London, June 21: New Zealand won The Oval test by 253 runs after routing England for 209 just 48 minutes into the fifth and final day Sunday.
The crushing win followed England’s own big win at Lord’s and sends the series to a decider in Nottingham starting on Thursday.
England resumed on 182-5 with an improbable target of 463 and fast bowler Matt Henry took the last five wickets.
The metronomic Henry gave a masterclass with a spell of 5-3 in 31 balls.
They earned him 6-29 in the innings and, after his 5-80 in the first innings, 11-109 in the match, the best-ever match figures by a New Zealand bowler against England.
Henry also achieved his first 10-wicket match haul in his 35th test.“I didn’t expect it to unfold like that today but probably saved a hot day in the field,” Henry said after he was named the player of the match.
Joe Root, Jofra Archer, Matthew Fisher and Josh Tongue were dismissed in two double-wicket maidens by Henry. He was on a hat trick but Jordan Cox defended it.
Root added only two runs to his overnight 75 and was beaten by Henry between bat and pad and struck plumb on the back thigh. He reviewed in vain and trudged off with 77 from 145 balls, taking with him England’s last hope.
Henry was the first bowler to take out Root and Harry Brook twice in a single test.
Archer’s wickets were smashed by an unplayable shooter under his bat. Archer threw back his head and smiled after his two-ball duck. Fisher chopped on to his leg stump on 0 and Tongue edged to first slip on 0, too. Henry stood still and yelled at his 5-for and 10-for milestones before he was mobbed again by teammates.
Cox, on 0 overnight, had a cameo 25 before he was bowled trying to sweep, bringing the match to its inevitable end. Sonny Baker didn’t score.
New Zealand earned only its seventh win in England in 95 years of touring, and only its second at The Oval. The other was in 1999.
Henry suffered back spasms on the first morning at Lord’s, which turned New Zealand’s senior seamer into a virtual passenger. A 10-day gap to The Oval test let him recover fully.
“It feels bad when you let the guys down on day one,” he said. (PTI)
