Tea New Zealand 96 for 6 (Blundell 12*) trail England 435 for 8 dec (Brook 186, Root 153*, Henry 4-100) by 339 runs
Led by Joe Root’s serene, unbeaten 153, England were able to call their innings closed 40 minutes before lunch, and were immediately rewarded by Anderson claiming the wickets of Devon Conway and Kane Williamson in a testing spell before lunch. Anderson struck again in his first over back, and Leach had both Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls caught reverse-sweeping before picking off Daryl Mitchell on the stroke of tea to deepen New Zealand’s strife.
A still-green surface continued to offer something for the bowlers, with wickets falling at regular intervals – serving only to emphasise how much of an outlier the first-day stand between Root and Harry Brook had been. Their partnership, eventually worth 302, was ended in the third over of the morning and England spluttered along during an eventful session before Stokes chose to declare in the first innings for the second Test in succession.
New Zealand’s successes with the ball included seeing off Brook for the addition of just two runs to his overnight 184, but they continued to take some tap in the face of more gung-ho batting. Matt Henry was the man to finally get the better of Brook, and he finished with 4 for 100 after Root and Leach walked off one ball into the 88th over.
With time already lost from the second Test due to rain and further interruptions expected, Stokes opted to move the game along. His sense of adventure paid off as Anderson bent his fifth delivery past the outside edge of Conway; the initial appeal was muted but convictions quickly hardened and England’s review revealed the presence of a thin outside edge.
Williamson was then guilty of an impetuous stroke in Anderson’s third over, the former New Zealand captain nicking through to Ben Foakes to leave the home side 7 for 2.
Their position became 21 for 3 after the interval when Will Young was confounded by a scintilla of away movement and some extra bounce, the ball brushing his bottom glove to give Anderson a third. England had been on exactly the same score on the first morning, but although New Zealand also managed a recovery stand it was nowhere near the same magnitude.
Latham and Nicholls played in compact fashion, picking off boundaries whenever possible, and moved the score on to 60 before the former was given out caught off the wristband of the glove after a review. Latham was visibly disgruntled by Aleem Dar’s decision but replays were at best inconclusive after Chris Gaffaney had upheld the appeal on field, with the ball looping up to Root at slip.
A few overs later, Nicholls was gone playing the same stroke, no doubt this time as a top edge was snapped up by Ollie Pope at short leg. And Pope then produced a fine reflex catch at silly mid-off to account for Mitchell from the final ball of the session.
England’s platform had been set by the exploits of Brook and Root on day one, the fourth-wicket pair resuming a stand worth 294. Root rolled out his reverse-ramp in the second over of the day, depositing Tim Southee for six over deep third, but Brook’s fun was cut short in sight of a maiden double-century when he drilled a return catch to Henry, the bowler holding on at the second attempt.
His dismissal meant the partnership closed on 302, scored at almost exactly five runs an over – England’s highest for any wicket in New Zealand, and more than two-thirds of their eventual total.
Stokes himself produced another frenetic innings, repeatedly looking to make room and slap the seamers over the off side. There were a couple of nicely timed boundaries to go with several miscues before ee was dismissed for 27 off 28 balls, hacking Neil Wagner limply to mid-off.
Foakes might perhaps have been relied on to bring a more sober approach to proceedings, but he was stumped in bizarre fashion in the following over, falling out of his crease against the offspin of Michael Bracewell. Stuart Broad was lbw to Bracewell soon after, meaning England had lost 4 for 66 with the second new ball looming.
Root, having played second fiddle to Brook on Friday, was keen to unfurl his full range, and slog-swept Bracewell into the crowd before taking Southee for six and four with the new ball. Ollie Robinson played as many shots with only a fraction of the timing, but was badly dropped Blundell off Henry before plinking to mid-off next ball. Root then passed 150 with his sixth boundary of the session, before England walked off in order to give their bowlers a crack at New Zealand before lunch.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick