Black dots for the Black Caps – 2005 tri-series finals between England and Australia at Lord’s. The match ended in a tie and Nasser Hussain on air laughed – This is like a win for England, because Australia won’t lose the final! Yes, those were the days. Coming to the theory of relativity, let’s talk about Kiwis – they don’t drop fish! Especially after such an amazing display in the last Test. But that’s why we say in cricket – 9 times out of 10, he would have taken the catch. Friday was one of those 10 incidents. In the third hour of the innings, Ben Duckett steered one off Nathan Smith straight to third slip – only to see Henry Nicholls do a bullet. He was at 8 then with England at 8/1, having just lost Emilio Gay earlier. Then, in the 21st over, Duckett managed one more. This time from the bowling of Mitchell Santner. For some reason, Daryl Mitchell was standing in a very wide, very uneven position. In normal circumstances, the ball would have gone straight there, in the normal spot, to his right. Because he was so wide, he couldn’t even put a finger on the ball. Duckett was 74 at this point, steady and dangerous – England were running at 120/1. Given the way the game played out, as England found out on Thursday, luck here is like Halley’s comet – very rare indeed. And if the opportunity comes and you miss it, you have to wait for years to come. Also, the non-New Zealanders, couldn’t find a way to stop the home team from scoring, which is surprising, given the way they pushed their hosts at The Oval. Has Matt Henry really missed out? Neither bowler looked spectacular and if the scores dropped in the final hour, it was largely because England pulled back the curtains to close it out. In addition, after being hit by striker Jofra Archer earlier in the day, Blair Tickner suffered a concussion and was ruled out of the game. New Zealand replaced Zakary Foulkes, but only time will tell how his replacement turned out.
