From Friday morning, both teams will face to face again for the second test match which will be played at Hamilton. Unlike the first test match, it will be red ball test match.
When England were preparing for the pink ball test match, there was a talk that New Zealand will be ahead in the game because England had won only 1 of 6 previous played test matches.
If we go by records at Hamilton, they New Zealand is again playing in home conditions thus will always have a chance to win the match. Not their favourite hunting ground but the team hasn’t lost a single test match in last 10 years at this ground.
Last time they faced England at this ground was in 2019. The match ended in a draw with Joe Root scoring his memorable double ton and Kane Williamson scored a hundred in the second innings.
Matt Henry has joined the team and will be playing the second test match. Perhaps New Zealand is missing the sharpness and Trent Boult who used to form one of the most threatening new ball bowling duo with Tim Southee.
Southee is not as potent as he should be, however, it can’t be entirely on him. The way England is negotiating test cricket at the time, it is hard for a bowler to actually find a through while bowling and there is no respect for hard line and lengths.
England’s batters are on to it in aggresive mode and more often than not it has paid. Without a single hundred in the previous match, they were able to go past 300 in both innings.
New Zealand Batters Will Need To Step Up Their Game
Tom Latham is struggling to score runs, Henry Nicholls is averaging around 37 in 51 test matches. That disturbs the top order, someone has step up and bat through the innings, they should know that the most experienced bowling duo of England will not be able to bowl 40 overs.
It’s just matter of time if they can bat through first 20 overs without being severally damaged. Last time Kane Williamson batted on this deck, he scored a mammoth double ton against West Indies. This time around, Blackcaps fans will expecting a similiar kind of innings.