Guerilla Cricket Live Blog
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Welcome to our live blog for the second test of the Crowe-Thorpe Trophy! New Zealand and England lock arms again after the visitors took a one nil lead after winning the first test.
Its a grassy pitch here at Wellington and it should make an exciting day of cricket. New Zealand will look to bounce back from the loss while the Three Lions will look to end the Kiwis World Test Championship run.
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England’s day all the way. Posted a challenging total and pushed back the Kiwis with the ball. Brook and Pope were the star performers for the visitors and Carse shined with the ball in his hand.
New Zealand had a bright start to the day and sort of lost the plot at the end of second session. They will look to for a better day tomorrow.
Head over to our coverage for the second test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy at:
Carse is on fire! First Williamson and now Mitchell. Its three of New Zealand’s best batsmen falling like dominoes here. Mitchell gets strangled down the leg side and Ollie Pope takes the catch.
Daryl Mitchell gloveless one down the leg side and is dismissed as well.
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Williamson’s lifelines have run out. That is a massive wicket for England. Its the perfect line and length for Williamson and Carse gets the big scalp.
Carse stays behind the line this time and dismisses Williamson.
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Carse has just got a kick to his teeth there! Bowls an absolute Jaffa to Williamson, takes the top of off, wheels away in ecstasy only to find out that he had overstepped.
No let offs in this game, and England have to move on.
Classic Kane Williamson. Couple of drives down the ground and those translate to boundaries for him. Looking great out there.
The bad form just continues for Conway, no break for him from the storm. Again he looks to drive and loses control of his bat, nicks it to the slip squadron who gratefully accept. First one taken by Atkinson and that gets England underway.
Devon Conway falls for just 11, bringing his total to 58 runs from seven home innings in 2024.
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The Kiwis opening pair in orthodox fashion (which has been rare in this test), have come out and begun to feel themselves into the game. The Sun is out and batting should be a bit easier now. The pitch has not changed a lot and there is something for the bowlers to work with.
England capitulate in broad daylight on this first test. They were poised for a big total after the Brook-Pope partnership. Well, they were in a precarious position in the first place as they lost the first four wickets rather quickly.
Brook’s ton and Pope’s fighting 50 were a silver lining in the dark clouds and without both of them England collapsed. O’Rourke joined the party with a flurry of late wickets. Matt Henry had a superb day out as well.
The last three England wickets fall for just 21 runs after tea.
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O’Rourke is having a storming spell! Bangs in a delivery short of length and Carse in fashion tries to slap it through the off side. Misses it completely and Blundell appeals for it and New Zealand go up for it. Upon review, a clear spike was seen when the ball whizzed past the bat.
Carse depart without contributing much. England are 9 down.
England’s wheels are now falling off rather quickly. Atkinson hooks his first ball for four and then nicks the next one to the slips. A short and sweet cameo comes to an end.
The final session of the day is set to get underway soon. An uplifting ending for the Kiwis in the second session, especially getting Brook out. They will look to bundle this England side now, it will be tough work as Atkinson can hold a bat as well.
Harry Brook is run out for 123 at the stoke of tea!
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What was Brook doing there? Smith comes in and Brook on 123 plods it softly to short midwicket and (sort of) runs in towards the non strikers end. Smith rather nonchalantly picks it up and throws it accurately to run Brook out. He has given his wicket away rather cheaply. That brings us to the end of this session. An even session for both teams.
Southee has come back from his mediocre first spell with a few spicy overs to Woakes. He had the all rounder looking a bit worried there and that should help him regain some confidence after the deflating first spell to Crawley.
O’Rourke has been testing Stokes for a while at a good line and length. That brings the rewards for him as Stokes finally nicks one to the second slip. The skipper’s stay at the crease comes to an end for a disappointing 2 off 15. They say one brings two and indeed it did for New Zealand.
O'Rourke strikes twice in quick succession, making it two wickets in as many overs! Stokes departs for 2.
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Pope plays a horrible pull shot and lands himself in a world trouble as the ball goes into the air. Rachin Ravindra at short leg makes no mistake gobbling that up. Finally a break from the hammering the home side are receiving. Not exactly the wicket they were looking for but beggars cannot be choosers.
One of the best 100s from Brook! To come into the fray when your team is teetering and to do *that* is extraordinary. Absolutely marvellous from him and he also has not been dropped in this innings. The Kiwis are one of his favourite punching bags. They have had no answers to his frivolous style of batting and unfortunately it kind of looks bleak for them right now.
Harry Brook scores back-to-back centuries against New Zealand!
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Harry Brook has already notched up eight Test centuries in just 23 matches.#NZvENG pic.twitter.com/GYkWb4SDkQ
— Guerilla Cricket #GCFromHome (@guerillacricket) December 6, 2024
Pope reaches 50! Consecutive 50’s for him in this series. A stroke-ful innings from him and a quick one too. 50 from just 65. It is quite alien to say that he is play slower out of the two batsmen out on the crease.
Matt Henry has come back for another spell and has asked a few testy questions to both Brook and Pope. Not much has gone the Kiwis’ way from the latter part of the morning session. They will have to capitalise on the half chances when they do create one.
Brook pulls Henry, the pick of the bowlers today for a maximum over square leg. That is 4th for the innings. He is looking imperious today as well. He stands on 70 off 65. No this is not an ODI. This is just England playing test cricket.
England are 154/4. Pope is 40 (50).
The players are out and huddling up right beyond the boundary line. As it was in the first test, New Zealand need to get this partnership broken up as soon as possible. England will look to replicate their heroics and look to mount a high total from this point.
Lunch here at Wellington and what a morning it has been. New Zealand flew off the blocks with 4 wickets in a clump. Henry and Smith with two each. Great recovery by Brook and Pope and they have salvaged themselves from a dreary situation. There is still some nip in this pitch and O’Rourke with his frame has been exploiting the bounce in it.
How many times have I had to type that out? Under the circumstances that is great innings. Slightly boring as he hasn’t been dropped even once (!) Brook just keeps going on and on. He is becoming into New Zealand’s bane here.
England are 120/4.
Brook and Pope are at it again. Steadying the ship and keeping England’s innings up float. The rescue job has begun as they reach a 50 run partnership within 37 balls. Will O’Rourke has been brought into the attack and it exploiting the extra bounce on the pitch.
Brook is on 35 and his partner is on 19 as of now.
England are 93/4.
Another one down! 4 for New Zealand and 2 for Smith. Bethell was looking good and decided to take on a shorter delivery. He gloves it down the leg to Blundell who does not miss out on the opportunity. Not the best time to lose a wicket as well as there was a drinks break right after this over.
England are 43/4. Ollie Pope enters the fray.
England lose their fourth wicket within the first hour! Bethell departs for 16, and New Zealand are on a roll.
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Henry’s first loose ball is gobbled up by Brook who is not backing down from this fight today. Wide from the bowler, the first time he has offered any sort of width and Brook flays at it to send it careening to the boundary.
