On the face of it, the theory makes sense. Make your opponents’ least-skilled wielders of a willow feel uncomfortable, expose their inferior techniques, even cause them physical pain, while forcing any lingering top-order players into risky cross-bat shots whenever they are on strike, increasing the chances of a dismissal.
In practice, bombing the tail just doesn’t work for this England team, regardless of whether Ben Stokes or Joe Root is out there directing traffic.
The statistics make for sorry reading. In all Test matches stretching back to the start of 2023, only Zimbabwe have shipped more runs on average from the point at which the opposition’s No 9 walks to the crease. All too often that has been the juncture at which England abandon orthodox line and length for a bouncer barrage.
Resuming on 291 for seven, New Zealand’s eighth-wicket pair of Glenn Phillips and Kyle Jamieson might have expected a stern examination around off-stump from an attack rested overnight. To look over their shoulders at a sea of slips as debutant Sonny Baker stood at the top of his mark.
The job of an opening bowler at the start of a session is to set the tone. Unfortunately, the Hampshire paceman did just that, only not in a good way, spraying the first delivery wide of a despairing grope from his former school mate James Rew behind the stumps. In all, Rew let through 22 byes. A step ladder would have been handy. The second delivery of the morning also sailed away to the fine leg rope, after being tapped on its head by a swivelling Phillips.
At the other end, Josh Tongue’s reputation for dining out on ‘rabbit pie’ deserted him, as New Zealand took 27 from the opening three overs, leading up to the second new ball.
England’s short ball policy proved unsuccessful against New Zealand’s tail on day two
Glenn Phillips celebrates completing his century on the second day of action at the Oval
A Jofra Archer bouncer floored Phillips on Wednesday evening and helped England bring the run rate back under control, but the inflexibility on the second morning was perplexing
| Opposition | Average | 100 | 50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| v Zimbabwe | 21.46 | 0 | 6 |
| v England | 19.84 | 1 | 21 |
| v Afghanistan | 19.42 | 0 | 1 |
| v Pakistan | 19.25 | 1 | 6 |
| v Bangladesh | 18.12 | 1 | 9 |
| v Sri Lanka | 17.77 | 0 | 7 |
| v Australia | 16.82 | 3 | 12 |
| v West Indies | 16.73 | 2 | 2 |
| v India | 16.52 | 2 | 11 |
| v Ireland | 14.69 | 0 | 1 |
| v New Zealand | 13.73 | 1 | 3 |
| v South Africa | 13.32 | 1 | 4 |
Such was the impetus that 74 runs came from the 72 legitimate deliveries sent down in the opening hour. ‘Inept,’ was Sky Sports commentator Michael Atherton’s assessment of the short ball ploy, adding that it was ‘tactically very hard to understand.’ His colleague Nasser Hussain bemoaned: ‘It very rarely works.’
Yet it has remained a favoured policy during the Bazball era and head coach Brendon McCullum, whose increased use of the walkie talkie to communicate with players on the field has been noticeable, would no doubt argue that but for a dolly dropped by Ben Duckett off a shaken Jamieson, it would have had the desired effect.
Despite being 6ft 8ins, Jamieson was still forced into two concussion checks – first clocked on the top of the helmet by Tongue and then struck on the grille by Baker – either side of a wipe to deep midwicket that found its way into the hands of a back-pedalling Duckett and onto the turf. Jamieson was on 15 at the time, going on to contribute 41.
England used the short-ball tactics successfully on the first evening to get New Zealand’s run rate back under control, with Jofra Archer sending down a spell of 8-2-22-0 that brought back memories of 2019 and Mount Maunganui when Root bowled him into the ground.
Phillips went scoreless for 36 minutes and was floored on more than one occasion by Archer arrowing the ball into him from over the wicket, but the inflexibility on the second morning was perplexing.
The Black Caps walked out with a total of 330-340 in mind, but were handed an upgrade through English profligacy every bit as galling as when Stuart Broad leaked 35 runs in an over to a Jasprit Bumrah-inspired India at Edgbaston in 2022 or when an attack that included Ollie Robinson, Broad, Stokes and Tongue removed potential swing and seam movement from the equation at the 2023 Lord’s Ashes Test, sending down an extraordinary 302 short balls in the second innings.
On Thursday, it was a change of policy, and of pace, that finally delivered the breakthrough: slow left-armer Jacob Bethell spearing the ball into leg-stump to dismiss Jamieson.
New Zealand’s innings concluded soon afterwards, with centurion Phillips last out, but the even 100 in 19.2 overs on the second morning felt significant within the match’s bigger picture.
