Watch: Ben Foakes was out in ignominious fashion on the second morning of the second New Zealand-England Test, stumped for a duck off Michael Bracewell having slipped flat on his front.
England began the second day on 315-3, Harry Brook and Joe Root each resuming on three figures after the pair helped their side recover from 21-3. Brook, on 184 at stumps and eyeing up a maiden Test double, could only add two to his overnight score before driving a sharp return chance back at Matt Henry, which was grasped at the second attempt.
Ben Stokes then came out and played a flurry of strokes before falling for 27 off 28. That brought Foakes to the crease, the England wicketkeeper fresh off a half-century in his most recent innings.
He was unable to score this time, falling in somewhat farcical style to Bracewell. Facing his fourth ball, Foakes took a couple of steps down the wicket, but had to adjust as Bracewell angled his delivery down the leg-side. Overbalancing as he attempted to make contact and slide his foot back in, Foakes fell over, and was sprawled on the turf as Tom Blundell completed the stumping.
“Foakes has got in a heck of a tangle here,” said the on-air commentator. “Maybe it’s just the amount of grass on the surface. It’s his front leg, his front spike has got stuck in the pitch. He’s come a cropper alright.”
There was a tinge of irony, in that Foakes had spoken before the Test about the new relaxed vibe around the England team. “It kind of feels like club cricket,” he told reporters in New Zealand. “When I first came in the pressures involved in Test cricket were so extreme and you were so worried about playing a false shot and things like that. And sometimes now you can get out in a weird way and it’s a kind of a joke.”
Hopefully that means he can laugh about it on his return to the dressing room!
Watch Foakes fall over and get stumped below:
😬#NZvENG pic.twitter.com/VuQ8EumCFY
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) February 24, 2023
