Bethell’s first innings at the Hagley Oval – 10 off 34 -was the first time the Warwickshire batter had ever gone in higher than four, from a sample size of just 20 first-class matches. The England management deliberated changes, particularly with Durham wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson in situ after being drafted to replace the injured Jordan Cox but decided to stick with the same team.
“Obviously he can keep and has done previously for England, but to step up at short notice like that and do the job he did was fantastic. For him to score runs just shows his character, putting his hand up for the team without any fuss and cracking on. to move to number six, get such a good score for us and contribute to a big partnership was massive.”
“A lot of the time I think these stats that come out are pure coincidence,” said Woakes. “I don’t think it’s anything to do with anything. New Zealand have some very good opening bowlers. He faces the new ball when they are their freshest and best, so he’s probably got some good balls in there.
“We’ve see the quality Zak has. Opening the batting is such a difficult job to do, that you will have occasions where you get low scores. We’ve seen what Zak can do. When he gets in, he’s one of the worst batters to be bowling at in international cricket. I’m sure that will change.”
England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ollie Pope (wk), 7 Ben Stokes (capt), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Brydon Carse, 11 Shoaib Bashir