England has decided to maintain an unchanged playing XI for the second Test against New Zealand at Basin Reserve, following their impressive eight-wicket victory in Christchurch. The call comes after young Jacob Bethell’s memorable debut, where he scored an unbeaten half-century in the fourth innings and showed promise as a potential future star for the team. While he already announced himself in white-ball cricket, he might raise his Test stocks quite high after this series.
Ollie Pope the wicket-keeper, continues
The most notable aspect of the team selection is Ollie Pope’s continued role as wicketkeeper-batter. Pope, who was shifted from his usual No. 3 position, will continue to wear the gloves at No. 6. Chris Woakes praised Pope’s performance, highlighting how he seamlessly adapted to the new role and was at ease throught the first Test.
One player under scrutiny is Zak Crawley, who has struggled against New Zealand. His current average of 9.88 in 17 innings against the Black Caps is concerning. However, Woakes remains supportive, attributing Crawley’s difficulties to the challenging nature of facing top-quality new-ball bowling.
What did Chris Woakes say?
“They always say when you don’t notice a keeper he’s done a good job and Ollie certainly did that,” said Chris Woakes on Wednesday in Wellington. “He was brilliant last week, stepping into a role he hasn’t done a lot of.”
“Obviously he can keep and has done previously for England, but to step up at short notice like that and do the job he did was fantastic. For him to score runs just shows his character, putting his hand up for the team without any fuss and cracking on. to move to number six, get such a good score for us and contribute to a big partnership was massive.”
“A lot of the time I think these stats that come out are pure coincidence,” said Woakes on Zak Crawley. “I don’t think it’s anything to do with anything. New Zealand have some very good opening bowlers. He faces the new ball when they are their freshest and best, so he’s probably got some good balls in there.“
“We’ve see the quality Zak has. Opening the batting is such a difficult job to do, that you will have occasions where you get low scores. We’ve seen what Zak can do. When he gets in, he’s one of the worst batters to be bowling at in international cricket. I’m sure that will change.”
Latest in Cricket
Both NZ, ENG docked WTC points
In a separate development, both England and New Zealand were penalised in the World Test Championship (WTC) for slow over-rates during the first Test. New Zealand had 54.55% points before being penalized for the slow over-rate. Following the deduction, their percentage dropped to 47.92% in the latest WTC points table. England’s points percentage also decreased, falling to 42.50%. This, incredibly, left Ben Stokes baffled.
WTC Points Table (Updated)
| Pos | Team | Played | Won | Lost | Draw | Ded | Points | Pct |
| 1 | India | 15 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 110 | 61.11 |
| 2 | South Africa | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 64 | 59.26 |
| 3 | Australia | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 90 | 57.69 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 50.00 |
| 5 | Sri Lanka | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 50 |
| 6 | England | 20 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 19 | 105 | 43.75 |
| 7 | Pakistan | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 40 | 33.33 |
| 8 | Bangladesh | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 45 | 31.25 |
| 9 | West Indies | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 32 | 24.24 |
