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New Zealand allrounder expected to feature in full campaign in 2022 season

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jan-2022James Neesham, the New Zealand allrounder, has agreed to join Northamptonshire for their T20 Blast campaign.Neesham, whose heroics in the 2019 World Cup final at Lord’s were instrumental in that contest’s thrilling finish, gained a measure of revenge over England in the T20 World Cup in the UAE in November, where his 27 from 11 balls helped to eliminate Eoin Morgan’s men in the semi-final. However, New Zealand went on to lose the final against Australia.In 181 T20 fixtures – 38 of which have come for his country – Neesham has made 2,360 runs at a strike-rate of 136.81, and taken 158 wickets. He has previously featured for Derbyshire, Essex and Kent in county cricket, and last season turned out for Welsh Fire in the inaugural season of the Hundred.”I’m excited to get going with Northamptonshire in 2022,” Neesham said. “The club has a fantastic history in the Blast and I hope that we can recreate those successes from 2013 and 2016.”Josh Cobb, Northamptonshire’s captain, played alongside Neesham last season, and is excited about the prospect of linking up with him again.”Having spent time with him at the Welsh Fire in The Hundred last year I know what he can bring to us.” Cobb said.”He’s a three-dimensional cricketer with genuine power and a high strike rate in the middle order, but it was his character that stood out to me. He’s someone who wants to win and is very selfless, he’s a real team-first kind of player.”I’m looking forward to having him here as a leader, to pass on his experience and help drive us to be better.”Assuming New Zealand’s international schedule remains clear, Neesham should be available for the duration of the Blast campaign in May, June and July – with the final at Edgbaston this year following closely on from the group stages to ensure that overseas players can take part. He will also be on hand for County Championship action in June.”The opportunity to possibly play some first-class cricket for the county in Division One is also an exciting challenge.” Neesham said. “I look forward to linking up with everyone at Wantage Road soon.”

In the absence of a number of key players, including regular captain Imad Wasim, Karachi went down by five wickets

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu15-Mar-2020
How the game played out
Shane Watson and Khurram Manzoor punched fifties in an 118-run partnership off a mere 65 balls – Quetta Gladiators’ highest stand this season – but it wasn’t enough for them to sneak into the semi-finals. Believe it or not, they needed 151 in 3.2 overs to displace Peshawar Zalmi from the fourth spot. In the end, they chased down the target in 16.2 overs to exit the tournament with only crumbs of comfort.Karachi Kings, who had sealed their semi-finals berth on Saturday, had rested a number of key players, including regular captain Imad Wasim. Umad Asif, Chris Jordan, and Mohammad Amir also were handed breaks and the fringe players sprayed the ball around, but Karachi will be buoyed by Cameron Delport’s return to form. The South African was on 18 off 21 balls at one point, but he finished with 62 off 44 balls – his first half-century of PSL 2020.Hello again, Naseem
Returning to the scene of his memorable spell against Sri Lanka in the longest format, after recovering from an ankle sprain, the 17-year old struck with his second ball. He cranked it up to 145.5kph and hit the off stump of Sharjeel Khan for a duck. He also zipped a few back-of-a-length deliveries across stand-in captain Babar Azam, as did Sohail Khan.Sohail was rewarded when Iftikhar Ahmed holed out to midwicket as Karachi dawdled to 36 for 2 in the powerplay.Delport and Walton tee off
Azam may be the No.1 T20I batsman, but even he couldn’t get the Quetta bowlers away. After eating up 15 dots, he sliced Australian legspinner Fawad Ahmed to long-off for a 32-ball 34. However, after a scratchy start, Delport found his groove and showed his range. He was particularly severe on Ahmed, taking 22 off 16 balls from him. But the most stunning shot came off seamer Sohail. Delport picked a slower legcutter from off stump and reverse-swatted it away behind point for four. Chadwick Walton also played a fine hand, scoring 26 off 20 balls.Their late blows were central to Karachi touching 150.The hare and the tortoise
Left-arm seamer Waqas Maqsood had Ahmed Shehzad nicking off second ball of the chase, but Manzoor, playing his first match of the tournament, unleashed a flurry of boundaries in the powerplay. All up, he claimed eight of the 11 boundaries Quetta had struck in the first six overs.Watson then laid into Arshad Iqbal, creaming him for two sixes and a four in the four in the ninth over, and nearly outscored Manzoor during their stand. In the next over, both batsmen got to the fifties. During the process, Watson became the top six-hitter in the history of the PSL. Then, from 118 for 1, Quetta slid to 139 for 5, but Azam Khan and Mohammad Nawaz hauled them home.Where the teams stand
Karachi will face Lahore Qalandars in the second semi-final in Lahore on Tuesday while Quetta will go back wondering what might have been had they got their act together much earlier.

