Sri Lanka prepare for New Zealand challenge with unchanged T20I squad
Sri Lanka have named a strong 16-member squad led by Charith Asalanka for a six-match white-ball series involving three T20Is followed by three ODIs, against New Zealand.
England reduced New Zealand to 144 for 4 after posting 353 runs in their first innings of the ongoing first Test of the two-match series at the Bay Oval.
At Stumps on Day 2, New Zealand were still short by 209 runs in reply to England’s competitive total with Henry Nicholls unbeaten on 26 and BJ Watling batting on 6.
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On Friday, the visitors started the day at 241 for 4 and suffered a batting collapse after overnight batsman Ben Stokes fell for 91. Ollie Pope also didn’t last long at the crease and got out after adding 11 runs to his overnight score of 18.
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However, a gritty knock of 43 runs from wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler and a handy 18 from Jack Leach helped England pass 350.
Meanwhile, the Black Caps didn’t have a great start as they lost opener Tom Latham (8) in the eighth over bowled by Sam Curran. Latham’s partner Jeet Raval also couldn’t stay long at the crease as Leach tempted him to play a false stroke and he was dismissed after contributing 19 runs to the team’s total.
Skipper Kane Williamson alongside Ross Taylor took New Zealand’s total past 100 run-mark. But, England’s World Cup hero Stokes stepped up and got Taylor caught at deep mid-wicket off a short ball.
After this, Sam Curran produced a moment of magic to dismiss Williamson at his individual score of 51.
However, Henry Nicholls with BJ Watling made sure that the hosts suffer no further damage with the former surviving some deadly attacks from Jofra Archer.
Brief scores: England 1st innings 353 all out (Ben Stokes 91, Joe Denly 74; Tim Southee 4 for 88), New Zealand 1st innings 144 for 4 (Kane Williamson 51, Henry Nicholls 26*; Sam Curran 2 for 28)
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