uk 280 (Brook 123, Pope 66, Smith 4-86) and 427 (Root 106, Bethell 96, Duckett 92, Brook 55) beats for 6 dec. New Zealand 125 (Atkinson 4-31, Carse 4-46) and 259 (Blundell 115, Stokes 3-5) for 323 runs.
The main resistance came from Blundell, who smashed 13 fours and five sixes in an innings that could be compared to Nathan Astle’s famous 2002 Christchurch attack. Shoaib Bashir came in to take some serious punishment but was the bowler to eventually dismiss Blundell. Although much of the credit should go to Ben Duckett, he anticipated Blundell’s scooping attempt and ran at slip to intercept down the leg side at the second attempt. After lifting the ball into the palm of your hand.
New Zealand were 59 for 4 when rain forced the players out for an early lunch and Blundell may have been dismissed off the third ball after play resumed. At third slip, Jacob Bethell couldn’t stick to Carse’s thick outside edge and Blundell was solid from that point on. Initially forming a solid partnership with Daryl Mitchell, he increasingly gave up as he and Smith hit 96. 82 balls.
Blundell’s fifth Test hundred, raised off 96 balls just after the tea interval, did not change the result but was still a significant personal milestone. In 14 Tests over 22 months, he averaged 13.52, half of which were 100. -century.
His dismissal, Bashir’s second wicket after Glenn Phillips during the afternoon session, was New Zealand’s cue to raise the white flag. Matt Henry lobbed Stokes’ fourth ball into the hands of a diving Bethell at deep midwicket, and Smith, with his gloves on, fell with Tim Southee, playing his last Test at Basin Reserve, swinging his legs.
At that stage England were content to wait for their victory to collapse. But they started their day in a hurry. Before Stokes declared, Root was set for 100 and was given time to crack New Zealand’s top four before lunch.
The numbers went even higher when Woakes, bowling against the wind, hit his seventh delivery. Devon Conway probably left a big gap between the bat and the pad to make it look better than before. But there was a lot to admire about Woakes’ wobble-seam nib backer that kisses the top. Woakes scalped Kane Williamson to leave the New Zealand number three with a slim lead over Ollie Pope.
Tom Latham was tripped by Carse, who dove acrobatically to his right on a follow-through to keep the return catch on the leading edge. Mitchell fired a salvo of boundaries before Carse forced Rachin Ravindra to cut and the batsman looked to the sky as rain started to fall.
England resumed in an unprecedentedly comfortable position, with a record second-innings advantage of 533 after two days of play. There was time to play to achieve the milestone, but Root needed just 6.1 overs to reach 100. Stokes left with an unbeaten 49.
Root’s innings was an uneven one, but he got to triple figures in rather ungainly fashion, falling backwards while attempting the infamous reverse ramp. Fortunately, there was enough contact from his gloved hand to get the ball past Blundell for four points and Root to celebrate with a cheeky grin. He was caught two balls later, at which point he and Stokes took off and the main event could begin.
Alan Gardner is deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
