England built a strong position but let a chance of a huge lead slip thanks to a middle-order collapse on the first day of their warm-up match against the New Zealand Prime Minister's XI on Saturday (November 23).
England are currently in New Zealand for their second Test tour of the 2024/25 winter. Last month, they were beaten 2-1 in Pakistan, which followed a successful home summer against West Indies and Sri Lanka.
The first Test is set to begin on November 28 in Christchurch. Ahead of that match, the visitors are currently in action against a New Zealand Prime Minister's XI in a two-day match beginning on Saturday (November 23).
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England elected to bowl first at the Sir John Davies Oval in Queenstown, and their bowlers stepped up to the plate. Gus Atkinson struck first, getting opener Jamal Todd to nick off to keeper Jordan Cox.
Captain Troy Johnson didn't last long, as his stumps were knocked over by Chris Woakes the very next over. Both bowlers then took their second wickets by the 10th over of the innings, at the end of which the NZ PM XI were reeling at 20-4.
England continued to strike at regular intervals, Brydon Carse getting in on the act by dismissing JM Tashkoff in the 16th over. He went on to get Riley Mudford and Harjot Johal, and Woakes accounted for Nikith Perera to leave the home side 130-8. No.6 batter Snehith Reddy was the only form of resistance, scoring 60 and becoming the ninth wicket to fall as his side were bundled out for 136. Carse finished with four wickets, while Woakes and Atkinson took three apiece, with Matthew Potts and Shoaib Bashir going wicketless.
England got off to a brisk start in their reply, getting to 30 by the start of the fifth over, when Ben Duckett fell for 18. Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley then put on 90 runs off 91 balls, maintaining the scoring rate before Pope was dismissed for 42. Crawley went seven overs later, caught off Jesse Tashkoff for 94 off just 90 balls.
England were 170-2 before Crawley's dismissal, leading by 34 runs. They had the chance to build up a massive advantage, but began to slide from that point on.
Joe Root was dismissed cheaply for 11, and Cox and Harry Brook fell in quick succession to Scott Johnston and Perera respectively. The English tail did not wag either – Atkinson, Carse and Matthew Potts scored seven runs between them as they finally collapsed to 249 all out by the end of the day; losing their last eight wickets for just 79 runs.
Score at the end of day one: New Zealand PM XI 136 (Snehith Reddy 60, Brydon Carse 4-48) vs England 249 (Zak Crawley 94, Harjot Johal 3-25). England lead by 113 runs.
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