Matt Henry on Sunday (June 21) became the second New Zealand bowler to take five wickets in both innings of a Test in England, adding his name alongside Dion Nash — who took 6/76 & 5/93 at Lord’s in 1994 — in golden letters to the 95-year-long history of red-ball cricket between these two countries.
The relentless seamer was awarded the Player of the Match for his spell of 11/109, the first 10-wicket haul of his career, as New Zealand beat England by 253 runs to level the three-Test rubber 1-1.
Henry claimed 5 for 80 in the first innings, breaking the backbone of England’s batting with crucial strikes against Joe Root and Harry Brook in the space of eight deliveries. Both were trapped LBW by deliveries that jagged sharply back into the right-handers,
before Henry returned to remove Jordan Cox, Jofra Archer, and Josh Tongue to complete his seventh Test fifer and spark a collapse from 170/3 to 238/9.
He was even more devastating in the second innings, producing a relentless spell of 6 for 29 from 18.1 overs. Henry ended Brook’s counterattacking 58 late on Day 4 and then trapped Root for 77 on the final morning to extinguish England’s hopes of a record chase. He then ripped through the tail, bowling Archer and Matthew Fisher, having Josh Tongue caught at slip, and dismissing Jordan Cox with a pinpoint yorker to seal the win.
“Probably didn’t expect it to unfold like that today,” Henry said after the match. “There were little moments in the first Test that set things up nicely. Credit goes to all of us
Throughout, the up-and-down pitch in London proved inch-perfect for him, making his consistency a real weapon for the Kiwis. New Zealand used their tried-and-tested method of keeping the wicketkeeper Tom Blundell on the stumps to stop the English batters from using their feet and being as aggressive as they like to in the BazBall era.
‘We actually played England a few years ago and we wanted to keep their batters in the crease. Credit goes to Tom, he was outstanding. For me, it’s about how I get the job done. Huge credit to Tom,” he added.
