New Zealand vs England, 2018: 2nd Test, Day 4 – Statistical Highlights

The final Test between New Zealand and England set towards an interesting finish as the hosts need 340 runs on the 5th day with all ten wickets in hand. England, who need a win to level the series, set a target of 383 by declaring their innings on 352/9. New Zealand played out the 23 overs in the final session for 42 runs before the play was abandoned due to bad light. The home team have to survive 98 overs on the final day to register their first Test series win against England since 1999.

All the stats and numbers that were created during the fourth day’s play of the Christchurch Test:

1 – For the first time in New Zealand’s Test history two of their players scored fifty and took 4-wicket haul in the same Test match. Colin de Grandhomme (72) and Tim Southee (50) scored fifties in the first innings while and took 4/94 in the 2nd innings and 6/62 in the first innings respectively.

Australia, England and Pakistan had two instances where two of their players scored fifties and took 4-wicket hauls in the same Test while South Africa and India had one such instance. No New Zealand player scored a fifty and took a 4-wicket haul in a Test match since 2015 before this Test.

7 – Number of fifty-plus scores for Joe Root in the 2017/18 season in Test cricket. He failed to convert all the seven fifties into hundreds. These are the most number of fifties score by an England player without a century in a Test season. Mike Atherton (in 1993) and Mark Butcher (2003/04) scored six fifties without a hundred.

Root’s seven fifties are also the joint most for any player in a Test season without converting them into hundreds. Desmond Haynes scored seven fifties in 1994/95 season with the highest score of 90. Hansie Cronje in the 1997/98 season and MS Dhoni in the 2008/09 season also scored seven fifties in Test cricket while leading the team.

23 – Number of wickets for the opening bowlers before a change bowler took a wicket in this Test match. The 1902 Melbourne Test and the 1888 Sydney Test between Australia and England had 29 and 27 wickets respectively taken by the opening bowlers before the change bowlers bagged a wicket. The 1912 Lord’s Test between England and South Africa saw the fall of 30 wickets with none of them going to a change bowler.

324 – New Zealand’s highest successful chase in Test cricket is 324 against Pakistan in the 1994 Christchurch Test match. Their highest run-chase in this format against England is only 101 in the 1984 Leeds Test.

Only twice England lost while defending a 350+ total in the 4th innings of a Test match. Australia chased down 404 in the 1948 Leeds Test while India chased 387 in the 2008 Chennai Test.

2013 – England’s second innings is the first instance in the last five years where four of the top five batsmen scoring fifties in the team’s 2nd innings in Test cricket. The last such instance was also by England against New Zealand in the 2013 Dunedin Test.