Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2026

Next on the list was a couple of days sightseeing and meeting up with a former colleague. Christchurch is a lovely city, combining the old and modern, with the coast only a short drive away. 2nd Test: Wellington The last time I was here I took the ferry from the South Island to Wellington but on this occasion, took a short flight instead. I had booked accommodation in Island Bay, only 20 minutes south of Wellington, by bus. It is such an absolutely beautiful place on the coast and I stayed there until the next Test. My time was spent walking, exploring and meeting up with an old school friend who I’d not seen in 50 years! Wellington cricket ground is just lovely, steeped in history, and during the match there was a parade of former players, including Sir Richard Hadlee. Perhaps inspired by the great all-rounder, New Zealand won the toss and had us in trouble at 43/4. And yes, Crawley was a Henry victim again! Enter the gladiator, Harry Brook, fresh from his epic innings in Christchurch. He was again brutal on the bowlers, clubbing them for five sixes and eleven fours as England totalled 280. NZ must have thought they were in with a chance but our attack had them back in the hut with only 125 on the board. The seamers did the work and Atkinson cleaned the tail up with a hat trick. There was a strange end to the innings as Southee was adjudged lbw and subsequently reviewed. But as the crowd were waiting for the decision, he had already walked off the ground with the rest of the players. The second time around, England didn’t make the same mistake and accumulated 427/6 declared with runs from Duckett, Bethel and, again, Brook. Joe Root was back in the groove and scored 106 before Stokes declared. Oh, yeah, Crawley out.. well you know the rest! New Zealand’s second innings was only bolstered by Tom Blundell’s century and they fell way short, losing by 323 runs, with Stokes getting 3 cheap wickets at the end. I flew up to Hamilton for the last Test hoping for a clean sweep but, as we all know, England don’t always deliver. 3rd Test: Hamilton Tim Southee had said at the start of the series that he would retire and this was his last Test. Personally, I thought this was a series too far; he didn’t contribute much although he has been a magnificent servant to NZ cricket and is now England’s bowling coach. The home team selectors brought back Mitchell and dropped Conway because of poor form. They were repaid as their team made a solid start and 76 from Santner enabled them to post 347. Our tactics bemused me when bowling to Santner as they pushed the field out and he was able to help himself to runs at will. Worse was to come. England were shot out for 143 and even Harry Brook failed, out first ball. A deficit of 204 and the writing was on the wall. NZ’s second innings totalled 453, with a ton from Williamson and supportive knocks from Young, Santner, Blundell and Mitchell. Bashir 36