The dichotomy in Andy Caddick's bowling performance usually comes from first innings to second, but at Auckland his first-innings display could be split into two distinct sections: before lunch on the first day, and after. In the first, he was irresistible. He left New Zealand in tatters on 19 for 4, and then returned on the stroke of lunch to take his fourth wicket, and the 200th of his career. At that point, a third six-wicket haul of the series seemed the least Caddick could expect.

But he didn't take any more wickets as England struggled to dislodge Chris Harris and Adam Parore, whose sixth-wicket partnership of 86 doubled their side's total and was worth many more on a pitch that on the first three days produced an average of 16 runs per wicket. The fact that Caddick reverted to his natural, shorter, length was central to this.

As our graphs show, Caddick let the pitch do the work on the first morning. With the ball jagging round, he landed over 70% of his deliveries (47 out of 65) on a good length, with only 17% short. But after lunch, Caddick almost doubled the number of short deliveries he bowled for the rest of the innings - 28 out of 87 (32%), and on the third day that figure was over 50% (16 out of 31).

Those 16 deliveries only went for six runs, but Caddick rarely looked like taking a wicket. On the first morning, he rarely looked like not taking one.

England as a team tended to bowl too short to Chris Harris and Adam Parore, a natural reaction to a frustrating partnership (and also to having Harris caught at short leg but not given out).

Just under 25% of the deliveries to that pair were short of a length; for the rest of the batsmen the figure was only 17%. In helpful conditions, England would probably have been better served keeping the ball up to the bat.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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