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Blundell made 51 and shared valuable stands of 81 with Daryl Mitchell (44) and 75 with Phillips after New Zealand, sent into bat, had slumped to 4-107.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to contribute in partnerships,\u201d Mitchell, who holed out off Baker, told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the way Tom Blundell and GP (Phillips) built another partnership at the back end there and kept finding ways to put pressure back on them was really important in the context of the day\u2019s play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phillips hit Baker for two boundaries off successive deliveries \u2013 a short ball slapped over cover followed by a glorious drive through extra-cover.<\/p>\n
\u201cGP, we love him, he\u2019s an absolute beauty, he\u2019s an energiser bunny,\u201d said Mitchell of Phillips, who survived a fiery spell from recalled fast bowler Jofra Archer, in for the injured Ollie Robinson, late in the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he thrives in moments like that, like tonight he\u2019s the entertainer, he\u2019s got the shades on, he\u2019s looking cool, he loves that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commentator Jonathan Agnew said on BBC Test Match Special: \u201cWhat a spell this has been from Archer. It\u2019s like a switch has been flicked. He\u2019s bowled a terrific spell here, it\u2019s been fast, it\u2019s been aggressive. Some ugly balls that Phillips has had to dive out of the way of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow commentator Daniel Norcross added: \u201cI don\u2019t know how many times he\u2019s ended up on his bottom as a result of Archer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been gutsy stuff from Phillips.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips ducks a short ball.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
This was a much-improved New Zealand batting display following their 115-run defeat in the first of a three-match series at Lord\u2019s earlier this month.<\/p>\n
And it might have been even better had all-rounder Jacob Bethell\u2019s left-arm spin not done for Blundell, who miscued a flighted delivery to stand-in England skipper Joe Root at short mid-wicket.<\/p>\n
Bethell also dismissed Nathan Smith in a return of 2-8 in five overs. Baker took an encouraging 2-63 in 15 overs, removing Rachin Ravindra for his maiden Test wicket.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was awesome to make my debut,\u201d said Hampshire paceman Baker, who topped speeds above 90 mph (145 km\/h).<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so happy to take my first wicket as you could tell from the celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying not to get emotional with getting the cap beforehand \u2014 I gave my mum and dad a hug and it properly got me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former England captain Michael Vaughan said on BBC Test Match Special: \u201cSonny Baker looks every bit an England cricketer.\u201d<\/p>\n
England dropped captain Stokes and Gus Atkinson for breaking a team curfew after a win at Lord\u2019s that followed their humiliating 4-1 Ashes series loss in Australia.<\/p>\n
The duo stayed out in a late-night drinking session which reportedly ended in a physical confrontation involving a Saracens rugby player.<\/p>\n
England made five changes, with Baker, batsman Jordan Cox and wicketkeeper James Rew \u2013 a late call-up after Jamie Smith withdrew following the birth of his second child \u2013 all making their debuts.<\/p>\n
Cox was stationed at leg-slip in one of several tactical ploys by Root, leading England for a record-extending 65th Test, only to drop a tough chance from Mitchell on two.<\/p>\n
Rew held a low leg-side catch off Blundell but scraped the ball along the turf as he dived.<\/p>\n
Those difficult misses had cost England 59 runs at stumps and they also conceded 44 runs in extras.<\/p>\n
Matthew Fisher, in only his second Test and four years after his debut, had Devon Conway caught behind by Rew, rewarding the selectors\u2019 decision to pick him instead of dropped spinner Shoaib Bashir.<\/p>\n
Archer dismissed New Zealand captain Tom Latham (27) with the aid of a brilliant diving catch in the gully by Bethell.<\/p>\n
Henry Nicholls, given the tough task of replacing Kane Williamson at number three after the Black Caps great retired from international cricket following the series opener, played on to Josh Tongue for 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Blundell hit New Zealand\u2019s first fifty of the series and Glenn Phillips posted an unbeaten 49 as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-743984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}