England en route to victory in second Test against New Zealand – Cricket news
After securing a win in the opening Test, hosts England are en route to their second victory against the touring team from New Zealand as the latter require 310 runs to win on the final day with only four wickets remaining at Headingley, Leeds.
England skipper Alastair Cook’s flamboyant knock of 130 runs in the second innings made the biggest difference and later http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501 showed his magic by taking four wickets, leaving the Kiwis in a spot of bother.
With New Zealand’s top order back in the pavilion, there is little hope for them to prevail on the second day unless rain plays its part and spares the tourists from further embarrassment.
After England ended the third day of play on 116 for the loss of just one wicket, the Poms resumed play on the penultimate day with Cook and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IJL-Trott-c1576.
This batting pair dominated the bowlers right from the start, while on the other hand, New Zealand who needed to make an early breakthrough were once again put on the back foot. The two batsmen comfortably led their side towards 206 runs before Kane Williamson
finally grabbed the prized wicket of Cook after the batsman had played a remarkable knock.
With Cook out of their way it was important for New Zealand to make a comeback which they did when Williamson struck again by dismissing http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IR-Bell-c1597, with the batsman finding his way back to the dressing room after scoring only six runs.
The next partnership between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Lumb-c1981 Root and Trott was productive as the two batsmen halted the bowling onslaught and took the score towards 249 runs before the departure of Trott, who faltered after jabbing a knock of 76 runs.
Root was then the next man to leave the field after he was dismissed by Neil Wagner with 28 runs to his name.
Jonny Bairstow stayed unbeaten on 26 before England decided to declare the innings with 287 runs on the board. After giving New Zealand a target of 468 runs, England knew they had the game in their hands.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 batsmen continued their run of bad luck as the side lost the first wicket with 21 runs on the board.
The second-wicket partnership between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KS-Williamson-c1813 was productive as it took the score to 40. However, Swann’s spin was just too good for the Kiwis as the bowler broke this partnership by trapping Williamson in front of stumps.
From New Zealand, Rutherford and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LRPL-Taylor-c1849 were the top performers with knocks of 42 and 70. Meanwhile the rest of the middle-order fell like a deck of cards with Swann wreaking havoc.
New Zealand were restricted on 158 for six at stumps on the fourth day of play.
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