England vs New Zealand: England mount fightback on day two

0:01Dinesh Karthik:Yeah, gone! Gone, he gets his fairytale ending! An epic way to go to a Test Match 100. The London Spirit of First Time win is the most remarkable thing you've probably ever seen in cricket. 604 and final Test wicket for Stuart Ford. It's India who will win the T20 World Cup. England's captain Ben Stokes, while he is there, England have hope.

0:34Day two of the third and final test match between England and New Zealand, and it has been a remarkable turnaround from the England team. They toiled in the field until 5.24pm yesterday evening before they took their first wicket. Finished the day off 361 for four. A little bit of sloppy batting from New Zealand perhaps at the very end. And then this morning, courtesy of their captain Ben Stokes, who has risen to the occasion on another broiling hot day here at Trent Bridge. Bowled a brilliant spell of three for 13 in eight overs, and suddenly the game is wide open again. DK, Nass with me. Where we find ourselves in the match at the moment, England 226 runs behind New Zealand's total of 438.

1:19You wouldn't have believed that from yesterday.

1:22Dinesh Karthik:No, and that's the great thing about Test Match cricket. You can have that partnership for five and a half hours yesterday. and you just have a bad half hour and you let a side in. And the momentum that England would have taken walking onto that, into the dressing room yesterday, and then walking back on the field. Imagine if it was 360 for one, walking out. Today's been the hottest day by far. No wind, really hot, 36, 37 degrees. That would have been quite difficult to come back. But those late wickets, you could see the energy England had. And you're right, Ben Stokes. When you have a character and a leader like Ben Stokes, You know, the team have to put in and he always puts in and he turned it around.

2:00Dinesh Karthik:The two weeks he's had, that would have been inspirational to his team. And the love of the fans came across in the last couple of days. Certainly did. DK, can you believe that 10 days ago, 13 days ago, that England might have been considering a life without a fit Ben Stokes at the helm after what we've seen today? I must say walking into this UK summer after the long travel from India, I walked into a bit of a storm. There's a lot of bad news where Ben Stokes was retired, where Ben Stokes was definitely not playing this game. There's going to be an investigation, so on and so forth. But all's well that ends well.

2:38And it's great to see him back in the field. But what I admire most about him, he almost has this attitude of let me show you how to do it kind of attitude. He bowled a brilliant spell just before lunch on day one. He bowled a nice spell later. He didn't get many wickets but he was relentlessly at it. And eventually he got the fruits of his hard work at the back end. I think he picked up four wickets. In fact, he was the one who broke the first partnership as well. And then there was a drop catch of him early on on day two as well. Jamie Smith trying for one. But that didn't let him down. He just kept going.

3:09Eight over spells, picked up three wickets before lunch. Got them into a strong position. Eventually they got all out. And if England are in a position of strength, which you couldn't say yesterday at 5 o 'clock, it's purely because that man believed in it. And I think he's taken the boys with him. And that's the difference. I was hearing things like, oh, Ben Stokes, should he be the captain? I was like, really? Is there anyone better right now to lead England? And these are the reasons why. Even on a day like this, in a match like this, when everything feels like it's going against you, he had this attitude like, we can't get this done.

3:39Just keep at it. And, you know, credit to him for having pulled this test match in England's favour right now. Yeah, correct. Shahid Bashir also picked up a couple of wickets. He didn't have a great day yesterday. A long time between rodeos for him in terms of test match cricket. But picked up a couple of wickets and sort of ushered New Zealand towards the end of their innings. That'll give him a lot of confidence.

4:01Dinesh Karthik:It will, and obviously that bit of fielding as well late last night, which meant they didn't go to the boundary, then they got another wicket, then they got another wicket straight after that. I still think he's got a lot of work to do with his control of length. DK and Kumar did a good piece in here actually with the pitch maps. And I was looking, I think in the modern game, as an off-spinner, you should compare yourself to Nathan Lyon. And the comparison is there with the drop and, you know, the drop on the ball that he gets like Nathan Lyon, the overspin. But actually on pitch maps, you look at it and it's something like 9 % too full and 5 % too short.

