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New Zealand’s hands were so adhesive in India, one of the many factors behind that remarkable recent slice of history. But on the second day in Christchurch the glue somehow became Teflon, with the hosts shelling six catches as a power-packed unbeaten 132 from Harry Brook saw England seize the initiative.
At stumps, after another topsy-turvy affair, England were 319 for five in reply to New Zealand’s 348 all out and, having been 71 for four after lunch, hugely grateful for the route back in. Tom Latham could hardly admonish his men either – not that this is the Black Cap way – having been personally responsible for three of dropped chances, including late in the piece when Ben Stokes, 37 not out, cracked one to cover.
The more telling drops came off Brook en route to his seventh Test century and sixth overseas. England’s No 5 was dropped four times – on 18, 41, 70 and 106 – and though some mitigation comes from how hard he hits the ball, this innings as as charmed as it was powerful. Not that Brook, now past 2,000 Test runs in just his 36th innings – the second fastest Englishman after Herbert Sutcliffe – should lose much sleep over this. Fortune favours the brave and all that.
Nor will Stokes, with the England captain simply grateful for a fifth-wicket stand of 151 between Brook and Ollie Pope, 77, that preceded his own arrival and changed the course of the day. Pope, more settled arriving at No 6 and having kept well the day before, could count himself the unlucky one here, victim to a truly jaw-dropping one-handed take by Glenn Phillips at backward point.
What chance England opt to stick with Pope behind the stumps a little longer here, even with Ollie Robinson, a regular wicketkeeper, en route to New Zealand? It sounds strange on one level, with Jacob Bethell – the other half of the response to Jordan’s Cox’s fractured thumb and Jamie Smith’s paternity leave – falling for 10 in his maiden outing at No 3; the first of a memorable start for another debutant, Nathan Smith, who then swiftly castled Joe Root for a fourth ball duck.
But given Smith is the chosen one behind the stumps long-term, and England lean towards the unconventional, they may yet feel they will learn more from continuing the Bethell experiment. Pope has three centuries from No 3 this year – six in the so-called Bazball era – but the peaks and troughs have been extreme. There is a case to say that, temperamentally, he looks better suited lower down, and when everyone is available, Joe Root should be persuaded to take on first drop.
Making this point on the day Root suffered his first duck in two years is slightly suboptimal, an attempt to drop soft hands on to a back-of-a-length delivery from the gloriously moustachioed Smith and hearing the ball crash on to the timber. But only four Tests ago he made a career-best 262 from No 3. Bethell had shaped up nicely before him in what were unchartered waters for the 21-year-old, slotting two crisp fours before a bit of nip off the surface found the edge of a back foot defence.
After a warm but windy opening day, the clouds had rolled in over Christchurch and the morning session, which saw the brawny Brydon Carse pick up the final two wickets to finish with a deserved four for 64, offered the best bowling conditions of the match. Zak Crawley was worked over by Matt Henry for a 12-ball duck lbw, Tim Southee was finding some previously absent away swing, and Ben Duckett, somewhat remarkably, found himself leaving deliveries outside off stump.
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Duckett got a life here, too, shelled on 23 by Latham at slip, but looked in good order initially, slotting a couple of the off-driven fours that have come into his expanded game. But after Smith’s sparkling introduction, wiping out Bethell and Root to leave England 45 for three at lunch, Duckett lost his way, increasingly skittish before top-edging a hook off the 6ft 4in Will O’Rourke.
Devon Conway made no mistake running around from deep square leg but thereafter New Zealand’s hands became Teflon and Brook and Pope pushed back against the softening Kookaburra ball. The first chance was a rocket that would have made it 77 for five, Phillips shelling Brook at gully, followed by Latham tipping one over the bar at slip and Conway spilling the third on the rope.
Brook’s final life on 106 was given as a leg-byes on the field, although a review would have detected the edge that it stuck in Tom Blundell’s gloves. This focus on the drops slightly detracts from the ball-striking in between, the meaty drives, the murdered cuts and even a roly-poly ramp shot. It was just all very un-New Zealand and, three weeks on from India, a bump back to earth with it.
