NZ tour of England 2021.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Pope goes for a rapid 22. Quite a contrast with the NZ number 5.

[sussexpob]

Lawrence gone now. Follow on of 178 seems a little far away, NZ rampant this morning

[sussexpob]

Bracey plays round one straight away, terrible debut for him. Robbo wrapped on the pad straight away, but survives.

What did Southee eat for breakfast this morning? Whatever it is, its worked

[Arthur Crabtree]

I think NZ-Tim's career has been revitalised over the last year or so. He had been looking as if he might soon be shuffled out the side.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Three wickets lost on 140!

[Durhamfootman]

What did Southee eat for breakfast this morning? Whatever it is, its worked

MSG probably

thank goodness the chances of England collapsing in on themselves like a black hole at the first hint of pressure are pretty remote

[Arthur Crabtree]

Like the NZ innings, runs from one of the openers and not much else. Except the Kiwis kept England in the field long enough for the opener to make it a really big one.

Eleven overs to the new ball. If England lose another before then I expect the tail won't last long.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Might be showers tomorrow afternoon.

[sussexpob]

Very handy 42 from Robinson comes to an end. Southee again. NZ will want to end this soon, and maybe Burns might want to start pushing a move on with the scoring, because the rest of the batting isnt going to last long.

If NZ have done their homework they should just get Wagner on right now and have him dig it in short to Broad, he cant play short stuff to save his life anymore.

[Arthur Crabtree]

5-fer for NZ-Tim. Ends a frustrating partnership. Wood normally just has a hit.

[sussexpob]

Wood actually came in, and he's now walking back for a duck. NZ will be targeting 220 max

[Arthur Crabtree]

Wood equals Sibley's score.

Broad isn't quite as bad now with the bat as he got. But he's going to play his shots. Anderson has retired from giving a toss about batting, so not much support likely for Burns nearing his ton.

[sussexpob]

Id love to see how many umpires calls go to the home team. That looked out for Burns, and it was out.... but umpires call, so no cigar for Wagner.

Burns having a bit of a whack now. Valuable runs at the end for England. Burns should be happy with his 100. And it should keep him in an England shirt till the end of the summer judging on the form around him atm.

Sibley wont be happy though. He knows its him getting the cut at the top if anyone now.

[sussexpob]

Burns out. Lead 103.

[sussexpob]

Think that last partnership has killed the game dead. NZ lost over 50 odd runs to it, and those are 50 runs now they have to claw back. Had NZ had a lead of 150-180, they could have slogged out 1.5 sessions and set England 350 sometime tomorrow morning with the draw guaranteed.

Now I think NZ need too many runs in too small a time to allow a result. They might bat out tonight and the first session tomorrow to secure the draw, have a dash tomorrow after lunch, then give England 3 hours to bat and hope for a disaster.

But it all seems very unlikely.