"We still back ourselves to take 10 wickets" - Daryl Mitchell still hopeful of a New Zealand victory at Lord's
New Zealand batting all-rounder Daryl Mitchell feels the visitors still have a decent chance of winning the Lord's Test against England. The right-handed batter hopes to see the ball nip and zip around on day four to take the remaining five wickets.
England edged ahead after day three of the first Test against New Zealand, thanks to the tourists' batting collapse on the third morning. Although the home side crumbled to 69-4 in their chase of 277, a Ben Stokes and Joe Root partnership left them needing only 61 with two days to go.
All to play for tomorrow! Another dramatic day at the @HomeOfCricket as the hosts finish the day needing a further 61-runs🏏
Catch up on the scores | on.nzc.nz/3Q1uJeu 📲
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Mitchell, who scored a hundred in New Zealand's second innings, said they need only one wicket to open the floodgates and that morning is most challenging time to bat. The 31-year old hopes to see a repeat of the conditions of the previous three days.
"We still back ourselves to take 10 wickets and I know we’ll show up tomorrow morning now with the chance to open up an end and get stuck into their bowlers. I think we can see with the nature of this wicket that the morning is the toughest time to bat. Hopefully we can show up tomorrow morning and it zips around a bit like it has the last three days, and we’ll give ourselves an opportunity to win a test match," Mitchell said, as quoted by Stuff.co.in.
The Hamilton-born player shared a 195-run stand with keeper-batter Tom Blundell in their second innings and was one of the four victims of Stuart Broad's second innings. He departed for 108, three overs after England took the new ball as the Kiwis stumbled from 251-4 to 285 all out.
"It’s obviously a big honour" - Daryl Mitchell on getting his name on the Lord's honours board
The right-handed batter felt relieved to reach three figures without much fuss and saw his name etched on to the honours board. Mitchell stated that it is yet to sink in, adding:
"It’s obviously a big honour. Probably a few hour’s sleep last night that you sit there and plan a few different shots in your head about how you’re going to get the job done. It was nice to get it done nice and early and not really have to worry about it. It probably hasn’t sunk in yet what happened, but I’m sure over the next few days it’ll start to sink in and I’ll realise what did occur today, which is special."
Ready to be written in gold ✍️
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Root ended day three on 77 off 131 deliveries, while Ben Foakes settled in to put England in front.