New Zealand rally to 202-3 after follow-on in 2nd test vs England

Tim Southee sounded the rallying cry and Tom Latham and Devon Conway answered the call as New Zealand fought back after following on Sunday on the third day of the second cricket test against EnglandNew Zealand trailed by 226 on the first innings and by stumps was 2023 only 24 runs in deficit At the close Kane Williamson was 25 and Henry Nicholls 18 having seen New Zealand through most of the last sessionSouthee battered 73 runs from 49 balls with five fours and six sixes in the morning to show the first spark of defiance before New Zealand was dismissed for 209 in its first innings in reply to Englands 4358Latham and Conway then combined in a 149run opening partnership which wiped out all but 77 runs of the deficitStokes may be taken to task for enforcing the followon a tactic that is increasingly rare in cricket His bowlers already had bowled 532 overs in the New Zealand first innings in which the England quicks James Anderson Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson had shared 362 oversBut Stokes likely had no other choice on a pitch which has lost most of its sting and likely will be ideal for batting on the final dayThe English bowlers Broad especially frequently beat the bat in the early stages of the New Zealand second innings But Latham and Conway showed application which recently has been missing from New Zealands top order New Zealands best opening partnership in the three previous innings in the series was 14 Sundays stand is now the highest secondinnings opening partnership ever at the Basin ReserveLatham grafted his way to his 26th test halfcentury from 124 and Conway was slightly quicker reaching his seventh 50 from 121 balls On reaching 45 Latham became the seventh New Zealander to score 5000 test runsBut Conway was out for 61 caught by Ollie Pope at short leg from the bowling of Jack Leach and Latham followed soon after for 83 trapped lbw by Joe RootI felt both of us Latham and Conway were slightly different Dev struggled to get away a bit at the start but I managed to do most of the scoring Latham said The scoreboard was ticking over and we just managed to take it one over at a time and just keep asking them to come backNew Zealand found itself under familiar pressure Then came a man facing his own pressures Kane Williamson had scored only 10 runs in his three previous innings in the series and needed a big innings as much as New Zealand didAlso readEngland 4358 New Zealand 122 at lunch on Day 2 of 2nd testWilliamson hung on for more than two hours until stumps and faced 81 ball to make 25 He now needs only three runs on Monday to overtake Ross Taylor as New Zealands leading runscorer in testsEngland took the second new ball with 10 minutes remaining in the days play and it was shared by Ollie Robinson and Leach to keep James Anderson and Stuart Broad fresh for the first session on Monday when the test likely will be decidedNew Zealand has been on the back foot for most of this test indeed most of the series But it enjoyed a period on the offensive when Southee was at the crease in the morningHe resumed at 23 and reached his fifty from only 39 balls Finally he was out for 73 from 49 balls which included five fours and six sixes and helped New Zealand reduce Englands imposing first innings advantageThe innings reflected some of Southees unrealized promise as a batterSouthee made an unbeaten 77 in his debut test against England in 2008 and that innings for a long time led to a hope that he might develop into a genuine allrounderThat hasnt come to pass He now has six halfcenturies in tests but they have come in 131 innings and he averages just over 15This 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