An unmarked session for New Zealand was discolored right at the stroke of Tea as Stuart Broad bounced out the otherwise resistant BJ Watling soon after his fifty on Day 2 of the Hamilton Test. However, Watling and Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten fifty on debut – put on their century partnership for the sixth-wicket – taking the hosts to 315 for 6, and England to the edge of dissatisfaction.
Frustrated and desperate in equal measure, England – particularly Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer – resorted to the short-ball move with a crowded leg-side field. But nothing that they did in the first hour after Lunch would get them moving as Watling and Mitchell – in no hurry whatsoever to step on the accelerator – continued their slow and stable collection of runs. By the drinks break, they added only 25 runs to the team’s account.
Mitchell’s Impressive Batting
During his very first Test innings, Mitchell impressed with some of the most attractive drives in the game. And as the run-score improved in the hour after drinks, Mitchell defeated his senior partner by scoring their respectful half-century as he made his maiden one with a pull to deep mid-wicket.
Watling matched up in no time, even so, reaching his fifty with a cover drive off Curran and also taking New Zealand past 300 but fell against the run of play. Broad’s short ball around off caught him off-guard and in his offer to fend it away, Watling cracked a sitter to Rory Burns at gully which purchased curtains on his sandy, 192-ball effort as umpires gestured for an edged previous session break.
In the early morning session, England had a spring in their step for the first hour of the extended morning session in which they tried to get both the batsmen out from last evening but constantly lost the plot thereon. Watling and Mitchell had put on 57 runs for the unbroken sixth-wicket stand, disputing all the advantage the tourists may have gained when Broad cleaned up the Day 1 centurion Tom Latham in the second over for just four more runs – a famous on-drive – than his 101 yesterday, and Sam Curran took out Henry Nicholls soon after with a wonderful bouncer.
Brief scores: New Zealand 315/6 (Daryl Mitchell 63*, BJ Watling 55; Stuart Broad 3-60) vs England.
