What an advert for Test Cricket

The England and New Zealand test match in Auckland came to a thrilling conclusion today with England holding on for a draw despite only having one wicket in tact. Tailender Monty Panesar had to survive for around 20 minutes with Matt Prior who hit a superb 110*. While his team-mates were going into the shells and defending, (i.e. Stuart Broad who took ) the English keeper scored at a brisk rate of 60 per 100 balls.

For New Zealand, they would be devastated after dominating most of the test. Perhaps Brendom McCullum left his declaration a little late yesterday, but its hard too lay too much blame on him. The commentators though made a comment at the end of New Zealand's innings on Day 4, that they wouldn't like to have England 9 down and run out of overs. ... Well, um, yeah...! I guess they turned out to have a pretty accurate crystal ball.

New Zealand deserve a lot of credit for the way they played in this match and the series overall. To hold the no.2 ranked side in test cricket to a 0-0 draw, and be only one wicket away from a series win is pretty fine achievement. This comes after New Zealand's disastrous showing in their last test series against South Africa. England meanwhile would be disappointed with their performance as they were heavy favourites to take the series. Their failure to do so means they lose ground on the no.1 ranked South Africans and fall back to the chasing pack of India and Australia. New Zealand are still 8th but gain ground on the 7th place West Indies.

The match today might have ended in a draw, but it was a match that highlighted the brilliance of test cricket and all its twists and turns. Tests may not have the bash and crash of T20 cricket, but in my opinion it still reigns supreme with its ability to produce an enthralling end after 5 days of play.

P.S. Special mention  to Peter Fulton who scored a century in both innings of the match!

*Photo from Getty Images - link to the photo on Cricinfo website: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/image/626823.html?page=1
**No copyright infringement intended

I think this photo really sums up the beauty of test cricket well. The players intently crowded around the bat, the sense of the batsmen being two up against 11, the contest between bat and ball and the supporters on the edge of their seats (albeit mostly England fans).