NEW ZEALAND’s Daryl Mitchell said he has no regrets after falling agonisingly short of a maiden test double hundred in the second match against England.
The middle-order batsman fell after a career-best 190, and his 236-run collaboration with fellow centurion Tom Blundell was the bedrock of New Zealand’s robust first innings total of 553 at Trent Bridge.
England seamer Matthew Potts denied Mitchell his double hundred by dismissing the number five batsman with a wide, slower delivery.
“To be honest, a double-hundred personally doesn’t mean a hell of a lot,” Mitchell told reporters after second day’s play at Trent Bridge.
“It was just nice to contribute to a score that can help us win a test match,” he said.
“Anything over a hundred’s pretty good, so I was just trying to do a good job for the team, and it’s always good fun batting with (Trent) Boulty at the end there. He always provides a bit of entertainment.”
The 31-year-old was equally philosophical about the two catches he dropped to reprieve Alex Lees and Ollie Pope.
“I think that’s the nature of the game, anyone who’s played cricket has dropped a catch in their life,” he said.
“For me, I can’t control what happens now but it’s just concentrating on the next one and taking the next one.”
England were 90-1 in reply but could have been in a spot had those catches been taken.
Mitchell said his bowling teammates would relentlessly pursue the channel outside the off-stump when play resumes on Sunday.
“We created some chances tonight which is really promising heading into tomorrow,” he said.
“If we can keep building pressure, keep backing up spells and keep asking questions of the English batters around that off stump, we’re going to give ourselves the best chance to take 10 wickets this innings and hopefully another 10 the next.
(Reuters)
