Jonny Bairstow led the way for England as a seven-wicket success sealed the series in Christchurch
Here is Vithushan Ehantharajah’s report from Hagley Oval:
Related: Jonny Bairstow blasts England to ODI series triumph in New Zealand
Ben Stokes finishes with an explosive 26 off 18 balls, Joe Root with a sedate 23 off 37. And Ish Sodhi, who has had a pretty good series, is left nursing figures of 7.4-0-78-1. He was shredded by Jonny Bairstow, who made his fourth and most destructive hundred in this format, and was well supported by Alex Hales, back from the wilderness with a punchy 60. With the ball, Chris Woakes was superb again, but the Man of the Match award was only ever going to Bairstow.
Next week, he may find himself back at No.7 in the Test side. Which is a nonsense, isn’t it? Especially when two of the six above him are fringe players at best. Alastair Cook has been looking for a partner for a long time now, and Bairstow fits the bill in terms of personality (more assertive than Cook), which hand he uses (right), and experience (plenty, but not too much). Let Ben Foakes keep wicket for now, with Jos Buttler in contention in the summer. As they once did with Alec Stewart, England are wasting a top batsman by lumbering him with the gloves.
Ben Stokes does his best to get caught, offering two chances, both missed, and then thumping a four and a six to round things off in style. England win the match with no fewer than 104 balls to spare, and the series by 3-2.
31st over: England 213-3 (Root 21, Stokes 12) Stokes is in a hurry, Root less so. Sodhi finally strings together a couple of dots, whereupon Stokes makes room to carve him for four, and only gets two as the ball meets the bottom of the bat.
More importantly, an email has come in. Take it away, Jerry Clode. “It is a meme - from Nick Compton, a YouTuber at the Team Ten House (Jake Paul), Nick’s one-liner in the music video ‘it’s everyday bro’.” Thanks! Though I’m not much the wiser.
30th over: England 209-3 (Root 20, Stokes 9) Santner enforces sobriety, again. Only 15 needed now.
29th over: England 205-3 (Root 17, Stokes 8) As if Sodhi hasn’t taken enough punishment, Stokes decides to tee off and deposit him in the crowd, where, at last, a catch is taken.
28th over: England 196-3 (Root 15, Stokes 1) Just three singles off Santner’s over. In the crowd, a young boy squints into the sunshine and holds up a handwritten placard saying “England is my city”. Is this a meme?
27th over: England 193-3 (Root 13, Stokes 0) Morgan brings out the reverse sweep, for a top-edgy two, and the orthodox sweep, for a much more convincing four. And then he holes out, as something finally goes right for poor de Grandhomme.
A grandiose pull, and a grand catch by de Grandhomme, diving to his right on the square-leg boundary.
26th over: England 186-2 (Root 12, Morgan 2) Santner continues and gets not one but two lbw shouts against Morgan, both of them optimistic. With 1-33 off seven overs, Santner has been respectable with the ball as well as admirable with the bat.
25th over: England 184-2 (Root 11, Morgan 1) Southee returns, and Root stands tall and pulls him for four. That’s the half-way stage, but something tells me this innings isn’t going the distance: only 40 needed now.
24th over: England 177-2 (Root 5, Morgan 0) So we have two new batsmen at the wicket – but also two England captains, and the one in charge here, Eoin Morgan, is playing his 200th one-day international (177 for England, 23 for Ireland). Tactful of Hales to have given him a go.
Another one! Hales’s slog-sweep picks out the man at midwicket, who almost keels over but clings on. The collapse is on.
23rd over: England 175-1 (Hales 60, Root 4) A regal pull for four from Hales off Boult, murdered through midwicket. Joe Root may well finish on nine not out here.
22nd over: England 166-1 (Hales 54, Root 1) With the main man gone, the sidekick steps up. Hales sweeping Santner for four, then cutting him for four more and going to fifty. It’s been sober but effective.
21st over: England 157-1 (Hales 45, Root 1) Not content with making a mockery of the match, Bairstow gets out in a way that will be long remembered in pub quizzes. And in comes Joe Root, with England needing two and a half runs per over. Not even they can blow this one, can they?
He’s been hitting everything so well, and now he has hit his own wicket – making room to swish, and clipping leg stump. So off he goes after making 104 off 60 balls. Somewhere up above the blue South Island sky, his dad, David, is beaming with pride.
