Fightback: Alex Lees and Ollie Pope steadied England after the early loss of Zak Crawley
(Picture: AP)Ollie Pope led England's fightback against New Zealand in the second Test at Trent Bridge.
Brendon McCullum's frustrated side toiled in the field once again for much of a long day two, with Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell both piling on the runs to make Ben Stokes further regret the decision to put the Black Caps in to bat after winning the toss on Friday.
Mitchell finished with a fantastic 190 from 318 balls in a knock that lasted just shy of eight hours, while Blundell was finally removed for 106 after falling narrowly short of a century in New Zealand's five-wicket loss at Lord's last weekend.
The visitors ended up posting a huge score of 553 all out as Michael Bracewell almost made a half-century, beating their previous highest innings total on English soil by two runs.
New Zealand eventually lost their last four wickets for 40 runs following an hour-long rain delay in Nottingham, with James Anderson the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 62. Broad ended up claiming two wickets on his home ground, while there were two each in a tough innings that lasted 145.3 overs from Stokes and spinner Jack Leach, the latter's coming at the expense of 140 runs.
England's daunting response got off to a terrible start as opener Zak Crawley got out cheaply for four in just the second over, edging behind off the bowling of Trent Boult.
However, after his heroics with the bat, Mitchell was guilty of dropping both Alex Lees and Pope at first slip on 12 and 37 respectively as the duo somewhat fortuitously guided England to stumps with no further loss.
No3 Pope made a stylish and morale-boosting half-century, while Lees notched his highest Test score to date of 34 in a useful partnership that successfully steadied the ship.
England will resume on day three on 90 for one, trailing by 463 runs and with a lead of 1-0 in this three-Test series that concludes at Headingley next week.
