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Medium pacer Kyle Mills took a superb 4 for 16 in 13 overs which saw England crash to a paltry 110 in their chase of 300 on the final day of the first Test at Hamilton. One of the major highlights of this opening Test at Seddon Park was the hat-trick taken by left armer Ryan Sidebottom during the fourth day’s play.
The home side batted first after winning the toss and had posted a healthy first innings total of 470. New Zealand’s emerging batting star Ross Taylor notched up his maiden Test Match hundred. Coming in at no.4, Taylor top scored with 120 (from 235 balls with 18 fours). Opener Jamie How had kept one end intact for the Kiwis at the start with 92 (from 180 balls with 11 fours). Lower down the order, all rounders – Brendon McCullum (51 from 55 with 5 fours and 2 sixes) and Daniel Vettori (88 from 134 with 11 fours and a six) chipped in with half centuries. For England, Sidebottom worked hard with 4 for 90 in nearly 35 overs while Hoggard and Harmison had got thrashed for plenty of runs! Monty Panesar too didn’t find much success as well.
England in their reply were too over cautious in their approach which saw them concede a huge 122-run lead despite batting for 173.1 overs! The Skipper himself had to be blamed for the effort with Michael Vaughan making 63 in 177 balls. Vaughan had shared an opening stand of 84 with left hander Alastair Cook (38). All the English batsmen could get themselves a start but failed to convert them into big scores. All the batsmen including Kevin Pietersen (42 from 131) had got their runs at an extremely slow rate which didn’t put much pressure on the Kiwis. The top scorer of the innings for England in their total of 348 was Paul Collingwood, who made 66 from 182 balls. Debutant wicket keeper, Tim Ambrose made 55 (from 164 balls). All the five bowlers used by Vettori were amongst the wickets.
In their second innings, NZ were rocked by the hat-trick from Ryan Sidebottom but because of their healthy first innings lead, they were safely placed in the Test Match. Stephen Fleming was the top scorer for them in their total of 177 for 9 declared. The former Skipper made 66 in just 88 balls with the help of 7 fours and a six. Skipper Daniel Vettori once again played a crucial knock with the bat, this time scoring 35 which ensured that England had to chase 300 in a two and a half sessions in the final day’s play.
The match was looking to head towards a draw when England were about to begin their second innings. But at lunch, things changed dramatically as the visitors found themselves under pressure losing four wickets for hardly anything. In the next session, their remaining batsmen couldn’t handle the New Zealand bowling to surrender for a dismissive total of 110 in 55 overs. The damage was done by the new ball pair of Chris Martin (13-4-33-3) and Kyle Mills (13-4-16-4). The Man of the Match award went to the New Zealand Skipper for his all round performance.