WELLINGTON, New Zealand — In the second Test against England, New Zealand won the toss and opted to bowl first on Friday. The pitch at the Basin Reserve displayed its characteristic bright green color, prompting New Zealand’s captain, Tom Latham, to express satisfaction with the decision, while England’s captain, Ben Stokes, stated he would have chosen to bat regardless.
Historically, the average first innings score in Wellington is around 315. Latham acknowledged the importance of the first couple of hours, saying, “It looks like a traditional surface here in Wellington so we’re happy to be able to make use of it first up.”
Both teams fielded the same players as in the first Test in Christchurch, which ended in an eight-wicket victory for England. New Zealand briefly considered including spinner Mitchell Santner, especially since Australia’s Nathan Lyon had impressive figures of 10 wickets at the Basin Reserve last year. Ultimately, they preferred to maintain their strong four-man pace attack, with Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra serving as the spin options.
There was also speculation that New Zealand might replace struggling opener Devon Conway with Will Young, as Conway’s performance in Christchurch saw him score just 2 and 8. Latham noted that regardless of wins or losses, the focus remains on continuous improvement. “Whether you win or whether you lose, you’re always looking to improve and the guys have worked hard the last couple of days to focus on a couple of areas,” he remarked, adding, “I don’t think we are too far away. The result in Christchurch may suggest so, but we did some good stuff throughout that test match.”
On England’s side, there was little motivation to alter their lineup after a superb showing in the first Test. Harry Brook was a standout player, scoring 171 runs, while Ollie Pope and Ben Stokes contributed scores of 77 and 80, respectively. Jacob Bethell also made an impact with a not-out 50 in the second innings. Brydon Carse excelled with match figures of 10-106.
Reflecting on their previous match, Stokes expressed his satisfaction, stating, “I was very happy with the way we went about that game last week. It was a real team effort where everyone contributed at some point. We obviously had some outstanding individual performances from Harry Brook and Brydon Carse, but everyone is contributing in different little parts of our game.”
The previous encounter between England and New Zealand at the Basin Reserve was remarkably tense, with New Zealand emerging victorious by a mere single run, marking it as one of the closest Tests in history.
New Zealand’s lineup includes: Tom Latham (captain), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips, Nathan Smith, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, and Will O’Rourke. England’s side consists of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes (captain), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, and Shoaib Bashir.
