England rue drops and decisions as New Zealand take upper hand

Day 2 of 5: England 303 (D Lawrence 81no, R Burns 81, M Wood 41, D Sibley 35; T Boult 4-85, M Henry 3-78, A Patel 2-34) lead New Zealand 229-3 (W Young 82, D Conway 80, R Taylor 46no; S Broad 2-22) by 74 runs.

At Lord's last week Devon Conway brought up his century with an ostentatious lofted flick off his ankles and over square leg for four.

At Edgbaston he brought out the shot a little earlier – he was only on 80 at the time – but the contact was just as sweet, the shot just as handsome. This time, though, among those watching it appreciatively were Joe Root, who knew it might be coming, Zak Crawley, who had been positioned to catch it, and Stuart Broad, a bowler seeking vengeance.

This was not an easy day for England, most of it spent in the field and much of it without looking particularly threatening, and it ended with the tourists in an excellent position, 74 behind with only three wickets down after Will Young was caught by Ollie Pope at short leg off Dan Lawrence from the final ball.

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But Broad was superb, and he and Crawley might easily have dispatched Conway about four hours and 36 overs earlier. By the time the bowler's work ended, once he and Jimmy Anderson had made Ross Taylor's first half-hour at the crease mercilessly uncomfortable, he had taken two wickets and conceded 22 runs in 15 overs.

Play began with England 258 for seven and amid speculation that Lawrence might move into one-day mode, scoring as many runs as possible while keeping the man at the other end safely off strike.

As it happened the opening exchanges very much took this form, only with Lawrence muted while Mark Wood assailed the bowling. When Wood edged the first ball of the sixth over of the day into his stumps he had scored 25 off 21 deliveries with six boundaries while Lawrence had faced nine balls and scored only four.

Some of these shots – a cover drive off Trent Boult, a pull off Matt Henry – were quite glorious and all of them were wildly cheered by another vocal crowd which in these early moments of the day was at its most excited – except perhaps for a short spell in the early afternoon when the Barmy Army was beguiled by the unpredictable bounce of an inflatable watermelon. England’s total of 303 was both evidently under par and, from 175 for six, a decent achievement.

Now Broad set to work. By lunch there had been two bowling changes at the Birmingham End while Broad was still running in, outbowling his team-mates even before the decision that enraged and re-energised him. At lunch New Zealand had scored 43 runs, 10 of them off Broad.

It was an excellent spell, all the more impressive for a strong and swirling wind that had the flags pointing at one moment towards the Hollies Stand and the next to the city centre, and it was performed at speed, Broad repeatedly marching to the end of his run-up at the kind of lick that only a recent hefty fine for a slow over rate can inspire.

He had already dealt with Tom Latham, who missed a straight one and will never be more lbw, by the time Conway was contentiously caught, Crawley diving forward from second slip to reach the ball just before it hit the ground. But the batsman stood his ground and the umpires gave a soft signal of not out as they referred the decision upstairs.

Broad was appalled, and understandably so: slow-motion replays are seldom kind to low catches, and these ones now had to be completely conclusive. Michael Gough, the TV umpire, was one of very few people to believe they were, insisting the ball was "very clearly on the ground", which seemed a bewildering interpretation given the fingers arranged underneath it at the time; one thing the replays certainly did not provide was clarity.

These are hard calls with which umpires consistently struggle, so it seems sensible to be sanguine when they go against you. But it must be harder when the batsman reprieved scored a double century in his last match and was already looking in fine touch once again.

Broad’s first delivery of the day had been greedily tucked through the covers, which set the tone. Twice in the over before the disputed catch Conway had hit boundaries off Wood and, as at Lord’s, he was looking confident and determined.

We will never know what might have happened had New Zealand been reduced at this stage to 32 for two, but one of the reasons this moment is destined to be discussed is that England created so few others to displace it in the memory.

The afternoon session featured just one wicket-taking opportunity, Root dropping a straightforward catch at first slip to reprieve Young. But at the start of the 42nd over, two before tea, the ball was changed, and with it England’s fortunes. For the first 45 minutes after the break Broad and Anderson had it, and the crowd, completely under their control.

Young had scored eight off his first 45 balls as he played himself gingerly into touch and got there in the end – there were, in particular, some fine drives off Olly Stone in mid-afternoon.

Now Broad found his edge only for the ball to land in front of James Bracey, Conway finally fell, and soon Taylor was all at sea. Quite how the 37-year-old survived this period will remain a mystery to all who witnessed it, and the extent of his befuddlement was proved by his willingness to accept a poor lbw decision off Anderson, overturned only once Young initiated a review.

A poor day for home side could conceivably have become a perfectly decent one during this period, but on this occasion the cricket gods had other ideas. The pity was that, beyond Broad and Anderson, England did not. – Guardian