New Zealand have enjoyed by far their best day of the series against England and are on track to win the third Test to gain a measure of revenge after two heavy defeats.
The series was over before a ball had been bowled at Seddon Park yesterday – which may have accounted for England’s slightly lacklustre form today – but the bottom line is the Black Caps are 340 runs ahead after reaching 347 in their first innings today, bowling England out for 143 and then finishing the day on 136-3.
And the two protagonists for the home side were Will Young and Mitchell Santner, neither of whom were selected for the losses in Christchurch and Wellington.
Opener Young, who hit 42 in the first innings, was dismissed for 60 late this afternoon, with Santner, on 50 not out in the first innings overnight, hitting 76 in a 44-run partnership for the last wicket alongside Will O’Rourke.
Santner’s was New Zealand’s highest score of the innings and his partnership with O’Rourke, who was left on 5 not out, was the home side’s second highest of the innings.
Not satisfied with that, Santner took 3-7 off three overs as England lost their last four wickets for nine runs.
The damage was started by Matt Henry, who removed both openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett as the tourists when to lunch at 54-2.
O’Rourke, still yet to open the bowling despite his clear advantages over the retiring Tim Southee in terms of pace and bounce, then took over, snaring the key wickets of Jacob Bethell, Joe Root and Harry Brook in a devastating spell which included the chance of a hat-trick.
After Root speared one to Young at gully, O’Rourke forced Brook, the best English batter of the series, to chop the ball on to his stumps for a golden duck.
Reaching speeds of up to 149kph, O’Rourke used his height to perfection and was almost unplayable at times at the ground where he made his Test debut against South Africa in February. He finished with 3-33.
Henry then returned to tidy up the tail, removing Gus Atkinson and Matthew Potts to finish with figures of 4-48.
Young then flourished with the bat when opening the second innings, bringing up his 50, the 11th half century of his career, in 72 balls.
Batting partner Tom Latham had been bowled for 19 but that merely brought Kane Williamson to the crease, and after scoring 44 in the first innings, both he and Young taking full advantage of a tiring England attack before the latter hit an innocuous delivery from Ben Stokes straight to Jacob Bethell at midwicket.
Williamson was 50 at stumps, having brought up his 38th Test half century in 58 balls, after being joined by Rachin Ravindra following the dismissal for 0 of night watchman O'Rourke.
Inevitably, some Black Caps supporters will be asking why Young wasn’t brought into the starting XI earlier – the out-of-form Devon Conway is unavailable for this Test due to the birth of his first child – and why Santner wasn’t considered despite taking 13 wickets in his last Test in Pune.
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