20th over: England 151-0 (Bairstow 100, Hales 44) And Williamson turns ... to de Grandhomme, which is certainly bold. Another freebie down the leg side presents Bairstow with four, and a glide through the vacant slip brings him the single he needs for a fabulous hundred, off only 58 balls. His tally of 14 boundaries is the same as the whole NZ team managed earlier today. It’s been ruthless, and flawless.
19th over: England 143-0 (Bairstow 95, Hales 41) After 69 runs from eight overs, spin at both ends may have to be adjudged less than a complete success. Williamson sends for Boult, who cannot turn the tide, conceding nine. And that’s drinks, with Bairstow scoring more than twice as fast as the bigger and more experienced Hales. He has turned the game into a fine spectacle and a hopeless contest.
18th over: England 134-0 (Bairstow 89, Hales 40) Williamson keeps faith with Sodhi, and Bairstow makes him pay, almost sadistically, with slogs for six, six, two and six. His 89 has come off 51 balls. One man went to mow. And England need only another 90.
17th over: England 112-0 (Bairstow 67, Hales 40) Santner restores order by conceding only three, like a man out for a walk with his dog, putting a broken bottle in a bin, in the middle of a riot.
16th over: England 109-0 (Bairstow 66, Hales 38) “Sleep?” says Jonny Bairstow. “What’s that?” He goes down on one knee and slog-sweeps Sodhi for six, then rocks back and pulls him for six more. That’s 17 off the over, and Bairstow has a satisfying 66 off 44. What is poor old Williamson going to do about it?
15th over: England 92-0 (Bairstow 52, Hales 35) Hales, facing Santner, top-edges a sweep for two. The game is in danger of going to sleep, and it is not alone.
14th over: England 88-0 (Bairstow 51, Hales 32) Bairstow pushes Sodhi into the gap at point, and that’s his fifty off only 38 balls – excellent stuff, radiating confidence. Hales is less assured against Sodhi, failing to pick the googly – but sod’s law sees to it that the ball still squirts away for three leg byes.
13th over: England 82-0 (Bairstow 49, Hales 31) Santner settles down, conceding four singles. Williamson’s problem is that that’s all England need.
12th over: England 78-0 (Bairstow 47, Hales 29) Spin at both ends as Ish Sodhi comes on with his leg-breaks. He’s been taking wickets but going for more runs than the other frontline spinners, and although he finds turn here, the batsmen also find the gaps.
11th over: England 74-0 (Bairstow 44, Hales 28) Time for some spin, from Santner, and Bairstow tucks in, lofting his first ball over short extra’s head for four. Hales follows up with a sweep for another four. England’s openers have 13 boundaries, one fewer than the whole NZ team. Can someone please take a hat-trick?
10th over: England 65-0 (Bairstow 39, Hales 24) Southee to Hales... and it’s a maiden. A triumph of sorts, achieved by bowling as Woakes did earlier, with our old friends line’n’length.
9th over: England 65-0 (Bairstow 39, Hales 24) It’s just not de Grandhomme’s day. He carries on drifting down leg, and Bairstow helps himself to two clips for four and a straightish six. Bairstow has 39 off only 28 balls, and is doing his best to turn a great series into a grisly mismatch.
8th over: England 49-0 (Bairstow 24, Hales 23) Southee returns, gets cut for four by Hales, and retorts with an appeal for lbw that is loud, if not convincing – high on the thigh, and going down. Time for Williamson to make something happen.
7th over: England 44-0 (Bairstow 23, Hales 19) de Grandhomme continues, giving me the chance, as one who shares his middle name, not to give him a capital D at the start of a sentence (your name doesn’t go lower-case in mid-sentence, does it?). Hales gets another freebie on his legs and glances it for four more. “As it stands,” says Nasser Hussain, “it’s a walk in the park for England.” Come on, curse of the commentator, you know when you’re needed.
6th over: England 40-0 (Bairstow 23, Hales 15) Bairstow eases Boult through the covers again, for three this time, which leads Williamson to take his slip out. “He can’t let this drift,” says a Kiwi commentator. To be fair, the many catches we’ve seen today have come everywhere but the slips. Bairstow, seeing more men in the ring, just clears them, with an off drive that verges on the imperious.
