Attack-minded England take control of first test in new Zealand, MOUNT MAUNGANUI High- octane fur and a premature day- one declaration put England in control of the first Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui on Thursday.
The Black Caps limped to 37- 3 at summations in the day- night Test at the Bay Oval, having been thrust on to the posterior bottom by England’s swashbuckling 325- 9 declared. The rubberneckers contended to their total in just58.2 overs — boosted by blistering half- centuries to Ben Duckett and Harry Brook — as England opened the two- Test series with the kind of attacking approach, dubbed “ Bazball ”, that has carried them to nine triumphs from their formerly 10 Tests under coach Brendon McCullum.
England captain Ben Stokes instructed his lower- order batsmen to throw the club before calling them in, leaving 18 overs to bowl at the Black Caps under lights with a new pink ball. The ploy worked as Tom Latham Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls departed before reaching double figures. Evergreen seamer James Anderson took 2- 11, including the vital gate of Williamson following an lbw review.
Nature Devon Conway will renew on 18 and night watchmen Neil Wagner on four, with a insufficiency of 288 runs peering at them on Friday. It was a grim response to an England innings that featured 48 fours and one towering six from Brook off the bowling of New Zealand captain Tim Soothe who was lashed for 2- 71 from 13 overs. New Zealand’s depleted attack fought back midway through the alternate session when Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Stokes fell in quick race, allowing debut pace bowlers Blair Tickner ( 1- 72) and Scott Kuggeleijn ( 2- 80) to claim their miss Test structures.
still, instigation was snared back by the in- form Brook, who accelerated to 89 off 81 balls, supported by 38 from Ben Foakes. Playing just his fifth Test, the 23- time-old Yorkshireman Brook was poised to come only the alternate England batsman after Ken Barrington in the 1960s to hit centuries in four consecutive Tests. still, he played on to Wagner( 4- 82), the doyen attachment serving from England’s wild approach to the end of their innings.
Like Brook, Duckett was a exposure during the 3- 0 series win in Pakistan in December and he maintained his hot band with a rapid-fire- fire- fire- fire- fire 84 off 68 balls. The hard- hitting nature had a chance of scoring England’s fastest Test century — surpassing Gilbert Jessop’s 76- ball knock against Australia in 1902 — before he fell to Tickner late in the first session.
Southee, leading his country at home for the first time, asked England to club with the expedient of exploiting the pink ball’s swing on a green- pigmented pitch that had been covered for days because of, Cyclone Gabrielle. The hosts ’ swish spell came when Pope departed for 42 and Root for 14 in the space of four balls, followed soon subsequently by Stokes.
ultimate of the structures fell to aggressive shot timber, including Root’s, whose attempt at a hinder stage off Wagner was steered straight into the slip cordon. specifics for both sides had been disintegrated by the storms that hit New Zealand and touched off a public state of emergency on Tuesday, but Mount Maunganui avoided significant damage and play started on time.
