It was a horrendous day for England on the first day of the opening Test against New Zealand as they were skittled for a paltry 58 runs in the 1stt innings. It was Trent Boult and Tim Southee who bagged 6 and four wickets each to make the English batting look clueless. Boult, in particular, was unplayable at times returning with magical figures of 6/32.
English coach Trevor Bayliss was pretty disappointed with England’s batting performance in the first session of the two-match Test series.
“We certainly didn’t bat very well this morning. They bowled extremely well but we batted extremely poorly. I think it must have been a mental thing,” Bayliss said.
“Our feet looked like they had lead in them today and we didn’t make too many right decisions with our footwork. Look, we certainly got caught behind the crease to fairly full balls and then we were nowhere. We looked a little bit like rabbits in the headlights. Today we’re not just off a little bit today, we’re off a lot today.
“We certainly didn’t bat very well this morning. They bowled extremely well but we batted extremely poorly. I think it must have been a mental thing. Our feet looked like they had lead in them today and we didn’t make too many right decisions with our footwork.
“Look, we certainly got caught behind the crease to fairly full balls and then we were nowhere. We looked a little bit like rabbits in the headlights. Today we’re not just off a little bit today, we’re off a lot today. It just wasn’t good enough.
“There were good [bowling] conditions this morning, a little bit of green grass, but nothing out of the ordinary, that you wouldn’t expect on the first day of a Test match. We need to come out and have a good day tomorrow, hopefully, knock them over for as little as possible and then bat big.”
The situation could have been worse for England after they were reduced to 23/8, three short of the lowest total in Test history.
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Watch: Trent Boult and Tim Southee Skittles Out England for a Paltry 58 Runs