by: Atif Amin
England started positively and finished day two of the 2nd test versus New Zealand at Nottingham at 90/1. Earlier England finally bowled New Zealand out for a mammoth 553 in their first innings.
On the morning of day one England Captain, Ben Stokes won the toss and inserted New Zealand in. New Zealand missed the services of Captain Kane Williamson as he tested positive for Covid 19. Stand-in captain Tom Latham opened the innings with Will Young. Both the openers were aggressive in their approach and shared an opening stand of 84 but both were dismissed on the same score. Devon Conway and Henry Nichols then added another 77 for the 3rd wicket before again a double strike by England brought them right in the match.
This brought together Daryl Mitchel and Tom Blundell together, the pair which added 195 in the first test at Lords. Daryl Mitchell got a reprieve when he was dropped in the slips by Joe Root when on 3. He took full use of this reprieve and scored his career-best 190. Tom Blundell who missed his hundred by just 4 runs in the first test, went on to score 106. The pair this time around added together 236 for the 5th wicket.
Debutant Michael Bracewell was dismissed for 49. Daryl Mitchell was the last man dismissed for 190 and New Zealand was eventually bowled out for 553. For England Anderson was the most successful bowler with 3 wickets to his name.
In reply to the huge score, the start for England was disastrous when Zak Crawley fell for only 4 runs in the 2nd over of the inning. However, Ollie Pope and Alex Lees took England to stumps without any further damage. Ollie Pope completed his half-century and was unbeaten on 51.
Both team pride in their fielding but the overall fielding quality by both sides have been wanted as both teams have dropped catches in the cordon which resulted in batsmen getting lives. The third day promises to be intriguing as England will try to fight back while New Zealand will try to dismiss England as cheaply as possible.
