England are closing in on victory over New Zealand within the first Check after Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Harry Brook starred on a dominant day three for the vacationers in Christchurch.
The Black Caps are 155-6, main by simply 4, with Woakes (3-39) bagging the important thing wicket of Kane Williamson (61) lbw after which nicking off Tom Blundell (0) subsequent ball.
Woakes’ fellow seamer Carse additionally struck 3 times, taking his haul of wickets within the match to seven, leaving England effectively on the right track for a 1-0 lead within the three-match sequence.
Earlier, Brook (171) – dropped for a fifth time after 4 reprieves on day two – and Ben Stokes (80) – who registered his finest Check rating for the reason that 2023 Ashes – plus dashing lower-order cameos from Gus Atkinson (48 off 36) and Carse (33no off 24) pumped England up from an in a single day 319-5 to 499 all out, a first-innings lead of 151.
Carse (3-22) then eliminated Devon Conway (8) and Rachin Ravindra (24) after Woakes – who was largely ineffective in New Zealand’s first dig – made Tom Latham (1) his first wicket of the match.
Williamson, backing up his 93 first time round and passing 9,000 runs in Checks, and Daryl Mitchell (31no) steadied New Zealand with a partnership of 69, just for Woakes’ twin strike and Carse’s lbw dismissal of Glenn Phillips (19) to place England bang on prime.
Latham’s males largely have themselves responsible, even bearing in mind Brook’s brilliance and England’s tremendous bowling, with eight catches taking place and the hosts additionally gifting wickets with a variety of free strokes once they batted on day one.
Harry Brook averages over 60 for England in Check cricket after his 171 at Hagley Oval
Brook provides to startling numbers as Stokes finds type
Brook is the third Englishman, after Joe Root and Walter Hammond, to move 150 twice in New Zealand, having scored 183 in Wellington in 2023, whereas his common of 60.05 is second solely to Herbert Sutcliffe (60.73) amongst England batters to play at the very least 20 Checks.
The Yorkshireman now has seven centuries throughout his first 22 Checks and is the eighth quickest to 2,000 runs when it comes to innings (36).
Nonetheless, Brook was spared on 18 – if Phillips had clung on within the gully, England would have been 77-5 – after which 41, 72 and 106 on Friday, earlier than he was grassed as soon as extra on Saturday morning, on 147, as Phillips fluffed his traces within the gully once more.
Phillips was responsible of three of the eight New Zealand drops, additionally spilling Carse on 5 at deep backward level, but pulled off a jaw-dropping one-handed seize at backward level on day two to take away Ollie Pope for 77 and finish a 151-run stand with Brook from 71-4.
Brook and Stokes prolonged their sixth-wicket partnership from 97 to 159 on day three as England pummelled 140 runs within the morning session – Brook the aggressor as he thumped 5 fours and an almighty six off Tim Southee (2-85), onto the pavilion roof over long-on.
Ben Stokes hit his highest Check rating since his Ashes century towards Australia at Lord’s in 2023
Carse fires with bat and ball for England
Brook’s luck finally ran out as he edged Matt Henry (4-84) behind to wicketkeeper Blundell however Stokes – who managed solely 53 runs in 4 innings in Pakistan this autumn – placed on 63 and 40 with Atkinson and Carse respectively earlier than he holed out off Henry.
Atkinson and Carse clubbed 5 sixes and 6 fours between them, with the previous eyeing a fifty to go together with his 118 towards Sri Lanka at Lord’s in August, solely to then pick Phillips at deep tremendous leg off the bowling of debutant Nathan Smith (3-141).
After Shoaib Bashir (5) was final man out, slogging Henry to midwicket, England made quick inroads with the brand new ball – Latham edging Woakes to Brook at slip within the third over and Conway slapping Carse to a diving Atkinson at mid-on within the ninth.
A parlous place of 23-2 grew to become 64-3 shortly after tea when Ravindra fell into the short-ball lure captain Stokes had deployed and spooned Carse to Jacob Bethell at deep sq..
Brydon Carse (proper) has impressed for England with the ball in Christchurch, taking seven wickets within the match
When Woakes then despatched Williamson and Blundell packing, England had been eyeing victory inside three days at Hagley Oval – New Zealand had been 133-5 and nonetheless 18 runs in arrears at that stage – however they are going to now hope to shine issues off early on day 4.
England’s Check tour of New Zealand
- First Check: November 28-December 2 (Christchurch)
- Second Check: December 6-10 (Wellington)
- Third Check: December 14-18 (Hamilton)