5th over: England 29-0 (Bairstow 14, Hales 14) Kane Williamson springs a surprise by turning to Colin de Grandhomme, whose burly military medium has done well here in Tests. He owes his team-mates one after holing out earlier, but he fails to spot that fine leg is up, and offers Hales a gift on leg stump which is duly flicked for four. England now have five boundaries, a third as many as NZ managed in their whole innings.
4th over: England 24-0 (Bairstow 13, Hales 10) Bairstow stands tall and creams Boult through cover point, in the style of his mate Joe Root. A cover push brings two more, there’s a leg bye, and then Hales decides he fancies that square boundary too, driving without much in the way of foot movement. NZ need a wicket badly.
3rd over: England 13-0 (Bairstow 7, Hales 6) Bairstow gets a thick inside edge for a couple off Southee, then plays a better shot, a whippy front-foot pull, for only a single, because Mitchell Santner, the man of the moment, gets a hand to it.
2nd over: England 9-0 (Bairstow 4, Hales 5) Trent Boult gets some swing too, but it’s inswing into Alex Hales’s toes, crying out for a crisp clip through midwicket. The New Zealanders found the boundary only 14 times in 299 balls; England have already managed it twice in 12.
1st over: England 4-0 (Bairstow 4, Hales 0) Tim Southee, who has been in poor form, opens up to Jonny Bairstow, who has just made 138. And, cricket being what it is, Southee is instantly on top, finding some swing, and conceding runs only to a rather rickety chip that barely clears the man at point. New Zealand, by the way, have played eight one-dayers at this ground, and won the lot, possibly because their guests were distracted by the loveliness of it all.
From Simon McMahon. “Scotland, yes Scotland, appearing not once but twice on the list of top 10 totals at the Hagley Oval there, and in joint first too. That’s worth a mint julep, right?” It is. And it’s probably what swung it for Scott McTominay.
Well, that was a funny innings. At first, the New Zealanders seemed to be under the impression that the Test series had begun, pottering along at three an over. When they tried to get a move on against the spinners, the flightless birds turned into headless chickens. But then Santner joined Nicholls and it was suddenly a different game, perfectly viable, with calm accumulation giving way to judicious hitting. And then England bit back at the end, with Curran making things happen, as he does, and Woakes reminding everyone who’s been the bowler of the series.
This whole contest has been so deliciously well-matched, I’m almost hoping for a classic England wobble now. Without it, they should cruise to victory, but those words alone may ensure that they don’t. See you after the midnight feast.
Sodhi goes for a mow that is not so much a skyer, more a skyscraper. When it finally returns to earth, it lands in the safe hands of Ben Stokes. Joe Root had just dropped one, but it made no difference.
49th over: New Zealand 218-9 (Sodhi 2, Boult 1) So that makes two wickets in Woakes’s over, and he finishes with figures of 10-1-32-3: top of the class again.
Southee goes outside off, picks it up nicely over square leg, thinks he’s got six, but Bairstow scuttles round the boundary and plucks it out of the air with one hand, like a dad showing off with a frisbee on the beach.
The man who’s never out has just got out. Woakes digs it in, Santner hooks, Hales takes a good catch running in from deep square, and Santner’s average for the series plummets to 108.
48th over: New Zealand 213-7 (Santner 67, Southee 10) Curran foxes Santner so successfully with a slower ball that he immediately tries another, which is mullered for six. Southee joins in with a slog for four, and the over goes for 14. That’s what NZ needed.
47th over: New Zealand 199-7 (Santner 58, Southee 5) After a few good overs for the batsmen, the immaculate Woakes returns and restricts them to five off that one. He’s like the kid at school who was a goody-goody, but no one called him that because he was so nice.
46th over: New Zealand 194-7 (Santner 55, Southee 2) Curran bowls a yorker and Santner beltsit straight for a four that takes him to another fifty. After coming in with his team in awful trouble, he has calmly found the boundary more times than anyone else (five, one better than Guptill). His average in this series is now 204.
45th over: New Zealand 186-7 (Santner 49, Southee 1) So Santner survives, and he scrambles a couple of twos off Stokes. Are England letting NZ off the hook here?
slight technical hitch as my television has just switched itself off. Luckily Tim de Lisle is primed to take over and I leave you in his very capable hands. Thank you for your time and correspondence.
For run out, against Santner, but it’s not out. Which is handy because he’s the one making a game of it.
