GUS Atkinson polished off New Zealand’s lower order to give England a comprehensive yet wholly unsatisfactory win on the fourth morning.
An up-and-down Lord’s pitch made batting so treacherous that a wicket fell every 24.9 balls, the quickest rate in a Test in England since 1907; 24 out of 40 dismissals were either bowled or lbw, while neither captain used a spinner.
At 55 for 5 overnight in pursuit of 254, New Zealand’s hopes of securing only their second Test win at Lord’s were almost academic and they were bowled out quickly enough that the Sunday crowd were entitled to 50 percent refunds on their tickets. Glenn Phillips counter-attacked but ran out of partners as Atkinson secured his fifth Test five-for – and a fourth at Lord’s.
Atkinson took the last three wickets to seal England’s win but it was Josh Tongue who struck first, pinning Tom Blundell lbw with a ball that kept low from a good length in the first full over of the day. Phillips was worked over early in his innings – he edged just short of slip, then inside-edged a lifter for four – and quickly realised there was little point hanging around.
He watched from the non-striker’s end as Devon Conway was put down by Harry Brook at second slip, then crashed two boundaries in one Ollie Robinson over. England reviewed an optimistic lbw shout when Tongue hit Phillips on the pad and the bounce remained wholly unpredictable, as evidenced when one ball from Atkinson exploded off a length to take the glove.
Conway looked a long way from the player who had piled on a double-hundred on Test debut here five years ago, struggling for rhythm as he battled hard to survive. His 53-run partnership with Phillips was the second-highest stand of the match, but ended tamely when he skewed Ben Stokes’ length ball into the gully, where Jacob Bethell took a sharp, low catch.
Atkinson then took over, overcoming a build-up interrupted by concussion to occasionally hit speeds of 90mph/145kph. He had Nathan Smith caught behind third ball, Kyle Jamieson chipping to short midwicket, and flattened Matt Henry’s middle stump as Phillips – whose 78 runs were the most in the match – got stuck at the non-striker’s end.
It extended Atkinson’s remarkable relationship with Lord’s. He took 12 wickets against West Indies to upstage James Anderson’s farewell on his debut two years ago, hit a hundred and took another five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka later that summer, and his latest five-for took his record at the ground to 26 wickets at 9.50 across six bowling innings.
