Brilliant Blundell century frustrates England on day two at Bay Oval

By Sports Desk February 17, 2023

Tom Blundell frustrated England by making a magnificent century before New Zealand took two wickets under the lights on an enthralling day two of the first Test at Bay Oval.

The Black Caps were in trouble on 83-5 in reply to the tourists' 325-9 declared in Mount Maunganui, but Blundell made a Test-best 138 to get them up to 306 all out.

Devon Conway (77) also batted superbly after being dropped by Zak Crawley when he had only nine runs to his name on day one.

Blundell and Blair Tickner put on 59 for the final wicket before England closed on 79-2 in the day-night Test, leading by 98 after losing openers Ben Duckett and Crawley.

Neil Wagner hung around to make 27 after New Zealand resumed on 37-3 on Friday before falling to Stuart Broad, and the excellent Ollie Robinson (4-54) trapped Daryl Mitchell leg before without scoring.

Conway and Blundell combined for a 75-run stand, but the Black Caps were six down when the opener pulled Ben Stokes to Ollie Pope at square leg, and Jack Leach got in the act by removing Michael Bracewell.

Scott Kuggeleijn chipped in with 20 before Robinson cleaned up the debutant and sent Tim Southee on his way, so it was left for Tickner to dig in and enable Blundell to reach three figures.

Blundell's sublime knock was finally ended when he was caught and bowled by James Anderson (3-36), leaving the England batters a tricky period to bat late in the day.

Duckett (25) and Crawley (28) got starts but fell to Tickner and Kuggeleijn respectively. Broad had a life when Kuggeleijn and Blundell looked at each other rather than going for a catch after being sent in as a 'nighthawk', seeing it through to the close along with Ollie Pope. 

Blundell ensures it is game on

England would have had a substantial lead but for an outstanding innings from Blundell.

He made a fourth Test hundred, having also scored a century against England at Trent Bridge last year.

The wicketkeeper-batter struck 19 fours and a six, spending just over three hours at the crease to keep his team in the game.

Anderson and Broad equal record

Anderson and Broad matched the record set by Australia legends Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath for the most successful bowling partnership in Test history.

The England duo have 1,001 wickets between them when playing together after taking one apiece on day two, and they will surely break new ground in this match.

Related items

  • 'Job not done' for Springboks after All Blacks triumph, says Kolisi 'Job not done' for Springboks after All Blacks triumph, says Kolisi

    South Africa captain Siya Kolisi warned his team the job is far from done despite them rallying for a thrilling victory over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.

    The Springboks secured a 31-27 win over the All Blacks at Ellis Park, coming from behind with two late tries from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Grant Williams.

    The victory hauled South Africa onto 14 points in the Championship standings as they bid to end New Zealand's four-year stranglehold on the title, but Kolisi says there is still work to be done.

    Addressing the capacity crowd in his post-match interview, Kolisi said: "We play for a lot but you people are our number one motivation. 

    "We appreciate you every single day. Please don't stop. When times are tough, please keep supporting us. We cannot do it without you.

    "We respect the All Blacks. No matter what people say about them, when they need to turn up, they turn up. We believed in ourselves, we didn't panic, and we did what we wanted.

    "They were catching us on the exit. After the first try in the second half, we picked it up. I'm really proud of the boys but the job is not done."

    All Blacks captain Scott Barrett, meanwhile, was proud of his team-mates' efforts but admitted they had just fallen short of putting together a complete performance.

    "Well done to the Springboks, it showed the class team they are," he said. "We weren't quite good enough. We were good for 62 minutes and it's an 80-minute game.

    "There were two key moments after kick-offs where we couldn't quite get out of our half and they punished us. It was a huge effort, we're certainly proud, but it was just not quite to be.

    "We'll regroup pretty quickly. Some guys have played here for the first time. It's intense and we'll have to be better next week."

    South Africa host New Zealand again in Cape Town next week, while Australia go to Argentina for their round-three matchup. 

  • Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side

    Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first defeat in 36 Bundesliga matches, as Leipzig came from behind to stun Xabi Alonso's side 3-2 at BayArena.

    Lois Openda struck twice for Marco Rose's, who recovered from 2-0 down to make it two wins from two and move to the summit of the table.

    It looked like business as usual for the reigning Bundesliga champions when they scored twice in the last seven minutes of the first half through Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo.

    However, Leipzig replied deep into first-half stoppage time with Kevin Kampl reducing the deficit.

    Openda then brought the visitors level in the 57th minute, before a stunning long-range strike completed the turnaround 10 minutes from time, condemning Leverkusen to their first league defeat in 15 months. 

    Data Debrief: Leverkusen's long streak comes to a shuddering halt

    Leipzig became the first side to beat Leverkusen in a Bundesliga match since Bochum achieved the feat a staggering 462 days earlier.  

    The visitors have begun a Bundesliga season with two wins from two for only the second time, also doing so in 2019-20.

    They are also now unbeaten in 13 league matches, their longest such streak since Rose took charge.

    As for Leverkusen, their invincible streak is officially history, as is their 29-game unbeaten run on home soil.

  • Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory

    Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.

    Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.

    England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.

    He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.

    As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.

    Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.

    Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day

    Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.

    Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.

    Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.

    If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.