44th over: New Zealand 178-7 (Santner 43, Southee 0) Curran makes the breakthrough just as this New Zealand pair were taking the team towards respectability. Nicholls is furious wiht himself
So it’s farewell after a nice little innings from Nicholls, who top-edges to Morgan in the covers
43rd over: New Zealand 175-6 (Nicholls 52, Santner 41) New Zealand start to ramp it up here: 7 overs left and risks to be taken. Both batsmen try to outwit Stokes by sidestepping the stumps whilst sending the ball the other way. A wide is not wide.
42nd over: New Zealand 171-6 (Nicholls 52, Santner 39) Seven from Curran’s second over as this partnership begins to push over into slighty frustrating for England. Santner carves Curran through the covers for four, most ploughmanlike.
41st over: New Zealand 164-6 (Nicholls 50, Santner 34) Nicholls moves onto his fifty, his sixth ODI half-century, a patient effort. A quick single off the last ball and a direct hit by Root is referred to the third umpire. Not out.
40th over: New Zealand 160-6 (Nicholls 48, Santner 32) Tom Curran at last, but only when there’s not so much to prove. Santner pulls him off his hip for four and then nudges him again hipward for a couple. Nine off the over. Ten to go.
39th over: New Zealand 151-6 (Nicholls 47, Santner 24) Woakes comes back and proves nearly as difficult to get away as he did in his excellent opening spell. A top edge from Santner brings up the New Zealand 150.
38th over: New Zealand 146-6 (Nicholls 44, Santner 22) Six! Another dropped catch in the crowd as Santner hoops Root over the deep midwicket boundary. An entertaining and enterprising little partnership budding between these two.
37th over: New Zealand 135-6 (Nicholls 35, Santner 20) A ball from Wood loops high over Nicholls’ head but is not called wide; he swings wildly at the next but just misses a thin edge.
The players take a drinks break - can New Zealand rescue themselves from here? You can’t really believe so.
36th over: New Zealand 133-6 (Nicholls 34, Santner 19) It looks like you could be right John, Morgan brings on not Curran but Root, who concedes four off his over. England are flying through their overs here.
35th over: New Zealand 129-6 (Nicholls 31, Santner 18) Wood keeps it tight and tidy and New Zealand manage to squeeze only a single from the over. I wonder if Trump and Kim-Jong might try dot balls as conversation opener.
34th over: New Zealand 128-6 (Nicholls 30, Santner 18) Six! Santner goes high straight and long to Moeen and hits into the crowd - bootiful - where a man in a flower pot hat fails spectaculary to get his hand to it. That’s Moeen’s ten overs done, 1-39. Good work.
33rd over: New Zealand 120-6 (Nicholls 29, Santner 12) Wood returns, New Zealand battle onward and the crowd look into their picnics and see if they remembered to bring any hope.
“Hello again,” says John Davies. “I get the feeling that were this a village cricket match the captain would be popping over to Tom Curran at the end of the over to let him know he’d be batting 5 to make up for not bowling this weekend.” That’s empathy John.
32nd over: New Zealand 116-6 (Nicholls 26, Santner 11) Six from Moeen’s over as New Zealand squirm and quarry some desperate runs. This is the 19th over of spin in a row.
31st over: New Zealand 110-6 (Nicholls 24, Santner 7) A duff bit of fielding by Bairstow, who can’t get his hand to the ball at cover and then falls over chasing, followed by a long-hop which is whalloped for four by Santner spoils Rashid’s figures rather, but still an excellent bowling spell and a good tournament. 10-0-42-3
30th over: New Zealand 102-6 (Nicholls 21, Santner 2) Hundred up! Nicholls and Santner driving and pushing and attempting to go inside out but still only three off Moeen’s over.
29th over: New Zealand 98-6 (Nicholls 18, Santner 1) Quick thinking from Santner stops him being run out at the non-strikers end after Rashid gets his fingers to a drive from Nicholls. Rashid has 3 for 34 off his nine overs. Most excellent.
28th over: New Zealand 95-6 (Nicholls 16, Santner 0) Tight, tight, tight from Moeen, with just a single from the over.
27th over: New Zealand 94-6 (Nicholls 15, Santner 0) Rashid is flumoxing New Zealand here, first de Grandhomme couldn’t resist his wiles, then with his last ball a bemused Santer misses the ball and keeps it out with his elbow.
