Black Caps face England’s clean sweep series at Headingley

Third Test, Day 4, at Headingley: New Zealand 329 and 326 (T Blundell 88 not out, T Latham 76, D Mitchell 56, K Williamson 48; J Leach 5-66, M Potts 3-66) v England 360 and 183-2 (O Pope 81 not out, J Root 55 not out).

The Black Caps need inspiration – and eight wickets – on the final day of their series against England to not suffer a clean sweep of defeats.

With 296 runs needed to win the third and final Test at Headingley, England were 183-2 on stumps after Ollie Pope (81 not out) and Joe Root (55 not out) formed an uninterrupted third wicket partnership worth 132 went on to leave them favored to complete a 3-0 series victory on the final day.

Left-hander Jack Leach took 5-66 to help New Zealand sack 326 in their second innings, earning him his first bag of 10 wickets in Tests, while the visitors struggled to find England in their run chase without a specialist spin bowler to limit. .

To sum up on day four at 168-5, New Zealand advanced unscathed to lunch thanks to the most productive partnership pairing in their Test series history.

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Both Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell were issued lbw before getting procrastination by the Decision Review System, as their fourth-century partnership of the series seemed ready to give England more than 300 to chase after a victory.

But Mitchell perished leg for 56 off 152 balls, giving him 538 runs for the series at an average of 107.60. Only 15 times in Test history has a batsman scored more runs in a series after playing three games or less.

Their partnership was worth 113, after previous ones of 120, 45, 236 and 195.

But as happened through June, NZ’s tail did not give Mitchell and Blundell the support they needed and deserved, and inexcusably lost their last five wickets for 52.

They left Blundell stranded on 88 not out of 161 deliveries, giving wicketkeeper-batsman 383 runs in the series at 76.60.

Excellent work from captain Kane Williamson and bowler Trent Boult ensured the start of English opening batsman Alex Lees (9) while part-time flyhalf Michael Bracewell lured Zak Crawley (25) in a false shot to make the hosts 51-2 too late.

But the Black Caps have only one review of a referee decision at their disposal after Williamson burned two reviews in consecutive deliveries when Tim Southee hit Root on the road, but outside the line of the stump.

Bracewell, in the team ahead of left-hander Ajaz Patel, were again expensive (1-70 from 11 overs), without the control of Leach or Patel, who took 10 wickets in an innings and 14 in a match in a Test against India six months ago.

The big moment

New Zealand’s batting series is based almost entirely on Mitchell and Blundell.

So when Mitchell lbw fell for Matthew Potts after a second DRS reference in the over could not save him, fears that the visitors could quickly crumble again arose – leaving England less than 300 to chase at ‘ a place that has been seen often. achieve big targets for the fourth inning.

Best with the bat

Blundell were sometimes unfairly thrown into the shadow of Mitchell during their partnerships, but seemed highly capable of giving England a big task in their second innings to complete a clean sweep.

He was severely let down by those who came in after he left quickly. The 31-year-old now has a test average of 41.10 – higher than Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls.

Best with the ball

Leach started the Test series under pressure to retain his place in the side and was ruled out of the first Test during the first morning when he suffered a concussion while getting field work.

He returned for the second Test and excelled in the last and took five wickets in each innings through fine control of line and length, while also getting good innings on a wearing sheet.

The big pictures

The hosts have raised their tails and are 2-0 ahead after pulling successful fourth-innings runs in the previous two Tests and still have Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes in hand after New Zealand again did not apply constant pressure.