Ali Martin's day two report
Updated
Stumps: Lees and Pope survive!
26th over: England 90-1 (Lees 34, Pope 51) Pope’s not too bothered about playing for the close: seeing a bouncer from Boult, he meets it with the pull, but gets only a single. Lees adds one of his own with an on-drive, and these two live to fight another day. They’ve played some great shots (Pope) and some sturdy ones (Lees) and ridden their luck (both).
So England are just 463 runs behind. The day belongs to New Zealand, but they’ll be kicking themselves for the dropped catches, just as England were earlier. Ben Stokes had his worst spell as captain so far when Mitchell and Blundell were treating the bowlers like rookies, but then the rain came, the bowling changes began to work, and England fought back to take the last five wickets for 57. Plus, they are now 90 for one when they could easily have been 60 for three, and that’s partly because Stokes has given Lees and Pope his backing.
That’s it from us. Thanks for your company, quips, and expertise on Middle English (15:26). We’ll be back in the morning to see if Pope can get a hundred and Lees can finally reach 40.
Updated
25th over: England 88-1 (Lees 33, Pope 50) The ball was changed just now and the replacement is swinging more, so Latham sends for Southee. Lees, watching the ball like a Cook, on-drives for four to reach his highest Test score, surpassing the pair of 31s he made in Grenada in March.
24th over: England 84-1 (Lees 29, Pope 50) Boult almost defeats Pope, tearing in and turning him round with an inswinger, but the leading edge lands safely. Five minutes to go.
Fifty to Pope!
23rd over: England 84-1 (Lees 29, Pope 50) Jamieson stays on, for his sixth over. Pope composes himself and plays another of his dreamy cover-drives for four, followed by an equally fine stroke off the back foot – a whipped cut that takes him to fifty off only 66 balls. It’s been two-thirds thrilling, one-third streaky.
Updated
Another drop!
22nd over: England 75-1 (Lees 29, Pope 42) Here is a change as Henry is replaced by Trent Boult, who immediately has Pope dropped! He was nibbling at a wide one and was fortunate to find his nick bisecting the keeper and first slip. Blundell left it to Mitchell, who went low to his left but never had it under control. So Mitchell, the hero of the NZ innings, drops one catch, and then drops another because of a misunderstanding with Blundell, the other hero of the day. The gods of cricket are like parents who are intent on being scrupulously fair.
Updated
21st over: England 70-1 (Lees 29, Pope 37) NZ could do with shaking things up here. Tom Latham opts to stick rather than twist, keeping Jamieson on to bowl to Lees, and is rewarded with a maiden. There hasn’t been a single for what feels like several weeks.
“If cricket parlance is to keep up with the modern world,” says Tim Sanders, “then a batter out for a duck could be said to ‘Check Out As Guest’; as the alternative to ‘opening an account’.” Ha. Also, that’s quite a big if.
20th over: England 70-1 (Lees 29, Pope 37) Henry continues and, after those Ian Bellisms, Ollie Pope goes back to his Joe Root impression, guiding past gully for two, then whipping to midwicket for two more. Less convincingly, he plays another top-edged pull, and gets another six. He has 25 off his last 12 balls, and his worst shots are yielding the most runs.
Play is going to carry on, by the way, till 7.05pm, to make up for the 35 minutes lost to rain at teatime.
19th over: England 60-1 (Lees 29, Pope 27) Lees sees those cover drives and – well, he can’t improve on Pope, but he does manage a chunky off drive for four. That’s 20 off the last eight balls! Jamieson needs to find the plug and he does so, making a diving stop off his bowling and then throwing down Lees’s stumps. For a giant, he’s quite an athlete.
18th over: England 56-1 (Lees 25, Pope 27) Pope, facing Henry again, sees that four from Lees and raises him a cover drive in the Ian Bell style – ie, stylish. Then he plays a shocker of a shot, a top-edged pull that flies over the keeper for six. That’s one way to bring up the England fifty. Then another cover drive, even creamier than the first, to bring up the fifty partnership. I take it all back: Pope at No.3 is a great idea.
In the dressing room, Ben Stokes studies his laptop. Is he going through England’s dropped catches, or googling restaurants in West Bridgford?
17th over: England 40-1 (Lees 25, Pope 11) Lees breaks the deadlock with a square drive for four off Jamieson, but it almost brings his downfall as it goes in the air, not far from the man at backward point. The sun comes out, sending long shadows across the field, none longer than Jamieson’s. The Barmy Army stir into life and do a bit of singing and pointing.
Updated
16th over: England 36-1 (Lees 21, Pope 11) Henry to Pope: nothing doing, so that’s three maidens in a row. The crowd, who sounded fairly drunk half an hour ago, have gone quiet now.
15th over: England 36-1 (Lees 21, Pope 11) Jamieson to Lees again: nothing doing. On commentary Mel Jones shows how Trent Boult set Crawley up for the wicket, angling the ball across him a few times before going straighter. Graeme Swann spots that one off the balls angled across had a hint of inswing, to sow the seed of doubt in Crawley’s mind.
