<\/p>\n
When New Zealand last played at Trent Bridge, Tim Southee was in their team and Luke Ronchi in their dressing room. They batted first, scored 318 for four on the first day, 553 in their first innings, and lost. Four years on, with eight members of the 2022 side still in their squad, they finished the opening day on 361 for four but may have an old, bad memory impinging on their jubilation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll probably be a few guys in the New Zealand changing room with that in the back of their minds. It\u2019s always there in the memory bank,\u201d said Southee, now England\u2019s bowling coach. \u201cIn reality it\u2019s a very different team compared to 2022, it\u2019s different cricket, it\u2019s a different surface,\u201d said Ronchi, still the Kiwis\u2019 batting coach. \u201cThat hasn\u2019t really come into it.\u201d<\/p>\n The four wickets to fall all came in the last 12 overs of the day, after New Zealand had reached 317 without loss. Rachin Ravindra and Henry Nicholls fell to the last two deliveries before stumps. \u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic score, but there\u2019s just that clinical nature of how you\u2019d really like to finish off the day. If you want to be really picky, you look at those sorts of things,\u201d Ronchi said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s a better position than we\u2019ve been at in other matches of this series. If you\u2019re given that score at the start of the day, there wouldn\u2019t be a single person that will say: \u2018No, we want more than that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In his five previous innings on this tour, the first two of them in Ireland, Devon Conway had scored 66 runs, averaged 13.20, and definitely did want more than that. He had also spent lots of time with his thoughts, while flying home for the birth of his second child between the first two Tests. \u201cI felt a little out of sorts at times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been struggling with my pre-movement. I was trying out keeping my back foot still, as I was getting it in too late.\u201d Conway tried his modified, practically eliminated trigger movement on Thursday. He did not like it. After three balls he reverted to his old method and scored 157.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was just trying a few little things to work out his prelim and how it might work and how it might feel,\u201d Ronchi said. \u201cFor the first few balls he was trying one thing and then I think he changed to another thing.<\/p>\n
\n