Pope, Lees lead England's fightback after Mitchell powers NZ to 553

Ollie Pope 51 not out and Alex Lees 34 not out helped England to a steady start taking them to 901 at stumps on Day 2 of the second Test after New Zealand posted 553 in their first innings on the back of a fantastic 190 from Daryl Mitchell here on SaturdayResuming the play on Day 2 both Mitchell overnight 81 not out and Blundell overnight 67 not out continued from where they left They continued to frustrate the England bowlers as boundaries flowed from the bat with regularityMitchell got to his century soon his second in as many matches as New Zealand pushed past 350 A few overs later Blundell brought up two milestones of his own going past 1000 Test runs as well as his third Test hundred In the meantime Mitchell switched gears and launched into the England bowlers taking their partnership past 200It was Jack Leach who brought some respite for England as Blundell charged and miscued the ball to midon This was Leachs first wicket at home in exactly 1000 days his last one coming against Australia in the 2019 Ashes in September 2019That was the lone positive for England in the first session where New Zealand added 94 runs and strengthened their hold on the gameThe Black Caps domination continued after the break as well with the first two overs of the second session fetching 26 runs Michael Bracewell looked to attack from the getgo while Mitchell was smashing big ones with ease against Leach In no time he reached 150 a milestone he had never achieved before in Test cricketAlso ReadIND vs SA Bhuvneshwar Kumar talks up Indias chances to bounce back and win seriesIn the first 132 overs of the session New Zealand added 69 more runs going at more than five runs an over Just as they threatened to take the game away completely the rain break came at a perfect time for England forcing players off the ground in a hurry for an early teaUpon their return the two batters took their time to get their eyes in and showed very little aggression Bracewell was just a run away from his fifty on Test debut when James Anderson struck to break the partnership for 91 an ICC report saidMitchell kept losing partners as he edged closer to a double ton Despite Trent Boults resistance at No11 Mitchell was the last man out when Matthew Potts got his wicket for 190 New Zealand ended up posting a mammoth 553 their highest total on English soilIn reply it did not take New Zealand long to effect a breakthrough as Boult struck in the second over to send back Crawley for 4 With the hosts 61 New Zealand had a good chance to drive home their advantage but failed to take controlAlex Lees was dropped on 12 by Mitchell at first slip and took full advantage of it by playing some brilliant shots His partner Ollie Pope too continued undisturbed even striking Matt Henry for 16 runs in one overAnother chance went begging when neither the keeper nor the first slip fielder reacted to an edge from Pope which raced away to the boundary Pope soon brought up a fantastic fifty as the secondwicket partnership extended to 84 with England ending the day on 901 trailing by 463 runsBrief scoresNew Zealand 553 Daryl Mitchell 190 Tom Blundell 106 Michael Bracewell 49 James Anderson 362 Ben Stokes 285 lead England 901 Ollie Pope 51 not out Alex Lees 34 not out Trent Boult 118 by 463 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever