A double-hundred personally doesn’t mean a hell of a lot: Mitchell

Daryl Mitchell is not too concerned about missing out on a maiden first-class double ton after falling for 190 in the second Test against England in Nottingham. It was his second ton in a row in the series.

“To be honest, a double-hundred personally doesn’t mean a hell of a lot, it was just nice to contribute to a score that can help win us a Test match. Anything over a hundred’s pretty good, so I was just trying to do a good job for the team, and it’s always good fun batting with Boulty [Trent Boult] at the end there, he always provides a bit of entertainment,” said Mitchell after the second day on Saturday (June 11).

Mitchell was the last man dismissed on 553 after putting on a 33-run stand with Trent Boult for the last wicket. Boult equalised Muttiah Muralitharan’s tally of most Test runs at No. 11 before Mitchell fell.

“I’ve spent the last two months with Trent at the IPL and I reckon he’s mentioned it every day, that he wants that record,” joked Mitchell.

“I think it’s an amazing achievement. Even though he probably carries on, I think he’s a really good batsman and I love the energy he brings, it’s awesome fun batting with him. But it’s something we definitely discussed over many a coffee at the IPL for the last two months. Maybe he’ll go for the No. 10 record now, who knows?”

That partnership apart, the one that put England to sword was his 236-run association with Tom Blundell for the fifth wicket. It was another constant from the previous Test where the duo had already put on a 195-run stand. While Blundell missed out on a ton there, he managed to get to it here.

“We get on really well, he’s a great man. He’s quite quiet and he’s very clear about how he wants to play his game. We just enjoy batting with each other, maybe we complement each other well,” said Mitchell on his successful partnership with Blundell.

In reply to New Zealand, England were strong on 90/1 by the end of the day, but both the unbeaten batters – Alex Lees and Ollie Pope – had a bit of good fortune with Mitchell dropping them in the slip cordon.

“I think that’s the nature of the game, anyone who’s played cricket has dropped a catch in their life,” commented Mitchell.

“For me, I can’t control what happens now but it’s just concentrating on the next one and taking the next one. And see what happens.

“It’s just the game of cricket. The first one I probably catch nine times out of 10, and the second one’s a reaction catch that either sticks or it doesn’t. For me, I’ve trained to play Test cricket and play five days and do this job, so it’s just the nature of the game that we play,” he said.