Lunch – England 45 for 3 (Duckett 32*) trail New Zealand 348 (Williamson 93, Phillips 58*, Carse 4-64, Bashir 4-69) by 303 runs
New Zealand’s seamers stormed into the ascendancy on the second morning of the first Test at Hagley Oval, harnessing perfect swinging conditions to leave England reeling at 45 for 3. After Matt Henry‘s early removal of Zak Crawley for a duck, the killer blow was struck by the debutant Nathan Smith in the final over before lunch, as he extracted his fellow newbie Jacob Bethell for 10, then, critically, England’s kingpin, Joe Root, for a duck.
By the break, England were inching along at barely three runs an over, among their lowest scoring rates of the Bazball era. Ben Duckett bashed four fours to keep his own score moving, but was repeatedly beaten as he flashed into drives outside off, and was lucky to be handed a life on 23 when Tom Latham at second slip missed a regulation edge off Henry.
He added 34 for the second wicket with Bethell, whose maiden innings at No. 3 unfolded in extraordinarily tough conditions. He was made to wait 13 deliveries before nudging his first run through the leg-side, and hadn’t added to his score in 13 more, until the introduction of Smith allowed him to free his arms with a brace of boundaries: one off the pads, the other through backward point.
Smith, however, got the last laugh at the start of his second over – and then some. With just minutes of the session remaining, he served up a perfect seaming delivery, which angled in at the left-hander from round the wicket, then held its line as it bit and climbed into the edge.
Smith had an agonising wait while the third umpire checked for a no-ball, but with the euphoria still surging, he finished the session with an even more critical incision. Root faced down three deliveries, two of which were called as no-balls this time, but his fourth was on a wider line and nipped back off the surface, taking an under-edge into the stumps.
The transformation of the batting challenge was remarkable, as New Zealand found themselves bowling in the conditions that England themselves had envisaged exploiting after winning the toss on day one. The hot, windy weather that had greeted the first day’s play was replaced by cooler, overcast conditions with a gentle breeze that proved perfect for helping the ball talk, with the degree of swing on offer being almost double that which England had managed.
From the moment that Tim Southee launched his farewell series with a sublime maiden to Crawley, including two pitch-perfect outswingers that all but grazed the edge, it was clear that England would not be roaring past New Zealand’s total in the manner that they had done in making 823 for 7 declared against Pakistan in Multan last month.
Crawley, who struggled for runs on New Zealand’s tour of England in 2022, never looked like rectifying a record that now reads 167 runs at 10.43 in 16 innings. His 12th delivery, from Henry, nipped sharply back off the seam to thump him on the knee-roll, and he chose not to review umpire Ahsan Raza’s delayed verdict, even though replays showed it to be only clipping leg.
The batting challenge had been telegraphed during the end of New Zealand’s own innings, in the first 40 minutes of the day. Thanks to Glenn Phillips, who converted his overnight 41 to an unbeaten 58, New Zealand added a further 29 runs for their final two wickets. It was not, however, an easy stay, with Phillips’ epitomising the challenge with an audible cry of “oh you weasel!” as Chris Woakes beat him with an outswinger.
Southee, at the other end, chose violence after sizing up the movement, as he cracked Woakes off his length for a first-over boundary, but he was then undone by Brydon Carse‘s first ball of the morning. He wound into a pull from outside off, and picked out Gus Atkinson at deep square.
Will O’Rourke proved a doughty No.11 – aided by Carse’s failure to attack his stumps as he repeatedly left the ball outside off – and Phillips cashed in briefly to march to his fifth Test fifty.
He had a scare on 42 when Carse, generating a good head of steam, smacked him hard in the grille via a top-edge off the splice, and was then dropped in the same over by Root at slip, a tough diving chance to his right. But Carse eventually got his line to O’Rourke to pluck out his off stump with an outswinging yorker, and close out the innings with career-best figures of 4 for 64 in his third Test.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
