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ENGLAND DROP A CLANGER

KIWIS IN DRIVING SEAT AS ALL-SEAM ATTACK TOILS ON BLAMELESS PITCH

by PAUL NEWMAN Cricket Correspondent

If this is going to be England’s Ashes bowling blueprint then clearly work needs to be done before Joe Root can dream of bringing the urn home.

the second day of the second test was hard work for England’s all-seam attack as a New Zealand side able to make six changes from Lord’s again showed just why they have reached next week’s World Championship final against india.

they demonstrated too exactly the type of application and determination Chris silverwood wants to see from his batsmen in the other part of his plan to win the Ashes.

Where too many England batsmen self- destructed on day one, New Zealand made the absolute most of a flat Edgbaston pitch to take control of the test and this short series. With Devon Conway again taking to test cricket to the manor born and Will Young proving a worthy deputy for Kane Williamson, New Zealand eased their way to 229 for three, just 74 behind and leaving England with much to do in the last three days.

it has already been tough for the two genuinely quick and two bowlers of control combo that England believe may be their best bet to take 20 wickets on Australian pitches.

And the longer New Zealand’s first innings goes on the more questions will be asked about the lack of a frontline spinner in this unbalanced England line-up.

Particularly as Dan Lawrence gained turn to claim the wicket of Young in the day’s last over to breathe a little hope into England’s chances.

it should be said England’s attack, led by the excellent stuart Broad, did not bowl badly.

it is just there was little of the pace and carry silverwood wants to see in home pitches and none of the reverse swing that is often synonymous with Edgbaston.

And it should be remembered England are without Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes here, two bowlers sure to be part of that Ashes squad. Not to mention Ben stokes who has the knack of making things happen with the ball on days like this.

so, while that blueprint is unlikely to be abandoned just yet, yesterday does prove England are still very much a work in progress as opposed to what could be the most complete side in New Zealand’s test history.

Certainly, the Kiwis have seemed to lack little here for the absence of two of their most experienced players in Williamson and BJ Watling along with their best bowler tim southee and their new all- round sensation in Kyle Jamieson.

What they have had at Edgbaston is a batsman in Conway approaching his 30th birthday who is making one of the great belated introductions to test cricket.

the south African-born Conway has certainly come a long way from Vauxhall Mallards of the East Anglian League where five years ago he played in the same side as England’s Olly stone on one of the many stops in his nomadic career.

first there was that double hundred on debut and now came what seemed sure to be another hundred until he inexplicably aimed one of the expansive flicks on 80, that brought up his century at Lord’s, and hit it straight to Zak Crawley at deep square leg.

England justifiably felt he should not have got anywhere near that far because Broad had earlier been denied his wicket, when Conway had made 22, by what can only be described as a terrible piece of umpiring. it was partly down to the usually flawless Michael Gough too who, on the field at Lord’s and in front of the tV monitor here, has proved that he really is actually human.

first Richard Kettleborough gave a soft-signal of not out after Conway had edged Broad low to Crawley at third slip for what seemed all the world like a good, clean catch.

then, to the fury of Broad and Root, Gough could be heard saying ‘ it clearly touched the ground’ before upholding what was a mistake by Kettleborough.

Well, it clearly didn’t and clearly something has to be done about the foreshortening of tV images that are so often leading to wrong decisions.

if England could feel hard done by, they had no excuses for Root dropping a regulation slip catch to reprieve Young on seven off stone, who tired as the day went on and lacked rhythm in the final session.

how Young, in his third test and with a successful stint at Durham ahead of this series behind him, made Root and England pay as he moved to 82 before becoming the first victim of Lawrence’s parttime off- spin with what became the day’s last ball.

At least, with the wickets of tom Latham and eventually Conway, Broad moved past Courtney Walsh into sixth position in the test wicket-takers list with 519 victims. An incredible achievement for a bowler who has actually been faster than ever this summer.

Young did edge Broad behind on 40 but so slow is this Edgbaston pitch that the ball landed in front

of James Bracey and Ross Taylor was given out lbw to Jimmy Anderson on 11 but DRS corrected what was a clear mistake by Richard Illingworth.

England were earlier shown just how tame day two conditions were when Mark Wood was able to blaze his way to 41 as they reached the relative riches of 303 all out.

It was a big recovery from 175 for six and it featured another innings of immense promise from Lawrence, who ran out of partners on 81.

But it is increasingly looking not nearly enough to stop New Zealand moving towards a position where they will hope to only bat once and then pile the pressure on England in search of their first series win here since 1999.

England v New Zealand 2nd Test

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2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

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