England v New Zealand: second Test, day one – live!

Plenty of moves to be made with these two teams. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is getting a rest with elbow tendonitis to make sure that he’s fit for the WTC final, meaning that NZ Test captain #30 will step into the breach. Tom Latham has deputised in the job in two different one-off instances before. Mitchell Santner has that cut on his spinning finger that saw him bleeding all over his whites at Lord’s, so he’s out and presumably Ajaz Patel will be his spinning replacement. Tim Southee will most likely get a rest to make sure he’s fresh for Southampton, and that will also give Trent Boult the chance to return to the side and scour off some rust after being part of the IPL debacle. I’d guess they’ll keep Kyle Jamieson in the side, to keep the younger bowler rolling ahead of the big match to come, but Matt Henry is a quality replacement if a rest is needed, and he bowled beautifully on this ground in the World Cup semifinal of 2019.

Then there’s a late update for New Zealand: BJ Watling has a sore back, and will also miss this match. Tom Blundell will replace him as wicketkeeper.

As for England, the top seven will likely stay as is. Ollie Robinson is suspended, but England would have wanted to bring in a spinner for this match anyway, so Jack Leach will come straight in. England may also want to get a Test into Craig Overton or Olly Stone before Chris Woakes and Sam Curran become available again for the upcoming India series. That would mean resting Mark Wood, which may be preferred in back to back Tests, and/or leaving out Stuart Broad. James Anderson won’t miss, because we’ve already seen ECB posts online about how he will pass Alastair Cook to become England’s most capped player this week. Bowlers who only play Test cricket probably won’t take kindly to being ‘rested’ when there’s a month and a half until their next England engagement.

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