Kane Williamson hundred helps New Zealand turn tables on England

England

Tea New Zealand 209 and 423 for 5 (Williamson 113*, Blundell 62*) lead England 435 for 8 dec by 197 runs

Kane Williamson‘s 26th Test hundred formed the bulwark for New Zealand as they strove manfully to turn the tables on England at the Basin Reserve. At tea on day four, Williamson had spent more than six hours at the crease in New Zealand’s second innings as the home side built an increasingly handy lead after being made to follow on.

The former captain was joined in the trenches by Tom Blundell, as for the second day running New Zealand batted through the afternoon session without losing a wicket. Blundell passed 50 for the second time in the series – his sixth such score in 11 innings against England – to encourage home hopes that they could yet set England a challenging target.

The highest successful chase at Basin Reserve is the 277 made by Pakistan in 2003, though on an increasingly benign surface Ben Stokes’ men would surely back themselves to continue rewriting records; in 2022 alone, they overhauled four targets of a greater magnitude (with three of them coming against New Zealand).

Williamson, who became New Zealand’s leading Test run-scorer with a flick for four from the fourth ball of the day, spent eight balls on 99 before latching on to some width from Stuart Broad to find the boundary through backward point, drawing a low rumble of appreciation from the crowd. During the course of his innings, he not only overtook compatriot Ross Taylor, but Justin Langer, Ian Bell and Michael Atherton as well.

England were not lacking in ideas as they sought to break the sixth-wicket stand. A short-ball ploy almost brought the wicket of Blundell on 30, but his firmly struck pull hit the hands of James Anderson at backward square leg and went straight down.

Anderson was tasked with bowling round the wicket with the keeper up and four men catching in a ring from square leg to short mid-on, resulting in the odd uncomfortable moment. Blundell, inevitably, was the more skittish of the two New Zealand batters and might also have been taken at long-off looking to attack Leach only for Ollie Robinson to misjudge the flight of the ball.

He became increasingly assured as the session wore on, becoming the fifth New Zealand batter to bring up fifty, after Tom Latham and Devon Conway on day three and an aggressive cameo from Daryl Mitchell before lunch, as New Zealand made productive headway after erasing the hefty 226-run deficit on first innings.

England began the day with a still-new ball to aid their efforts and Ollie Robinson struck early to remove Henry Nicholls, with New Zealand two runs from parity. They also saw off Mitchell for a run-a-ball 54, caught top-edging another aggressive shot off Broad.

Williamson remained the key man. He was content to bob along at his own pace, playing with soft hands and barely giving up anything resembling a chance – the closest England came to dislodging him was an attempted stumping off Leach, but although Williamson had dragged his back foot out of the crease, his reflexes were quick enough to get a toe over the line as Ben Foakes whipped off the bails.

He added just two further boundaries to his tally during the morning session, swatting a pull off Broad and easing Robinson off the back foot, having reached 50 from his 148th ball with a trademark nurdle into the leg side.

The former captain was overtaken by a somewhat frenetic innings from Mitchell, who boshed his way to a 52-ball half-century, reaching the milestone by hoisting Leach into the stands at long-on. Mitchell had opted to target Anderson shortly after coming to the crease, thrashing England’s seam-bowling totem for three fours and ensuring he was taken out of the attack after just two overs.

He was also proactive against spin, regularly looking to sweep and reverse-sweep, and seemed content to chance his arm in an attempt to wrestle some momentum New Zealand’s way. But he fell in ungainly fashion to end a 75-run stand, top-edging a hack across the line at Broad with the keeper up to be caught by Root backpedalling under a steepler at slip.

England picked up their fourth wicket in the eighth over of the day, with New Zealand still in arrears. Nicholls had flirted with danger throughout his innings of 29, seeing an inside edge clear short leg and missing an attempted forcing shot off Robinson the ball before he was held at third slip. This time the edge flew hard and high to Harry Brook, who held a juggling catch at the fourth attempt.

Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick

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