ENGLAND SMASH 300

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The England cricket team managed to get past the score of 300 batting first on the second day of the second test match against New Zealand which is being played at Headingley.

At the end of the second day’s play, the score of England was 337 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. The two not out batsmen at the wicket were Matt Prior and Graeme Swann who were batting on 38 and 21 respectively.

The wicket was pretty flat and the sun was shining. So, the conditions were ideal for batting and Alastair Cook had no hesitation in batting first after winning the toss.

The start was poor for England. Nick Compton was dismissed early which brought Jonathan Trott at the crease.

Cook and Trott looked quite comfortable against the pace attack of New Zealand and they added 56 runs for the second wicket to give the innings some stability.

England seemed to be going into the lunch break in a comfortable position, but, that wasn’t the case to be. Just before the lunch break, both Trott and Cook got out on back to back deliveries which brought New Zealand right back into the game.

Trott tried to drive Wagner lazily and edged it to McCullum behind the wickets, while, Cook tried to flirt with a delivery going across him and edged it into the hands of Dean Brownlie who was at third slip.

Ian Bell and the local boy Joe Root put up a solid 79-runs partnership for the 4th wicket to put the innings back on track.

Brendon McCullum brought the part time off spinner Kane Williamson into the attack in search of a wicket and the young man delivered for his captain. He dismissed Ian Bell at the score of 30.

However, Joe Root continued to flourish at the other end and he got a solid partner in the form of Jonny Bairstow. Both these Yorkshire men put up a 100-runs stand for the 5th wicket which took England close to 300. Root completed his first test hundred during that partnership.

Trent Boult dismissed Root, Bairstow and Broad in quick succession with the second new ball and all of a sudden, the score became 286 for the loss of 7 wickets.

It seemed that England might be all out before the end of the day’s play, but, that didn’t happen. Prior and Swann negotiated the rest of the overs safely.

MISSING MATCHES

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Kevin Pietersen might not be able to play for England in the upcoming test series against New Zealand which will start in the third week of May.

Pietersen had discovered a knee injury on the New Zealand tour and was ruled out from the third test match of that series. He has been out of cricket since then.

He was expected to get fit before the home series against New Zealand, but, his recovery hasn’t been as fast as it was anticipated. He still has a lot of problems in his knee and there have been a few reports that he might have to go through surgery.

Now, England would certainly not want that. If Pietersen has to go through surgery, he will certainly miss the Champions Trophy and the initial parts of the Ashes series.

In a couple of days’ time, there will be a meeting of the medical staff of the England Cricket team and in that meeting; Pietersen’s fitness will be discussed. The medical staff is expected to advice Pietersen to rest for a few more days.

However, there is some good news for the England team management as well. Tim Bresnan has completely recovered from his elbow injury and he is ready to play his first competitive match in 3 months. He will feature for his county Yorkshire in a friendly fixture against Lancashire which is going to be played at Headingley.

When asked about the condition of his elbow, Bresnan said, “My elbow is fine now. I have been bowling with good pace in the nets and now, I am looking forward to have a crack against Lancashire.”

“I don’t want to miss any more matches. I have missed a lot of them. I just want to play more and more games for Yorkshire and take a lot of wickets so that I can get back into the national side again.”

KP INJURED

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Kevin Pietersen has discovered a knee injury while playing in the first test match against New Zealand and it’s not certain whether he will play in the next match or not.

Pietersen looked out of nick in both the innings in the first test match. When he was batting in the second innings, he felt pain in his knee and the physio ran onto the ground to give him a bit of treatment.

In the post match press conference, the England captain Alastair Cook admitted that Pietersen’s knee injury is a matter of concern for the team management.

Cook said, “KP has injured his knee. He will go for a scan tomorrow and then, we will know how bad the injury is.”

“He is a key batsman of the team and we don’t want to lose him for the remainder of the series. But, we will not take any risk either. We will follow the instructions of the medical team. If they say that KP should take a bit of rest, we will send him back home.”

Cook was looking very happy with the brilliant batting performance of his team in the second innings of the first test match. New Zealand had taken a lead of 293 runs in the first innings. But, England batted almost for two days in the second innings and saved the test match. Cook himself showed the way to the other players with a brilliant hundred at the top of the order.

When asked about the performance of the batsmen in the second innings, Cook said, “In the second innings, we batted brilliantly. We batted like champions. There were five sessions to go and they were ahead by 293. It was a tall order. But, we showed great determination and ended up saving the match.”