A stoic knock from Rory Burns and an evening flourish from Dan Lawrence prevented England from flopping against New Zealand in front of their biggest home crowd since 2019.
Burns compiled a hard-fought 81 and Lawrence picked up the mantle to finish with an eye-catching 67 not out from number six, leaving the hosts 258 for seven on day one of the series-deciding second Test.
With 18,000 fans pouring into Edgbaston, 70 per cent of full capacity as a result of the government’s pilot event scheme, there was a chance the occasion would be marked by an old-fashioned English batting collapse.
After an opening stand of 72 the hosts slipped to 175 for five, but Burns’ platform and Lawrence’s increasingly authoritative efforts, which included 11 boundaries, turned the tide to leave things evenly balanced heading into day two.
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