Trent Boult’s outside edge in the second over led to the early dismissal of Zak Crawley for England. As it turned out, Daryl Mitchell’s lone miscue of the day was dropping a straightforward catch at first slip, giving Lees the opportunity to escape.
Daryl Mitchell (190) and Tom Blundell (106) put up a huge 236-run partnership to enable the Kiwis to reach a total of 553. In reply to New Zealand, A quick half-century from Ollie Pope (51) in an unbroken 84-run partnership with Alex Lees (34) helped the hosts reach 90/1, despite England losing an early wicket. The second wicket duo also benefited from wasted opportunities, on the second day.
Lees scored his second boundary of the innings with a four off an outside edge in the same over, which went wide of gully. After a lull in the action, Pope and Lees unleashed a flurry of home runs in the middle of the innings.
After a Kyle Jamieson ball went past backward point, Lees drove another Kyle Jamieson delivery past backward point while Pope hit another through the cover area for four to bring up the half-century stand. Jamieson knocked down Lees’s cover drive for a four while Pope got an outside edge off Boult but was again put down by Mitchell after he top-edged a maximum off Henry. As a result, Wicket-keeper Blundell gave the ball away to Mitchell, who was a little too late for it.
To help England reach Stumps, Pope and Lees both hit fours against Jamieson en route to fifty runs for the loss of only six wickets in the last over of the innings. In the 97 runs New Zealand scored before lunch, Mitchell and Blundell smashed 15 boundaries, averaging close to 3.5 runs an over, taking advantage of the stifling conditions with little movement off the field.
When Stuart Broad and James Anderson made mistakes with their line and lengths, the fifth wicket partnership made sure to take full advantage of it. Ben Stokes used Jack Leach and Matty Potts after the seasoned pace duo bowled just eight overs together. With Mitchell and Blundell relying on boundary shots to propel their team ahead, England were unable to create the breakthrough they had hoped for
It was the third time in the match that England wasted a chance to remove Leach when Potts threw the ball away after Daryl Mitchell miscued one off the batsman. Another four from Daryl Mitchell in the same over helped the fifth-wicket duo reach double-figures, and he also hit an excellent off drive in the same over to add to their total.
Daryl Mitchell added two more boundaries with a sweep off Leach and a slog off Stokes, while Blundell was hitting the ropes on a regular basis at the other end. In his third Test hundred, the wicketkeeper-batter hit a thick edge off Leach for a four and then lofted a shot that almost cleared the boundary. In the 109th over, New Zealand passed the 400-run mark until Blundell found Stokes at mid-off while attempting to loft a Leach delivery, ending the historic partnership.
Michael Bracewell and Daryl Mitchell scored 69 runs from 13.2 overs bowled in the truncated second session before rain forced an early Tea. It was a good session for the newcomer, who hammered seven of the 10 fours, while Mitchell also blasted a couple of sixes, with the latter reaching 150 for the first time. In the first over after lunch, Bracewell hit two fours off Stokes, while Leach gave up 17 runs in the second, with Mitchell getting a four and a six.
When Bracewell faced Stokes, he hit two more fours in an over, and he also hit two boundaries off of Potts, although some of his fours were streaky. Leach, Potts, and Broad were the only other England bowlers to surrender more than 100 runs in the innings, and they all did it in the final session. Sixth wicket pair slowed down at the start of the final session to tire England bowlers.
With an edge to first slip while defending an Anderson delivery, Bracewell fell one short of the fifty-run mark. Broad, who also got Southee with a short of length delivery, got the better of Jamieson, who hit a couple boundaries before he was bowled. Henry was knocked out by Leach as he tried to take down Henry, leaving New Zealand at 520/9.
Boult stayed to help Mitchell, even scoring four boundaries off Leach, as New Zealand passed the mark of 550 for the first time. Mitchell, the final player to be removed, missed out on a double tonne when he attempted to chase down a slow and wide ball from Potts.
