New Zealand fights and then capitulates. Again.

The New Zealand cricket team found themselves in a familiar situation on Saturday evening following the conclusion of the first test against England at Lords. The Kiwis were annihilated once again having fought had for the best part of three days against a far more experienced and skilful outfit.

New Zealand’s batsman was once again the prime culprits of yet another New Zealand capitulation after the New Zealand seamers had placed the Kiwis in a strong position to win the test. Neither New Zealand openers could pass double figures which left a very fragile middle order exposed to a fired-up Jimmy Anderson and rejuvenated Stuart Broad.

Too much was left to Ross Taylor, New Zealand’s best batsmen, who, despite making an aggressive 66 in the first innings, could only keep out one ball in the 2^nd innings when his country needed him most. Kiwi prodigy Kane Williamson showed grit in the 1^st innings but like Taylor his ticker was nowhere to be seen when Broad and Anderson were running riot.

One shining light for the Kiwis was Tim Southee who finished the game with a career high 10 wickets. Southee exploited the early season conditions of Lords to aplomb pitching the ball up at pace and nipping the ball away from the right hander. Having become just the second New Zealander to take a 10 wicket haul at Lords, Southee has well and truly established himself as the driving force behind New Zealand’s attempt to rise from a lowly eighth on the World Rankings table.

Neil Wagner and Trent Boult provided able support for Southee and in helpful conditions both will cause England’s top order headaches at Leeds. However it remains to be seen whether these two are the bowlers to carry New Zealand forward in less bowler-friendly conditions.

 It appeared from the outset that the New Zealand middle order would be no match against a rampant English bowling attack fine-tuning themselves for the upcoming Ashes series in July. The stats don’t lie either - only one Kiwi batsman has a test batting average above 40. For New Zealand to be competitive at Leeds players such as Dean Brownlie, Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson must bat way beyond their average and be extremely resilient against Anderson and Broad. More importantly though it will be vital that Hamish Rutherford and Peter Fulton see out the new ball at Leeds, because once Anderson and Broad get a sniff of the Kiwi middle order, New Zealand will be leaving Heathrow in the blink of an eye.

Lords proved to us yet again that the New Zealand cricket team is tough and dogged but simply short of class against the world’s best. We learnt that Southee is a bonafide fast bowler, Wagner and Boult can cause mayhem and Taylor and Williamson can hold their own against good bowling attacks but yet again we were shown that when the opposition find their mojo New Zealand capitulates.