“Looking at the bowling figures from England from this Test,” says Tom van der Gucht, “it reminded me of the infamous quote about facing NZ when Hadlee was in his prime – ‘like facing the World XI at one end, and Ilford 2nds at the other’. But with Anderson in the Hadlee role...” Very true, though it comes with a twist: in the second innings, Anderson tends to leave the World XI and join Ilford 2nds.
14th over: England 36-1 (Lees 21, Pope 11) Henry bustles in to Pope, delivers a maiden. And that’s drinks, with NZ still well on top but England (whisper it) doing quite well so far.
“Agree about ending the use of ‘opening his account’,” says Kim Thonger. “Isn’t one of these more appropriate for a member of the England batting unit chasing a large total? Avoids bankruptcy. Reduces his overdraft. Takes out an unsecured loan. Holds out the begging bowl.”
13th over: England 36-1 (Lees 21, Pope 11) Here is Jamieson, New Zealand’s towering terror. Lees copes well, shovelling him into the covers for a couple, then doing it again, with slightly better timing. He gets a lot of twos. And quite a few 20s.
“Is it me,” asks Bill Hargreaves, “or do England seem to be leaving well and relatively comfortable at the crease? Unnerving. Thanks, as ever, for the great commo.” Our pleasure! And good point – we’ve seen a lot of nice solid leaves. They take me back to the day Ben Hollioake waltzed into international cricket in 1997. Aged 19, he walked out to face Glenn McGrath (I think) in a one-day international at Lord’s and left his first ball with great elan. Having played himself in, he was soon whipping McGrath into the Tavern. RIP.
Updated
12th over: England 32-1 (Lees 17, Pope 11) Henry, warming to the task, secures his first moral victory, persuading Pope to play a loose drive and edge the ball just short of third slip. On commentary Ian Ward detects a problem with Pope’s back foot, which slides back as he comes forward, so his weight doesn’t go into the shot.
11th over: England 32-1 (Lees 17, Pope 11) Lees, facing Southee, keeps the Kiwis interested, playing a cut that drops just short of cover and then aiming a dozy waft at a bouncer. He’s a curious kind of Test opener – mainly stolid, then suddenly frisky; able to stay in, yet always liable to get out; good at the hard part, not so good when the going gets easy.
Updated
10th over: England 31-1 (Lees 17, Pope 10) Tom Latham makes his first decision since the very wise one to say “Tails!” as the coin came down heads. He replaces Boult – not with Kyle Jamieson, who was such a tricky proposition at Lord’s, but with Matt Henry. He starts gently, giving Lees a single and Pope a two and a one, all on the offside.
“Can I point out, in a calm and reassuring fashion,” says Martin Bright, “that it’s entirely possible to make over 550 on first innings and still lose, as England demonstrated so convincingly against Australia in 2006. Sure, the oppo had a certain SK Warne on hand to help - but we have Leach! Er ...”
9th over: England 27-1 (Lees 16, Pope 7) While Southee bowls a maiden to Pope, his mate Boult signs some autographs at fine leg. Old school.
8th over: England 27-1 (Lees 16, Pope 7) Pope keeps Boult out for four balls, then opens the face to guide past gully for two. Are you Joe Root in disguise? He rounds off the over with a pull for a single, more in the manner of Daryl Mitchell.
Dropped! Lees, on 12, by Mitchell
7th over: England 24-1 (Lees 16, Pope 4) Southee delivers a textbook outswinger to Lees, draws the nick – and sees Mitchell put it down at first slip. As slip catches go, that was a sitter, and the camera at mid-on shows that Mitchell saw it all the way. Maybe he’s just a bit tired after making 190.
To rub it in, Lees edges again – a less bad shot that goes along the ground and squirts away for four.
Updated
6th over: England 20-1 (Lees 12, Pope 4) Pope makes his first bad decision, chasing a wide one from Boult with a non-shot, a little fiddle. Luckily for him, he misses it, and lives to play a more solid stroke next ball.
5th over: England 17-1 (Lees 9, Pope 4) Pope gets off the mark with a nonchalant flick for four off Southee. I was going to say “opens his account”, but that metaphor surely needs to be retired now, unless someone takes so long to make their first run that it feels like dealing with a bank.
Updated
4th over: England 12-1 (Lees 8, Pope 0) Lees, facing Boult, picks up a more orthodox single, tucked off his legs. Pope survives his first two balls with solid blocks and uses his feet well, going well back, then well forward. He’ll be on Strictly one day.
Updated
3rd over: England 11-1 (Lees 7, Pope 0) Lees has decided not to die wondering. He off-drives Southee for four, then chases a wide one and is lucky not to inside-edge it onto his stumps. And England have a problem here, of their own making: Ollie Pope, who has only ever batted twice at No.3 (last week at Lord’s), is in already. It really should be Joe Root.
Updated
2nd over: England 6-1 (Lees 2, Pope 0) Crawley had started so promisingly, with a cover drive for four, effortlessly timed. But then came a leg-cutter from Boult, perfectly executed. “Absolute beauty,” says Mark Butcher. “A Boult cutter!”
Updated
Wicket! Crawley c Blundell b Boult 4 (England 6-1)
First blood! It’s a beauty from Boult, lifting and leaving Crawley and kissing the edge. No blame for the batter, just a lot of credit to the bowler.
