Keeper raises New Zealand spirits but tourists four wickets away from victory
Daryl Mitchell walks off after falling to Gus Atkinson • Getty Images
Tea New Zealand 125 and 199 for 6 (Blundell 86*, Smith 25*) need a further 384 to beat England 280 and 427 for 6 dec (Root 106, Bethell 96, Duckett 92, Brook 55)
England were closing in on a first Test series win in New Zealand since 2007-08 at tea on day three in Wellington, despite a counterpunching half-century from Tom Blundell.
Gus Atkinson and Shoaib Bashir picked up a wicket apiece as New Zealand reached the interval six down and still needing almost 400 to win. Daryl Mitchell fell nicking behind off Atkinson after a staunch, 47-run partnership with Blundell; Glenn Phillips then came and went for 16 off 11 balls, bowled playing back to Bashir.
While New Zealand’s hopes of saving the game dwindled, the home fans at Basin Reserve were given something to cheer by Blundell’s fighting knock – his highest score since making 90 on this ground in the famous one-run win over England in early 2023.
He survived a sharp chance to third slip from his third ball, a thick edge bursting through the hands of Jacob Bethell as he drove at Brydon Carse. The next ball was thumped over deep midwicket for six, and he continued to be proactive while Mitchell dug in to thwart England for more than an hour after lunch.
Mitchell’s dismissal brought an uptick in aggression, Bashir twice launched down the ground and then Atkinson steered for four to raise a 56-ball half-century. The boundaries continued to flow, first in a brief alliance with Phillips and then alongside Nathan Smith – the pick a monstrous straight hit from Blundell that resulted in the ball being lost. They raised New Zealand’s first fifty stand of the match, from just 38 balls, as England were forced to bide their time in pursuit of a three-day win.
They were in a hurry before lunch, ripping out four wickets in short order. Joe Root‘s 36th Test hundred was the precursor to a declaration that asked New Zealand to score 583, or bat out almost nine sessions for a draw. Chris Woakes and Carse then picked up two apiece in the 14.1 overs possible before the arrival of forecast showers five minutes before the scheduled lunch break.
No team has successfully chased down more than 418 in the fourth innings of a Test – in fact, only in the timeless Durban Test of 1939 have more runs been scored, regardless of the result. That there was still the better part of three full days left in this game underlined the scale of the challenge for New Zealand.
That only increased as Woakes, bowling into a strong wind, struck with his seventh delivery. Devon Conway perhaps made it look better than it was, leaving a big gap between bat and pad, but there was much to admire about Woakes’ wobble-seam nip-backer that kissed the top of off.
Woakes then claimed the prize scalp of Kane Williamson with one that kicked up and left the New Zealand No. 3 for a fine edge through to Ollie Pope.
Tom Latham picked off three boundaries before becoming the third wicket to fall, Carse plunging acrobatically to his right in his follow through to hold a return catch off a leading edge. Daryl Mitchell offered bristling resistance but the score became 59 for 4 when Carse had Rachin Ravindra edging behind trying to force a cut, the batter looking to the skies as the rain began to fall.
Earlier, England batted on for 6.3 overs before declaring their innings closed. That was enough time for Root to notch his 36th Test hundred, his dismissal two balls later allowing Ben Stokes to pull the plug.
The morning session came with the famed Wellington winds buffeting the ground, but unlikely to blow England off course; their record second-innings advantage of 533 after two days of play a clear indicator of which side was on top.
Stokes had swung for the pickets from the off on the second evening, and began by swiping two off Will O’Rourke’s opening delivery. Not many came out of the middle initially, but with New Zealand spreading the field, easy runs were on offer for the sixth-wicket pair.
Matt Henry missed a sharp return chance off a Stokes’ drive in the second over, before Root clubbed the first boundary through midwicket. He picked up two more fours in Henry’s next over to move into the 90s, another glance off O’Rourke then persuading New Zealand to take the second new ball.
Root had batted serenely, and went to his pet shot with the hundred in sight. This time the reverse-ramp came off his gloved hand as he tumbled over in the crease, but cleared Tom Blundell and bounced away for four to bring up three figures, an impudent smile on the face of England’s record run-scorer.
He hit the next ball in orthodox style through long-off, before a thick edge was well held by the diving Blundell to give the deserving O’Rourke a wicket. At which point Root and Stokes charged off, ready to get going in England’s pursuit of 10 wickets.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
