New Zealand elect to bowl in second England Test

WELLINGTON: New Zealand captain Tim Southee won the toss and chose to bowl in the second Test against England at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on Friday. 

The Black Caps made two changes from the side which lost last week´s first Test by 267 runs with Will Young and Matt Henry in for Scott Kuggeleijn and Blair Tickner.

Henry returns after missing the first Test for the birth of his child.

In-form England, who have won ten of their last 11 Tests, stuck with the same team which won the opening game of the two-match series in Mount Maunganui.

Southee hopes his seamers take early advantage of the fresh wicket.

"Hopefully there is a bit of life in it, but it´s usually a good cricket surface," said Southee.

New Zealand go in with three seamers -- Southee, Henry and Neil Wagner alongside all-rounder Michael Bracewell.

England skipper Ben Stokes hopes his side continue their rich vein of form.

He said his side plans to stick to the "same processes, when we feel it´s time to put New Zealand under pressure we´ll try to do that".

He added: "The pitch will play different to last week, (so we´ll) identify scoring options like we did last week."

Squads

New Zealand: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Michael Bracewell, Neil Wagner, Tim Southee (capt), Matt Henry.

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, James Anderson.

Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZL), Rod Tucker (AUS)

TV umpire: Aleem Dar (PAK)

Match referee: David Boon (AUS)