Sloppy England made to pay by Mitchell, Blundell stand

England put down three catches, while Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell shared an unbroken 149-run stand to see New Zealand on top at 318-4 after day one of the second Test at Trent Bridge.

Mitchell (81no) and Blundell (67no), who shared a 195-run partnership last week at Lord's, were again the scourge of England after the hosts had seemingly eked out an opening when the ball began to talk in the afternoon session.

Having toiled away on a largely batter-friendly surface, Ben Stokes (2-40) and James Anderson (2-42) suddenly found some swing prior to tea, claiming the wickets of Henry Nicholls (30) and Devon Conway (46) in quick succession to reduce the Black Caps to 169-4.

It was the second time in the day Stokes and Anderson had formed a lethal pairing as they'd earlier dismissed the New Zealand openers with back-to-back deliveries after Will Young (47) and stand-in skipper Tom Latham (26) - covering for Kane Williamson, ruled out with Covid - had got the visitors off to a rollicking start with an 84-run stand.

England were guilty of being a little profligate with the ball, giving up 43 boundaries in the day's play, including 20 in the opening session, while in the field three catches were put down in the slips - Zak Crawley dropping Nicholls on 17 and Joe Root responsible for two, Mitchell most crucially on 17 and Blundell a much tougher take when on 47.

Mitchell, in particular, made England pay for the error in the evening as the pitch deadened and the ball lost any zip that was evident before the interval - perhaps partly down to one of the New Zealand batsman's two sixes landing in the pint of one unfortunate spectator sat beyond the long-on boundary.

The subsequent events of the day's play point to it being a