Updated
1st over: England 2-0 (Lees 2, Crawley 0) Tim Southee takes the new ball as usual, swinging it into the left-handed Alex Lees, who keeps it out and picks up two with a shove back past the bowler.
NZ 553 all out! (Mitchell c Foakes b Potts 190)
Mitchell chases a wide one! And yet another bowling change pays off for Ben Stokes, as Potts comes up with an effective slower ball.
So there’s no double century for Daryl Mitchell, and no No.11 solo record for Trent Boult, who is left stranded on 16 off 18 balls. But that’s a mostly magnificent innings from Mitchell, who made 190 off 318. And it’s the highest team score ever amassed by NZ in England. Also the second-highest ever made in this country by a team that had been put in to bat. Can England play half as well? We shall see. They have, in theory, about 30 overs to face tonight.
Updated
145th over: New Zealand 551-9 (Mitchell 188, Boult 16) Mitchell goes for a booming drive off Broad, but doesn’t time it and gets only a single. Boult wants a single too, to make that No.11 record his own, and he plays a push into the covers, only to find Mitchell sending him back. “There probably was one there,” says Simon Doull.
144th over: New Zealand 550-9 (Mitchell 187, Boult 16) Boult batters Leach! Two successive fours, belted down the ground. And with the second he equals the record for the most Test runs at No.11 (623), set by Muttiah Muralitharan. He knows it too, smiling broadly and getting a hug from Mitchell.
Updated
143rd over: New Zealand 538-9 (Mitchell 183, Boult 8) Broad is overdoing the bouncer now. Mitchell helps himself, playing three pull shots, one of them positively regal (another superbly fielded on the rope by Bairstow). And this is a guy who was originally picked as a bowler.
“If Mitchell makes it to 176,” Romeo wrote a few minutes ago, “he can get out and make a duck in the second innings and still come out of the match with an average of 50. Almost Marnus territory.” Good point. Mitchell’s Test average is currently 59, the highest for NZ in the past 20 years – even better than Devon Conway (55) or Kane Williamson (52).
142nd over: New Zealand 532-9 (Mitchell 177, Boult 8) Boult, facing Leach, manages another classy tonk before nearly getting stumped, not once but twice. Foakes’s handiwork is immaculate but Boult’s footiwork is pretty sharp too.
141st over: New Zealand 528-9 (Mitchell 177, Boult 4) Broad’s bouncer, which was too much for Jamieson and Southee, is meat and drink to Mitchell, who hooks it for four. But this is still a good little fightback by England, who took three wickets for seven in seven balls.
140th over: New Zealand 524-9 (Mitchell 173, Boult 4) A lively over from Leach, who didn’t just take the wicket – he also went for seven runs. After suffering the indignity of a lofted on-drive for four by Trent Boult, he nearly got another wicket, firing in a fast straight one that Boult somehow kept out while performing a manoeuvre from experimental modern dance.
Updated
Wicket! Henry c Lees b Leach 0 (NZ 520-9)
Yet another one! And another successful bowling change by Stokes. Matt Henry goes for a golden duck, clonking a length ball from Jack Leach straight to cover, where Zak Crawley joins Joe Root in dropped-catch redemption.
Updated
139th over: New Zealand 517-8 (Mitchell 170, Henry 0) That was good bowling at the tail by Broad and good captaincy from Stokes, who had given Anderson a well-earned breather and summoned his other old warhorse.
Broad, in his bandana, was being watched by his dad Chris, in shades and a sandy linen suit, looking like a minor character in a TV drama who has just landed in Miami to do a deal on the beach.
Updated
Wicket! Southee c Root b Broad 4 (NZ 517-8)
Two bring three! Another bouncer does for another fast bowler looking to move the scoreboard along. Southee, tucked up, gets a big soft nick off the shoulder and Root, at gully, catches a dolly.
Updated
Wicket! Jamieson c Foakes b Broad 14 (NZ 513-7)
Gloved behind! Foakes doesn’t drop this one, and Broad has his first wicket of the match with a well-aimed bouncer.
Updated
138th over: New Zealand 511-6 (Mitchell 169, Jamieson 13) Anderson, for once, bowls a rank bad ball, as his inswinger veers outside leg stump. Jamieson does well to lay a bat on it and even better to flick it for four. Then, in another shock development, Ben Foakes messes up a take and concedes a bye – the first of the innings.
137th over: New Zealand 505-6 (Mitchell 168, Jamieson 9) Kyle Jamieson, facing Potts, isn’t going to hang around. In what looks like a silent reproach to Mitchell, he hooks his second ball for four to bring up the 500, and steers his fourth for four more past cover. He has 50pc more runs off seven balls than Mitchell has off his last 28.
136th over: New Zealand 497-6 (Mitchell 168, Jamieson 1) That’s bad luck on Bracewell but just deserts for NZ, who had lost their way in the past 15 minutes, and for Anderson, who now has three for 57. As so often, he is playing in a different match from the other England bowlers, who have three for 424.
