Things simply couldn’t get any worse for the visiting New Zealand side. After losing the first Test from a position of dominance, the Kiwi side is now likely to miss the services of Corey Anderson and BJ Watling for the second Test. Anderson and Watling were the only batsmen who showed any resistance in the second innings.
Watling is said to be in a typical 50-50 situation as he struggles from a knee injury. In the first Test as well, it was Tom Latham who kept wickets after Watling was off the field. Corey Anderson on the other hand is recovering from a back injury. If both the middle order players remain injured, then it will be a severe blow to New Zealand.
Mark Hesson, the coach of New Zealand was quoted saying, “BJ’s not 100%, clearly his knee is still an issue.” “He struggles to push off and get a lot of power so he’s a 50-50 at this stage. From Corey’s perspective bowling was painful and so was fielding so we’ll need to monitor that.”
Hesson also spoke about the first test and England’s remarkable fightback. “It was really the fourth day that turned it around, we felt we bowled well enough to get three or four wickets in the morning but Alastair Cook and the way Ben Stokes and Joe Root played took the game away from us. That was the turning point. As a bowling unit we were a bowler light so that put a lot of pressure on other guys so they are stiff and sore and we need to make sure come Friday they are fresh.”
The Kiwi coach also supported Mark Craig, who endured a poor first test. “Mark didn’t have his best Test, that’s fair, but he’s played nine Tests and won us three so he’s a very important member of our squad and he’ll be better off after this,” he said. “I also felt he got better as the game went on. Tim bowled some great spells and I think he suffered as we were a bowler light and had to bowl a heck of a lot more overs,” concluded Hesson.