Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell produce hefty stand to put New Zealand on top
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Daryll Mitchell and Tom Blundell resurrected the innings after New Zealand stumbled again • AFP/Getty Images
New Zealand 132 and 236 for 4 (Mitchell 97*, Blundell 90*) lead England 141 (Crawley 43, Southee 4-55) by 227 runs
Sometimes the key to success in sport is to calm the nerves, throttle the adrenalin and slow. Things. Down. That is just what New Zealand did during the second afternoon at Lord’s, as a methodical, unbroken century partnership between Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell helped the touring side take control of a Test that was more like a runaway train for the first four-and-bit sessions.
By the close, New Zealand’s fifth-wicket stand stood at 180, three times bigger than the next-highest partnership in the match. No batter had reached fifty before Blundell got there during the evening session, with Mitchell following him in the subsequent over. Their timely show of resistance tipped a see-sawing Test in the direction of New Zealand, after they had been precariously placed on 56 for 4 shortly after lunch.
England were briefly in the ascendant as ball continued to dominate bat during another six-wicket morning session. But although they had managed to eke out a slim first-innings lead, which was followed up by another impressive opening salvo from Matthew Potts, the rest of the day offered Ben Stokes an extended chance to contemplate the challenges ahead for his captaincy.
The wicket of Devon Conway, gloving down the leg side off Stuart Broad, was the only one to fall in 63 overs after lunch, as Mitchell and Blundell applied themselves to mastering both the conditions and the opposition attack. Stokes brought himself on for a sustained spell of short-pitched bowling – similar to the one at Sydney during the Ashes which left him with a side strain and little else besides – and although Mitchell almost fell on the hook, his shot ballooning over mid-on, the tactic caused New Zealand few other alarms.
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Matt Parkinson, the legspinner brought in for his debut as a concussion sub, was also given a first bowl in Tests, although there were rather too many release balls and the closest he came to a breakthrough was when deflecting a Blundell drive into the non-striker’s stumps – only for Mitchell to have regained his ground.
Both batters reach stumps within sight of Lord’s hundreds, having taken it in turns to slipstream each other through the day. Their resolve was all the more remarkable given what had gone before: namely 24 wickets, one fifty partnership and sundry examples of culpable shot selection.
The last time that both teams had scored fewer than 150 in the first innings of a Test at Lord’s was 1954.