Lees and Pope have added 84 already. © AFP
Daryl Mitchell made the most of the chances that England missed, scoring 190 and putting on a massive 236-run partnership with Tom Blundell (106) to help New Zealand finish with an imposing total of 553 on Day 2 of the second Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. England, in reply, lost an early wicket but a brisk half-century from Ollie Pope (51*) in an unbroken 84-run stand with Alex Lees (34*) helped the hosts go into Stumps at 90/1 on Saturday (June 11), with the second wicket pair also profiting from missed chances.

England lost Zak Crawley early, with Trent Boult finding the outside edge in the second over. Tim Southee could have picked up an early wicket as well had it not been for Mitchell's only blemish of the day when he put down a simple catch at first slip to give Lees a reprieve. There was another outside edge in the same over but the ball went wide of gully for a four, giving Lees his second boundary. Pope built a watchful partnership with Lees but after a quiet period, there was a barrage of boundaries from the two batters.

Lees drove a Kyle Jamieson delivery past backward point while Pope executed a crisp cover drive off Matt Henry, top-edged a six while attempting a pull and then struck another through the cover region for a four to bring up the half-century stand. Lees also played a cover drive on the up for a four off Jamieson while Pope, who again top-edged a maximum off Henry, got an outside edge off Boult but was put down by Mitchell again. Wicketkeeper Blundell should have ideally gone for the ball to his right but he let it go to Mitchell who was late to the ball. Pope got to a 66-ball fifty with two fours off Jamieson, while Lees struck a four off Southee, as they saw England through to Stumps without any more damage.

Earlier, as many as 15 boundaries were struck in the 97 runs that New Zealand scored before Lunch as Mitchell and Blundell scored at a steady rate - close to 3.5 runs an over - taking advantage of the conditions with minimum swing or movement off the pitch. Stuart Broad and James Anderson erred with their line and lengths on a few occasions and the fifth wicket pair made sure to capitalise on it. The experienced pace pair bowled only eight overs in tandem before Ben Stokes turned to Jack Leach and Matty Potts. But they were unable to produce the breakthrough that England were hoping for, as Mitchell and Blundell dealt in boundaries to power their team forward.

England's catching woes continued as Potts grassed a chance when Mitchell miscued one off Leach on 104 - this was the third time England missed a chance to dismiss the batter. In the very next over Mitchell got a thick edge off Potts that went to the boundary, helping the fifth wicket pair bring up the double-century stand, and he also struck a classy off-drive for another four in the same over. A sweep off Leach and a slog off Stokes gave Mitchell two more boundaries while Blundell was also finding the ropes regularly at the other end. The wicketkeeper-batter got a thick edge off Leach for a four and then lofted one that nearly cleared the fence, before reaching three-figures with a single, bringing up his third Test hundred. New Zealand crossed the 400 mark in the 109th over before the massive partnership came to an end towards the end of the first session when Blundell found Stokes at mid off while trying to loft a Leach delivery.

Before a spell of rain that led to early Tea, Michael Bracewell and Mitchell scored 69 runs off 13.2 overs bowled in the shortened second session. The debutant struck seven out of the 10 fours scored in the session, while Mitchell hit a couple of sixes as well, with the latter crossing 150 for the first time. Bracewell started off with two fours off Stokes in the first over after Lunch, while Leach conceded 17 runs in the next - with Mitchell scoring a four and a six, and Bracewell adding to his boundary count. Bracewell took a particular liking to Stokes, scoring two more fours in an over while he also struck two boundaries off Potts, although a couple of his fours were streaky ones. The England bowlers were unable to make any impact and Leach became the first bowler to concede more than 100 runs in the innings while Potts joined him a short while later, and Broad in the last session.

The sixth wicket pair slowed down a touch at the start of the extended final session, trying to wear the England bowlers down. But Bracewell fell one short of a fifty, edging to first slip while trying to defend an Anderson delivery. Jamieson scored a few boundaries before getting out to a short ball from Broad, who also picked up the wicket of Southee with a short of length delivery. Henry fell while trying to attack Leach, leaving New Zealand at 520/9. But No. 11 Boult stuck around to assist Mitchell, even scoring four boundaries off Leach, as New Zealand made it past 550. But Mitchell missed out on a double ton, being the last man to be dismissed, when he tried to go after a slow and wide delivery from Potts.

Brief scores: New Zealand 553 (Daryl Mitchell 190, Tom Blundell 106, Michael Bracewell 49; James Anderson 3-62, Ben Stokes 2-85) lead England 90/1 (Ollie Pope 51*, Alex Lees 34*; Trent Boult 1-18) by 463 runs.