New Zealand steadily squandered a good start, slumping from 172-2 to 231-7 before rallying to 315-9 at stumps Saturday on the first day of the third test against England.
Mitchell Santner hit the last ball of the day for six to reach his fourth test half century and was 50 not out while Will O’Rourke had yet to score. The New Zealand tail added 76 runs in the last eight overs of the day to bring some balance back into the game after the failure of the middle order.
After a 105-run opening partnership between Tom Latham and Will Young, New Zealand enjoyed the rare experience of holding the upper hand over England in a series which so far has been one-sided in favor of the tourists.
England holds an unassailable 2-0 lead, winning the first test in four days by eight wickets and the second in three days by 323 runs. In those seven days, New Zealand only occasionally had a dominant session.
But England won the toss and chose to bowl and by lunch New Zealand was 93-0
At that point it appeared England captain Ben Stokes might have misread or over-estimated the conditions when he decided to send New Zealand in. The pitch at Seddon Park had a slight green hue and warm conditions and puffy clouds seemed to offer the promise the ball would swing.
Instead, there was a firm brown surface under a thin cover of grass and the day warmed quickly, burning off the overcast so that the ball neither seamed or swung to any great extent.
Latham and Young set a sound platform for the New Zealand innings when they put on 105 for the first wicket, the Kiwis’ best opening partnership in 28 tests.
Young was selected in place of Devon Conway whose wife has just given birth to their first child. There already was a clamor for his selection as Conway had made only 21 runs in four innings in the first two tests of this series and Young was Player of the Series and averaged almost 50 when New Zealand swept India 3-0 at home in October and early November.
Young played with boldness from the start Saturday and was 42 not out at lunch including 40 runs from boundaries. At 42 he surpassed 1,000 runs in test cricket and became the first New Zealander since Stephen Fleming to achieve that milestone without making a test century.
Rachin Ravindra made 18 with four well-hit boundaries and seemed set when he played loosely at a wide ball from Brydon Carse and was caught by Ben Duckett in the gully. There was an anxious pause when the television umpire checked for a no ball but there was no reprieve for Ravindra and this time no bad news for Carse who bowled Williamson with a no-ball in the second test.
Kane Williamson reached 44 with every sign of authority on his home pitch on which he averages 94. Then he clamped down on a ball from Matthew Potts which bounced back onto his stumps and he tried vainly to kick it away.
Potts marked his return in place of the rested Chris Woakes with figures of 3-75 and the prized wicket of Williamson.
“I didn’t have a great view of it. I was a bit confused but then I saw a bail drop down by his feet and it was pure elation after that,” Potts said.
“It was a massive wicket at that point in the innings. It’s less about personal milestones and achievements of getting good players out but, at that key point in time, Kane could have taken the game away from us."
In quick succession New Zealand lost Daryl Mitchell (14), Glenn Phillips (5) and second test century-maker Tom Blundell (21), all to unwise shots.
Santner and Matt Henry put on 41 for the eighth wicket before Henry (8) was brilliantly caught by Harry Brook off Stokes. Brook first caught the ball standing on the boundary rope at fine leg, threw it up in the air and stepped over the boundary, then caught it again as he stepped back into the field of play.
That brought out Tim Southee in his 107th and last test for New Zealand. Southee will retire at the end of the series aged 36 and as New Zealand’s second-highest test wicket-taker with 389.
Southee, who received a guard of honor from the England fielders when he walked out, hit the second ball he faced for the 96th six of his career and the fourth ball for the 97th. England took the second new ball and Southee hit the first ball bowled with it for his 98th six. He also hit a four in his 23 from 10 balls before skying a ball.
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