England eye series win as Ashes looms

New Zealand hope for redemption in second Test starting today.

LONDON:

Buoyed by Stuart Broad’s match-winning burst at Lord’s, England will look to seal a series win over New Zealand in the second and final Test starting at Headingley today before turning their attention to Australia in July.

Broad’s seven-wicket haul in the second-innings of the first Test bowled England to a 170-run victory as New Zealand were bundled out for just 68 having matched the hosts for three days on a slow and difficult batting pitch.

Conditions at Headingley should be more favourable to run-scoring if the sun is shining, but can be equally unpredictable and favour seam and swing with Broad, James Anderson and New Zealand’s Tim Southee, fresh from his 10-wicket haul at Lord’s, ready to exploit any cloud cover.

However, England captain Alastair Cook believes Headingley will be far from the bowling-friendly ground of old.

“Over the last couple of years there have been some high-scoring games here and it’s quite similar to Lord’s,” said Cook. “If it’s sunny it can be a nice pitch to bat on and we will have to work hard in every session.”

England have not won a Test at Headingley since beating West Indies in May, 2007. Since then they have lost to and drawn with South Africa, and were beaten in Leeds by the Australians in 2009.



Vettori ruled out

Meanwhile, spinner Daniel Vettori was ruled out of playing in the second Test after doubts over his ability to last a five-day match.

Former captain Vettori has not played a Test for nearly a year, mainly because of Achilles trouble, and was only originally selected for the one-day leg of this tour.

He trained on Wednesday but New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum told reporters at Headingley yesterday, “Dan’s out of the game unfortunately.

“We obviously gave it our best shot with Dan but he didn’t scrub up that well and with the workload he’s had, it was just a bridge too far unfortunately.”

Vettori, New Zealand’s joint highest-capped Test player of all-time with 111 appearances, a mark he shares with Stephen Fleming, has taken 359 Test wickets for his country — a record only bettered for the Black Caps by Richard Hadlee.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2013.