Wicket! Bracewell c Root b Anderson 49 (NZ 496-6)
Gone! Bracewell is defeated by a combination of the nervous 40s and a near-40-year-old. Anderson produces a classic outswinger to the left-hander and this time Root at first slip takes it cleanly in front of his right knee.
Updated
135th over: New Zealand 496-5 (Mitchell 168, Bracewell 49) Facing Potts, the batters remember that they’re supposed to be making runs, but some good fielding by Pope and Lees means they only get singles. Maybe they’ll go bananas once Bracewell has his fifty.
134th over: New Zealand 493-5 (Mitchell 167, Bracewell 47) Mitchell plays out a maiden from Anderson. I’m all for treating the elders of our society with respect, but this is puzzling. NZ should be hitting the ball out of the ground, or at least into someone’s pint.
133rd over: New Zealand 493-5 (Mitchell 167, Bracewell 47) Better from Potts, who mixes it up and restricts the batters to a single apiece.
“All the chat about Potts’ bowling average,” says Ian Chandler, “is reminding me that Scott Boland’s is 9.55 after his first three Tests.” If you’re playing for Australia against England at home, does it even count?
132nd over: New Zealand 491-5 (Mitchell 166, Bracewell 46) Anderson gets a go at the right-handed Mitchell, who is circumspect, for a batter on 160-odd, but picks up two with a back-foot square drive. The camera finds a small boy in the crowd: he is lost in his PlayStation.
“If I were New Zealand captain,” says Kim Thonger, “I’d be very tempted to bat on until 716 is reached, just for badness. Owning your nation’s highest Test score, and it being against England, must be a nice feeling.”
Updated
131st over: New Zealand 489-5 (Mitchell 164, Bracewell 46) Root’s been taken off! Excuse me, that wasn’t in Tanya’s instructions. It turns out that Stokes was just using his predecessor as a way of enabling Potts to change ends. Hmm.
Potts resorts to bodyline, which gives the batters no trouble at all. They play four pull shots in a row, the pick of them a horizontal humdinger from Bracewell that bisects the two catchers lurking in the deep. Not bad for a debutant. When Potts switches to the yorker, Mitchell is waiting for it with a neat block for a single.
130th over: New Zealand 482-5 (Mitchell 162, Bracewell 41) Potts is replaced by Jimmy Anderson, who may have spent the past hour having a massage on his sore hamstring. Game as ever, he charges in, goes full and wide to Bracewell – swinging wider – and almost finds the edge. Two maidens in a row, and two plays-and-misses in six balls! The tide is turning.
129th over: New Zealand 482-5 (Mitchell 162, Bracewell 41) Before the rain, Tanya was advising Stokes to take himself off and bring on Joe Root’s off spin. During the break, Stokes clearly caught up with the OBO, because that’s exactly what he does now. Root, as so often, is respectable, conceding only a single as the left-handed Bracewell plays a push to mid-on.
Play resumes after rain
128th over: New Zealand 481-5 (Mitchell 162, Bracewell 40) Play! It’s Potts to finish this over, and he makes it a maiden with the bonus of beating the bat as Mitchell plays an airy waft outside off. “That’s the only shot he doesn’t have,” says Mark Butcher, “the square cut.”
Updated
“Thanks!” says Monsoon on Twitter. “I made it to a Guardian Blog. NYT next ....”
I hope you’ll be asking them how good this pitch is for batting.
Not to get too excited, but ... play may be about to resume.
“Malcolm Marshall’s average after three Tests,” says Oliver B, “was 88.33. He did alright in the end though.” Very true. In Test cricket, even more than other kinds of sport, you have to give people time. It took Mark Wood about five years!
We interrupt this cricket blog to bring you an important point about verb endings. “Nice oldish sortish English back there,” says Will Wroth, in an email to Tanya, “with ‘the runs, they floweth…’ But … -eth was the precursor for -s as the third-person singular suffix, as in ‘my cup runneth over.’” D’oh!
“A more likely plural suffix would be -en, as in ‘the runs, they flowen…’, — this is normal Middle English, and Chaucer’s full of it — but that had become archaic even before -eth became -s. Here endeth the lesson. (See what I did there?) Thanks for the OBO, as usual.”
Our pleasure, Will. Thank you for that erudite point and an observation I won’t easily forget: “Chaucer’s full of it.”
We need to talk about Jack Leach. Such a character, such a fighter, such a great guy when you need someone to make 1 not out ... but a bowler who only comes to the party halfway through a Test match. My colleague Rob Smyth has been doing some digging and it tells quite a stark story.
For England Leach now averages 17 in the fourth innings of a Test, 24 in the third, 45 in the second, and 90 in the first. Ninety!
In a perfect world, the ECB would offer him a job share with Jimmy Anderson, who is the other way round. In the third or fourth innings, since lockdown, he averages 52; in the first or second, 18.
Updated
“Well,” says Nicholas Valley, “Potts’ average certainly isn’t looking quite so world-beating now, is it?” Ha, no, poor old Potts is making the difficult second album. To be fair, though, his average is still good: it’s 24, which is better than most people’s after their first two Tests. To take two examples at random, at the same stage of their careers Jimmy Anderson was averaging 27 (five wickets for 138), while Stuart Broad was on 53 (four for 213). And Anderson didn’t take a wicket in his second Test.
