New Zealand v England: Ollie Pope picked again as wicketkeeper in unchanged team
“They always say when you don’t notice a goalkeeper he’s doing a great job and Ollie certainly did that,” Woakes said. “He was outstanding last week, playing a role he’s never played before.
“For him to score just shows his character, that he puts his hand up for the team without any fuss and fights hard.”
In the New Zealand capital, England return to the Basin Reserve where they suffered a classic one-point defeat in February 2023 by the Black Caps. Stokes’ side became the fourth team in Test history to fail after executing the follow-on.
On Wednesday, two days before the start of the second Test, the Wellington pitch looked green but real action was expected.
“It’s green but I’m not sure it’s as green as it was last week,” Woakes told BBC Sport. “There’s some brown debris, so there’s a chance of further drying out this week.”
Woakes also backed England opener Zak Crawley, whose scores of 0 and 1 in the first Test mean his average in 17 innings against New Zealand has been dropped below 10.
“A lot of times, these statistics are purely coincidental,” Vaux said. “New Zealand have some very good opening bowlers. He’ll be facing the new ball when it’s freshest and best, so he’ll probably have some good balls.
“We have seen the quality of Zach. Opening batting is a very difficult job. You get low scores sometimes. When he comes on, he is one of the worst batsmen in international cricket. I “I’m sure this record will change. “
