Wasteful New Zealand give England the edge after Day Two

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ENGLAND rode their luck on the way to 319-5 in Christchurch, just 29-runs shy of the host’s first innings total.

Harry Brook was the saviour after scoring his seventh Test century with a vital 132 not-out, partnered with much needed runs from Ollie Pope (77).

The Kiwi’s dominated the first half of the day, holding England at 71-4 but failed to put the visitors down and out completely after some sloppy fielding and wayward bowling offered them a way back into the game.

Brook remains at the crease alongside his captain Ben Stokes (37 not-out) ahead of day three, with Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain feeling New Zealand haven’t been the most clinical:

“New Zealand have been clumsy in this game. They gave away cheap wickets on day one and dropped six catches on day two, which is very unlike them. But it is always close between these sides and it should be a cracking series.”

Sky Sports Cricket’s Nasser Hussain

Crash! Bang! Wallop!

The spectators on the grass banks at the Hagley Oval were treated to immediate action on day two.

Glen Phillips boosted his team’s total to 348 with a few beautiful and bullish boundaries to reach a half-century, ending on 58 not-out as Brydon Carse cleaned up the lower order.

Overcast skies aided the New Zealand seam-attack with the new ball swinging at pace, debutant Nathan Smith was the shining light after picking up two early wickets of Jacob Bethell (10) and Joe Root for a duck on the stroke of lunch, leaving England 45-3.

Feast or famine.

England’s recovery was fuelled by a 151-run partnership between Brook and Pope, the pair making the most of clearer skies and ageing ball.

Brook played a carefully calculated innings that included 12 boundaries, but it was not without chances as he was dropped four times during his time at the crease.

With this, Brook became the second fastest player to ever reach 2000 Test runs in terms of balls faced (2300), just seven balls more than teammate Ben Duckett (2293).

Pope has been under pressure for losing his place in the Test team after a poor run of form, but in this first innings he scored more runs than he did in total on the entire tour of Pakistan last month (55).

He too passed a milestone of passing 3000 Test runs, but that glory was tarnished after he was out caught to a spectacular diving catch at backward point to Glen Phillips.

Crawley’s Kryptonite

A worry for England is Zak Crawley’s poor form in New Zealand.

The six foot, five inch opening batsman has struggled against the Black Caps with his returns being severely under-par.

In the first innings, the New Zealand opening bowler Matt Henry set Crawley up with consecutive away-swing deliveries before firing in an in-swinger to target his pads and successfully trapping him LBW for a duck.

Scorecard:

New Zealand 1st Innings 

England 1st Innings