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| Tour match, Cobham Oval, Whangarei (day one of three): |
|---|
| New Zealand XI 302 – 6:Phillips 116, Blundell 60, Archer 2 – 58, Stokes 2 – 64 |
| (England) – 1:Burns |
| Scorecard |
England’s Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes took two wickets apiece on a testing opening day for the tourists in a warm-up match against New Zealand A.
The hosts made 302 – 6 before declaring, with Glenn Phillips – who was dropped by Dom Sibley on 27 – scoring 116
England captain Joe Root walked gingerly off the field after diving to stop a boundary but returned once he had been assessed by England’s staff.
The tourists lost Rory Burns for 14 en route to 26 – 1 at the close.
“The wicket has been seriously flat, which was surprising,” said Stokes. “But that’s a great test for us as a bowling group.
” It was a great opportunity for us to try a few different things and just try to figure out, if we do get a pitch like this in the Test series, what works well and what doesn’t. “
Of Root’s injury, he added:” At one point, we were discussing whether he had hurt his knee, ankle or hamstring. Thankfully, it was none of those.
“He just took a bump on his leg from stopping the ball and sort of got a dead leg but it was good to see him running back on the field.”
England play two Tests against New Zealand, with the first starting in Mount Maunganui on 20 November.
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