4:35Dinesh Karthik:And I looked at Lyon bowling at Edgbaston one year. He was 1 % and 2%. As a finger spinner, you have to get that control of length. And I thought that with Bashir all the way through his career so far, that he bowls enough good deliveries, you've just got to get rid of those drag downs and full tosses. But you're right, a couple of wickets, a bit of confidence, and a captain that's a very good captain of spin bowling, and that's in Stokes. Incredibly sympathetic towards it and fields and all the rest. What did you and Kumar come up with in terms of ways that he might improve that control? From a tactical point of view, obviously he's not giving the control for a captain to set more attacking fields.

5:14Not many men close around the bat. You don't expect it on day one, but if you can give control, a bit of breathing space for the fast bowlers to keep rotating, that is ideally what your role is. But in the second innings when he comes, he'll need to have men around the bat to pick up wickets. Now then when you bowl bad balls, it looks glaringly bad as well. So that is an area he has to work on. When he came to India and when he played, that was an area where India took him on. They took him on very early and that put pressure on him. Now when teams go aggressively against them, which is what they will do in an ashes, I'm assuming, that is where if you don't have the control, you'll be found wanting.

5:47And technically, if you look at it, his front arm is non-bowling arm as they call it. Now that is a key aspect of bowling. He needs to get that right. And you need to have a momentary pause in your run-up. When you just hold and that's when you get everything into place. And that's something that he needs to work with Jeetan Patel, the bowling coach. and that is an area that they should look into. I, from my point of view, if they can get that right, it will be highly useful for them because that gives you the control and the revolutions with the dip. And that will be extremely useful for them.

6:15OK. Well, so in the end, 438 New Zealand were wrapped up for...

6:20Dinesh Karthik:It was about this stage last night, you had to do a bit of a rewrite, wasn't it? It was a little bit, you know, I mean, to be honest with you, I'm a little bit flattered that you think that I write and plan these things out anyway. So it suited me fine. What happens if they take a hat trick here or whatever now? We get very, very excited. We might lose the opportunity to rib DK about Ireland beating India today, but hopefully nothing will happen and we'll get that in at some point. I must say Atherton has already given me stick regards to that. Has he? England has never lost a T20 to Ireland. I said, what about 2011 in the 50-year World Cup?

6:55Oh, what ath. I mean, now he does have plenty of attention to detail, but clearly not on that case. England's turned the bat, lose Emilio Gay early, but Willow Rourke bowled a really testing and probing spell with the new ball. But Ben Duckett, my goodness, his celebration after reaching 100 told 1 ,000 stories, didn't it? He went through the mill in Australia, had behavioural problems, he lost his form. There was talk that he and Crawley might fall on there or be sacked at the end of all of that. He looked in great form at the Oval, didn't he? He got run out, unfortunately. But his celebration on reaching that three figures told you exactly what he'd been through.

7:38Dinesh Karthik:Yeah, and he's been through a difficult winter. But that is cricket, isn't it? I mean, that's an ashes battle that often happens when you come back from Australia. Everyone wants everyone sacked. And luckily, I said at the beginning of the season, I think he's a very good... Just got to remember what you were saying around about this time last year. If you think someone is a good player and they've just had a bad series, stick with them. I think we all know and think Ben Duckey is a very good player who had a bad Ashes series. I think he made the right decision not to go to the IPL and work on his game, stay here at Knott's and work on his game, work on his fitness.

8:13Dinesh Karthik:And that translated into another 100 here, 200s in two Trent Bridge test matches in Barbway last year, better than a runner ball and a very similar output today. I thought DK made an excellent point, actually, and it was a shame he got out for two reasons. One, I was thinking, just stay in. Remember how hard it has been for six months. Go and get a big 100, double 100. And DK said, by doing that, he scores so quickly. On this sore pitch, you're going to need the quick batters to get runs because you need to buy time to get 20 wickets. I remember Peterson getting a wonderful double 100 in Adelaide and the last wicket was got and they won the game and a massive storm hit.

8:52Dinesh Karthik:And it was because Peterson scored at such a rate that he gave you enough time to get 20 wickets. So England need to keep an eye on the rate they're getting the runs as well, which is healthy at the moment. As an opposition, DK, you've got Ben Duckey at the crease, short man, short arms, and I don't mean that in a disrespectful way, but it gives him the opportunity to find width in deliveries that other players might not. You know, the hands being so much closer to the body, so he scores very quickly in difficult areas. What would your thoughts be in terms of trying to stop him when he's in full flow like that?

