New Zealand put themselves in a strong position by scoring 318 for four at the end of day’s play in Nottinghamshire.
New Zealand’s Tom Blundell and Daryl Mitchell at stumps. (courtesy: Reuters)
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- In the second test match, England decided to bowl first.
- Jack Leach back in line-up after injury
- New Zealand did not repeat a collapse in Day 1
In the second test match played at Trent Bridge, England were sorry for winning the toss and opting to bowl first. Captain Ben Stokes’ men found no joy in bowling on the first day of the Test match, conceding runs at 3.6 per over.
New Zealand, who were missing their captain Kane Williamson after being found Covid-19 positive, put on a great performance and batted for 318 for the loss of four wickets. All his batsmen got starts but failed to make big innings. However, the team would be happy to be bowled out for just 132 in the first innings of their first innings total.
However, the team lost wickets in bunches with the first defeat when there were 84 runs on the board. First it was the England captain who removed Will Young with a full length delivery that the batsman came back to slip and soon after there was a wrong pull shot from Tom Latham which was caught by Matty Potts with a diving effort at mid-wicket. New Zealand managed to shake it up and continued to pile on the runs. However, he once again lost wickets between the 39th and 42nd over with the help of Henry Nicholls and Devon Conway. And once again the combination of Stokes and Anderson got England wickets.
The wicket of Devon Conway was particularly interesting as the batsman seemed to have lacked the inside edge. That day, Conway was beaten by Anderson on the inside edge and the rest by Ben Fox behind the stumps.
New Zealand once again ruled with the tried and tested pair of Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell, who added 149 runs between them to take the score to 318.
Barring Stokes and Anderson, none of the bowlers were successful and England will really hope that they come to the party tomorrow.