Openers Jeet Raval and Tom Latham weathered the early storm to steer New Zealand to 34 without loss at tea on the fourth day of the second test against England on Monday, still 348 runs from their unlikely victory target. The tourists, looking for a first win on the road in 13 attempts, had been in the driving seat overnight and resumed 202-3 pushing cautiously towards a position where they might declare. Joe Root and Dawid Malan both reached the half-century mark - a 39th for Root, number six for Malan - before a double strike in three balls saw them depart for 54 and 53 respectively. England's next four wickets went for only 70 runs with only Jonny Bairstow showing any fluency and, once the wicketkeeper had gone for 36, Root called his players in. Colin de Grandhomme's gentle medium pace did the most damage and he finished with figures of 4-94.

Source: dna April 02, 2018 04:50 UTC