It was a golden day for England at Basin Reserve as a hat-trick from Gus Atkinson, followed by nineties from Jacob Bethell and Ben Duckett, gave them complete control of the second Test (and series) against New Zealand.
And almost needless to say, there were more runs for Harry Brook, who followed up his game-changing first innings century with a feisty 55 as he and Joe Root put England’s lead out of reach.
Some wondered if Ben Stokes might testify on the stumps, but England have been burned in Wellington before, and there are still three days left. Even with the possibility of rain on the third day, there was no need to take hasty action.
But if Root and Brook simply confirmed their status as Test cricket’s highest-ranked batsmen, it was Bethell’s performance that felt most significant on a beautiful day in the New Zealand capital.
After the predictable early demise of Zak Crawley, trapped in the middle by his nemesis Matt Henry for eight, Bethell joined fellow left-hander Duckett in a stand of 187 in just 36.4 overs that removed the padding from the New Zealand attack. .
Much of his strokeplay was sublime, especially his short-arm pulls and crisp drives. A pull for six off Nathan Smith was dismissive, and he then bowled Glenn Phillips for long on.
Gus Atkinson (pictured above) etched his name in cricket history by taking the hat-trick of the 15th Test by an England bowler.
He dismantled New Zealand’s lower order on the second day of the second Test in Wellington.
This feat continues what has been an extraordinary debut year for the 26-year-old. He burst onto the scene with an impressive 12-wicket haul on debut against the West Indies at Lord’s in July.
He scored so freely that he surpassed even Duckett, progressing at a decent pace himself. And it was not until Bethell reached ninety (territory he had reached only once, for Warwickshire against Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston in April) that he began to falter.
Finally, with just four needed to become England’s youngest Test centurion since the Second World War, he overtook Tim Southee and was trapped behind. His 96 had taken just 118 balls. Warwickshire will have to move him up the order after this.
Any sense of deflation had to be put into context. When Bethell was announced as England’s temporary No 3 following the reshuffle caused by Jordan Cox’s broken thumb, many regarded the selection as proof that the Bazballers had finally jumped the shark. Without a first-class hundred, he averaged 25. What, they wondered, was the point of county cricket?
But Bethell has been up to the task, making a 37-ball half-century to accelerate victory in Christchurch, and now building on his lead in Wellington. It seems unlikely that he will remain at No. 3 once Jamie Smith is available again, but it’s not impossible either.
At the other end, Duckett calmed down after a frenetic start, when only the unorthodox seemed to interest him. He trailed Bethell to 50, off 59 balls, to his partner’s 52, and was eight runs away from a fifth Test hundred when he struck against Southee.
For the ninth time in his career, Duckett had failed to turn 70 years into a century. It is an oversight that irritates him and his path off the field was slow.
By then, however, England were leading by 362, and New Zealand’s dismantling continued at the hands of Brook and Root, who scored 95 before Brook missed Phillips and were gone for 55.
Ollie Pope made just 10 before driving Henry towards Daryl Mitchell, the only slip, before Stokes put his foot to the metal early on, pushing Henry for six and bowling Phillips straight for another. It was a day when England became the first Test team to score half a million runs, and Stokes seemed determined to double the tally with stumps.
Atkinson’s effort was followed by the nineties for both Jacob Bethell and Ben Duckett.
When the end came, with Root on 73 and Stokes on 35 off 26 balls, the lead was 533. England’s 378 for five in the second innings has so far reached almost five an over.
A chaotic morning had begun with two more wickets for the relentless Brydon Carse. On the first night, he had reduced New Zealand to 79 for five with the wickets of Kane Williamson and Mitchell.
Now, he bowled Tom Blundell with one that kept his line to hit the top of stump, and two balls later he pinned nightwatchman Will O’Rourke for a 38-minute drive to make the score 96 for seven.
When Carse took a break, his spell either side of the stumps was 6-2-24-4, taking his initial Test record to 23 wickets at 16. England have backed a thoroughbred.
But it was Atkinson who polished the innings, with style. On three balls, he had Smith attack, Henry was caught low in the gully by Duckett as he dodged a lifter and then caught Southee lbw.
It was England’s first Test hat-trick since Moeen Ali against South Africa at The Oval seven years earlier, and their 15th overall. And it capped an impressive first year at Test level for Atkinson, whose CV already includes 12 wickets on debut, another Lord’s five for, a century from No 8, and now this.
And it meant that New Zealand, all out for 125, had lost their last nine wickets for 72 in 20.3 overs, a remarkable collapse on a pitch that offered both batsmen and bowlers. Atkinson finished with four for 31 and Carse four for 46. At the moment, they look like the future of English bowling.