Australia’s captain was an unlikely batting hero once more but New Zealand’s defeat should never really have happened
To be clear, things like this don’t happen often. Setting up in the fourth innings of the Christchurch Test, Australia needed 279 to win. Australian Test teams have been getting on the park for 147 years. Before Monday, they had chased bigger targets than this a grand total of 13 times. Now that total is up to 14, after an innings that could have gone wrong any number of times, did go wrong in three different bursts, and ultimately went calmly and deliberately right.
One of that previous baker’s dozen of wins came in Edgbaston last year. Late on the fifth day, in the gathering gloom, it was the bowling captain Pat Cummins batting at No 8, finishing on 44 not out, hitting the winning runs with two wickets in hand to reach the target of 282. This time, late on the fourth day, it was Cummins batting at No 9, finishing on 32 not out, hitting the winning boundary to take the score to 281. History rhymed almost to the syllable.