The rain is turning out to be more tenacious than everyone thought, much like the NZ middle order. To fill in time, Sky are running a tribute to Michael Holding and David Lloyd. One of the contributors is Sir Tim Rice, the lyricist and cricket lover. “Name-dropping alert,” he says in his genial way. “When the Queen came to Lord’s, I was on the [MCC] committee and we each had two minutes of sitting next to her, watching the game. So I got my two minutes with her and the first thing she said was, ‘I really like Michael Holding. His voice is fantastic.’”
“Agreed that Stokes has taken some screamers,” says Geoff Wignall, “but he maybe drops a few more than do the very best. Which is of a piece with his game overall perhaps – a player of great innings but not a great batter (albeit he’s arguably worth a place as a specialist bat), a producer of some great spells but not a great bowler.
“We have to wait to see how he ranks as a captain; though at the start of this match the old axiom came to mind: win the toss and bat, unless conditions are perfect for bowling. In which case, think twice and bat anyway.”
Let’s not forget that Tom Latham, a more seasoned captain than Stokes, was going to bowl first too.
We have a complaint! “Commentary is not telling us,” says Monsoon on Twitter, “whether the pitch is good for batting or good for bowling . . (I get the impression it is good for batting to blokes who are in their late 30’s).” Ha. Yes, it’s dead flat if you’re getting on a bit – and your name ends in -ell.
For everyone else, it’s a batting track as long as you make sure to play yourself in first, as every single New Zealander has done. And it’s a bowling track if you hold your catches, as England have not.
The rain is tailing off already. You can’t even rely on the British weather these days.
Ah thanks Tanya. Actually I’m feeling a bit bad as Tanya and I have had three days on together in this series, and she’s only had one wicket to report – that one for Jack Leach. I, on the other hand, have been covering non-stop collapses. So, on all recent form, England are about to wrap up this innings in no time. What can possibly go wrong?
Updated
Perfect timing to allow me to hand over to Tim de Lisle, who will take you eruditely through to stumps. Thanks for all the emails, and the education on great slip catchers over the years. Bye!
Rain stops play
127.2 overs: New Zealand 481-5 (Mitchell 162, Bracewell 40) At last England get a break.
Updated
127th over: New Zealand 481-5 (Mitchell 162, Bracewell 40) It’s getting a bit rowdy down in the stands, as Stokes ignores my advice and keeps himself on. A couple of easy runs.
@tjaldred England potentially had Thorpe-Hick-Hussain in the slips in the 90s, which is absurdly good. I'm not sure they did often go with that particular trio, though - seem to recall Hussain being at gully a lot back then.
— Mike Morris (@MD_Morris) June 11, 2022
Updated
126th over: New Zealand 475-5 (Mitchell 157, Bracewell 39) The runs, they floweth. Pott’s over ends with a boundary powered back over his head. Potts (25-5-104-0) turns and walks away.
@tjaldred Sometimes the luck goes with you, sometimes it doesn't. A rude awakening for Matty Potts today as he's staring down nought for a hundred ...
— VoiceOfTheMysterons (@Mysteron_Voice) June 11, 2022
😳😳😳#BBCCricket #ENGvNZ
125th over: New Zealand 472-5 (Mitchell 157, Bracewell 36) A maiden from Stokes. “I hope he doesn’t bowl himself into the ground,” says Phil Tufnell on TMS. So true. Time for some Root twirlers?
Updated
124th over: New Zealand 472-5 (Mitchell 157, Bracewell 36) Leach’s long spell comes to an end - a drop and a wicket his reward. Potts replaces him and his second ball is squirted through backward point, his fourth inside-edged awkwardly past leg stump for another boundary.
“For those of us of a certain vintage, the benchmark for slip catching was Phil Sharpe who some would have classes as a batsman/ slip all rounder,” writes Geoff Wignall. “The best I’ve since then are probably Grieg, Botham and Flintoff, coincidentally all sometime all rounder captains. But the salient point is that of the current England squad the only possible candidate for a dream cordon would be prime period Jimmy, who was surely the team’s best fielder for a decade or more.”
Stokes has taken some screamers in his time.
123rd over: New Zealand 464-5 (Mitchell 157, Bracewell 28) Mitchell eyes up a Stokes half volley and drives immaculately. Four. Stokes sighs and pulls on his cap , from front to back.
122nd over: New Zealand 457-5 (Mitchell 153, Bracewell 27) Feels a bit like England are going through the motions here, waiting for the declaration. An hour after tea with 600 on the scoreboard? Leach again, a couple of no-risk runs.
Both Blundell and Mitchell reached their third Test tons this morning.
— Yas Rana (@Yas_Wisden) June 11, 2022
Only one England player (Burns) to debut in the last seven years has gone on to score three Test hundreds.
121st over: New Zealand 457-5 (Mitchell 152, Bracewell 26) Bracewell dusts down a chair and pulls up to the Test cricket feast. A holiday drive for four, then an edge through the slips for another.
Jeremy Boyce types in: “Botham and Viv Richards were both sublime slippers. They both played for Somerset, home of cider. And they were both revealed as cannabis/weed smokers. Make of that what you will.”
