New Zealand, England reveal playing XIs for second Test

New Zealand have resisted the urge for change and will stick with the same playing XI for the second Test against England that commences in Wellington on Friday, 6 December.

The Black Caps fell to a disappointing eight-wicket loss to England in the opening Test in Christchurch and their hopes of reaching next year's ICC World Test Championship Final took another hit when they received a points deduction for a slow over-rate during the Hagley Oval contest.

World Test Championship contender hit with points deduction

And while New Zealand were tempted to slot top-order batter Will Young and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner into their XI for the second match of the three-game series, skipper Tom Latham confirmed his side would stick with the same line-up that featured in the series opener.

“The balance that we've gone in with is the right balance for this wicket, and we obviously have some spin options in the top seven anyway," Latham said on Thursday.

“We think it's the right fit and the guys are looking forward to the challenge.”

It's just the third time in the last 47 Tests that New Zealand have named an unchanged Test XI, while England have also followed suit by indicating they will use the same set of players that impressed during the opening match of the series.

Middle-order batter Harry Brook was the star of the show with a magnificent 171 in that Test, although New Zealand didn't help themselves as they dropped eight catches during England's first innings when the game was on the line.

While disappointed with his team's performance in the field, Latham admitted there hadn't been additional training done in the lead-up to the second Test.

“We haven’t necessarily put an extra focus on it," he said.

“We understand we weren't at our best last game, but as I’ve said, we try to keep things as level as possible.

“We always put the work in behind the scenes, regardless of whether things have gone our way or not.

“The last couple of days have been no different, and the guys have been working hard to make sure they're ready for this game.”

New Zealand XI: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Nathan Smith, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Will O'Rourke

England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope (wk), Ben Stokes (c), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir