MOUNT MAUNGANUI: A Tom Blundell century for New Zealand and two late England batting stumbles left the first Test tantalisingly poised at Mount Maunganui on Friday.
The tourists held a 98-run lead with eight second-innings wickets in hand and still three days to play in a fast-moving day-night Test at the Bay Oval.
Blundell’s career-best 138 steered his side to 306 and just 19 runs short of England’s 325-9 declared.
The delicate nature of the contest didn’t prevent the tourists playing their shots, although they lost openers Ben Duckett, for 25, and Zak Crawley, for 28, in reaching 79-2 off 16 overs.
England’s best bowler, Ollie Robinson (4-54), said the honours were “pretty even in the end” after his side dominated day one with their aggressive batting before reducing the Black Caps to 37-3.
At stumps, Ollie Pope was unbeaten on 14 and nightwatchman Stuart Broad was six not out and lucky to still be there after his top edge flew directly upwards but landed between Blundell and bowler Scott Kuggeleijn, who were watching each other.
It didn’t detract from Blundell’s whirlwind fourth Test ton — a mix of improvisation and power off 181 balls, featuring 19 fours and one six.
The 32-year-old said he was determined not to let England’s domination continue when he arrived at the crease at 83-5.
“I love getting in the fight, getting in tough situations and doing what’s needed for the team,” Blundell said. “I feel like I’ve been in a lot of these situations and I can get a lot of confidence from that.”
Blundell and Devon Conway (77) dug in for a vital 75-run partnership and the former went on to build stands with debutant tailenders Kuggeleijn (20) and Tickner (three not out).
The 59-run partnership with Tickner for the 10th wicket was especially galling for England as Blundell hit out after reaching his fourth Test century while adeptly marshalling the strike. James Anderson finally ended the carnage, catching a top edge off his own bowling to dismiss Blundell.
Anderson finished with 3-36 but New Zealand’s specialist batsmen were culpable in their dismissals.
Daryl Mitchell survived only 10 scoreless balls before being dismissed lbw by Robinson when he declined to play a shot.
Conway bunted a half-hearted pull shot off Ben Stokes straight to Pope, while Michael Bracewell (7) charged Leach and hit straight to Stokes at mid-on.
Robinson produced a superb delivery to bowl Kuggeleijn, though, then dismissed Tim Southee for 10 when the New Zealand skipper slogged to backward square where the pint-sized Duckett leapt for a stunning catch.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND (1st Innings) 325-9 decl (H. Brook 89, B Duckett 84; N Wagner 4-82)
NEW ZEALAND (1st innings, overnight 37-3):
T. Latham c Pope b Robinson 1
D. Conway c Pope b Stoke 77
K. Williamson lbw b Anderson 6
H. Nicholls c Crawley b Anderson 4
N. Wagner c Robinson b Broad 27
D. Mitchell lbw b Robinson 0
T. Blundell c and b Anderson 138
M. Bracewell c Stokes b Leach 7
S. Kuggeleijn b Robinson 20
T. Southee c Duckett b Robinson 10
B. Tickner not out 3
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, NB-5, W-1) 13
TOTAL (all out, 82.5 overs) 306
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-10 (Latham), 2-23 (Williamson), 3-31 (Nicholls), 4-82 (Wagner), 5-83 (Mitchell), 6-158 (Conway), 7-182 (Bracewell), 8-235 (Kuggeleijn), 9-247 (Southee)
BOWLING: Anderson 16.5-5-36-3 (1nb), Broad 17-2-72-1 (1nb), Robinson 19-2-54-4, Leach 18-3-84-1, Root 5-2-15-0, Stokes 7-0-38-1 (1w, 3nb)
ENGLAND (2nd Innings):
Z. Crawley c Blundell b Kuggeleijn 28
B. Duckett c Latham b Tickner 25
O. Pope not out 14
S. Broad not out 6
EXTRAS (LB-1, B-4, NB-1) 6
TOTAL (for two wickets, 16 overs) 79
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-52 (Duckett), 2-68 (Crawley)
STILL TO BAT: J. Root, H. Brook, B. Stokes, B. Foakes, O. Robinson, J. Leach, J. Anderson
BOWLING: Southee 8-1-30-0, Wagner 2-0-16-0, Tickner 4-0-26-1 (1nb), Kuggeleijn 2-1-2-1
Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2023