England well-placed but could have been better, admits Jack Leach

England threatened to undo much of their good work on the first day at Mount Maunganui, losing four wickets for 18 runs in 21 balls on the second morning, before recovering to have New Zealand four wickets down at the close

Jack Leach admitted that a mid-morning batting collapse left England short of where they had initially targeted, having begun the second day of the first Test against New Zealand in a fine position just four wickets down.

Thirty runs were added in little time at all as Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope started confidently in an attempt to back up the impressive accumulation of the previous 24 hours, when England played sensibly and showed a maturity that has often been lacking in their Test batting recently.

However, after Stokes was brilliantly caught by Ross Taylor at slip as he advanced aggressively at Tim Southee nine runs short of a first overseas Test hundred since November 2016 (against India at Rajkot), England threatened to undo much of their good work.

Pope, accomplished in reaching 29 and pulling Trent Boult to the boundary almost at will, chased a wide delivery from Southee and was caught, before Sam Curran was trapped in front by the very next ball.

Jofra Archer, still yet to pass 15 in Test cricket, edged Boult to Southee shortly afterwards as England lost four wickets for 18 runs in 21 balls.

“I think if we’re honest, we probably would have wanted more,” Leach reflected as England finished on 353. “But we’re still learning as a side and we’ve got young guys in there. We’ll keep getting better and keep trying to push to get those bigger scores. I think we did a good job, but we can do better.”

^{Sam Curran dismissed Kane Williamson late on the second day}

That England salvaged their position of advantage and turned it into a strong first-innings total was down to the work of Leach and Jos Buttler, his former Somerset teammate.

Leach holds the highest average opening the batting of anyone to have done the job for England since the retirement of Andrew Strauss in 2012 – he made 92 at Lord’s against Ireland in July as a nightwatchman.

Once again, he batted with a composure and defensive solidity that few had shown in the dramatic fall of wickets leading up to his arrival at the crease on a placid surface. He faced 55 balls for his 18, putting on a stand of 52 with Buttler before England’s wicketkeeper was caught at deep point by Mitchell Santner, ending a partnership that lasted 106 deliveries.

“[Buttler] was obviously looking to be as positive as possible,” Leach said. “It was nice to bat with Jos. He showed a lot of trust in me.”

He joked of their shared childhood: “I think it comes from an innings in U11 cricket when we put on 50 together. I scored six (that day) I think, so he always trusts me, which is nice.”

The left-arm spinner later added the wicket of Jeet Raval to a fine personal day, with the New Zealand opener slog-sweeping to Joe Denly at midwicket. It was the first wicket taken by a spinner in the match, with Santner having played little part as seam dominated for New Zealand. The last 101 wickets taken by Williamson’s side on home soil have fallen to seamers.

England ended the day in the ascendancy, with Sam Curran enticing a ball to lift awkwardly on a docile surface, forcing Williamson to edge to slip as New Zealand ended the day four wickets down and 209 runs behind.

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