9:28If he's scoring runs in England, I can understand he's born and brought up on these kind of pitches. What fascinated me about Ben Duckett was in Rajkot when he got that brilliant 180 odd. And he was batting in a way where India didn't know what field to set. He was sweeping. He was reverse sweeping. The odd ball used to step out and hit. So it was becoming very hard. The acid test for someone from England or Australia is how you play spin in the subcontinent. And he did that very nicely. And for me, he is not an easy player to control because he goes square at the wicket. If you bowl full, he almost has this collapsing back foot but still finds a way to drive it along the ground to boundaries.

9:58And if you look at the way his body language is and observe him carefully, he is constantly looking at gaps when a spinner is bowling. And wants to target those gaps whenever possible. And for the pacer, he kind of knows what the field is. And he is just waiting for every opportunity to score runs. And that is such a good attribute to have. when you're always looking to score runs, there's a much better chance to get into stronger positions irrespective of who is bowling. And that is the beauty of batsmanship. He's obviously a very odd opener in the sense that when people speak about leaving balls and being there, he does everything on the other way where he looks to connect every ball that he plays.

10:31But he's been very successful doing it. And also fascinates me because, as Nat said, at the start, the same time last year, he was spoken about in England as probably one of the best all-format players around the world. That's exactly what I heard. after the 100 he got in Leeds and the way he was batting in that series. Five tests down the line, you can't say he should be dropped because he didn't have a good Ashes. That is something that baffles me because I think he's had a good run for a long time and he is well worth having in the team just for the attitude and attribute that he brings in terms of how well he's able to put pressure on the bowlers.

11:03Dinesh Karthik:And someone else, Butch Bethel here, 74 not out, as we speak here at that magnificent 150 in Sydney, a quiet start to the summer. I mean, you did an excellent third-man piece on his technical changes. Do you think that's it? He's changed again? Or do you think it's just time in the middle and runs and a good pitch and everything comes flowing again? I think, I mean, Jacob Bethel had a real problem in the first two test matches. Everyone had a problem at Lord's because the pitch was very, very difficult. But at the Oval on a much better surface, a similar thing happened. New Zealand attacked him around the wicket bowling straight and he kept getting his front pad in line with the ball and then having to withdraw it out of the way, which was costing him time, back coming down at an angle and he was out LBW.

11:50What we noticed, what we picked up, Simon Thomas and I, our analyst, at the back end of the test match at the Oval was the fact that his feet were kind of getting across one of those front. Once your front foot gets sort of beyond where your back toe is, you have a real problem in trying to access the ball. and in Sydney he didn't have any sort of movement at all of the front foot apart from to the ball. He obviously has noticed that because we caught him out practising with no front foot movement in prior to the game and he came out and from ball one there was no movement. He had one or two sort of high risk sort of moments or tricky moments where he got inside edges on balls that he might have missed if had he been playing the other way and since then hasn't looked back.

12:3174 not out as we speak at the moment. And Richie would be happy at the moment. 2-2-2 for two. Yes. 2-2-2 for two. So, yeah, it's been a good day for England's left handers, apart from Emilio Gay. You spoke about him going across. This happens a lot when you keep mixing red ball and white ball cricket. In red ball cricket, you want to defend straight and score square as much as possible because you're allowing the ball to come to you. In white ball cricket, you want to go hard down the ground. So when you're looking to go hard, you change up certain things without your knowledge in trying to access, trying to hit the ball as hard as possible down the ground.

13:04And then when you shift back to red ball cricket, if you're not aware of it or if you have not realised what's happening, you could get these kind of small errors as a batter. Yeah, I mean, that makes perfect sense. J.K. Bethel hadn't played any first-class cricket in England over the course of the summer, so his last red ball knock would have been the test match at Sydney. And that's basically what it looked like. It just looked ring-rusty as far as batting was concerned. And the poor large pitch that he got a grubber as well. Yeah, I mean, you know, and all of these things. Talk about sort of voluntary and involuntary movements as a batter, and sometimes you do things and you're completely unaware that you're doing them until somebody goes, oh, hang on a sec.