The quick has had his workload carefully managed since returning from back surgery but is now keen to push himself

Alex Malcolm11-Nov-2019Workload management and resting from matches has become part of the new norm for Australia’s fast bowlers but James Pattinson wants to be able to string back-to-back Test matches together.Pattinson, 29, was deliberately managed through the Ashes, his first experience of Test cricket in three years after having spinal surgery in late 2017. His bowling loads were carefully plotted as he only played in the first and third Test while being rested for the second and fourth. He was available for the fifth Test but was not selected.His management has continued on return to Victoria. He played the first two Sheffield Shield games bowling 60 overs on two extremely flat wickets before he was rested from the third game of the season against Tasmania with the Test series against Pakistan in mind.Pattinson is set to return for Victoria against Queensland at the MCG starting on Tuesday with the Test squad to be announced Thursday and his aim is to be fit enough play consecutive Tests moving forward.ALSO READ: How Jhye Richardson’s career sped up by slowing down“I think the next process for me if I do get a chance in the Test arena is trying to play more back-to-back cricket now,” Pattinson said. “I think [being rested] was more being out of the team and coming back after three years.”I’ve been injury-free now for the better part of a year now. The body is feeling good. Hopefully, that’s the next progression if I do get a chance in the Test team.”The rest and rotation policy has been a source of consternation for Australia’s bowlers. The selectors are keen for “squad mentality” in order to prolong careers but the bowlers are wary of giving up their spot due to the quality of players available. Australia are likely to have Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Pattinson and Jhye Richardson all fit and available for Brisbane.Pattinson said he looks on with envy at the batsmen who do get the continuity of playing every game.”I think the more cricket you play the more comfortable you feel in terms of your body and how the ball is coming out. You see the batters around and they’re playing all the time and they get into a rhythm. As a bowler, it’s hard sometimes when you’re stopping and going and stopping and going so hopefully the next step of the process is playing some consistent cricket.”He is aware that his situation is different from his fellow fast bowlers. Pattinson has two screws in his lower back after undergoing the same spinal surgery that prolonged the careers of New Zealanders, Shane Bond, Matt Henry and Corey Anderson. He has to be extra vigilant around how his back feels after big workloads in first-class games.”When I do have a big load it’s just managing how it responds that,” Pattinson said. “In the past, if I’ve had a big load, it gets a bit stiff, I then manage it, have a break, go again sort of thing,” he said. “It’s mainly keeping that area as mobile as possible. When you’ve got a couple screws in your back it’s about doing as much stretching as possible and not trying to overdo it. I think as you get older you learn how to manage it and a lot of time and effort goes into it.”I think if I didn’t have that surgery I wouldn’t know where I’d be now. I could have had another stress [fracture] and retired. It’s been a really big tick. It’s held me on the park for over a year now so hopefully, I can keep going.”Fellow Australia fast bowler Jason Behrendorff underwent the same surgery in October. Pattinson had been in contact with Behrendorff and said his advice was to be patient in the recovery process.”I think probably not to rush it in the early stages. For me, I was able to take a bit longer because there wasn’t a lot of cricket on. I gave it that initial time to heal. When you have the surgery, they pack it full of new bone. They take a bone graft and pack it around there so you want it to bind together and one thing I tried to do was pretty much try and sit on the couch for 10 weeks.”I was lucky enough I was speaking to Shane Bond and Corey Anderson from New Zealand who had it done not long before me, so he was really good to ring up and say I’m feeling this and I’m feeling that, is this normal is this not normal, and everything was sort of normal along the way that everyone else had experienced so that was a good feeling for me.”

