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Black Caps opener Tom Latham has taken over the captaincy from Kane Williamson. Photo / Getty
All the action from day one of the second test between the Black Caps and England.
By Andrew Alderson at Trent Bridge
A controlled and disciplined opening partnership of 84 from Tom Latham and Will Young imbued New Zealand with confidence during the opening session of the second cricket test against England at Nottingham.
The value of that investment then dissolved in consecutive deliveries bridging the 21st and 22nd overs.
They eventually scrambled through to 108 for two at lunch, with Devon Conway 10 and Henry Nicholls 14.
Young appeared to have experienced an epiphany after the hesitancy which resulted in a pair of ones at Lord's.
He looked more like the batter who had infiltrated the county championship ranks at Northamptonshire to score 331 runs at an average of 55.17 acclimatising earlier in the northern summer.
Young executed a series of slashing cuts, dismissive pulls and flowing drives on his way to 47.
Eventually, England captain Ben Stokes had him prodding at a delivery in the channel outside off stump, which flew low to second slip Zak Crawley.
Latham was more compact, checking and punching his strokes with efficiency as part of 26.
The stand-in skipper for nine of the last 18 tests in Kane Williamson's absence was playing a responsible hand to avoid the shambles of Lord's when the visitors faced oblivion at 45 for seven on the first day.
Then a James Anderson long-hop was pulled mercilessly to mid-wicket where Matthew Potts' hands proved the sole obstacle between dismissal or boundary.
Regardless, the New Zealand top-order resurrection - after being 12-4 and 56-4 in the opening fixture - looked in the process of healing.
Enough runs should be present in the Trent Bridge block over the test. No team has compiled more than 358 in three first-class games this season, but only one side in nine completed innings has scored fewer than 242.
Captain Stokes chose to field due to the tantalising emerald tinge of the pitch, but the Black Caps played the surface on merit and reaped the rewards as the Nottingham sun emerged.
Earlier, Michael Bracewell became New Zealand's 283rd test cricketer and the fourth member of his wider family to achieve the feat after uncles John and Brendon and cousin Doug.
Matt Henry and Henry Nicholls earned recalls to the XI in the absence of the Covid-struck Kane Williamson, the injured Colin de Grandhomme and the unlucky Ajaz Patel.
