Related Links : New Zealand in England 2008 | Scorecard
The second day of the Trent Bridge Test was a day to forget for the Black Caps. Nothing went right for the tourists since morning and the only reprieve came through an early close of play because of bad light. New Zealand failed big time in finishing off the England first innings with the tail wagging annoyingly. When the turn came to bat in their first innings, New Zealand collapsed to 96 for 6 with James Anderson ripping through their line up taking all the wickets to fall!
Although New Zealand did most of the work in taking 7 wickets on the opening day, a quick finish to England’s innings was no way inevitable. Young Stuart Broad continued to prove that he has some wonderful all-round abilities to score his maiden test match fifty besides getting steady support from another left hander – James Anderson. The two were also the overnight batsmen who could be separated only minutes before the lunch break! Anderson, the man to be dismissed lasted as many as 85 balls and in the process making 28 in a heart-breaking 76-run partnership for the 8th wicket. England went onto pile up 364 before the Kiwis could finally take the remaining wickets. Broad had made a career best score of 64 from 132 balls with 10 fours.
It was a sensational recovery from England as they fought back from 86 for 5 to 273 for 7 to finally 364! That total was a mighty one as there was enough swing in the air for the bowlers to make life extremely tough for the batsmen. It was a tailor-made situation for the already pumped up James Anderson and facing him was a New Zealand team that had its morale shattered because of two critical partnerships that took the game away. Anderson’s late swing accounted to two early wickets that of Aaron Redmond and no. 3 Brendon McCullum which saw NZ go to Tea at 57 for 2. In the final session, Anderson came back recharged to add up four more wickets to his kitty to leave NZ innings in tatters at 96 for 6 before the Umpires had offered light to the batsmen to interrupt the 34th over.
The lone man fighting hard with the bat for the Kiwis was Jamie How, but he too had perished to the great swing bowling from Anderson. How had top scored with 40 (from 79 balls with 7 fours). James Anderson finished the day with career best figures of 6 for 46 bowling just 15 overs and has a possible opportunity of taking all the 10 wickets in an innings which is a feat that has been achieved only twice in Test Cricket!