years. The Kiwi’s should get hammered in England, and that’s no understatement. Of course, there is no guarantee that this will happen, especially when England are involved.
They somehow contrived to go 1-0 down in this series, but after a commendable fightback (polite way of saying it’s about time) they take the momentum into the return series in a months time. New Zealand on the other hand have little to cling to. Stephen Fleming is gone, and against Sidebottom and Broad in early summer the likes of Matthew Bell and Matthew Sinclair are going to find it very tough. At least Ross Taylor and Tim Southee provide glittering lights in the distance.
England got off to a slow start, and at 4-3 in the first innings everything was going wrong. Enter Kevin Pietersen, who produced 129, arguable his best knock in an England shirt. His were the only meaningful runs in a poor all round display. Sidebottom then continued his fine tour, taking 7-47 as the Kiwi’s were rolled over for just 168.
Two more centurions in Englands second innings. Andrew Strauss, batting for his career, supplied 177, in a calm knock. He shared a stand of 180 with Ian Bell, who hit his way to 110 – his first century for 20 innings. Both went some way to securing their immediate test futures, although not against the hardest opposition.
Having been set 553, on a wicket which had flattened out considerably, Bell, Fleming and Taylor all hit half-centuries. However none of them went on, and after Tim Southee had smashed 9 sixes in 77 not out, New Zealand had come up 120 short, with Panersar the hero.
“We’ve still got work to be done, but don’t underestimate what we’ve achieved here,” Vaughan said. “We were 1-0 down, we’ve not won a series for a long while, and we’ve beaten a New Zealand team that’s quite difficult to beat at home. It’s been a real hard-fought series. We’ve had to show an immense amount of character to come back, and a lot of individual players have had to show their strength of character as well.”
