New Zealand v England: first men’s cricket Test, day two

Key events

6th over: England 9-1 (Bethell 0, Duckett 9) Henry’s wobbling seam sees the ball skip past Bethell’s forward prod. The debutant has a fairly classical setup at the crease and swishes at the final ball of the over, with New Zealand appealing for a catch behind. They opt against the review … and the replays show they were right. Another maiden.

5th over: England 9-1 (Bethell 0, Duckett 9) Southee’s inswinger to Duckett is trying its best to sneak through and rattle the stumps, but the opener is happy to go hard at the ball. Duckett tries repeatedly to beat the man at short mid-on but can’t. Coldplay’s Don’t Panic rings around the ground.

4th over: England 9-0 (Bethell 0, Duckett 9) Bethell has to contend with a half-hearted lbw shout from his first ball faced. Welcome to Test cricket.

WICKET! Crawley lbw Henry 0 (England 9-1)

Crawley’s wait to free his arms continues … before Henry slaps his front pad with a nipbacker! The umpire takes his time before raising the finger. Crawley opts against the review and his troubles against New Zealand go on. Time for the new kid.

3rd over: England 9-0 (Crawley 0, Duckett 9) Duckett, already looking more comfortable than Crawley, tucks Southee into the leg side for a couple … before nearly poking an outside edge into the hands of Tom Blundell. Southee then squares up Duckett, but the edge doesn’t produce any carry. It’s tricky out there for the batters.

2nd over: England 5-0 (Crawley 0, Duckett 5) Matt Henry takes off from the other end, going close to yorker-length with his first ball, dug out by Ben Duckett. The southpaw finds four with the next delivery, driving an overpitched ball through mid-off. Henry eventually finds his length and a bit of nip, the ball zipping past Duckett’s outside edge.

1st over: England 0-0 (Crawley 0, Duckett 0) Tim Southee opens up, sending down some banana outswing, his second a beaut that whispers sweet nothings into Crawley’s outside edge. The veteran than shows off his wobble seam before another gorgeous outswinger nips past Crawley’s tentative prod. A very decent first over from the New Zealand legend.

Zak Crawley averages an ugly 11.13 after 15 Test innings against New Zealand. Yikes. But he’ll still give it a whack.

I’m going to rely on some local expertise, with Paul Cockburn writing in just before the fall of the last wicket:

Watching from Wellington (free to air in NZ). These are useful runs early doors on Day Two. Hagley is a lovely strip, but it doesn’t tend to score big on the first knock. 280/290 is a decent first innings score. It’s going to be fascinating when this next wicket falls…

New Zealand are 348 all out

Carse sneaks the ball between Phillips’ bat and pad but somehow misses the stumps, the ball beating Ollie Pope too to run away for four byes. The fun is over moments later, however, with a cracking Carse yorker rattling O’Rourke’s stumps. The quick finishes with a four-for, Phillips walks off with an unbeaten 58.

90th over: New Zealand 341-9 (Phillips 55, O’Rourke 0) Phillips slaps Woakes off the back foot through the covers for four. England’s attack leader hasn’t looked himself this morning, though he nearly finds Phillips’ outside edge with an outswinger. A hooping inswinger ends the over but can’t dislodge the towering O’Rourke.

Half-century for Glenn Phillips!

89th over: New Zealand 335-9 (Phillips 50, O’Rourke 0) Phillips makes room to thrash Carse through the off side, finds third man, and sprints back for two. It takes a cracking dive from Phillips to make his ground. A pull shot for one brings the No 7 a half-century, his fifth in Test cricket. O’Rourke has to deal with the final two balls of the over, and does so.

88th over: New Zealand 332-9 (Phillips 47, O’Rourke 0) Shot! Glenn Phillips unfurls the scoop to send Woakes over the keeper’s head for four.

Mark Beadle writes in: “Are they trying to buy Woakes some confidence here, wouldn’t England be better off with Atkinson in tandem with Carse? Or even Bashir going for a Michelle?”

I see your point but it makes sense to entrust Woakes with the new ball when that’s his main skillset. He’s not been at his best though.

