After being sent to bat, a captain and anchor Kane Williamson on the road side due to Covid-19 produced an excellent team effort to post 318-4.
England had hoped to take the lead and recreate the flurry of wickets that saw the Tourists pelted by 132 on the first day of the series opening, but were unable to create consistent pressure.
Closers continued to deliver longs for leads, but a total of 43 fours and two sixes suggests the proactive approach preached by captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum might have been misplaced at times.
There were also missed opportunities, with three knockdowns and one refusal on slips allowing the pressure to ease.
But Lewis was strident in his assessment of his team’s efforts.
“The most important thing about the draw decision is that it was an aggressive play,” he said. “We were coming out to beat New Zealand. We got them up to 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 cast a slightly different length. But we are choosing, right now, to take the aggressive option and be brave in what we do. Sometimes in games, with bat or ball, you’ll see moments where it doesn’t go the way we want it to, but I liked the areas where the guys bowled.
“It was a really honest day’s work. I thought there was threat all day, guys passed the bat and caught the edge of the bat. We could have easily taken them out for 250 and now be sitting in a very different position.
“Would we have done things differently in the draw? No I dont think so. The draw was a good decision and it was an aggressive option.
“The captain and the coach want us to be aggressive and that’s what we did. I thought there was a good game of bowling in the periods and trying to take out the opposition as much as possible. The bowlers were aggressive with their lengths.
“Stuart Broad motivated the crowd and brings out the best in him. He seemed like a threat. We just didn’t get off the right side today. We lost chances on the field. The boys are working hard and we hope to come back with the new ball and do what we did at Lord’s.
“Trent Bridge is a fast scoring course. If there are loose deliveries, they will be saved. I’m sure our guys will trust this ground when they get a chance to hit it.”
Each of New Zealand’s top six contributed to what was an astonishing collective effort, with top billing shared by Daryl Mitchell (81st) and Tom Blundell (67th) as they scored their second-century partnership in as many innings.
Devon Conway also impressed with a hard-hitting 46 and his assessment of New Zealand’s approach echoed England’s attacking mantra.
“We set out to try to be more aggressive and have that positive mindset with the intent to score,” he said.
“That was something that we lacked at times in the first test and we are reaping those rewards after the first day. It looked a little green at the top this morning, so we probably would have thrown first too, but I wasn’t thinking too much on the surface. They bowled pretty full and asked us questions, but that gave us scoring opportunities.”
“We certainly would have taken it. This morning we were also really looking forward to bowling first, but, after losing the toss, we thought that putting in 300 in one day on a wicket like that is actually a very good effort.”
On the wicket, Conway added: “It didn’t do much, it was actually quite a nice surface. It played much better than it seemed. There was a little bit of swing for the bowlers at times but it was a pretty true and good surface.”
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-06-10 20:36:59
