Ollie Robinson of England celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Henry Nicholls of New Zealand on the third day of their cricket test match in Tauranga, New Zealand on February 18, 2023. Photo Credit: AP
Stuart Broad and the baseball rolled over New Zealand on the third day of the first day-night cricket Test on Saturday, taking England five wickets from their 10th win in 11 Tests.
Rapid half-centuries from Joe Root, Harry Brook and Ben Foakes propelled England to 374 in their second innings at a rate of over five runs per over, taking their total to 393.
Stuart Broad then cleaned up Devon Conway (12), Kane Williamson (0), Tom Latham (15) and first-innings century-scorer Tom Blundell (1) to dismiss what were perhaps New Zealand’s most successful batsmen. Was able to hold on to fourth place. -Innings chase in test and 6th biggest ever.
New Zealand were 28–5 when Blundell was out and had improved slightly at stumps on 63–5, still 330 behind. Daryl Mitchell, who was on 13, and Michael Bracewell, who was on 25, saw off the final 10 overs of the day.
Broad’s four wickets in partnership with James Anderson took his tally of Test wickets to 1,004, surpassing the Australian combination of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne (1,001) as the highest wicket-taking pair in the First Test.
Broad said, “I feel very fortunate to have been born in the same era that I (Anderson) was in, so that I can bowl at the other end.” He said, ‘I felt it was just too dry of a pitch today for my kind of bowling. I could hit the ball on the pitch but it was still skidding and hitting the stumps.
On an action-packed day, Root, Brook and Fox carried England’s One Day International pace.
Root made 57 off 62 balls, Brook 54 off 41 balls, Fox 51 off 80 balls and Ollie Pope (49 off 46 balls), Ben Stokes (31 off 33) and Ollie Robinson (39 off 48) made important contributions. Given, which explains why the innings progressed at such an irresistible pace.
Sometimes it was impossible to watch without missing a significant portion of the action, so densely packed were the highlights.
The fearlessness which has become the heart of England’s approach was always on display. When batting, England show no regard for the time of day, the match situation or the efforts of the bowling team. The objective was always to dominate.
When England bowled, as Broad again performed under floodlights the ball swung, attempting to make every ball a wicket ball. He brought the ball back with pace and late on both the left and right arm.
New Zealand simply could not handle the force of baseball theory. The announcement came midway through the final session of the first day after Blundell’s century had brought him to within 19 runs of England’s first innings 325–9.
England had already begun to feed on New Zealand’s confidence when they reached 79–2 before stumps on the second day. And when Pope, Root and Brook helped England post 158 in the first session on Saturday, it was clear the match was speeding up. New Zealand is on the run.
Any hopes of New Zealand battling through the final session to start the run chase all out on the fourth day began to fade when Broad edged the ball through Conway’s usually solid defense to claim his valuable wicket in the fourth over. turned back
Williamson and Latham then followed with 18 balls to spare, and when Nicholls was caught by Foakes off Robinson and Blundell was bowled by Broad, New Zealand’s task became hopeless.