Mitchell pushes case for test spot

Daryl Mitchell made a notable push for a place in the New Zealand side for the first test against England on day one of their last warmup game.

Mitchell made 58 from 110 balls batting at No 4 as the Black Caps reached 298-8 at stumps against a First Class Counties XI at Chelmsford.

With Henry Nicholls still battling to recover from a calf injury, Mitchell looms as the likely replacement in the batting lineup for the opening test of the three-match series starting at Lord’s next Thursday.

The right-hander had only recently arrived in England after being released early from the Indian Premier League playoffs by his Rajasthan Royals side, but battled well on a lively wicket against some demanding bowling.He struck six fours and a trademark lofted on-drive six before falling to an excellent delivery from left-arm quick Ben Gibbon.

He put on 67 for the third wicket with opener Will Young (46 from 96 balls) after the tourists lost Tom Latham and Devon Conway cheaply. Matt Henry’s breezy 65 at No 10 later helped lift the Black Caps as he smashed 10 fours in an unbroken ninth-wicket stand worth 79 with Cam Fletcher.

Captain Kane Williamson joined the squad in Essex after heading home from the IPL last week for the birth of his second child.

He returned with fast bowlers Tim Southee and Neil Wagner and the trio are likely to play in the final two days of the fourday match, with teams allowed to use more than 11 players in the non-first-class match.

Henry and Cam Fletcher (22 off 79 balls) were unbeaten after day one against a side which had England seamer Ollie Robinson withdraw due to injury prior to the start of play.

When Mitchell departed, New Zealand were 154-5 and while Colin de Grandhomme (39) and Michael Bracewell (22) chipped in, they were the first of Nottinghamshire spinner Liam Patterson-White’s wickets, as he finished with 3-60 from 18 overs.

Patterson-White trapped de Grandhomme lbw and bowled Bracewell before having Kyle Jamieson caught for 4 to leave the Black Caps struggling at 219-8.

But the tail wagged, led by Henry.