Mark Butcher look at the problems facing an England Test team struggling for results, ahead of their second Test against New Zealand (2:12)
England 70 for 2 (Stoneman 28*, Root 20*) v New Zealand
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
First the good news for England’s beleaguered Test cricketers. After losing the toss and being made to bat first for the second time in this two-Test series, they laid the ghosts of their humiliating 58-all-out in Auckland last week, to reach lunch on the first day at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on a relatively healthy 70 for 2.
The bad news, however, was a continuation of some wearyingly familiar problems at the top of their batting order.
First up, Alastair Cook’s dead-horse form was given another flogging by the left-arm seam of Trent Boult, as he lost his off stump in the third over of the morning to depart for 2, his third single-figure score in as many innings in this series.
And then James Vince – recalled at No.3 to shore up the batting in the absence of the dropped Moeen Ali – was pinned lbw for 18, a self-parody of an innings that featured three sumptuous boundaries, the like of which can make even his fiercest critics purr, and a successful review for a catch at slip, as Colin de Grandhomme’s canny medium-pace caused problems from the outset.
Vince’s eventual departure, trapped on the crease by a full-length inswinger and burning a review in the process, left his career average after 21 innings at a distinctly average 22.47 – a very accurate reflection of a career in which he has rarely failed to make a start, but has gone on to reach a half-century on just two occasions.
Cook, troublingly, has an almost identical record of two fifty-plus scores in his last 20 Test innings. In his case, however, those two scores have been the small matter of 243 against West Indies at Edgbaston and 244 not out against Australia at Melbourne. Those innings point to his enduring class, and his enduring ability to make a start count.
However, those starts have been fewer and further between for Cook, and he never looked likely to bed in today. He survived a tight appeal from Tim Southee’s first delivery, which struck the pad on the line of leg stump but would have be swinging down, but with his footwork tentative, he was a sitting duck for Boult’s pace and seam movement.
At the other end, Mark Stoneman gritted his teeth and got on with the job of seeing off a new ball on a fresh and swingy pitch, which he was beginning to do with greater intent by the interval, having struggled to find any discernable footwork in a chancy first hour. By lunch, he was finding more fluency to reach 28 not out from 86 balls,
Meanwhile Joe Root, back at his favoured No.4, survived an early scare from his fourth delivery when Southee clanged him on the badge of his helmet with a sharp bouncer. His opening boundary was a leaping cut off Neil Wagner, who was held back until the second hour, but proved eager to make up for lost time with his aggressive back-of-a-length approach.
The legspinner Ish Sodhi was New Zealand’s solitary change from the first Test, in the wake of Todd Astle’s side strain. England handed a debut to the left-arm spinner Jack Leach, called up in place of Moeen and barely a year since his career had been at a crossroads after he was found to have a suspect action.
His turn will come later in the game, as will that of Mark Wood, whose extra pace has earned him a first Test call-up since South Africa’s tour of England in the summer of 2017.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo