Tom Blundell's 138 revives New Zealand chances in 1st test vs. England

Tom Blundell completed a defiant late order century as the Black Caps last man at the crease Friday to further New Zealands fightback on the second day of the first cricket test against EnglandBatting at No 7 Blundell was 82 when New Zealands ninth wicket fell and he was joined at the crease by No 11 Blair Tickner a lanky moustachioed fast bowler on test debut with a first class batting average of 10Summing up the situation Blundell hit the accelerator and struck 6 4 and 4 from the bowling of spinner Jack Leach to move to 96 As Blundell watched nervously Tickner played out an over from Ollie Robinson before Blundell twice worked the ball for two off Leach to complete his fourth test centuryHe was undaunted even when England took the second new ball just as the floodlights kicked in at Bay Oval in the daynight match Blundell went on to 138 before he was the last man out Tickner played a brave debut innings of 3 from 24 balls and New Zealand finished at 306 just 19 runs behind Englands 3259 declaredI came out in a difficult situation and it was nice to come out with Devon Conway Blundell saidI actually didnt say too much to Tickner He took it on himself and batted very nicely and did a great jobAs England batted again under lights Tickner made a vital breakthrough dismissing Ben Duckett for 25 to end his imposing first innings of 84 from 68 ballsBlundell then caught Zac Crawley 28 off Scott Kuggeleijn and at stumps England was 792 leading by 98 runs with Ollie Pope 14 not out and Stuart Broad 6When play began on the second day there seemed little chance of New Zealand coming close to Englands total the home team had been 373 overnight after losing Tom Latham Henry Nicholls and Kane Williamson in less than 90 minutes before stumpsDevon Conway survived the pink ball trial under floodlights and was 17 not out at the end of day one England likely saw his wicket Friday as the key to ensuring a solid first innings lead buy they reckoned without BlundellAlso readNZ vs ENG 1st Test England crash through New Zealandrsquos top order as bazball makes its presence feltWhen England captain Ben Stokes bowling with a heavily strapped left knee bounced out Conway for 77 on Friday it seemed the pivotal moment of the second dayFor historians the more momentous moment came when Stuart Broad dismissed nightwatchman Neil Wagner in the seventh over to capture the 1000th wicket of his longstanding bowling partnership with James AndersonBroad 36 and Anderson 40 are playing their 133rd test in tandem since their first in 2008 and now are poised to overtake Australias Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne who took 1001 wickets in 104 tests as the most prolific bowling pair in test historyStokes showed no signs of pain as he thumped the wearing pink ball into the middle of the pitch at the Bay Oval testing the New Zealand batsmen with an array of shortpitched deliveriesConway endured for 229 minutes before he finally fell to Stokes when New Zealand was 1586 and still 167 short of Englands total He swatted at a headhigh ball from Stokes and was caught at square legWith Blundell Conway put on 75 for New Zealands sixth wicket and when he fell Blundell took up the fight and guided New Zealand almost to first innings parity The wicketkeeperbatsman has taken on the mantle of BJ Watling who played many vital lateorder innings for New Zealand Fridays was Blundells most important so farThis 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