The Bangladesh allrounder, currently the World Cup’s leading run-scorer, is justifying his move up the order

Mohammad Isam in Cardiff08-Jun-2019The story goes back to the time when Chandika Hathurusingha was Bangladesh’s coach. Shakib Al Hasan told him that he wanted to bat at No. 3 in ODIs after establishing himself as this spot in T20Is for Bangladesh. But Hathurusingha didn’t agree. Shakib tried to convince him, but Hathurusingha would not have any of it. The conversation was tense, apparently.But from the first ODI following Hathurusingha’s departure, Shakib started batting in his desired spot. There were people to convince too, but the likes of captain Mashrafe Mortaza and BCB president Nazmul Hassan and his coterie of directors were easier to get on side.ALSO READ: Bangladesh’s outdated thinking on spin strikes againShakib has certainly justified himself at No. 3. Since the start of 2018, he averages 52.76 in 19 innings so far, culminating in his last six innings producing four fifties and a century. His last four innings read 50 not out, 75, 64 and 121. He is also, for now, the leading run-scorer at the World Cup.He has looked right at home, which was evident in this latest innings too. Shakib took on Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Liam Plunkett, as well as hitting Adil Rashid for 31 off 25 balls. He already had the chops for tackling spin, and is now showing his ability against pace. In fact, Shakib can now be regarded as the one who has fixed this position for Bangladesh, after Sabbir Rahman and Mominul Haque, among others, couldn’t nail down the place.Shakib Al Hasan celebrates after scoring a century•Getty Images

Shakib said that he had to convince the decision-makers to let him bat at No. 3, although he still faces questions about filling in the position. he added that he wanted to take the opportunity to be more involved in batting.”It was my decision [to bat at No. 3],” Shakib said. “I had to convince everyone. If I don’t score runs in a single match, they think that I should be bat at No. 5. I had to convince a lot of people to bat at No. 3, but it is working at this moment.WATCH on Hotstar (India only) – Shakib’s century “It is different. You need to face different challenges. I am enjoying it at the moment. Having said that, it is just the start. I need to contribute with both bat and ball. I thought [batting at No. 3] is a better opportunity for me to contribute more with the bat. But there are plenty of matches in this tournament left.”Shakib said that at one stage in his 106-run third-wicket stand with Mushfiqur Rahim, they actually believed they could gun down England’s 387-run target. “I thought anything between 320 and 330 was something we could have felt comfortable chasing,” he said. “We were two wickets down in 30 overs, with 180 on the board. From there you can think of chasing 320-330 if we had wickets in hand. But 387 was always against our favour.”We wanted to see where we are at the 30-over mark. After the 30th over, we needed around 200. In a T20 game, you can reach that total if you bat really well. We always knew that we were against the run of play but we held that belief for a little time.”Shakib said the particular challenge of taking on the rapid Jofra Archer and Wood invigorated him. “They were quick, but I enjoyed the difficult challenge,” he said. “They are the two quickest bowler in the World Cup. It was tough but I felt very happy the way I played them.”His century was one of the bright spots in a day when Bangladesh lost much of what they gained against South Africa and New Zealand. Shakib now holds the key as many of his team-mates haven’t quite hit their strides. A fine start such as this is sure to set him up to flourish in the rest of the tournament.

The opener scored his 10th List A century in just his 38th game

AAP16-Feb-2023Birthday boy Daniel Hughes has continued his golden week and special one-day campaign as NSW demolished Tasmania’s Cup final hopes with a 102-run win at North Sydney Oval.Opener Hughes, who turned 34 on Thursday, celebrated by scoring 126 off 130 balls to help NSW to a score of 291 all out after winning the toss.Tasmania, who would have risen from fourth to second with a win, were dismissed for 189.NSW rose from sixth to fourth with the bonus point win, but the final-round match on Sunday week between South Australia (third) and Victoria (second) should determine who meet Western Australia in the final in Perth on March 8.Coming off scores of 178 and 63 not out in the Sheffield Shield match between the two teams at the SCG earlier in the week, Hughes struck 15 fours and three sixes.He was the mainstay of the NSW innings with no other player scoring more than 36 as NSW were dismissed in the final over.Hughes notched his 10th domestic-one day century and boosted his competition-leading season run tally to 526 from six innings at an average of 87. He now has the second highest average in Australia’s domestic one-day cricket behind Michael Bevan.He was part of partnerships of 66 with Oliver Davies (36 off 41), 75 with Daniel Sams (33 off 45) and 65 with Ben Dwarshuis (34 off 25). The last two stands helped NSW recover from 5 for 140 and 7 for 216.It was also a fruitful day for the competition’s leading wicket-taker, with Tom Rogers (4-62 off 10 overs) moving eight clear of his closest rivals and swelling his season swag to 19.Tasmania suffered a big blow off the second ball of their chase with Australia white ball representative Ben McDermott caught behind down the legside for a duck off Sean Abbott.Left handers Caleb Jewell and Jake Doran put on 44 in fluent fashion but the Tasmanian innings subsided after that pair were dismissed.The innings slowed to a crawl with almost 15 overs between boundaries and only 60 runs off 20, with spinners Chris Green and Adam Zampa holding sway.Green also contributed with two good catches and a direct hit run out of Beau Webster from point, ending a 42-run with Mac Wright, who was trapped lbw later in the over by Abbott.

The opener says that a spot in the World Cup squad will be “a dream”, but he insists that his focus is much more short-term

Liam Brickhill21-Jan-2019South Africa are wary of a resurgent Pakistan team that cruised to a five-wicket win in the first of five one-day internationals in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.”We know Pakistan is a good one-day outfit,” opener Reeza Hendricks, who contributed 45 to an opening stand of 82 in the first ODI, said. “They’ve been performing really well over the years in one-day cricket, so we’re quite wary and know that they’re a good team. They proved it by beating us in P.E.”Hendricks’ opening partnership with Hashim Amla allowed South Africa to set a platform, but a sluggish track and a committed bowling effort meant the hosts were never able to substantially up the run rate. Hendricks struck at 67.16 during his knock, and after him neither Amla or Rassie van der Dussen were able to raise their strike rates as high as a run a ball. Although David Miller capped the innings with a 12-ball 16, South Africa’s 266 for 2 was not enough to challenge a Pakistan top order that took more risks but completed the chase with five balls to spare.”In our minds, we thought it would be a good score,” Hendricks said. “There were slower conditions in the day, and it did quicken up at night. In our minds, we thought we went about it the right way. The batters that were in the middle felt it was a good score.”We’ve had a good discussion around the PE game, what went wrong and what we can learn from. It’s been those discussions we’ve had, and a good training session today ahead of tomorrow’s game.”With the World Cup five months away, the tournament is providing increasing context to the one-day cricket being played in the interim and every member of South Africa’s squad will see the series against Pakistan as a chance to stake a claim. Rassie van der Dussen made an immediate impact on debut with his 93, but his performance did not come as a surprise to Hendricks, who has shared a dressing room with van der Dussen with the Lions franchise for several seasons.”I was quite proud to see him make his debut and contributing the way he has,” Hendricks said of van der Dussen. “Obviously disappointed that he couldn’t get to his three-figure mark, but at the end of the day he played really well to contribute as well as he did. I’ve played a couple of seasons now with him. I know his capabilities and seen him improve over the years. He showed what he’s about to deserve a spot in the team.”Hendricks admitted that a spot in the World Cup squad would be “a dream” and would mean “a hell of a lot” to him, but he insisted that his focus is much more short-term.”I’m not looking at it like that,” he said. “Yes, the World Cup is around the corner but we’ve got a series on hand now at the moment and this is an opportunity that we get as well. We take it as it comes. Personally, I’m taking it game by game, trying to contribute as well as I can to each game and every opportunity I get, and the rest will take care of itself. I’m not looking too far ahead, or looking who’s around me, because at the end of the day if I don’t get selected I know the player next to me and the guys that are going will do the job, and I back them 100 percent.”Aside from individual aspirations, the remaining nine ODIs scheduled for South Africa before the World Cup also provide an opportunity to fine-tune ‘Vision 2019’, the team’s blueprint for what they believe will bring success at the tournament.”We’re quite close,” Hendricks said. “I think we’re on the right track. We’ve had a good chat in how to go about it and how we’re playing, and as a unit we’re all buying into it. We’re doing good things. There are still a couple of months to try and get it right for the World Cup.”