Let’s just segue quickly into the West Indies slip cordon of the 1980s - Richards, Harper, Lloyd?
120th over: New Zealand 449-5 (Mitchell 152, Bracewell 18) Some calm restored, as just a couple comes off Leach. Not big turn but some nice lines.
Jack Leach's average bowling speed now is just under 86kph. When he started his Test career it was just over 81kph. Plenty of deserved goodwill for Leach but what he's offering, particularly in the first innings of a Test, has changed significantly
— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) June 11, 2022
119th over: New Zealand 447-5 (Mitchell 151, Bracewell 17) Stokes fires them down past the off-stump in an attempt to stem the flow.
Rick Foot suggests, “Roope, Grieg and Botham.”
Mitchell reaches 150!
118th over: New Zealand 446-5 (Mitchell 150, Bracewell 17) Leach stays on and Mitchell advances once more, twinkle toes, and batters six, flying with the wind over long on. His 150 comes up with a single and Trent Bridge applauds appreciatively. Encouragement for understudies everywhere.
Updated
117th over: New Zealand 439-5 (Mitchell 143, Bracewell 17) England breathe as Stokes regains some control.
I can’t remember Hendrick in the slips, but Botham was peerless.
Brearley, Gooch, Botham, Hendrick was a fine slip cordon.
— chris bull (@SirChrisBull) June 11, 2022
115th over: New Zealand 438-5 (Mitchell 142, Bracewell 17) Time, I think, for a change. Leach was unlucky to have Mitchell dropped, but he’s getting some stick now. Seventeen from the over as Mitchell gallops forwards, lofts six and a four and a three through the covers and Bracewell joins in with a boundary through long on.
Afternoon session
115th over: New Zealand 421-5 (Mitchell 129, Bracewell 13) So here we go again. And not exactly what the doctor ordered, as Bracewell gets stuck into Stokes, pounding two boundaries: an on-drive and a powerful pull forward of square.
“How about Oakman, Lock and Cowdrey from 1956 v Australia at Old Trafford,” writes Ian Wilson. “Jim Laker’s 19 wickets, I was there as a 12 year old school boy.”
“Locked down in Wellington Aotearoa with Covid, like Rapunzel with hair cut waiting for a Prince. Will happily substitute for the TMS link.” Mike.
Mike, and others, apologies. The TMS overseas link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahuOnH4SXnA
Ah, I was hoping someone would come up with a dream England slip cordon predating the 2000s.
No It has to be Michael Colin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney, and Peter May!!
— IJAZ DURRANI (@IJAZDURRANI12) June 11, 2022
Photograph: ANL/REX/Shutterstock
Time for a quick sandwich, back shortly.
114th over: New Zealand 412-5 (Mitchell 128, Bracewell 5) With three balls to go, Pope comes in at short leg. The last ball is edged, but safely, and that is lunch, with the session, and the match, firmly in the hands of New Zealand.
Updated
113th over: New Zealand 411-5 (Mitchell 127, Bracewell 5) Bracewell safely ignores a Stokes over.
112th over: New Zealand 411-5 (Mitchell 127, Bracewell 5) A Leach maiden as we approach lunch.
“Hi Tanya.” Hello there, Jeremy Boyce.
“Totally agree with Uma (96th over), but she was simply modernising old knowledge, for instance...a watched kettle never boils, the best way to get the bus to come is to walk to the next stop (it will come when you’re half way between), a much-needed wicket is never taken. It’s a similar principle to the one where, when you’re hanging on the phone listening to some company’s muzak, the best way to get them to answer is to fill your mouth with food, they will answer 2 seconds later.”
“So, can I suggest we all stop reading/listening to/watching the action for 10 minutes so Jimmy can bag a hat-trick ?”
111th over: New Zealand 411-5 (Mitchell 127, Bracewell 5) The crowd have got the bit between their teeth now, urging Stokes on as he pounds in. Bracewell is beaten, and comes within a string of dental floss of chopping on, before sending Stokes spinning off his pads for four.
Flintoff’s huge bucket hands also get a shout out from Tom King:
@tjaldred best England slip cordon I've seen would have been some combination of Trescothick, Flintoff and Strauss in the 2005 era.
— Tom King (@tallgeekychap) June 11, 2022
110th over: New Zealand 406-5 (Mitchell 127, Bracewell 1) Reward for Leach, who gets a huge huge from a pumped-up Stokes, who took that catch running backwards. A superb partnership of 236, New Zealand’s highest for the fifth wicket. Michael Bracewell walks in on debut, and nudges a nerve-relieving single.
Scott O’Brien has a fantasy England slip cordon: “I’m not sure I could name a collective group, but anything with Thorpe, Hick and/or Flintoff would be up there in the time I’ve been watching.”
Updated
WICKET! Blundell c Stokes b Leach 106 (New Zealand 405-5)
A disconsolate Blundell is applauded off by an admiring Trent Bridge after mis-cueing Leach straight to mid-off where Stokes was NOT going to drop it.
Updated
109th over: New Zealand 405-4 (Mitchell 127, Blundell 106) Easy pickings as eight are milked off Stokes.
A hundred for Tom Blundell!
108th over: New Zealand 397-4 (Mitchell 126, Blundell 100) A fantastic century by Blundell, as he picks up nine off Leach’s over: an(other) thick edge past Root at slip for four, a shimmy and charge over Leach’s head and finally a squirted single. He takes off his helmet and modestly raises his bat. How fantastically these two have played, taking the game away from England.
Updated
107th over: New Zealand 388-4 (Mitchell 126, Blundell 9a) A pause while Blundell’s finger is seen to by a physio, then Stokes comes on for the first time today. He immediately makes things happen as Blundell has a wafty drive and misses completely. Some terrific fielding by Anderson cuts off a potential boundary as he launches himself at mid-off like someone heading onto a slideaway (don’t know if these still exist.) Mitchell completes things with a wacky throw-the-bat effort over mid-on for four.
Is that five drops this match ? We were told that happy relaxed players tend to be sharper in the field. Make of that what you will.
— Elizabeth Ammon (@legsidelizzy) June 11, 2022
106th over: New Zealand 382-4 (Mitchell 121, Blundell 90) Good fightback by Leach with a maiden.
105th over: New Zealand 382-4 (Mitchell 121, Blundell 90) Blundell picks up one off Potts to reach the nineties - can he go four better than Lord’s and make three figures?
Updated
104th over: New Zealand 381-4 (Mitchell 121, Blundell 89) Mitchell sweeps Leach for a morale-destroying boundary.
On Sky, Atherton mentions that Nasser Hussain had got a text message from Mark Waugh saying that England’s slip cordon were standing too close together. They show a clip from the magnificent Australian cordon of the 90s: Mark Taylor, Mark Waugh, Shane Warne. Has there ever been a better cordon than that? What is England’s greatest slip cordon?
@tjaldred https://t.co/N4yInrPxQG
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) June 11, 2022
103rd over: New Zealand 376-4 (Mitchell 117, Blundell 88) Mitchell rubs salt into the wound with successive boundaries off Potts, one an edge to rattle up the 200 partnership; the other a Pimms-slurping drive through mid-off. “Excuse me Mr umpires, any chance of a ball change?” “Get lost.”
Key event
102nd over: New Zealand 368-4 (Mitchell 109, Blundell 88) Oh dear. Mitchell fires Leach down the ground, mistimes it, and somehow Potts running round the boundary doesn’t get to it - I think it brushes his finger tips before hitting his knee and rolling over the rope. Poor Potts looks crestfallen. As does Leach. Mitchell is open-mouthed in surprise.
101st over: New Zealand 363-4 (Mitchell 104, Blundell 88) Potts is bustling, strong as an ox, bracelets on his left wrist, and joyfully uninhibited as he directs the field from the top of his mark . Mitchell is frisky, frees his arms in an attempt to send Potts down the ground but only fires it into the ground. The crowd are relatively subdued, waiting for wickets, but are rewarded only by another high-elbowed Blundell boundary. And that is drinks, with the first half of the morning going to New Zealand.
Updated
100th over: New Zealand 358-4 (Mitchell 103, Blundell 84) Blundell has it in for Leach, stepping towards him and letting fly, just south of Zac Crawley’s nose , through the covers for four.
99th over: New Zealand 354-4 (Mitchell 103, Blundell 80) Potts, Anderson and Stokes mutter magic spells in a huddle. A maiden topped by a last ball beauty which screams between Mitchell’s bat and pad band into the gloves of Foakes.
So it's only been done four times since Bradman's day, 88 years ago. And never by a keeper! https://t.co/D1220Q0OaZ
— Tim de Lisle (@TimdeLisle) June 11, 2022
98th over: New Zealand 354-4 (Mitchell 103, Blundell 80) Blundell takes a leaf out of Mitchell’s book as he charges Leach and sends him flying to the mid-on boundary for four. Crawley prevents another.
A hundred for Daryl Mitchell
97th over: New Zealand 348-4 (Mitchell 102, Blundell 75) A double change, with Matthew Potts coming on at the Radcliffe Road end. Mitchell picks up a couple off a full toss, which is followed by an optimistic appeal, outside the line and duly turned down. And then an edge – through that troublesome slip cordon – to bring up Mitchell’s second century of the series. He pulls off his helmet and punches the air in delight with his bat hand. Well played! It’s his third Test hundred in 11 games – and he was, of course, dropped on three by Joe Root.
Updated
96th over: New Zealand 342-4 (Mitchell 96, Blundell 75) Time for spin. Jack Leach bowls a practise ball, then strides in. A maiden, with speeds varying between 53 and 58mph for those who want to compare with Parkinson, whose speed has been constantly in the spotlight since his debut at Lord’s.
“Morning,” Hello Tom VD Gucht. “I’m coming to the point of sporting desperation where I flick through the different websites checking the score in the hope that when one of them refreshes, it will bring a wicket. It’s very similar to Uma Thurman’s approach to going tot he toilet in the restaurant and finding your food waiting for you when you return.”
95th over: New Zealand 342-4 (Mitchell 96, Blundell 75) Jimmy finds a bit of life in the pitch and Mitchell is forced to spring his hand away from the bat handle. But Mitchell strikes back, advancing into a pull and whisking the ball away to the rope.
