1st Test, New Zealand vs England Day 2 preview: First session key as England eye 450

England are 241/4 at stumps on the first ever day of Test cricket at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. At the crease are Ben Stokes (on 67) and Ollie Pope (18), and with Jos Buttler and Sam Curran to follow, they are possibly eyeing a total well in excess of 400 once they get past that second new ball.

The New Zealand fast bowlers toiled hard, but to little avail. Trent Boult (0/61) and Tim Southee (1/46) were incisive with the new ball, only to be kept at bay for over an hour by Rory Burns (52) and debutant Dom Sibley (22). The pair patiently countered the new ball, and it was not until the 22nd over that New Zealand broke through.

Sibley expected the ball from Colin de Grandhomme (2/28) to hold its line. It did not, moving away just a bit off the seam, took the edge, and went to first slip.

Burns and Denly (74) continued, unfazed, till de Grandhomme struck again, halfway through the second session. Burns played slightly away from his body to an innocuous delivery and was caught behind. Joe Root (2) then fell almost anticlimactically, chasing one outside off. At this stage England were 120/3.

Denly and Stokes then added 80 before Southee struck with the second new ball. Southee bowled within the stumps and moved the ball slightly away to have Denly caught behind. Stokes and Pope then played out time.

Key players

Trent Boult (New Zealand): Boult bowled well without success on Day 1, something he is capable of changing with a half-an-hour outburst with the new ball. The first session will be crucial.

Ben Stokes (England): Stokes seems to have brought his form from the English summer to the New Zealand shores. He will have to be instrumental with both bat and ball if England want to win here.

Brief scores

England 241/4 (Joe Denly 74, Ben Stokes 67*; Colin de Grandhomme 2/28) vs New Zealand.

Prediction

New Zealand will resist after England put up 450.