Dominant England cricketers declare their intentions
England batting coach Graham Thorpe is targeting a second session declaration as his side chases a serieslevelling draw against the Black Caps in Christchurch.
The tourists will start day four at Hagley Oval on 202-3 – 231 runs ahead of New Zealand – with captain Joe Root (30) and Dawid Malan (19) unbeaten.
‘‘We’re not in a bad position at the minute,’’ the former England batsman said after stumps were pulled yesterday.
‘‘In an ideal world, we’ll probably be batting well into the second session with a healthy lead, and maybe out of sight. If it doesn’t go according to plan, and we want to win the test match, then we’ll have to review it as it goes along.’’
With daylight saving now over, and test cricket being played in the South Island in April for the first time, daylight would also have to be considered when planning, Thorpe said. Play has ended early due to bad light each of the past two days, although only about 40 minutes of play has been lost.
New Zealand, who haven’t beaten England in a test series since 1999, desperately need early wickets to avoid being batted out of the game and forced into having to save the test match.
‘‘The new ball is due in about 13-14 overs and, as we’ve seen with the new ball in this game so far, it’s done something,’’ Thorpe said.
‘‘But then we’ve also seen that the pitch, I wouldn’t say there’s real gremlins in the surface.’’
Black Caps wicketkeeper BJ Watling, who was dismissed for 85 and snaffled two smart catches yesterday, conceded England had the upper hand going into the final two days.
However, he doesn’t believe the Hagley Oval pitch is breaking up as a crunch second innings looms for the home side.
‘‘I don’t think it’s going to break up and do a hell of a lot on the last day, so we just need to get ourselves into a position to hopefully win the game,’’ Watling said.
‘‘There’s still two full days of cricket to go. The weather’s looking pretty good so I don’t know if anyone will get too adventurous just yet.
‘‘I think tomorrow [Monday] morning’s a massive session in the game.
‘‘If we can take 4-5 wickets in that session, we can put them under some pressure. Obviously if they get through it, then they’re in control of the game.’’
If yesterday was anything to go by, New Zealand might not be able to bank on Trent Boult and Tim Southee swinging the new ball all over the show.
The pair who, along with England opening bowlers Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson have accounted for all 23 wickets in the test so far, didn’t generate the same movement on day three as the previous two days.
‘‘The boys didn’t quite get it to swing quite as much as in the first innings and that’s probably got something to do with the surface,’’ Watling said.
‘‘To be fair, those first five overs to [Alistair] Cook and [Mark] Stoneman were pretty on the money and they played them reasonably well.’’
England, having dismissed the home side for 278, suffered an early setback in their second innings when outof-sorts Alistair Cook (two runs) was caught behind off Boult.
However, under-fire opener Stoneman (60) and No 3 James Vince (76) combined for a 123-run stand on a Hagley Oval surface that was hiding few demons.
Stoneman, perhaps batting to save his spot in the team, was dropped twice – by Ross Taylor and Southee in the slips – and survived a review after he’d been given caught behind off Neil Wagner’s bowling.
Before Stoneman was well caught by Watling after chasing a wide delivery, he and Vince were relatively untroubled as England set about establishing a stronghold on the game.
‘‘There’s still two full days to go. The weather’s looking pretty good so I don’t know if anyone will get too adventurous just yet.’’
NZ wicketkeeper BJ Watling