Victorian premier Andrews said there will be no crowd cap at the venue, which can hold up to 100,000 spectators

AAP09-Mar-2022Shane Warne will be publicly farewelled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, home to many of his greatest sports moments, later this month.Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed the MCG as the venue for a state memorial service on March 30 to honour the Australian legend, who died suddenly due to heart attack in Thailand last week.Related

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“There’s nowhere in the world more appropriate to farewell Warnie than the ‘G,” Andrews tweeted on Wednesday.The MCG was the stage of the legspinner’s famous Ashes hat-trick in 1994 and the 700th Test wicket on Boxing Day in 2006, his final series before he retired from international cricket.Ticket information for the evening event is yet to be released, but the premier said there will be no crowd cap at the venue, which can hold up to 100,000 spectators.”It’ll be a very big event. It will be a celebration of his life as it should be,” Andrews said.Autopsy results showed that Warne died from a suspected heart attack, confirming the death was due to natural causes with no signs of foul play.Deputy director of Samui Hospital Songyot Chayaninporamet said the autopsy showed Warne, 52, died of a “congenital disease”.Following his death on the Thai resort island of Koh Samui, Warne’s body was taken by ferry to the mainland city of Surat Thani on Sunday. It was transported to Bangkok on Monday night and was being prepared to fly home to Melbourne, according to media reports.Warne’s family issued a statement on Monday describing the night of his death on March 4 as the beginning of “a never-ending nightmare”.

His new contract will extend up to the 2021 T20 World Cup in India

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Aug-20192:09

‘Ravi Shastri was the unanimous choice’ – Kapil Dev

Ravi Shastri will remain head coach of the senior India men’s team, with his new contract extending up to the 2021 T20 World Cup in India.The BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) spent much of Friday interviewing five candidates for head coach, with a sixth – Phil Simmons – pulling out of the race earlier in the day. The CAC rated the candidates on five separate categories – coaching philosophy, experience, achievements, communication, and “knowledge of modern coaching tools” – and Shastri emerged the winner.The three members of the CAC – former India captain Kapil Dev, former India coach Anshuman Gaekwad and former India women captain Shanta Rangaswamy – agreed “unanimously” to retain Shastri’s services, Kapil announced, with Mike Hesson, the former New Zealand and Kings XI Punjab coach, and Tom Moody, the former Sri Lanka and Sunrisers Hyderabad coach, coming a close second and third respectively.Ravi Shastri’s coaching CV•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Apart from Shastri, Hesson and Moody, the CAC also interviewed Robin Singh, who has coached at four-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians and was formerly India’s fielding coach, and Lalchand Rajput, India’s manager during their victorious World T20 campaign in 2007 and more recently coach of Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. Hesson, Robin and Rajput made their presentations to the CAC in person, while Moody and Shastri – who is with the India team in the West Indies – appeared via teleconference.The interviews for the remainder of India’s backroom staff will commence next week, tentatively from August 19-22. India’s senior selection panel, led by MSK Prasad, was supposed to pick the head coach’s support staff, as per the BCCI’s new constitution, but ESPNcricinfo understands that the CAC wanted to have a say, and expressed its interest and wrote to the BCCI requesting to be involved in the process.The contracts of Shastri and his earlier support staff were meant to expire at the end of the 2019 World Cup, but they were given a 45-day extension keeping in mind the ongoing West Indies tour. Ahead of the team’s departure for the Caribbean, India captain Virat Kohli made a public announcement that he would prefer if Shastri were to continue as head coach.When Shastri was appointed in July 2017, the CAC at the time – comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman – had consulted Kohli during the selection process. This time, the CAC did not seek Kohli’s opinion on the matter.”Absolutely not,” Kapil said, when asked if the CAC had been in touch with Kohli before it made its pick. “If we had asked him, we would have had to ask the whole team their opinion too.”The previous CAC had also tried to sort out the differences between Kohli and Anil Kumble, who had stepped down as head coach in fractious circumstances before Shastri’s 2017 appointment. It subsequently emerged that Kohli had refused to budge in that instance, which eventually resulted in Kumble opting to walk away.Shastri first joined India’s backroom staff as team director during the 2014 tour of England, and remained director in the absence of a head coach, when Duncan Fletcher’s tenure ended after the 2015 World Cup. Shastri was out of the set-up when Kumble became head coach in June 2016, but returned as head coach after Kumble’s resignation.Since then, Shastri has overseen Test match wins in South Africa and England, and a maiden Test series win in Australia, in 2017-18. Under Shastri, India most recently reached the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup in the UK, topping the round-robin phase of the tournament before exiting with a loss to New Zealand.

Dream debut cameo with bat and ball for 17-year-old Jaydn Denly, nephew of Joe

ECB Reporters Network11-Aug-2023Jack Leaning led from the front as Kent Spitfires beat Surrey by 87 runs in a Metro Bank One-Day Cup contest at the Kia Oval that also featured a dream debut cameo, with both bat and ball, from 17-year-old Jaydn Denly.Skipper Leaning top-scored with 87 from 94 balls in Kent’s 50-over total of 330 for 6 and then bowled ten overs from the Pavilion End for just 37 runs with his off-spin to set the tone for a Surrey struggle to 243 all out in reply, with leg spinner Matt Parkinson also impressing as he took 4 for 43.Alex Blake, hitting 62 from only 50 balls, and Daniel Bell-Drummond, who scored 65, were other Spitfires’ batting stars in what was their third-highest List A total against Surrey.Only Ryan Patel, with 68, and Jordan Clark – seventh out for 55 off 48 balls – threatened to break Kent’s hold on the game as they worked their way through the Surrey batting line-up.Denly – the nephew of Joe Denly, who missed this game through injury – marked his debut by taking a wicket with his third ball. Brought on to bowl his left-arm spin when Surrey were 176 for 4 after 35 overs, he bowled Cameron Steel for 25 through an attempted paddle-sweep and then almost bowled Ben Geddes with a superb delivery as he went on to record a wicket maiden.Geddes did swing him for six before being bowled by Parkinson for 17 and Clark hit Australian fast bowler James Bazley for two big sixes and departed disgruntled after mis-hitting a waist-high full toss from Hamidullah Qadri to long on.Blake later took a brilliant diving catch on the long off boundary to dismiss Conor McKerr off Parkinson, who then hastened Surrey’s demise by bowling Dan Moriarty, and the match ended when Yousef Majid was bowled by Qadri, who finished with 3 for 50.Surrey’s chase began badly, with Dom Sibley edging a Grant Stewart outswinger behind to go for 5 and although Patel and Rory Burns added 98 for the second wicket – with Patel twice muscling Qadri’s off spin for legside sixes – the pair never really got on top of Kent’s bowling, with Qadri finally bowling Burns for 43 as the left-hander tried to cut a ball that was too full for the shot.Ben Foakes made only 7 before falling to Parkinson, leg-before sweeping, and Patel then fell in Nathan Gilchrist’s first over, skying to point after facing 67 balls.Kent’s excellent total was built around stands of 113 and 88 for the second and third wickets, off 19 and 13 overs respectively, and following a solid opening partnership of 48 between Bell-Drummond and Ben Compton, who made 27 before clipping Moriarty’s left-arm spin to wide mid on.Bell-Drummond’s fluent 78-ball effort included six fours and it was something of a surprise when he went back to Steel’s leg spin and was bowled by a ball that turned appreciably to hit the top of off stump.Leaning had by then driven Steel high over extra cover for six but it was the arrival of Blake at No. 4 which brought Kent’s real acceleration towards 300 and beyond.Blake warmed up by smearing and pulling successive Steel deliveries for four and when Dunn replaced him the powerful left-hander crunched the seamer brutally back over his head for a huge straight six.Two balls later Blake launched Dunn for another six over long on and then cut the last ball of the over for four to race to 44 and Kent’s total to 229 for 2 with ten overs remaining.Young slow left armer Majid’s reintroduction to the attack was greeted by a Blake reverse hit for four and a more orthodox lofted drive over extra cover to complete a 37-ball fifty. There was one more outrageous reverse scoop for four off Clark before Blake’s fine innings was ended by a clever boundary-edge catch by Patel, who threw the ball up as he stepped over the rope and completed the catch after he had jumped back on to the field of play.By then Leaning had also gone, skying an attempted pull at Clark to keeper Foakes, but a late flurry was provided by Stewart, with a clubbed straight six off Clark in a 13-ball 26, and by Harry Finch’s inventive 34 off 17 balls.A dramatic final over brought 20 runs as Finch ramped paceman McKerr for four, slashed him over point for six, drove him to extra cover for another four, and was leg-before to the penultimate ball trying to reverse-paddle. That meant one ball for Denly to face on his senior Kent debut and the teenager, a left-hander, cut away for four a low full toss with a real flourish.

