Primal power of Kyle Jamieson is one of Test cricket’s great wonders

It was around a quarter to five, with Joe Root and Ben Stokes settling in and nerves just beginning to jangle, that Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports urged New Zealand to bring Kyle Jamieson back into the attack. Alas, on this occasion his timing was slightly unfortunate. For as the camera homed in on Jamieson at long-leg, the giant fast bowler was just in the process of stifling a large yawn.

You couldn’t blame him, really. For one thing, he had already put in quite the shift earlier in the afternoon: eight back-breaking overs that had ripped out England’s top order and left them close to a chaotic defeat. For another, Test cricket when played at its normal pace must feel terribly languid and laborious to Jamieson, a man who in his short international career has become accustomed to things unfolding in a tremendous hurry.

Let’s start with the average, both the most and least interesting thing about him. Given a minimum of 50 wickets, Jamieson currently has the lowest Test average of any male cricketer born since the end of the 19th century. It was 18.72 at the start of this match and has since dipped lower still. Statistically speaking, Jamieson is 13% better than Malcolm Marshall, 29% better than Shane Warne, 32% better than Jimmy Anderson. A numerical quirk that will even out in time? Or greatness in the making?

There was some talk at the start of this series that after a mixed home summer against Bangladesh and South Africa, Jamieson had somehow been “worked out”: that after an incendiary first year in Test cricket, an inevitable regression to the mean was in progress.

But the metaphor never quite seemed to fit, because there is no real mystery or secret to what Jamieson does. He runs in over 18 menacing steps, leaps into