Fifties from Devon Conway (80) and Will Young (82) took New Zealand to 229-3, trailing by 74 runs, after day two of the second Test; England were bowled out for 303, with Dan Lawrence left stranded on 81; watch Day Three from 10.15am on Saturday on Sky Sports Cricket
Saturday 12 June 2021 12:22, UK
New Zealand put themselves in a strong position in the second Test against England thanks to half-centuries from Devon Conway and Will Young.
After England were bowled out for 303, with Dan Lawrence left stranded on 81 not out, Conway (80) and Young (82) both made the most of some good fortune to help the Black Caps close the second day on 229-3, trailing by just 74.
Fresh from his double ton on debut at Lord's, Conway survived on 22 when the third umpire adjudged that his edge to Zak Crawley had been grounded, much to England's chagrin, while Young was dropped at slip with only seven to his name, and the pair went on share a stand of 122 for the second wicket.
Stuart Broad (2-22) broke the partnership with the second of his two wickets, taking him to 520 in Test cricket and above Courtney Walsh into sixth on the all-time list.
Young fell to what proved to be the last ball of the day from Lawrence (1-8) but, after his third-wicket stand of 92 with Ross Taylor (46no), New Zealand remain in a commanding position going into day three.
The day started with England hoping to get themselves up towards 300 with Lawrence the man expected to have to do most of the work.
Instead, Mark Wood came out firing and ended the first over of the day by drilling Trent Boult through extra cover for four, the first of six boundaries from the England No 9 in the opening five overs.
That flurry took the home side up to 288-7, but Matt Henry (3-78) ended Wood's fun on 41 as he uprooted his off stump, via the inside edge and when Broad (0) feathered Boult behind in the next, England were in danger of falling short of that 300 mark.
However, James Anderson (4), who came out to a standing ovation in his record-breaking 162nd Test match, held on for long enough to allow Lawrence to reach a career-best Test score with a couple of boundaries and enable England to nudge their way up to 303 before the No 11 was lbw to Boult (4-85).
New Zealand lost stand-in captain Tom Latham (6) early, the left-hander caught on the crease and plumb lbw as Broad attacked from around the wicket, but that proved to be the only damage they incurred before lunch.
That only told half the story, though, as England were left distinctly unimpressed after Broad found Conway's outside edge, only for the third umpire - after a soft signal of 'not out' on the field - to adjudge that the ball had been grounded before Crawley claimed the catch, despite replays suggesting the fielder got his fingers under it.
England's frustrations were added to soon after lunch when Young, on seven, edged Olly Stone to first slip, only for Joe Root to juggle and then drop a regulation chance.
It set the tone for an afternoon session in which the home side were made to toil, Conway making Test batting look like the simplest thing in the world in just his second match as he cruised to an 85-ball fifty and Young slowly accumulating as the stand reached three figures on a flat surface.
Where New Zealand had found movement through the air after lunch on day one, it took the ball being changed just before tea for England's bowlers to do likewise.
The feel of the game changed in an instant as Broad whistled a couple of balls past Young's outside edge before the break and then Broad and Anderson came flying out of the traps to start the evening session.
Suddenly, the ball was beating the bat with great regularity. But when the breakthrough came it was though a rare loose ball on leg stump from Broad; Conway whipped it away stylishly, only to watch it sail out to deep square where Crawley was waiting to take the catch.
There was no let up from Anderson or Broad, play and miss followed play and miss but no edge was forthcoming and two brilliantly skilful spells of swing and seam bowling resulted in just one wicket, caught in the deep.
Anderson did have Taylor given out lbw, only for Young to persuade his partner to review and ball-tracking showed the ball was comfortably missing leg.
Meanwhile, Young had battled through to a half-century from 132 balls and with England's premier bowlers out of the attack, the runs started to come that much easier.
The pair seemed to be cruising through to stumps with England turning to the part-time spin of Root and Lawrence, only for the latter to give the Hollies Stand one last thing to cheer when he had Young caught at short leg by Ollie Pope from the last ball of the day to claim his first Test wicket.
Watch day three of the second Test between England and New Zealand from 10.15am, Saturday on Sky Sports Cricket.
