Black Cap admits wide should have been called

By Cameron McMillan

Black Caps wicketkeeper Tom Blundell has admitted the Black Caps were lucky to pull off their comeback second-test victory over England yesterday, saying the penultimate ball was a wide.

Blundell took the winning catch when England number 11 James Anderson got an edge down the leg side off the bowling of Neil Wagner — to give New Zealand a one-run win.

It is just the second time in 2494 tests that a game has been decided by one run. The Black Caps also became just the fourth team ever to win a test after having to follow-on after a disappointing first innings.

The ball before the Anderson dismissal by Wagner was a wide bouncer that looked unplayable but wasn’t called a wide by the umpires.

In the laws of cricket, law 22.1.2 states: “The ball will be considered as passing wide of the striker unless it is sufficiently within reach for him/her to be able to hit it with the bat by means of a normal cricket stroke.”

In test cricket however, bowlers get a lot more leniency when it comes to wides compared to ODIs or Twenty20s.

“It was probably definitely a wide, going on the replay. So a little bit lucky there,” Blundell told Newstalk ZB’s D’Arcy Waldegrave on Sportstalk. The next ball, Blundell dived low to his right to complete the remarkable comeback win.

“To finish it like that was pretty cool and to hang onto that catch was pretty special.

“What a game, you couldn’t ask for a better game really,” he added.

“Today was a funny one really. When we got Joe Root out that was the turning point. We always believed we could win but, but to win a game like that was bloody incredible.”

Blundell had a superb test behind the stumps, not conceding a bye despite standing up close to the wickets to keep pressure on the England batsmen. And his 90 in the second innings was part of a 158-run partnership with Kane Williamson which helped set the fourth-innings target for England, which proved just out of reach.

Wagner finished with 4-62 in the fourth innings, removing dangermen Ben Stokes and Joe Root, while also taking two late catches. Blundell said the left-armer was the man for the moment as he stepped up to take the final wicket.

“If you look at Waggy, he’s got a big heart. He’s made for those situations. He’s done it for us in the past a lot. He’s one guy you can chuck the ball to, and it showed today, he got up for it and played a big part in that win. He probably didn’t have the best test or the test before that but he’s always great to have in the team because he can pump out performances like that,” Blundell added.

The Wellingtonian who has previously walked home in his test whites from the Basin Reserve, had plenty of praise for the pitch that held up across all five days.

“A perfect test wicket. It’s probably spun more than at the Basin in the past. For a test wicket it was beautiful. Still had the pace and bounce throughout. Couldn’t have asked for a better wicket.”

The Black Caps next face Sri Lanka in a two-test series starting in Christchurch next Thursday.

“We take big confidence going into the next two tests against Sri Lanka coming up in the next week,” Blundell said.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission