Mitchell and Blundell, Blundell and Mitchell. Will no one deliver England from these turbulent bats? For the third consecutive test, Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell have made a one-century partnership and now Mitchell is on the threshold of a third century in successive tests. How England must suffer for not reviewing the leg appeal before Matt Potts when it was rejected. Ben Foakes has done all the series well, but he made that call and understandably, given that the bowling player is a rookie, Ben Stokes gave him as he should have, having given him the responsibility.
But that shouldn’t detract from another good bowling effort from Stuart Broad, the unfortunate Potts and the lively Jamie Overton. Even better was the improvement shown by Jack Leach. He must have been working with Jeetan Patel for the last 10 days from the Trent Bridge because he managed to make far fewer drags and there were signs of drift that were not part of his arsenal before. He did it with Will Young. Equally significantly perhaps, the Headingley crowd loves him because of 2019 and his gallantry and encourages all his touches. If followers embrace you, trust soon.
Rain is expected for after tea, but it still looks a little heavier when the sun comes out. England will hope to keep New Zealand at around 350, rack up their runs (although they will face Neil Wagner for the first time in the series, a bowling player they have found very tricky in the past) and hope Leach can break them. Maybe he should. Broad has done a lot of work in this series, Stokes hasn’t played bowling yet and maybe not the whole game, Potts will run all day, but both he and Overton are raw at that level.
Anyway, let’s go.