England are closing in on victory over New Zealand in the first Test after Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Harry Brook starred on a dominant day three for the tourists in Christchurch.
The Black Caps are 155-6, leading by just four, with Woakes (3-39) bagging the key wicket of Kane Williamson (61) lbw and then nicking off Tom Blundell (0) next ball, a double strike Brook later described as “a dagger to New Zealand’s heart”.
Woakes’ fellow seamer Carse claimed 3-22, taking his haul of wickets in the game to seven and leaving England well on course for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Earlier, Brook (171) – dropped for a fifth time after four reprieves on day two – and Ben Stokes (80) – who registered his best Test score since the 2023 Ashes – plus dashing lower-order cameos from Gus Atkinson (48 off 36) and Carse (33no off 24) pumped England up from an overnight 319-5 to 499 all out, a first-innings lead of 151.
Carse then removed Devon Conway (8) and Rachin Ravindra (24) after Woakes – who was largely ineffective in New Zealand’s first dig and scored just one with the bat – made Tom Latham (1) his first wicket of the match.
Williamson, backing up his 93 first time around and passing 9,000 runs in Tests, and Daryl Mitchell (31no) steadied New Zealand with a partnership of 69, only for Woakes’ twin strike and Carse’s lbw dismissal of Glenn Phillips (19) to put England bang on top.
Latham’s men largely have themselves to blame, even taking into account Brook’s brilliance and England’s fine bowling, with eight catches going down and the hosts also gifting wickets with a number of loose strokes when they batted on day one.
Harry Brook on New Zealand dropping him five times: ‘I had a lot of luck, didn’t I? Thankfully I cashed in. I really wanted to get a big one so I just kept on going and going’
Brook adds to startling numbers as Stokes finds form
Brook is the third Englishman, after Joe Root and Walter Hammond, to pass 150 twice in New Zealand, having scored 183 in Wellington in 2023, while his average of 60.05 is second only to Herbert Sutcliffe (60.73) among England batters to play at least 20 Tests.
The Yorkshireman now has seven centuries across his first 22 Tests and is the eighth fastest to 2,000 runs in terms of innings (36).
However, Brook was spared on 18 – if Phillips had clung on in the gully, England would have been 77-5 – and then 41, 72 and 106 on Friday, before he was grassed once more on Saturday morning, on 147, as Phillips fluffed his lines in the gully again.
Phillips was guilty of three of the eight New Zealand drops, also spilling Carse on five at deep backward point, yet pulled off a jaw-dropping one-handed grab at backward point on day two to remove Ollie Pope for 77 and end a 151-run stand with Brook from 71-4.
Brook and Stokes extended their sixth-wicket partnership from 97 to 159 on day three as England pummelled 140 runs in the morning – Brook the aggressor as he thumped five fours and an almighty six off Tim Southee (2-85), onto the pavilion roof over long-on.
Ben Stokes hit his highest Test score since his Ashes century against Australia at Lord’s in 2023
Carse fires with bat and ball for England
Brook’s luck eventually ran out as he edged Matt Henry (4-84) behind to wicketkeeper Blundell, but Stokes – who managed only 53 runs in four innings in Pakistan this autumn – put on 63 and 40 with Atkinson and Carse respectively before he holed out off Henry.
Atkinson and Carse clubbed five sixes and six fours between them, with the former eyeing a fifty to go with his 118 against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in August, only to then pick out Phillips at deep fine leg off the bowling of debutant Nathan Smith (3-141).
After Shoaib Bashir (5) was last man out, slogging Henry to midwicket, England made immediate inroads with the new ball – Latham edging Woakes to Brook at slip in the third over and Conway slapping Carse to a diving Atkinson at mid-on in the ninth.
A parlous position of 23-2 became 64-3 shortly after tea when Ravindra fell into the short-ball trap captain Stokes had deployed and spooned Carse to Jacob Bethell at deep square.
Brydon Carse (right) has impressed for England with the ball in Christchurch, taking seven wickets in the match
When Woakes then sent Williamson and Blundell packing, England were eyeing victory inside three days at Hagley Oval – New Zealand were 133-5 and still 18 runs in arrears at that stage – but they will now hope to polish things off early on day four.
The England view – ‘Woakes delivered dagger to New Zealand’s heart’
England batter Harry Brook, who was dropped five times while scoring 171:
Brook has scored seven hundreds in his first 22 Tests
“We’re in an amazing position to go on and win the game.
“What we saw from Woakesy at the back end was unbelievable. With that ball, on that pitch, to get two big wickets back to back was a dagger to their heart.
“With the swing he gets and the skills he has, he’s so tough to face. He’s always niggling away at the top of off stump, trying to hunt your front pad.
“Williamson always looks so secure when he’s batting, always looks impossible to get out, so to see the back of him gave everyone energy. Then to get Blundell with the next ball got everybody firing.”
The New Zealand view – Black Caps ‘hurt’ by fielding errors
New Zealand seamer Matt Henry (4-84):
New Zealand seamer Matt Henry took four wickets in England’s first innings
“Fielding’s something we pride ourselves on and that’s the part that hurts.
“We had some really good partnerships in there [with the bat], but unfortunately a couple of wickets late in the day hurt us.”
England’s Test tour of New Zealand
- First Test: November 28-December 2 (Christchurch)
- Second Test: December 6-10 (Wellington)
- Third Test: December 14-18 (Hamilton)