A huge heave at a flighted delivery by de Grandhomme is caught by Curran on his knees at long on
26th over: New Zealand 90-5 (Nicholls 13, de Grandhomme 4) Just two off Moeen’s over - this should be giving him some confidence ahead of the Test series.
25th over: New Zealand 88-5 (Nicholls 12, de Grandhomme 3) Nicholls sweeps Rashid’s googly and top edges but the ball falls just short of the fielder running back from fine-leg. At the halfway stage, New Zealand are stuggling in a big way as the England spinners whizz through their overs.
24th over: New Zealand 86-5 (Nicholls 11, de Grandhomme 2) A lofted straight drive from Nicholls who does a quick-step down the pitch at Moeen before confidently going onto the attack for a morale-boosting boundary.
23rd over: New Zealand 80-5 (Nicholls 6, de Grandhomme 1) A very tasty over from Rashid. A hearty appeal against Nicholls, who is bewitched by the googly, but it pitches outside leg.
22nd over: New Zealand 79-5 (Nicholls 6, de Grandhomme 0) A maiden from Moeen.
21st over: New Zealand 79-5 (Nicholls 6, de Grandhomme 0) ARashid leg-break whalloped for SIX by Guptill over extra-cover; Rashid tempts him again and Guptill can’t resist.
The decision went upstairs, Guptill creams the ball at Ben Stokes who gathers the ball close to the ground. Guptill doesn’t wait for the umpire’s decision, but relies on Stokes’ word.
20th over: New Zealand 70-4 (Guptil 40, Nicholls 4) A sweep, a cut from Guptill who is flirting with danger here against Moeen, but who has found a sense of urgency as his partners drop about him.
19th over: New Zealand 67-4 (Guptil 38, Nicholls 3) Guptill keeping the flag flying here for New Zealand as Rashid alternates between flight and flat fancy.
18th over: New Zealand 62-4 (Guptil 35, Nicholls 1) You have to feel for Chapman, out goes Ross Taylor 181 not out, in comes Chapman for an inelegant duck. New Zealand continue their run of miserable starts, this more miserable than most.
A team of Colins from Ian Forth: “(Aus), Munro (NZ), Cowdrey (Eng - cptn), Bland (SA), Milburn (Eng), Ingram (SA - wkpr), de Grandomme (NZ), Croft (WI), Blythe (Eng), Miller (Aus), Stuart (WI)“
Good heavens! A three ball duck from Chapman who moves both feet to the side of the stumps, in very helpful way, and plays down completely the wrong line.
17th over: New Zealand 60-3 (Guptil 34, Chapman 0 ) Latham had just swept Rashid rather nicely before attempting a mid-wicket flick where Stokes took an easy catch. Not an easy time for Chapman to make his entrance.
Flick to midwicket, easy catch for Stokes
16th over: New Zealand 56-2 (Guptil 33, Latham 7) Morgan mixing it up here, Moeen replaces Stokes after two overs. Fifty up for New Zealand, Guptil leg-cuts for four.
15th over: New Zealand 48-2 (Guptil 26, Latham 6) Guptill not quite picking Rashid here, who is mixing it up. Three off the over. Latham’s highest score was at this ground against Bangladesh.
14th over: New Zealand 45-2 (Guptil 24, Latham 5) A tight over from Stokes, aggressive as always.
Ah, a lovely cup of tea has just arrived.
13th over: New Zealand 41-2 (Guptil 22, Latham 4) A double bowling change, Rashid replaces the excellent Woakes (6-1-13-1). Latham tries to whip away Rashid’s last delivery, ball hits the pads, and Rashid tries a quarter-hearted appeal.
12th over: New Zealand 38-2 (Guptil 20, Latham 3) Stokes replaces Wood (5 overs, 1-18) in the town of his birth. A first-ball early-morning loosener shipped to the boundary by Guptill.
11th over: New Zealand 31-2 (Guptil 14, Latham 2) A near perfect final delivery from Woakes misses the edge of Latham’s bat by less than a whisper.
“Hearty congratulations to John Davies,” writes Tom, “Milburn and Cowdrey are indeed the other Colins to play in tandem. (Albeit with Cowdrey secretly being called Michael.)“
10th over: New Zealand 27-2 (Guptil 11, Latham 1) A boundary at last - Williamson opens the face to send the ball spinning away - two balls later he’s gone, chopping on to a clever Wood delivery. With no Taylor to come, New Zealand are in trouble here.
A change of angle flumoxes Williamson who chops on to leg stump.
9th over: New Zealand 21-1 (Guptil 10, Williamson 10) If Woakes were a footballer, he’d be a superstar: excellence, grace, looks, attitude. A run off his final ball prevents a maiden, a cut behind square by Williamson is cut off by Morgan. The current run rate is 2.19.
8th over: New Zealand 19-1 (Guptil 10, Williamson 8) Tighter than tight here by Wood, who is changing his angle and his length to drill New Zealand to the crease. Just a single from the over as the batsmen continue to hold their breath.
7th over: New Zealand 18-1 (Guptil 10, Williamson 7) More tight bowling here by the excellent Woakes, this time a maiden. Guptill tries to break free but can’t prick the circle.
“Hello Tanya, hello Tom,” writes the very polite John Davies. “Evening everyone else I don’t know the names of.
6th over: New Zealand 18-1 (Guptil 10, Williamson 7) It feels like something is bubbling about despite this cautious start: Guptill cracked on the visor by some extra bounce by Wood; next ball he flails hastily.
5th over: New Zealand 15-1 (Guptil 8, Williamson 6) Three from Woakes first ball as Williamson leans into the shot and sends the ball down the ground. Woakes’ extra-bounce troubling Guptil.
4th over: New Zealand 11-1 (Guptil 7, Williamson 3) Just a single from Mark Wood’s second over as New Zealand cautiously set out their stall. They know it is a good batting pitch and they know how much England like to chase.
“Hello Tanya! “ writes Tom Bowtell.
3rd over: New Zealand 10-1 (Guptil 7, Williamson 1) Tight from Woakes, just two from the over. The overhead television pictures make the Hagley Oval look like the most perfectly iced cake, surrounded by a generous circle of hundreds and thousands. What a glorious looking place. Wouldn’t it be lovely if there was a Test ground in England where children could sit on the grass and play when they got bored.
2nd over: New Zealand 8-1 (Guptil 6, Williamson 1) A steady first over by Wood. A classy straight drive by Williamson speeds over the closely cropped outfield to the boundary sending Woakes on an admirable wild goose chase.
1st over: New Zealand 1-1 (Guptill 1, Williamson 0) An action-packed first over:a shy at the stumps by Hales from the first ball, the wicket, then Guptill nearly played on to the last ball.
Good catch by Butler off a top edge from Munro. Woakes strikes early again.
New Zealand are undefeated here but England must walk out favourites with Taylor on the sidelines. Blue sky, fluffy clouds - here we go.
“Evening Tanya,” says Simon McMahon. “Sofa for me tonight, trying desperately to resist the lure of red wine, mint julep or gin fizz. Might need one if I manage to stay up to the end, the way this series has gone. Who was it who said “I can resist everything except temptation”?
It was Oscar Wilde Simon, at least that’s what google told me. Here is a Wilde cricket link piece.
A typical Christchurch pitch: might be a little in it first up, says Williamson, but expect it to be true - a corker for batsmen who settle. A very good crowd are gathering in all The Hagley Oval’s gorgeous greenness to see it.
As a by the by, I’d love to hear from you as you totter in from a Friday night spent on the razz, or on the sofa, but please email rather than tweet as I’ve forgotten my twitter password.
It looks a beautiful day in Christchurch. England win the toss and will bowl. Kane Williamson says he would have done the same. “The pitch looks really good,” says Morgan, who fancies a chase. New Zealand replace the injured Taylor with Mark Chapman. Alex Hales replaces Jason Roy who has gone down with a back spasm. It’s a big chance for Hales, who has had a miserable few weeks after rejecting red ball cricket: he lost his place in the ODI side and missed out in the IPL and CPL auctions.
“A massive loss, looks like they’re going to replace him with a man averaging 4.5” says Rob Key, in the SKy studio, with a big smile on his face.
Reports from Christchurch have Ross Taylor OUT of the deciding ODI - a huge boost for English hopes.
And so here we are, the final ODI – and what a humdinger series it has been: this way, that way, all-over-the-way, flying run-outs, absurd catches, superlative batting, stomach-constricting finishes.
The circus sets up its final big top at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval – the lovely ground that emerged from its own former shadow after the 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people and left Lancaster Park in ruins.
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