Tim Southee lauds ‘typical Kiwi scrapping’ after stunning New Zealand Test win
The hosts beat England by one run after being made to follow-on at Wellington’s Basin Reserve
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.New Zealand captain Tim Southee offered a masterclass in understatement after seeing his side stage one of Test cricket’s most improbable comebacks against England, thanking “typical Kiwi scrapping” for the result.
Just before lunch on day three at Wellington’s Basin Reserve, the Black Caps were down and out – bowled out for 209 with a first-innings deficit of 226.
They were immediately asked to follow-on by England skipper Ben Stokes, but proceeded to drag themselves back from the brink to secure a jaw-dropping one-run victory deep on day five.
Having made 483 in their second attempt they set the tourists 258 to win and bowled them out in heart-pounding drama for 256.
In doing so, Southee became just the fourth man in Test history to lead a side to victory after following on.
“I imagine it’ll be a Test match that’s talked about for a long time,” was his modest assessment.
“Only a handful of sides have come back from the follow-on to win. Once it digests, the guys will soak it up.
I imagine it’ll be a Test match that’s talked about for a long time.
“The guys have shown great character in the last few days. They stayed calm. If we’d walked off and shaken hands and it wasn’t good enough, it wasn’t good enough.
“But the openers stood up in the second innings, so did Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson, Tom Blundell…it was a typical scrapping Kiwi effort.”
While the turnaround would not have been possible without Williamson’s headliner knock of 132, for which he was named player of the match, nobody fought harder when the result was on the line than Neil Wagner.
The 36-year-old left-arm quick had a poor game in the first Test but roared back like a champion.
He dismissed Ben Stokes and Joe Root in the space of four balls to end what looked a winning stand from the middle-order pair and also caught Ben Foakes at fine-leg with seven runs needed.
And it was Wagner who finished things off, slanting one into James Anderson’s pads and taking a feather off the bat on the way through to the wicketkeeper.
“It says everything about him as a character and a cricketer. He doesn’t give up,” Southee said.
“It’s in his DNA to keep giving to this team and we saw that and how valuable he can be. We trusted his best method and he was able to come in and change the game in this last session, like he has done for a long period of time, by doing that.
“For him to come in and change the game there when it looked like Ben and Joe had almost taken it away from us was a massive part of this game and shows you the ticker that Neil’s got.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments