England's openers navigated New Zealand's attack with ease in the morning session of the second Test as Rory Burns and Dom Sibley went for lunch on 67 for no loss in Birmingham yesterday.
It was the first time since 2011 that an England opening pair batted out an opening session of a home Test.
England opted to bat, making one chance to their side, bringing in Olly Stone for Ollie Robinson while New Zealand made as many as six changes.
Being led by Tom Latham in the absence of Kane Williamson, New Zealand ensured the scoring was tough for the English batsmen in the first hour of play. The batsmen, however, did well to play out the trio of Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Neil Wagner. The ball didn't swing too much, and whatever they managed to extract, the batsmen handled well. There were the odd plays and misses but no solid chance offered. In the second hour, though, England attacked and switched gears as the pair began finding the boundaries often to bring up the fifty-run stand for the opening wicket with Daryl Mitchell being tackled rather easily.
New Zealand received a big blow just ahead of the start of play with B. J. Watling being ruled out with a back injury.
That, after both Kane Williamson and Mitchell Santner had been ruled out with an elbow and a finger injury respectively.
Chief scores
England: 67/0 in 29 overs at lunch (Dom Sibley 31 n.o, Rory Burns 32 n.o) vs New Zealand.
(Agencies)
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