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Bill's view from the media box at Napier as England close in on victory against New Zealand

One of the most entertaining series I have scored ended in a blaze of sixes from a nineteen-year-old debutant. Tim Southee's 29-ball fifty was the sixth-fastest in Test history and the quickest by a Kiwi. Only four batsmen - Wasim Akram (12), Nathan Astle and Matthew Hayden (11), and Wally Hammond (10) have exceeded his tally of nine sixes. A tall, strongly-built lad who has excelled at rugger, he twice cleared the roofs of vast stands and lost one ball in a distant garden.

Earlier this month he had won the Under-19 World Cup's Player of the Tournament award for taking 17 wickets at 6.64 runs apiece. His first innings analysis of 5 for 55 was the third-best by a Kiwi debutant and only six other players (England's Len Braund in 1901-02, Frank Foster in 1911-12, Walter Hammond in 1927-28, and John Lever in 1976-77; Australia's Tony Dodemaide in 1987-88; and New Zealand's Bruce Taylor in 1964-65) had taken five wickets and scored a fifty in their first Test.

His meteoric arrival on the Test scene has considerably boosted New Zealand's spirits after haemorrhaging players to the Indian 20-over smash-and- grab leagues. They will sorely miss their only class batsman, Stephen Fleming, who just boosted his career average above 40 in his final innings. His failure to convert more than nine of his 55 fifties into hundreds underlines underachievement on a chronic scale.

New Zealand had little else to console them from this defeat. Without the pace of Shane Bond (exiled because of his assignation with the rogue Indians) and the nagging accuracy of Jacob Oram (injured), Daniel Vettori had no one to turn to on the flattest surface in the Antipodes.

Only some pathetic batting by both teams in their first innings allowed this encounter to produce only the second result in six Tests at McLean Park. Granted 140 years ago to the sportsmen of Napier by Sir Donald McLean (1820-77), Land Purchase Commissioner and Native Minister, this rugby ground boasts short side boundaries, a fast outfield and a square flattened by a 13-ton road roller bought from the local council.

Apart from Kevin Pietersen and Stephen Fleming, the technique of both sets of batsmen on such a benign deck was utterly woeful against the swinging ball - a legacy of excessive exposure to the limited-overs game.

Like most of England's top order, Pietersen desperately needed a major score, his 11th hundred being his first innings over 45 in six Tests this winter. Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell recorded their first centuries for 30 and 22 innings respectively. Either could still make way for Andrew Flintoff if he is fit for this summer's Tests. Because the selectors will have to cover against the possible recurrence of Freddie's ankle problems, they must pick four other specialist bowlers, so a batsman will have to make way for him.

Ryan Sidebottom was the indisputable champion of this series. Accorded icon status by the Barmy Army, he displayed immense stamina and determination throughout the three matches. Only Wellington's pitch gave him any assistance and his return of 24 wickets at 17.08 apiece from 141 overs was comfortably the best by an England bowler in New Zealand.

Astonishingly not a moment in this three-match series was lost to rain - a record unlikely to be equalled when the two sides reconvene in seven weeks' time for contests at Lord's, Old Trafford (where they teach lifeboat drill on the buses) and Trent Bridge.

10:51am Thursday 27th March 2008

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