NOTES FROM THE OVAL #3

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That sinking feeling. Getty Images

NZ 348 & 155-6 (Williamson 61; Woakes 3-39, Carse 3-22); England 499 (Brook 171, Stokes 80, Pope 77, Atkinson 48, Duckett 46; Henry 4-84, Smith 3-141)

Funny old game, cricket.

The home team comes into this series off the back of what is universally regarded as their greatest series victory, while welcoming their best player back into the fold.

The visitors enter having been spin-doctored out of Pakistan, while facing pointed questions about a selection policy based on “feels” that sees them pick a No 3 with five first-class fifties to his name.

So of course it’s the latter team that is a few finishing touches from smearing the former all over Hagley Oval, leaving only bloody entrails and a smattering of reputational damage.

How will we react to the seemingly inevitable defeat? With weary resignation? With a them-the-breaks shrug of the shoulders? With righteous condemnation?

I’d be inclined to take a few deep breaths before moving on to Wellington, while also acknowledging that it is looking like three test losses in succession on home soil and, unless Daryl Mitchell can conjure up some magic with the tail, three pretty piss-poor ones at that. It’s all well and good performing miracles on the subcontinent, but the loyal home fans need a little more to cling to than a Fritz’s Wiener and another Kane Williamson milestone.