A big wicket of well-set Will Young on what turned out to be the last delivery of the day tilted the game a little bit back in the balance after the two back to back partnerships put the visitors on the driving seat in the second Test against England at Edgbaston. Lawrence's wicket of Young came on the back of a strong half-century in the first innings that provided England with a fighting chance in the second Test.
England would sleep peacefully with the departure of Young, who batted with impeccable concentration throughout the day, to the part-time spin of Dan Lawrence. Young walked out to bat in the first session of the day after the early wicket of Skipper Tom Latham, who became yet another helpless victim of a raging Stuart Broad from round the wicket angle and started on a very cautious note.
He played deliveries very late, in a quite similar manner to Kane Williamson—the man he replaced in the playing XI and the number three in the New Zealand batting order. He was very watchful around his off stump and never looked uncomfortable while the England bowlers, especially Broad whopped the ball around in the last session.
Apart from Young’s brilliance with the bat, life seems to be going on easy for Devon Conway batting at the top of the order for New Zealand and more pleasantly in England conditions which have been known for asking some soul-searching questions of the batsmen, more so of the visiting batsmen and to be more particular the openers.
After the heroic double hundred at Lord’s in the first Test, he was ruthless in his strokeplay from the word go and notched up another fifty to put the Blackcaps firmly in control of the game. He survived a close call when Zak Crawley claimed a low catch but only to be overruled by the third umpire on the soft signal of not out by the on-field umpire Richard Kettlebourough. He looked all set to bring up another three-figure mark before he pulled out the lone man standing at the square leg boundary when he tried to dispatch Broad in the same manner he had reached his maiden double ton in the last game.
The next man in Ross Taylor has been out of nick and it was telling in how late he was on the ball as English bowlers started targeting his pads right from the start. However, with passing balls and overs, he got his eyes in and capitalised on loose deliveries, especially from Olly Stone who has not had a great game so far with the ball on his home ground.
For England, it was another disappointing day where the level of disappointment was reduced every now and then with a piece of luck or brilliance. Broad picked up an early wicket but along with Anderson failed to run through the Kane Williamson-less Blackcaps side while the third and fourth seamer in Mark Wood and Stone failed to apply pressure for a long period of time.
England would have hoped for a better return with the ball swinging a lot more than it did at Lord’s but it was only the wicket of Young by Lawrence that would have given Root some sort of relief and hope of getting New Zealand out cheaply on the third day morning.
England also could not add a lot of runs in their tally albeit Wood played some delightful strokes off a desperate New Zealand bowling attack that kept pitching the ball up in search of swing. His departure was soon followed by Stuart Broad and although Lawrence tried all the fuel he had up his sleeves, the journey could not last long enough to put New Zealand under insurmountable pressure.