New Zealand toil against Redfern and Smith

England Under-19s 305 for 3 (Redfern 130, Smith 123) v New Zealand Under-19s
Scorecard

A magnificent partnership, still unbroken, of 252 for the fourth wicket between Daniel Redfern and Greg Smith, of Derbyshire and Leicestershire respectively, gave England Under-19s a major advantage over their New Zealand counterparts on the first day of their four-day Test at Taunton. Though neither was without error, they finished the day with 130 and 123. For both batsmen, this was their debut U-19 Test, and another 15 runs tomorrow will give them the record partnership for any wicket in England's U-19 history.

The two batsmen came together with England struggling on 53 for 3, a score which must have been a great encouragement to New Zealand on what looked like a typical traditional Taunton track, yielding movement to neither man nor beast. Redfern started his innings with a bang, stroking several fours while the adrenalin was still flowing, but he quietened down when Nick Beard came on to bowl his left-arm spin.

Beard could find only occasional turn in the pitch, but his flight troubled the batsmen, as he tossed the ball up teasingly and even the loose leg-side balls that he not infrequently delivered usually went unpunished. Many people are good at throwing wobblies, but Beard bowls them, and does it well. With maturity, he will bowl with greater accuracy as well; also with maturity, the batsmen will learn how to recognise and fulfil a floated four-ball when it looks them in the face.

But for over after over Beard was able to concede little more than a run per over, and it was not until his 11th over that he yielded his first four. As the day went on, in the warm sun, he tired and the batsmen worked out how to deal with him more effectively, but he was never dominated. He was unlucky: he should have had Redfern caught in the slips at 53, but on the whole, despite their failure to master him, the two batsmen did show admirable patience where others would have had a go in desperation and lost their wickets.

Smith was slower than Redfern, taking 200 balls for his century, against Redfern's 175, slowly gained ground on him as the afternoon progressed, though he too should he been caught, dropped at the wicket off James Neesham on 42. A couple of harder chances were also missed, and there were a few errors in the ground fielding, so New Zealand did have their chances to break through, and will need to work on this area of their game. It was a misfield that brought Smith to his hundred.

Earlier, England were very happy to bat on winning the toss in such fine conditions. Seamer Anurag Verma was very erratic at first and struggled throughout the day, especially in direction, but Greg Morgan bowled economically until late in the afternoon. Alex Hales dominated the early play with some handsome strokes, despite losing James Taylor, moving across his stumps and lbw to Morgan for 4, and Tom Westley, badly bogged down for 3 off 34 deliveries before being caught by the keeper attempting to leg-glance Neesham.

Then Hales (31) spoilt his fine effort with a loose poke outside the off stump that gifted a catch to first slip - the bowler was Doug Bracewell, son of former New Zealand seamer Brendon. This set the stage for the monumental partnership that followed.

It was an ideal day for watching cricket, but there were barely 100 spectators at the ground. This type of cricket is surely valuable for the players, but the public is not enraptured, even if the youngsters put the cynical county pros to shame by bowling 68 overs by tea, even with two drinks breaks. With weariness and the second new ball, though, they only managed a more 'professional' 27 overs in the final session.