NZ vs Eng 3rd Test – Matthew Potts grinds away with the right attitude and skill, and a smile

After a long day’s graft, the boots are kicked off for luxury sandals that occupy that handy middle ground between aesthetic style and orthopaedic substance. The game has not gone – it’s still here, just standing a little comfier.

The first 20 came inside the first 67, split across fours spells in conditions that veered from “sapping” to “baking”. The Durham seamer, opening England’s innings for just the second time in typically humid Hamilton conditions, finished his work at 6:32pm when an uninhibited sun was still beating down on Seddon Park like it had come to collect a debt. With 3 for 75 at the time of writing, it is just the fifth time in 18 attempts he has taken more than two wickets in an innings.

Potts has always worn graft well, even if the Birkenstocks have helped over the 12 months. Accompanying the heart and engine that can run for days is the build – and tenacity – of a prize fighter. Not to mention a marvel of a bowler’s backside. “It’s pretty obvious by looking at him,” Stokes said ahead of this match. “He looks after himself very well.”

Looking after yourself does not automatically mean the cricket looks after you. Potts can vouch for that; a Test career that began with five consecutive caps in the 2022 summer has taken almost 28 more months to tick off as many. But the manner of the 26-year-old’s three wickets in New Zealand’s first innings suggests the game might be warming to him once more.

It was the fourth time in five innings Potts has nabbed the prized Williamson, three of those coming across four in the quick’s maiden series two summers ago. The 14 wickets at 23.28 in Stokes’ first assignment as permanent Test captain was meant to be a springboard for Potts. Things have not panned out that way.

Dropped for the returning Ollie Robinson after the first Test against South Africa, Potts would play just one Test in 2023 – a four-day affair at Lord’s against Ireland ahead of the 2023 Ashes, which he watched from the sidelines. A go in the Sri Lanka series at the end of this summer was capped at two matches with England using the final match at the Kia Oval to roll the dice and select raw, tall left-armer Josh Hull. A solitary appearance in Pakistan for the second Test, on a newly scuffed used deck was a thankless task. Still, he managed to turn that into a positive with three dismissals in 31.2 overs.

All of that exacerbates the sense Potts exists as something of a seat filler. Trusted to plug gaps, but not necessarily get a go outright. Set aside for others that selectors deem better. Brought in for those same options to rest up. Even parked for a relative novice. He’s sharp without being express. Reliable but unsexy. The shoes you would wear into the garden but not when you’re leaving through the front door.

Potts’ opportunity comes on similar grounds. The series is already won, and Chris Woakes, after six wickets across two back-to-back Tests, has nothing to prove, as Stokes intimated. Naturally, Potts did not regard his selection as anything other than an honour, even with the time spent waiting and miles clocked around the world, desperate for an in.

“I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating, no,” he said in his press conference, bowling boots still on having sent down the last over of the day. “I enjoy every single moment being part of this squad. There’s always jobs I can be doing, helping out. There’s opportunity to tinker with a few things and tinker with things.”

That tinkering has involved a combination of run-up work, how he holds and releases the ball, and some extra deliveries – all honed under the watchful eye of bowling consultant James Anderson. And though he was fulfilling a role Anderson had mastered for the best part of two decades, Potts did not look out of place.

“I’d been a fraction wide to Kane early on, trying to swing a few. [Ollie Pope] felt we could go wide of the crease, angle it in a bit more towards the stumps. Bowl fourth stump, off stump, just keep smashing away on a hard length. I think [Kane Williamson’s] dismissal comes from that clarity”

Matthew Potts

His opening spell from the City End – six overs, 0 for 17 – could have featured a wicket and ended an eventual opening stand of 105 for just 25 had Ben Duckett managed to cling on to Will Young’s low edge. The second spell (four overs, 0 for 16) featured a few more edges, and one that reared to catch the glove.

Both spells averaged out at 131kph. England did not bowl well in the morning session, a touch too short and wide as New Zealand went into lunch on 93 for 0. Potts, however, was the least culpable of the four.

Potts’ second spells only clocked in at 129kph, but housed the three wickets. Williamson’s, contained within the second – 2 for 10 from five – was an example of how Potts’ stamina gives his skills a better chance to come to the fore, even with a Kookaburra 58 overs old.

Williamson was his typical self, tidy yet devastating, and completely at ease at a venue where he averages 94.26. With six centuries from the 11 times he has past fifty, England were fearful as he rounded on another half-century.

However Potts, with the help of Stokes and vice-captain Ollie Pope – armed with a perfect view from behind the stumps – came up with a plan.

“I’d been a fraction wide to Kane early on, trying to swing a few,” said Potts, before the brains trust got together. “Popey felt we could go wide of the crease, angle it in a bit more towards the stumps. Bowl fourth stump, off stump, just keep smashing away on a hard length. I think that dismissal comes from that clarity.”

Potts did not have a great view of the dismissal, but was at least able to make out the falling of a bail. Williamson jarred his head back in disgust, while Potts raised his arms with unexpected glee. That “smashing away” had not been in vain. “To get a good player like that, a player like Kane who can play the long game and score quite quickly as well. To get a massive scalp like that for the team… I’m proud of that.”

The knock-on effect was just as important. Daryl Mitchell had been playing possum – 0 off 17 – while Williamson was attracting most of the attention at the other end. His attempt at thrashing a few quick boundaries off Gus Atkinson resulted in a catch to Stokes at cover. The errors to come from Phillips and Tom Blundell – who Potts could have snared had Joe Root reacted quicker to an edge – made it a middle-order collapse of 4 for 46 in exactly ten overs.

After that graft, it was a shame for Potts that the day would close with his final ball launched back over his head for six to bring up Mitchell Santner’s valiant 50 not out, taking New Zealand to 315 for 9 at stumps. A handy score after being put in to bat.

It was a reminder of how unforgiving a day’s graft can be, even if you approach it with the right attitude and skill. Not that Potts saw any downside to today, his career to date or the fact he is filling in. “It was fantastic,” he beamed. “With the sun beating down it can be seen as hard work but I enjoy every moment that I put this England shirt on and I hope I do it justice.”

Considering how things have panned out, it is likely Potts’ career may be one of constant flux. But on a day like today, he showed England can lean on him whenever they need to and he will not let them down. A bowler capable of fulfilling a variety of roles and easing whatever situation arises, planned or otherwise.

A classy, dependable load-bearer – England’s very own Birkenstocks.