- By Namrata Vijay
- Sat, 07 Dec 2024 01:02 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
NZ vs ENG 2nd Test: England maintained their dominance against New Zealand on the second day of the second Test match as they were 378/5 and were leading by 533 runs in Wellington on Saturday. The hosts started Day 2 at 86/5 after 26 overs and were trailing by 194 runs as the visitors continued their sublime form from the first day and took Tom Blundell's wicket during the third over and was dismissed by Brydon Carse.
William O'Rourke also got out during the same over as he was dismissed for a 26-ball duck as he was caught in front of the stumps and left the hosts reeling at 96/7. Glenn Phillips (16*) and Nathan Smith (14) helped the team bounce back and took the score to 125 runs. But their dreams of making a comeback came to an end as Gus Atkinson rattled their batting lineup by taking a hattrick, where he took the wickets of Smith, Matt Henry, and Tim Southee and helped the team skittle New Zealand out for 125 runs.
Due to this, the Ben Stokes-led side had a huge lead of 155 runs during the first innings but had a shaky start once again during the second innings as Matt Henry once again dismissed Zak Crawley (8). The visitors did receive an early blow but Ben Ducket (92) and Jacob Bethell (96) stitched a brilliant partnership of 187 runs for the second wicket and helped the team take the lead beyond 300.
Joe Root scores the first fifty of the series.
Both these batters couldn't score hundreds and were dismissed by Tim Southee, who registered figures of 2/72. Both these set batters might have gotten out but the flow of runs didn't stop for the visitors as Harry Brook continued his sublime form and scored 55 runs off 61 balls, in which he had smashed five fours.
England's star batter Joe Root also bounced back to form and scored his first fifty. The Kiwis did end this partnership as Glenn Phillips dismissed Brook and Matt Henry took the wicket of Ollie Pope. But the lead had already gone beyond past 450 runs and skipper Ben Stokes increased it to 500 by scoring a gritty knock of 35 runs off 26 balls. England ended the day with both Stokes and Root in the middle after stitching a partnership of 51 runs.