NOTES FROM LORD'S #3
Oh dear, Colin... and other jaundiced observations.
NZ 132 and 285
England 141 and 216-5 (target 277)
There are too many variables and hypotheticals in a game of cricket to say that a single act, or even a single player, can cost a test.
Anybody who watched the calamity that was the first session last night will know where this is going: Colin de Grandhomme’s epic brain-flatus was the single biggest contributor to what is shaping as New Zealand’s improbable first-test demise.
Not the only reason, not by a long shot, but the biggest.
For those who were watching the Hurricanes, or doing even Stranger Things, De Grandhomme strode to the crease at 251-5 when Daryl Mitchell (108) nicked a good delivery from Stuart Broad. He was rapped on the pads first ball and as he waited for umpire Rod Tucker’s not-out decision he sauntered aimlessly down the wicket, failing to notice that the ball had quickly ricocheted to Ollie Pope at gully.
By the time his microchip had processed the information, Pope had shattered the stumps with Big Col well short.
While none of what happened to the rest of the innings - Kyle Jamieson was bowled first ball to give England a team hattrick, the rest followed quickly - was directly De Grandhomme’s fault, yet it all kind of was, such is the nature of cricket.
England should have been chasing 320-350, instead they were faced with a target of 277 in the best batting conditions of the match.
Unfortunately that was not to be De Grandhomme’s final intervention for the day.