Major changes unlikely in Black Caps for second test versus England

Will Young may not get the chance versus England to again push for a regular place in the Black Caps batting order.

After New Zealand were hammered by 267 runs in the first test which finished before the end of the first session on day four in Mount Maunganui, there has been a clamour for changes for the final test of the series starting in Wellington on Friday.

But head coach Gary Stead indicated on Monday that there was unlikely to be major alterations to the XI, with the return of Matt Henry the only obvious one.

Henry, who missed the first-test thumping, is available again after his partner Holly delivered their first child, a baby girl. He replaces Jacob Duffy in the squad, while leg-spinner Ish Sodhi has also been released.

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Young, whose last test for NZ was as an opener against England at Headingley last June, is a possible replacement at No 4 for Henry Nicholls, who made just 11 runs in two innings at Bay Oval and is averaging 15.36 since making a century against South Africa at Hagley Oval a year ago.

“We believe these are our best cricketers,” Stead said.

“Will’s in the squad, so yes, he is in the reckoning.

“But I guess we have faith in the guys that have done it for a long time … one of the things as a selection unit is we’ve been loath to make wholesale changes or snappy changes. All of our top order struggled in that test match as well – it was a tough and challenging test; hopefully in the daylight back in Wellington it’s a variable we don’t have to deal with, the pink ball swinging around.”

Another option for Stead and skipper Tim Southee is to leave Nicholls in the side, also play Young and play three pace bowlers instead of four.

“We discussed that option, because the squad make-up does allow that, in this [first] test as well,” Stead said on Monday.

“I guess one of the key things when you’re balancing up a team is still working out how do we take 20 wickets as well as score the amount of runs we can.

“I think in the past, you take someone like a Colin de Grandhomme, who’s obviously not available now, but he gave you that balance. At the moment, Michael Bracewell’s doing that for us, and I thought again he was a real success for us in the test in the way that he bowled as well.”

Stead acknowledged that his troops need to find a way to combat England’s high-octane batting – the visitors scored at 5.57 runs per over in their first innngs and 5.06 in their second dig.

“They play at a pace that allows them to take key moments of that last match.

“When I look at the positives, we bowled them out in 58 overs in the first innings [note: England declared nine wickets down], and we bowled them out in the second innings … it’s just how do you slow them down from the run-rate they’re going at.

“The way England are playing isn’t a surprise to us at all, but they are playing very, very well. For us, it’s finding ways now that we can counter that and, I guess, try and slow them down in the pace they are playing the game.

“We want to get to the Basin and play our style of cricket and hopefully put some pressure back on England.

“We want to go out and throw some punches back at England and I thought through this test we did that really, really well at times.”