Captain Joe Root (42*) and opener Rory Burns (59*) batted through the third session to pull England out of a spot after they were left tottering at 18/2 on an eventful Day 2 at Lord’s. England finished the day on 111/2.
Earlier on the day, New Zealand collapsed from 288/3 to 319/8. Mark Wood and debutant Ollie Robinson triggered this collapse with some fantastic bowling with the second new ball. In the morning session, Wood took 3-7 in a six-over spell where. At the other end, Robinson finished with 4-75. Mark Conway’s record-setting double hundred then helped New Zealand reach 378.
In reply England were jolted early. Tim Southee, leading the attack in the absence of Trent Boult, picked up Dom Sibley for nought. The lanky Kyle Jamieson then got Dan Lawrence for 2. Then Root and Burns took over.
Day 3: What to expect
England still trail by 267 runs and the ball is 43 overs old. Under normal circumstances, one can expect the batters to have the advantage at the start of Day 3. However, the Met department has predicted a cloudy day in London, which will definitely help the Dukes ball to swing around.
Even we can expect a few rain breaks as well. The chance of precipitation is as high as 80 percent as per the BBC Weather. Hence, the New Zealand seam bowlers should not mind bowling in these conditions.
It will be important for England to keep the momentum intact through the weather breaks. Root holds the key here. He has been there, done that, and it is important he anchors the innings and push England closer to a lead.
On the other hand, if New Zealand can Root early, the floodgates might open, like we witnessed in the morning session of Day 2.
The first innings holds the key for both team in this Test match. Any significant lead to any of these opponents can be decisive. The weather will get better in the weekend and we can still expect a result from this Test match.