Alex Lees channeled, as he said he would, Matthew Hayden’s interior and attacked New Zealand in a positive but not reckless way. Ollie Pope then justified the new administration’s loyalty to him with a century of high-level reminders that he was considered, a while ago, to be the next great bat in England under construction. Ollie Pope (right) and Joe Root (left) have helped themselves in two great centuries Ollie Pope was moving to his homeland in the first century as England left Pope (left) and Joe Ruth (right) led England to lunch just two wickets below Joe Root plays a feature cover drive as he made a brilliant start to his Trent Bridge appearances And then, gloriously, there was the remarkable figure of Joe Ruth who made another hundred and continues his work with joy and hope, but above all the tremendous ability that makes him more and more one of the greatest who ever played the game. . Together the trio were responsible for a promising third day of this second test, one in which no less than 383 runs were reached and England showed that they were not just trying to save this game after conceding 553. They want to try to win it. Yes, this Trent Bridge stadium was flat, the conditions were perfect for running, two more chances were missed and New Zealand lost one of their best bowlers when Kyle Jamieson was forced to leave the pitch with back pain. But this was a real statement from the “new” England. It was a statement that captain Ben Stokes may have gone a little too far when he tried to crush emerging spinner Michael Bryswell from the attack and dropped 46 of 33 balls when another big contribution was there for the shot. Root showed once again why he is considered one of the best batsmen in the world But clearly Stokes is determined to be superfluous at all times and was ready to sacrifice himself in the name of total attack if he set a selfless example for his team. The best example, of course, is given by the man who was replaced by Stokes, because Ruth raises his game, if possible, to even higher heights now he does not have to worry about the demands of leadership. Last Sunday Root made one of the best of his 26 hundred Tests by winning his first Test at Lord’s and now the 27th was his fastest, reaching just his 116th ball as New Zealand had to enter the defense after doing all the battle for the first two days. There were all the classic ingredients of a Root hundred, the almost effortlessly busy and classy stroke-play, but also echoes of two greats of the past. First there was a touch by Viv Richards about how Root pulled Matt Henry for four. Then, towards the end of a day full of running, there was a piece by Kevin Pietersen for a shocking foursome by a desperate Tim Southee. It was not completely perfect. When Root was 27, he cut Trent Boult and Southee in the second slip could only push the “opportunity” over the “bar”. Then, at 52, Root tried to somehow sweep Southee when he was faced with a seven-on-two off-pitch field and thought he had given it away when he put the ball high in Nottingham’s sky. Fortunately for him, the ball landed safely as Tom Blundell sprinted to the deep square foot where Jamieson had fatally hesitated. England players applaud after seeing Ruth reach his century on Trent Bridge Otherwise, this was great from Root who has fun as rarely before and even had time to make the day of a young spectator by stopping to sign a bat in his way for tea. It was the fourth hundred this year, the 10th since the beginning of 2021 and the fourth on the Trent Bridge. If he stays in shape, there is no limit to what Root can do in the coming years. The biggest compliment that can be given to Pope is that there were times when it was easy to confuse him with Root. Stokes was adamant that he wanted Surrey’s husband by his side when he became captain and he believed in him so much that he asked him to roll where he had never hit before in first division cricket, in the troubled position of the three. It looked like, in fact, two places very high before now, but although Pope could have gone on Saturday when he fell to 37 from Daryl Mitchell, it was the perfect display of his immense orthodox talent. Pope helped him when four upheavals by Mitchell led him to 95 and later, when he reached his first century of that discovery of hundreds in Port Elizabeth before 33 major appearances, there were happy celebrations, mostly by Ruth who hit the air and ran to hug his young teammate. Lees, in fact, should have done a hundred and kicked that fell to Henry and given it to 67, while Jonny Bairstow missed the opportunity when a review found that he had given Boult a glove to Blundell. But Root remains at 163 out of 200 points and with him is Ben Foakes, who was dropped to nine by Will Young as New Zealand continued to have the same problems in England. England are now just 80 runs behind, the ball has started to spin for Bracewell and New Zealand may, perhaps, push a little in the third inning. The tie remains a big favorite, but stranger things have happened than a win for either side. England only need to remember the 2006 Ashes Test in Adelaide, when both teams played over 500 in their first games, but Australia managed to win to remember that. Most importantly, this is the way Stokes and Brenton McCallum want to play and not even two big days on the pitch before that, costly missed opportunities and significant pressure on the scoreboard have affected their positive intent. This can only be encouraging for England. Alex Lees looks at the skies disappointed after losing his wicket for 67 on the third day New Zealand celebrates after Matt Henry made the move to oust champion Alex Lis Alex Lees and Ollie Pope shake hands for their 100th collaboration during the third day
