New Zealand veteran Ross Taylor took a screamer to deny Ben Stokes his ninth Test century in the ongoing first Test at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui on Friday. Stokes came down the ground in an attempt to hit Tim Southee through the covers but ended up edging it in the slip cordon. The ball was rising and travelling fast as Taylor leaped in the air and plucked the ball out of thin air to take a sensational catch.
The Kiwi made up for the dropped catch on Day 1 of the Test. The 35-year-old dropped English all-rounder’s catch in the 85th over of the innings. Stokes was batting on 63 when he was dropped by Taylor off Trent Boult’s bowling.
Stokes went on to score 91 runs from 146 deliveries including 12 boundaries. His innings helped England post 353 in the first innings.
Southee took four wickets in the innings. He was denied a five-wicket haul as Jeet Raval dropped Jos Buttler’s catch at the cover-point region in the 121st over. Buttler could not make the most of the dropped catch as he was dismissed in the next over in a controversial manner. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored 43 runs from 70 deliveries.
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Taylor could not do much with the bat. He scored just 25 runs from 40 deliveries. Stokes took his wicket in the 33rd over breaking the partnership between him and skipper Kane Williamson.
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