87th over: New Zealand 327-9 (Phillips 43, O’Rourke 0) Ooof. Phillips top-edges the ball from Carse on to his helmet, the lid partly coming off. Good to see he’s OK, and he signals for a fresh helmet. Play resumes and Phillips is willing to have a swing at everything … he finds a bit of luck. He pokes the bat, edges to Root at slip, who can’t hold on diving with one hand to his right. A tough chance.

Damian Clarke has read my preamble and contributed this:

Thoughts: Please let me sleep.

Queries: Why does the abbreviation of refrigerator add an extra letter?

Midnight snack suggestion: Toasted crumpets with criminal amounts of butter and strawberry jam.

Fave Denzel film: Impossible question. Can I have all of them? If not, then the ones where he hurts a lot of people. I like it when he hurts people.

General life wisdom: Never eat yellow snow.

Whatever makes you happy: See question 1.

86th over: New Zealand 326-9 (Phillips 42, O’Rourke 0) Phillips tries to hit Woakes back to Birmingham but misreads the slower ball, his swing of the bat only finding the Christchurch air. Ollie Popes collects well down the leg-side as Woakes temporarily loses control of his inswinger. Another leg-side take is required, but Pope can’t hold on and they run through a leg bye.

85th over: New Zealand 325-9 (Phillips 42, O’Rourke 0) Carse shows Will O’Rourke his bouncer but also sends in some sixth-seventh-stump outswingers that are safely left alone.

WICKET! Southee c Atkinson b Carse 15 (New Zealand 325-9)

Well, that wasn’t too hard. Brydon Carse thunders in, drops it short, and Southee toe-ends a pull shot into the deep where Gus Atkinson safely holds on.

84th over: New Zealand 325-8 (Phillips 42, Southee 15) And we’re off, Phillips immediately up and running with a leg-side clip for one. Tim Southee is in a fun mood, skipping down the pitch to slap Woakes down the ground for four; never mind the new-ball swing. Southee dabs a gentle outswinger into the covers for one to end the over.

Before we get going, I really do like Glenn Phillips at No 7 for New Zealand, in as a specialist gamechanger. Whacks it with the bat, is averaging less than 30 with his offies and is an insane fielder. He’s out in the middle with Tim Southee, with Chris Woakes taking the ball.

More from Ali’s day one coverage. Kane’s back.

Tom V d Gucht writes in: “That’s a great list of number 3 debutante and a real reminder of how fallible our memories are. I could have sworn that Trott batted at 3 in the 2009 Ashes when he replaced Bopara. I wonder who did in that match?”

It was Ian Bell! Trott came in at five, after Paul Collingwood.

I’d also like to share this, passed on by Tom Davies, another OBO colleague. A group are running a marathon in memory of their friend Josh Baker, the Worcestershire spinner who passed away this May. You can find out more here.

We’ll most likely see Jacob Bethell stroll out at No 3 later today. My colleague Rob Smyth passed on this very handy list of England men’s Test debutants at No 3. There have been four this century, though Rehan Ahmed was in as a nightwatchman, while Jason Roy was meant to open against Ireland (Jack Leach did it instead, hitting 92). Owais Shah and Tom Westley were the other two, the former hitting 88 against India, the latter 59 against South Africa. Those were to remain their highest Test scores. Roy’s best, a 78-ball 72, also came on debut.

Ali Martin is our man on the ground, and here’s his day one report. Great intro.

Preamble

Hello, fellow night owls (in the UK), and welcome to our coverage of the second day’s play at the Hagley Oval. Christchurch looked a picture yesterday, and the game was pretty decent, too. New Zealand were 199 for three on a pitch that was green but hardly treacherous before England snapped back, Shoaib Bashir sneaking in an opening day four-for and Brydon Carse looking more and more like a very serious Test bowler. It ended 319 for eight, the visitors probably a touch happier.

The morning should be fun, with Glenn Phillips (41*) and Tim Southee (more Test sixes than Virender Sehwag) out in the middle, up against the second new ball. Once that wraps up – something’s gone horribly wrong with England if not – we could end up getting a glimpse of Jacob Bethell, the debutant in at No 3.

Feel free to share your thoughts, queries, midnight snack suggestions, favourite Denzel film, general life wisdom, whatever makes you happy.