New Zealand 297-8 (after day one)
Another day, another cricketing milestone for James Anderson. He became the first Englishman to reach 400 Test wickets on a rain affected first day of the second Test at Headingley. With only 65 overs possible, it was all credit to the New Zealanders that they pushed their score up towards the 300 mark, albeit at the expense of eight wickets. For that they were indebted to a rapid 88 from Luke Ronchi and a slightly fortunate 84 from Tom Latham. It sets the game up intriguingly for the weekend's action.
NZ need a result
The events at Lord's have rather forced the tourists' hand in the second Test.
With only two matches against England, New Zealand need to get a positive result to square the series. The rain that delayed the start didn't help in that regard, but they soon made up for last time with an innings more akin to an ODI match.
Poor start
The Kiwis started poorly, losing Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson with only two runs on the board, both men scoring ducks and both falling to Anderson. Guptill became Anderson's historic 400th victim in Test Cricket, Ian Bell doing the honours with the catch.
Ross Taylor joined the opener Latham and had added 20 before Stuart Broad trapped him LBW. At least the scoreboard looked slightly rosier at 68-3.
Rapid knock from McCullum
Enter their captain, Brendon McCullum, who clearly decided that he should take the fight to the home side.
The scoring rate accelerated rapidly as he scored at more than a run a ball. Having taken the score along to 123-3, his own contribution being 41, Ben Stokes induced one injudicious shot too many from the 28th ball he had faced. Durham's Mark Wood was only too happy to pocket the catch to aid in his dismissal.
Ronchi's sparkling debut
When BJ Watling was bowled by Wood for 14, the Kiwis were in a bit of a hole again at 144-5.
Wicketkeeper Ronchi on debut was keen to make a strong first impression and achieved that in spades. In much the same way as Stokes enlivened England at Lord's, Ronchi emulated the feat for New Zealand. He dominated a crucial 120-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Latham, who had been dropped three times on his way to 84 before finally presenting a catch to Joe Root off Broad's bowling.
Ronchi followed his erstwhile partner back to the pavilion soon afterwards, as NZ were pushed back on to the ropes at 265-7. Not before he had bludgeoned his way to 88 runs off just 70 balls though, a marvellous first Test for the Kiwis at the grand (old) age of 34! A haul of 13 fours and three sixes had ably backed up his intentions with willow in hand. Broad combined with Anderson to finally grab his wicket, but New Zealand were at least back in the match again.
NZ back in the game
Tim Southee became Wood's second wicket of the match before the close, yet the tourists will feel that at 297-8 there is still plenty to fight for in this game. There is a feeling that the pitch will offer something to their bowlers as well, with Southee and Trent Boult all too capable of putting pressure on the England batsmen.
The man of the day was no doubt Ronchi, a player with an interesting background. Born in New Zealand, he emigrated to Australia at an early age and proceeded to play both Twenty20 and ODI cricket for his adopted country. After returning to his country of birth in 2012, he finally represented the Kiwis in an ODI the following year and hence became the first player to play for both countries in international cricket.