94th over: New Zealand 337-4 (Mitchell 92, Blundell 74) Swing from Broad. Blundell picks up a single, then Broad is foiled as he tries to sneak a yorker under Mitchell’s bat. Stokes tries again to get the ball changed, and the umpires go through the motions before handing it back.
93rd over: New Zealand 334-4 (Mitchell 90, Blundell 73) A very generous ball from Anderson arrives at Mitchell’s hip and he nudges it down to the rope, thanks very much, to move into the nineties. England try the umpires for a new ball, but it passes through the callipers, so Anderson ploughs on. A blue sky speckled with puffy clouds presides over Trent Bridge
92nd over: New Zealand 330-4 (Mitchell 86, Blundell 73) Some rotten news for Stuart Broad this morning after a fire destroyed a large part of the pub he co-owns with Harry Gurney last night. Just one from his over.
Thank you to Brian Withington, “Phil Keegan’s contribution reminds me of the trusty old onomatopoeia joke - the one where two friends get separated at a fun fair and one of them shouts down plaintively to the other from the very top of the Helter Skelter. It’s the way I deconstruct them …”
91st over: New Zealand 329-4 (Mitchell 85, Blundell 73) Anderson is busy, bustling in. Mitchell picks up three through the covers, before Anderson has an lbw appeal that is going down leg.
An email lands from Finbar Anslow “Am recovering from a knee replacement so please cancel me as a possible concussion sub. A couple of questions, I have a theory that people who haven’t actually played much cricket, like myself, when dreaming about the game tend to dream they’re playing brilliantly, so logically people with experience would tend to dream of a nightmare performance. Does that stand to reason?”
90th over: New Zealand 326-4 (Mitchell 82, Blundell 73) The wind gusts and Broad’s hair blows upwards like cress growing out of a boiled egg shell. Blundell leans into a wide one and cuts skilfully throught the slips for four. A couple of sweet inswingers bring no reward.
89th over: New Zealand 320-4 (Mitchell 82, Blundell 67) Anderson picks up where he left off yesterday - though, as they point out on the radio, he and Broad have switched ends. A touch of swing and its a maiden.
88th over: New Zealand 320-4 (Mitchell 82, Blundell 67) Stuart Broad it is, white headband Rambo style across his forehead, the butter-fingered slips with hands in their pockets as the wind blows across them. Just a single from it.
The first bell of the day tolls on the OBO:
@tjaldred Good morning Tanya. My biggest fear today (there are many others) would be that Root will be so annoyed at his drop of Mitchell, that he will try too hard to make a mends with the bat, and get himself out cheaply. If that happens we have a good chance of following on.
— Brendan Large (@brendanlarge) June 11, 2022
The anthems are blasting out and Jimmy Anderson repeatedly throws a beach ball on the ground.
Yesterday England dropped four catches - can they make amends today.? We get to watch those drops in full, though Graeme Swann says it is very difficult to catch in the slips at Trent Bridge as the sun is setting.
I found this stat from last year - Lord’s now seems like an aberration.
Since the start of 2019, England's slip cordon is statistically the worst in the world in terms of taking catches. They drop more than 1 in 4. #ENGvIND
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) August 6, 2021
And a couple of leftover cricket and philosophy jokes:
Tom Morgan: “What does the philosophers XI do when the ball’s old?
They turn to Spinoza.”
and Phil Keegan: “I don’t have any philosophy jokes but I do have some phonology jokes if anyone is interested, which probably only fellow English teacher trainer nerds are. Anyway:“How do you contact a French phonetics expert? Phone - ihm. Actually I am not sure this works in print. You have to say ‘phoneme’ with an exaggerated French stress on the second syllable. I’ll get me coat.”
Just to polish off some of yesterday’s emails, while Ian Ward (not so well ironed) talks to Chris Woakes about his run-up.
A shout out to Mike Brearley from Colum Fordham “The most obvious intellectual amongst the cricketing fraternity that springs to mind is Michael Brearley. He has a PhD in philosophy from St John’s Cambridge and used his astute mind to captain England back in the late 1970s and bring in helmets for batters He became a leading psychoanalyst
“He came to play an Old Boys’ match back in 1986 when I was an undergraduate and came across as a thoroughly nice guy. I managed to have him caught off my offspin which is my only cricketing claim to fame.”
A classy gesture by New Zealand:
Susan - the lady earlier who Daryl Mitchell’s pint hit - has been given a replacement by the Kiwi team 👏👏👏#ENGvNZ pic.twitter.com/53ig2R5cML
— England’s Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) June 10, 2022
On Sky, Chris Woakes and Simon Doull are talking about bowling. Woakes has on the most immaculately ironed clothes I’ve ever seen - kudos to the Sky wardrobe department.
Preamble
Good morning! England start to today needing quick wickets and to split the partnership between Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell. Sound familiar? At Lord’s, Mitchell reached his hundred, Blundell didn’t, but the rest of the New Zealand middle order crumbled like a crushed biscotti. Can Broad, and Potts and Anderson and Stokes - with Leach - do it again?
Play starts in 40 minutes.
