Pope, Lees begin England fightback after Mitchell puts NZ in charge

England were again made to toil in the field before a mini fightback with the bat saw them close day two on 90-1 in reply to New Zealand's first-innings 553 in the second LV= Insurance Test at Trent Bridge.

Daryl Mitchell (190) brought up back-to-back hundreds early in proceedings before becoming the last batsman to fall - 10 short of a maiden Test double-ton - as New Zealand posted their record-highest score in England.

But Mitchell turned villain somewhat late in the day when, after the tourists had picked up Zak Crawley (4) cheaply, he dropped Alex Lees when on 12 and Ollie Pope on 37 at first slip.

On a flat pitch that has offered little to the bowlers over the first two days, such errors are hugely costly, as England can attest to after missing five such chances during their 145.3 overs in the dirt (four drops, plus the edge which divided Crawley and Jonny Bairstow in the slips late on day one).

Pope (51no) brought up a seventh Test fifty, off just 66 balls, shortly before stumps, while Lees is 34 not out - the pair to resume their unbroken 84-run stand on the third morning.

Earlier, Tom Blundell (106) managed what he couldn't quite at Lord's last week, joining Mitchell through to three figures as the pair progressed their overnight partnership to 236, Blundell passing 1,000 Test runs in the process.

Mitchell should have perished for 104 when looking to launch Jack Leach into the stands like he had done the day before, but England took their tally of drops for the innings to four as Matthew Potts grabbed only thin air when running round from the long-on fence.

It wasn't until the 23rd over of the day when England finally broke the stand, Blundell this time looking to take on the spinner but succeeding only in