Ben Stokes has given up warm-up cricket, pared back his training sessions and, in response to a chronic left knee problem that might have prompted a break earlier on in his career, the all-rounder has cut his bowling to moments of absolute necessity.
This is not to say Stokes is not putting in. Far from it. It is just that the less the England captain pays heed to the demands of maintaining his personal output, the more this team appear to take on some of the unquantifiable aspects of his cricket; the aura, the golden arm, and that unrelenting forward momentum.
It may be that Australia, once freed from the tumultuous spin-cycle they are currently experiencing in India, find a way to push back this summer. But much like Pakistan before Christmas, New Zealand have found this collective residual glow overwhelming on home soil, with days like the second in Wellington – one where 12 wickets fell and England took a vice-like grip on proceedings – a case in point.
For the second time in the series Stokes pulled the plug on England’s first innings. At the Basin, much like the Mount, this meant the hosts heading down the gurgler. Staring at 435 for eight declared, once Joe Root had been allowed to reach an unbeaten 153 that followed Harry Brook’s incendiary 186, New Zealand crumbled to 138 for seven before rain once again cut short the final session.
Not all of it was about the unquantifiable. After classily shutting down one end on day one, as Brook ransacked the bowlers at the other, Root was impishly inventive on the second morning. And Jimmy Anderson, back in the city where his career truly took off in 2008, was immaculate when taking three wickets with the new ball. The best captains tend to have the best players at their disposal.
But, as Stokes said before the series, he is less interested in being one of the best himself these days, preferring to pour all his energies into others. The 28-ball 25 he produced on the second morning was in keeping with the ultra-aggressive/ borderline frenzied batting of his captaincy, with the gimlet-eyed 103 made against South Africa at Old Trafford very much the outlier during this period.
Anderson, meanwhile, just seems to get better. As was the case all those years ago, when he and Stuart Broad began their era-defining alliance at the Basin, he bowled into the southerly wind that comes down the Adelaide Road. But where the 40-year-old previously used swing to undermine New Zealand, this time it was about the wobble-seam, deliveries nipping this way and that off the surface.
The first two came during the tricky 35-minute assignment Stokes had set New Zealand’s top order before lunch. And it also owed a fair bit to Ollie Pope. On a day where his impact was more significant than might appear on the scorebook, his mop of ginger hair was regularly ruffled by team-mates.
Devon Conway, a classy operator with a first-class average of 103 on this ground, was seemingly beaten third ball. Yet despite a lack of appeal behind the stumps – Ben Foakes perhaps still pondering his slapstick stumping for a duck in the morning – Pope was convinced he heard a noise. Stokes was instantly vindicated by this faith in his unofficial vice-captain’s ears when a tremor appeared on Snicko.
Kane Williamson scarcely lasted longer, tickling a loose backfoot drive to the England wicketkeeper. And when the recalled Will Young was undone by another beauty immediately after lunch, Anderson zipping it away from a right-hander this time and finding the glove, New Zealand had matched England’s start on day one at 21 for three.
From here the two innings diverged, with New Zealand losing their next four for 82 in 27 overs. Broad struggled with his line first-up but in his place, Ollie Robinson sent down a string of four maidens to see the hosts’ progress stall. And once Anderson was sent out to graze, Jack Leach twirled away unbroken from the same Vance Stand End that returned figures of 12 overs, three for 45.
There was some purchase for the left-armer to work with but, in theory, two solid left-handers in Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls should have been tricky to prise out. Instead, a spinner who Stokes has managed to coax like a horse whisperer, saw both men fall to reverse sweeps and trudge off with a sense of the fates being against them.
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Latham’s demise for 35 prompted boos from local supporters, given out caught at slip off the glove and seeing this upheld on review. The replay was not definitive, Aleem Dar in the third umpire’s booth having to work out whether it was contact with arm guard (not out) or wrist band (out). In the end, he felt unable to overturn his on-field colleague.
There was little doubt for Nicholls, whose initially encouraging 30 ended to an under-edge that popped to a diving Pope at short-leg on 30. Somehow Pope topped this, however, with a quite remarkable one-handed reflex take at silly point off the newly-arrived Daryl Mitchell the type that close catchers dream about.
When Broad had another go after tea and Michael Bracewell immediately popped a return catch his way, it rather summed up New Zealand’s day. Tim Southee did manage a counterattacking thrash before the heavens opened but it is his opposite number who is shaping an entire team in his own image.