13:42So, again, credit to Bethel, very young in his career. If it was him that spotted it, credit to Marcus Trescot, I think you would imagine that he has had a word and they've managed to put it right. So he looks a lot better. So where are we in the Test match, gents? We're coming towards the close on day two. England now 215 runs behind, two wickets down. All results still possible here, aren't they?

14:06Dinesh Karthik:Yeah, I think, again, I hate saying this, but DK made another good point that it may be like a subcontinent pitch. It may. Those pitches in, not just subcontinent, but we did some games in Dubai and Abu Dhabi where it's very flat for three, four days and everyone's going, or even Pakistan at times now that they're scarifying it. You know, you go, oh, this is such dull cricket. and then suddenly someone flicks a switch and it starts going through the top and bursting and spinning. We don't know with this weather. It's been so hot. It could do that. At the moment, it just looks like a road. And, you know, Jimmy Anderson once got 81 on this ground.

14:43Will O 'Rourke made 19. His previous best was five or something.

14:47Dinesh Karthik:So everyone is, you know, dipping their bread and getting loads of runs. I'd hope it would spin. You can have a pitch like this for three days. That's fine. but you do need it to spin or get uneven. You need those cracks to open up. If that does happen, obviously first innings runs and getting a lead is going to be vital because come day five, if it's spinning, you wouldn't want to be chasing too much. But history tells you here, generally, this pitch stays pretty flat. It may well turn. I remember doing a women's test match here and by the time, there was only four days there, but by the time we got to sort of the start of day four, Ash Gardner, Sophie Eccleston, and it ragged.

15:25So, you know, with the weather we've had, as you say, we might find that that is the situation and therefore it becomes a sort of shootout in the second innings. England are still a long way behind mine, so, you know, we don't want to count our chickens or anything. OK, we've got time. You guys did a magnificent little segment on Viva Suryavanshi, who didn't make his debut for India in that one-day series. Who are you leaving out? They've now lost to Ireland in the first game. People are going to want heads to roll. Who are you leaving out to get him in? You can't bring in Vaibhav right now. India is a world champion team that has just won the World Cup before this series.

16:05And the same batting order is there. Just one replacement. Surya Kumar Yadav is out. Treyas Ayra has come into that place. Everybody else holds on to their place. If you want to rotate players, then you could definitely give anyone you choose an offer. But the fact is that at this point of time, India is feeling their strongest leaven, which has done well for them. Is Vaibhav Suryanshi better than some of the players there? You have to say yes to it. But then he has to wait in the queue. There's no other option. Otherwise, you're creating a dressing room which will start looking over their shoulders and that's the last thing you'd want.

16:31Dinesh Karthik:Who would be the most vulnerable? Who's looking over their shoulder the most, would you say? Maybe Thilak Verma, if you had to really ask me who. But he bats at number five, so then they'll have to swap batting. And I don't think they'd mind doing that to get Vaibhav Suryanshi in. But the fact is that at this point of time, if you're fair to the rest of the squad, he might have to wait a few games. diplomatic arms. It was, yeah, I was good. I mean, you know, you'd expect nothing less from DK. The legend that is DK. Okay, here we are. England trailing by 215, Ben Duckey at 113, Jacob Bethel 74, not out, looking to go big here.

17:07There was no sign of him being in much of a rush. And Joe Root, of course, who averages just a bit under 70 here at Trent Bridge and got a hero's welcome And when he came out to bat today, we'll also be looking to push on. England, not in total control, still behind in the Test match. But my goodness, New Zealand looked a little ragged out there in the field. Santner couldn't keep control of things, perhaps worse than Shai Bashir as Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethel got stuck into him. So a big night of recovery for the New Zealanders. England will be looking to push on a little bit more tomorrow. and as Nasser and DK say, if the weather keeps doing what it's doing to this surface, we could end up with an absolute thriller at the end.

17:48Don't forget, it's one apiece in the Crow Thorpe Trophy. There are World Test Championship points on the line. England need them because they keep giving them away when they're bowling the overs too slowly. And that, I think, gents, just about wraps things up for us here on day three. We'll look forward to speaking to you at some time tomorrow. Nasser's going. Of course, he's got to go and grow the game more, get back involved with the women's. This is the longest closing. This is longer than one of your innings. I just keep forgetting. It doesn't take much, does it? I keep forgetting. But we won't have Nass tomorrow, unfortunately.

18:21But I'm sure you're all upset about that. You're in the game.