Ali Martin's day two report
Updated
Stumps: Lees and Pope survive!
26th over: England 90-1 (Lees 34, Pope 51) Pope’s not too bothered about playing for the close: seeing a bouncer from Boult, he meets it with the pull, but gets only a single. Lees adds one of his own with an on-drive, and these two live to fight another day. They’ve played some great shots (Pope) and some sturdy ones (Lees) and ridden their luck (both).
So England are just 463 runs behind. The day belongs to New Zealand, but they’ll be kicking themselves for the dropped catches, just as England were earlier. Ben Stokes had his worst spell as captain so far when Mitchell and Blundell were treating the bowlers like rookies, but then the rain came, the bowling changes began to work, and England fought back to take the last five wickets for 57. Plus, they are now 90 for one when they could easily have been 60 for three, and that’s partly because Stokes has given Lees and Pope his backing.
That’s it from us. Thanks for your company, quips, and expertise on Middle English (15:26). We’ll be back in the morning to see if Pope can get a hundred and Lees can finally reach 40.
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