England to continue with aggressive approach against New Zealand despite tough first day at Trent Bridge

Having been sent in to bat, a touring side missing captain and anchor Kane Williamson due to Covid-19 produced a fine team effort to post 318-4.

England had hoped to get on the front foot and recreate the flurry of wickets that saw the tourists bowled out for 132 on day one of the series opener, but were unable to create consistent pressure.

The seamers continued to deliver full lengths in pursuit of edges, but a total of 43 fours and two sixes suggest the proactive method preached by captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum might have been misplaced at times.

There were also missed chances, with three drops and one refusal in the slips allowing the pressure to ease.

But Lewis was strident in his assessment of his side’s efforts.

“The most important thing about the decision at the toss is that it was the aggressive play,” he said. “We were coming out to bowl New Zealand out. We put them into bat and tried to make an aggressive play after (winning) last week. Unfortunately we missed a couple of chances but that’s cricket.

“You can always bowl a slightly different length. But we are choosing, at the moment, to take the aggressive option and be courageous in what we do. At times in games, with bat or ball, you’ll see times where it doesn’t go our way but I liked the areas the guys bowled.

“It was a really honest day’s work. I thought there was threat all day, the boys went past the bat and caught the edge of the bat. We could have easily bowled them out for 250 and be sat now in a very different position.

“Would we have done things differently at the toss? No, I don’t think so. The toss was a good decision and was an aggressive option.

“The captain and coach want us to be aggressive and that’s what we did. I thought there was good bowling in periods, and trying to bowl the opposition out as much as possible. The bowlers were aggressive with their lengths.

“Stuart Broad got the crowd going and it brings the best out of him. He looked a threat. We just didn’t come out the right side of it today. We missed chances in the field. The boys are working hard and hopefully we will come back with the new ball and do what we did at Lord’s.

“Trent Bridge is a fast-scoring ground. If there are any loose deliveries they will get put away. I am sure our guys will be confident on this wicket when they got a chance to bat on it.”

Each of New Zealand’s top six contributed to what was a striking collective effort, with top billing shared by Daryl Mitchell (81no) and Tom Blundell (67no) as they scored their second century partnership in as many innings.

Devon Conway also impressed with a punchy 46 and his appraisal of New Zealand’s approach echoed England’s attacking mantra.

“We set about trying to be more aggressive and have that positive mindset with intent to score,” he said.

“That was something we lacked at times in the first Test and we are reaping those rewards after day one. It looked a bit green on top this morning so we would have probably bowled first too, but it was not thinking too much about the surface. They bowled quite full and asked questions of us, but that provided us with scoring opportunities.”

“We certainly would have taken that. We were quite keen to bowl first as well this morning but, after losing the toss, we thought putting on 300 in a day on a wicket like that is actually a very good effort.”

On the wicket, Conway added: “It didn’t do heaps, it was actually quite a nice surface. It played a lot better than what it looked. There was a little bit of swing for the bowlers at times but it was a pretty true, good surface.”

Match report: Page 4