'It doesn’t mean a hell of a lot' - Daryl Mitchell not fussed about missing out on maiden double century

New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell played a 190-run knock against England in the first innings of the ongoing second Test match in Nottingham on Saturday. He continued his good form after scoring a brilliant century in the last innings of the first Test. Wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell also scored a century on day two, followed by a 49-run knock by debutant Michael Bracewell to help New Zealand post 553 runs while batting first

Meanwhile, Mitchell was dropped on just three runs and went on to score 81 runs at the end of Day 1. He scored his third test century in the first session of day two and was once again dropped by Joe Root while playing on 104 runs. He then played more responsibly and even formed a 33-run partnership with Trent Boult for the last wicket and scored 190 runs before getting caught out by Ben Foakes off Matthew Potts. Meanwhile, the 31-year-old didn’t seem stressed about missing his maiden double century and talked about contributing more to the team’s success.

“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 (Trent) Boulty at the end there, he always provides a bit of entertainment,” Mitchell said after the end of the second day’s play.

‘He wanted that’ – Daryl Mitchell on Boult scripting a big record:

As mentioned above, Boult came at No. 11 to partner Mitchell on Day 2. He scored 18 runs in the first Test and once again played a handy unbeaten knock of 16 runs off 18 balls with the help of four boundaries. With this knock, Boult tied Muttiah Muralitharan’s record of 623 runs scored by a batter playing at No. 11 in Test cricket. Mitchell, who played alongside Boult for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2022, revealed that the pacer was chasing this record and talked about it every time.

“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. I think it’s an amazing achievement. Maybe he’ll go for the No. 10 record now, who knows!” Mitchell said.