Daryl Mitchell scored a crucial century to give New Zealand the upper hand in a low scoring Lord's Test against England.
When Daryl Mitchell walked into bat on Friday, New Zealand found itself at 35/3, with a lead of only 26 on Day 2 of the Lord's Test against England. In the match, 23 wickets had fallen in less than four sessions, and the highest individual score was 43 [by Zac Crawley]. Mitchell scored a century to give his team the upper hand in such circumstances, with New Zealand's lead over 250 and close to 300. Along with team-mate Tom Blundell who talked in at 56/4, Mitchell took on the pacers and spin bowler Matthew Parkinson alike to reach 97 at the end of the day. In the first over of Day 3 on Saturday, Mitchell got to his century.
At 56/4, New Zealand needed a partnership, and along with Mitchell, Tom Blundell also played a splendid knock with 96 runs. The duo made a 195-run fifth-wicket partnership, the highest in New Zealand's Test cricket history for the same. Stuart Broad broke their alliance, bowling a superb delivery to Mitchell for a caught-behind dismissal.
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On the next delivery, there was a run-out, and Broad bowled a peach of a delivery to get rid of Kyle Jamieson, clean bowled with the ball. During this collapse, Blundell was stuck in the 90s and eventually succumbed to a James Anderson leg-before at 96. Tim Southee added some runs to give England a fourth-innings target of 277. New Zealand likely has the upper hand at this stage of the Test, with England's batting frailties in recent years, combined with New Zealand's pace attack and the help both will get from the conditions.
