The Times - UK (2022-06-11)

2 1GS Saturday June 11 2022 | the times

WEEKEND

BRIEFING

Ones to watch

Saracens face London

rivals Harlequins in the

first Gallagher Premiership

semi-final at StoneX Stadium.

Can Sarries resist Quins’

blistering attack in this clash

of styles?

1.30pm, BT Sport 1

Gareth Southgate’s

England side have a

shot at redemption as they

face Italy, who defeated them

in last year’s Euro 2020 final,

at Molineux in the Uefa

Nations League.

7.45pm, Channel 4

Guess the star

Name this world top-20

tennis player wiping her face

during the French Open. She

has reached the final of one

grand-slam tournament.

Answer on page 22

Azerbaijan GP

Formula One rolls into Baku

for another street race. Lewis

Hamilton was only 12th

fastest in the second practice

session yesterday — can he

recover to compete for a first

win of the season tomorrow?

Pages 6-7

Murray on march

Andy Murray’s Wimbledon

preparations are gathering

pace after he beat the world

No 5, Stefanos Tsitsipas, at the

Stuttgart Open. Today he

faces Nick Kyrgios, of

Australia, in the semi-finals.

Page 14

On the box

TODAY

2pm Azerbaijan Grand Prix

qualifying, Formula One

Sky Sports F1

4.30pm Leicester Tigers v

Northampton Saints,

Gallagher Premiership

BT Sport 1

7pm Trevor Bryan v Daniel

Dubois, heavyweight boxing

BT Sport 1

TOMORROW

11.50am Pakistan v West

Indies, third ODI

Sky Sports Cricket

12.30pm Scandinavian Mixed

final day, DP World Tour

Sky Sports Golf

5pm RBC Canadian Open

final round, PGA Tour

Sky Sports Golf

England v New Zealand

Trent Bridge (first day of five; England won

toss): New Zealand have scored 318 runs for

the loss of four wickets against England

B

en Stokes’s decision at the

toss to bowl first may have

fitted England’s new

philosophy — attack, attack,

attack — but there were not

many times during the day when it

looked like he had made the right call.

England strove for wickets, but the

boundaries flowed freely before lunch

and after tea, and while the pitch may

have been tinged with green, it was

Mitchell’s half-century came in 91

balls. A second six came courtesy of a

top edge off Broad, which encouraged a

short-ball ploy for a brief period, during

which Mitchell took a heavy blow to the

helmet. Blundell’s half-century fol-

lowed, off 93 balls, and he was quick to

pounce when Leach dropped short. Oc-

casionally, when the left-armer slowed

his pace and bowled a wider line, there

was a little turn. New Zealand have left

out their main tweaker, Ajaz Patel, in

favour of Michael Bracewell.

It was a game of cat and mouse until

the second new ball, with Mitchell

unfurling a handful of reverse-sweeps,

one of which was almost his undoing.

Root was asked to fill some time, and

almost conned Mitchell into tennis-

batting an attempted bouncer to

mid-on. Blundell, advancing to the

pitch of the delivery and missing,

survived two reviews to Leach. He then

offered a final chance of the day when

edging Broad with the second new ball

between second and third slip, an

unwelcome echo of the winter past.

Attacking

Modern statistics prove

that a captain ought to

have a very good

reason not to bat first,

writes Simon Wilde

When Test cricket is this entertaining,

why would you want to deny some

countries the chance to play more of it?

Greg Barclay, chairman of the ICC,

warned of a limited future for nations

for whom the five-day game makes a

financial loss and, almost in rebuke,

New Zealand, who would be in that

category, flew out of the traps at Not-

tingham, as if to say: “Don’t you dare.”

The opening day at Trent Bridge was

a thoroughly entertaining affair, error-

strewn at times, with England’s bowlers

off-colour before lunch, and there was a

glut of dropped catches to pour scorn

on the notion that Brendon McCullum

had transformed them into a team of

Colin Blands. With the run rate hover-

ing around four runs an over for much

of the day, it was never less than watch-

able, as Ben Stokes had promised.

New Zealand were in danger of

squandering some promising starts

when Devon Conway, having played

beautifully, became the fourth man out

to a score between 26 and 47 halfway

through the day. So it was left to Daryl

Mitchell and Tom Blundell, the combi-

nation that had done so much to

fashion a winning position at Lord’s, to

repair matters with another fine fifth-

wicket partnership, of 149, to seize

the advantage and ask questions of

England’s decision to bowl first.

In doing so, Stokes did not expect a

repeat of 2015 at this ground, when Stu-

art Broad whistled out Australia in the

blink of an eye before lunch, but 318-4

was probably not what he had in mind

either. A host of factors would have

come into the decision, not least the

records of James Anderson and Broad

on this ground, the thick carpet of grass

that greeted him at the toss and the

disruption to New Zealand’s batting

line-up after the late positive Covid test

result recorded by Kane Williamson on

the eve of the match.

And if chances had been taken, and if

England had been less scrappy in the

field, the situation might have

looked very different. Mitchell

was dropped on three at slip by

Joe Root off Stokes, in the

middle of England’s most

threatening passage of

play before tea, and

Blundell was given a let-

off to the second new

ball, when Zak Crawley

and Jonny Bairstow

allowed an edge to fly

between them. There

were other misses too —

Henry Nicholls was

dropped at slip on 17 off

Broad just after lunch —

but the Mitchell drop was

the costliest, and easiest as

the ball dipped and evaded

Root’s grasp, low down.

To that end, there were

some logic behind the deci-

sion — Tom Latham inti-

mated that he would have

bowled too — even if there

was less movement in the

air and off the pitch than

Mike

Atherton

Chief Cricket

Correspondent

Slipshod England fall

Stokes might have hoped for.

Well-grassed as the pitch was, it was

also dry, and the result was a surface

that offered pace and bounce above all,

as good pitches should, and an even

contest ensued. With 20 boundaries

coming in the morning session, and 45

in all during the day, the attacking

philosophy espoused by Stokes was

tested for the first time.

The nearest England came to a

breakthrough in the opening hour was

a run-out. Will Young and Latham were

keen to turn the strike over, too keen at

times, and Latham’s first run required a

desperate dive into his ground, while

Young survived a quick single to

mid-on only because Broad’s pick-up

and throw was inches wide of the target.

That apart, with little in the way of

swing or seam, the openers looked

untroubled.

The opening partnership was worth

84, and a very good one it was too.

Having missed out at Lord’s but having

earlier given notice of his good form

with Northamptonshire, Young

skipped along, driving and cutting

fluently through the off side. Latham

settled comfortably back into the

captain’s role, compact and secure in

defence. Signs of concern were there

shortly after the hour, when Broad

motioned to the umpires that the ball

was out of shape, to no avail.

But then the morning turned in the

space of two balls. Stokes had brought

himself on from the Radcliffe Road End

and, after offering up a brace of

no-balls, he found the edge of Young’s

bat, Crawley taking a good low catch.

That encouraged Stokes to remove

Jack Leach from the attack at the

Pavilion End after one over, and Ander-

son duly served up a long hop that

Latham pulled into the hands of

Matthew Potts at mid-wicket. New

Zealand’s stand-in captain would have

been sore with himself.

Immediately after lunch England’s

new attacking philosophy was tested to

the limit. Stokes set four catchers, and

had his cover fielders very straight, to

encourage Broad to offer the drive. He

did so; Conway responded with three

gorgeous flowing strokes to the bound-

ary, and 18 runs had come in the open-

ing two overs. Broad tried to chivvy

along the crowd at this point, as he had

at Lord’s, but the Nottinghamshire

faithful were still tucking into lunch,

judging by the tepid response.

England had tried to get the ball

changed three times, but when

Stokes combined with Anderson

mid-session, things began to happen

at last. For 14 overs before tea they

probed away, finding a decent

amount of swing, during which

time Stokes picked up Nicholls to

the outside edge, Anderson had

Conway to the inside edge, and

Stoke s had Mitchell dropped.

Having used himself

sparely at Lord’s,

Stokes recognised the

need to get into the thick of the

action and bowled beautifully.

After the drop, Stokes looked

desperate not to show any dis-

appointment, although Mitchell’s

hundred at Lord’s had given notice

of what a dangerous customer he

is. Having bowled only one over

in the morning and one in the

afternoon, it was time for

Leach after tea, and Mitchell

recognised the chance to

attack, sending one soaring

hit into the crowd and into a

supporter’s full pint pot,

which ended any

chance of the old ball

swinging again.

Second Test,

day two

Play starts at 11am

TV: Sky Sports Main

Event; Radio: BBC Five

Live Sports Extra

Broad reacts in anguish

to a missed chance