Both score 80-somethings to chip away at lead but Lawrence keeps England in it with last-ball strike

Valkerie Baynes11-Jun-2021New Zealand boasted an embarrassment of riches for a second day running as Devon Conway and Will Young frustrated England’s bowlers and moved to within 74 runs of England’s first-innings total with seven wickets in hand at Edgbaston.Conway, who cemented his place in the side with 200 on debut in the series opener at Lord’s, produced another valuable, though not chance-less, innings of 80. And, while he would have been disappointed not to press on to triple figures again, a gutsy 82 from Young – in the side as a replacement for injured captain Kane Williamson – mitigated the damage.Stuart Broad bowled superbly for his 2 for 22 from 15 overs, including six maidens, but he was the only England bowler to reap any reward for his considerable efforts – until Young’s dismissal by part-time off-spinner Dan Lawrence on the last ball of the day.England had resumed on 258 for 7 with Lawrence on 67 and Mark Wood 16. Wood provided serious entertainment as he pushed his score up to 41. He hit Trent Boult for three fours in six balls across two overs followed by back-to-back boundaries off Matt Henry as he punished New Zealand’s persistence with short-pitched bowling.Wood eventually fell, bowled by a Henry outswinger which found an inside edge onto the stumps.Lawrence remained not out 81 to share top-scoring honours for England with Rory Burns, while Boult polished off Broad and James Anderson to end as New Zealand’s leading wicket-taker with 4 for 85.When Broad had Tom Latham, New Zealand’s stand-in captain, out lbw in the sixth over of the innings, the visitors were 15 for 2.Mark Wood and Dan Lawrence added vital runs for England•PA Photos/Getty Images

Young ground out eight runs from 45 balls to begin with before settling into his stride, unfurling a beautiful on-drive to the rope off Olly Stone and then lacing another past third slip. In Stone’s next over, Young jabbed another four through point, his feet leaving the ground as he latched onto a short ball.Having survived on seven when Joe Root juggled and dropped a standard-looking slips catch off Stone’s bowling, Young brought up his maiden Test fifty with a single off Anderson’s late-moving inswinger.Conway had earlier done well to make it back to his crease when Latham struck a Broad delivery straight back down the pitch and the bowler, following through, managed to get his fingers to it before it crashed into the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Conway, who was advancing, tracked the ball like a hawk and managed to turn and stretch his bat back to safety.That was positively skilful, whereas his next nervous moment – on 22 – fell more in the lap of fortune. Having edged Broad towards Zak Crawley at third slip, the soft signal given on the field was not-out, suggesting the ball had touched the ground first. Broad was incensed but, upon review, there was enough doubt for the decision to stand – and spark debate over the existence of the soft signal.Conway and Young put on 122 runs together before Conway holed out to Crawley at deep backward square leg, giving Broad his second wicket, having conceded just 18 runs to that point midway through his 12th over. Conway’s scores of 200, 23 and 80 meant he had scored more runs in his first three Test innings than any other New Zealand batter.Broad gave Ross Taylor a thorough examination, beating the bat on numerous occasions while Anderson provided excellent support from the other end. It was Anderson who had Taylor given out lbw shortly after Broad had wrapped up his spell but the decision was overturned on review, which showed the ball was missing leg stump by a distance.Taylor managed to grit his way towards a half-century and was 46 not out at stumps when part-time off-spinner Lawrence finally broke through in the last over of the day. Lawrence ended Young’s knock with his ninth ball, finding an inside edge onto the pad, which Ollie Pope swallowed diving forward at short leg.Young was playing just his third Test – he earned both his previous caps in the home series against West Indies in December – and had scored two centuries in three innings for Durham in the County Championship in the lead-up to this match, earning his place among six changes to the New Zealand side which drew at Lord’s. Based on his performance at Edgbaston, he gave selectors plenty to think about going forward.