06/17/26 10:31:00
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06/17 10:29 CDT New Zealand 166-4 at tea as Mitchell and Blundell steady
innings at The Oval
New Zealand 166-4 at tea as Mitchell and Blundell steady innings at The Oval
By FOSTER NIUMATA
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) --- New Zealand was 166-4 and still sweating for runs from
England's inexperienced bowling attack in the second session of The Oval test
on Wednesday.
New Zealand added 91 runs in 24 overs after lunch for the loss of Henry
Nicholls for 24 and Rachin Ravindra for 33, both batters doing themselves in.
But Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell were sharing easily their team's best
partnership at tea of 59 runs from 13.4 overs. The streaky Mitchell had 33
including four boundaries, and Blundell was 23 from 32 balls.
While they looked nowhere near comfortable, their growing stand was ominous for
the home side. Blundell and Mitchell were New Zealand's highest scorers on the
last tour of England in 2022, and had the four highest partnerships for their
team.
Mitchell was dropped on 2 not long after Nicholls, on 23 at lunch, added only
one more run and was out playing on against Josh Tongue.
Ravindra tried to be aggressive and moved from 11 at lunch to 33, but in trying
to guide debutant pacer Sonny Baker through third man he stroked the ball to
Jacob Bethell at gully.
Bethell's second excellent catch gave Baker his maiden test wicket.
Mitchell on 10 survived an lbw appeal and video replay that cost the home team
a second review and, without looking in total control, passed 1,000 career runs
against England just before tea.
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
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