The last few days has seen the newly formed ICC Test Championship receive a tremendous boost in the form of victories produced by the two nations that battled out the 2019 Cricket World Cup final – England and New Zealand.
England were on the brink of defeat at 286-9 chasing a record fourth innings Ashes run chase of 359 for victory at Headingley when Ben Stokes who won the World Cup for England turned the contest into a one-man-show by taking it upon himself to throw back the challenge to the rampaging Aussies.
Single-handedly Stokes scored those remaining 73 runs with his partner Jack Leach contributing only one run in a last wicket partnership that saw England pull off a sensational one-wicket win and keep their Ashes hopes alive by drawing level one-all in the five-match series after three Tests.
No one expected England to win after they were rolled over for a mere 67 in the first innings. But such are the glorious uncertainties of cricket that even the impossible can happen.
The Aussies were left to rue a dropped catch, a missed run out and poor use of the DRS against last man Leach which they lost, for when Nathan Lyon rapped Stokes on the pads attempting a sweep and the umpire ruled not out, the Aussies had by then exhausted all their reviews. Replays showed that had they used the review Stokes would have been ruled out.
Well, fortune favours the brave they say. With the scores level Stokes went onto make the winning hit a crashing cover drive off Pat Cummins to spark off celebrations in the England camp and the rest of England as never before perhaps reigniting the celebrations that followed their win in the World Cup final.
Stokes was an overnight hero his incredible performance being compared to that of Ian Botham in that famous Ashes win of 1981 at Headingley and Andrew Flintoff’s heroic effort in England’s two-run win at Edgbaston in 2005.
Almost 5750 miles away in Colombo at the P Sara Oval, New Zealand pulled off an unexpected innings and 65 runs win over Sri Lanka to win the second Test and share the two-match series one-all.
Going into the fifth and final day of the Test, New Zealand were still in their first innings with rain having made the most of the match in the first four days. A draw was very much on the cards, but New Zealand ranked two in the Test rankings and having lost the first Test at Galle to Sri Lanka was never willing to give up.
It was their never-say-die attitude that almost won them the World Cup and here again it was on display as their captain Kane Williamson marshalled his troops into believing that they could still turn the game around in their favour.
That belief was given to the New Zealand camp by Colin de Grandhomme who played an extraordinary innings of 83 off 77 balls that enabled them to gain a first innings lead of 187 and declare leaving themselves with enough time (91 overs) to bowl Sri Lanka out.
The first four days of the Test was affected by bad weather but on the fifth and final day it strangely kept away allowing a full day’s play.
Sri Lanka may have come to the venue on the final day hoping to preserve their 1-0 lead and get away with a draw in the second Test that would have given them the series. But suddenly they were up against it having to defend 91 overs to draw the Test. There were only two results left on the final day a win for New Zealand or a draw.
Sri Lanka’s successful run chase in the fourth innings at Galle was largely based on the century scored by their captain Dimuth Karunaratne who with his partner Lahiru Thirimanne laid the base to chase down 268 with an opening stand of 161.
But here at the P Sara Oval, Karunaratne could not open for his team in the second innings because he was not on the field for the entire fourth day nursing a strained quadriceps to his left leg which meant that he could not bat higher than no. 7.
Without Karunaratne’s calming influence at the top Sri Lanka’s top order collapsed in a heap losing both openers Thirimanne and Kusal Perera for ducks and half the side for 32 in a matter of one and a half hours.
With their tails up and blessed with good weather the Black Caps pressed home the advantage given by their new ball bowlers Boult and Southee to roll over Sri Lanka for 122 and fashion out an innings and 65 runs win from nowhere, and thereby square the series.
The ICC could not have asked for a better beginning to their new concept the World Test Championship.
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