Marcus Trescothick, England’s batting coach, declared himself “fairly happy with where we are at the moment” despite the team ending day two at Trent Bridge on 90 for one and trailing by a daunting 463 runs. England’s reply to New Zealand’s 553 started dismally with Zak Crawley falling early but Ollie Pope and Alex Lees survived to stumps, though both benefited from drops in the slips to get there.
Daryl Mitchell scored 190 as New Zealand compiled their highest ever total in England, while his partnership of 236 with Tom Blundell was another record for the Kiwis in this country. “We get on really well, he’s a great man,” Mitchell said of Blundell, who scored 106 before falling shortly before lunch. “Although he’s quite quiet he’s very clear how he wants to play his game. We just really enjoy batting with each other, obviously it’s going well and it’s been bloody good fun out there with him.”
