There seems to be nothing stopping Harry Brook. And on a day when his eighth Test hundred, and seventh overseas, dominated a mediocre total of 280, England were grateful for their class at Basin Reserve.
Their gratitude grew in the afternoon sun as New Zealand fell to 86 for five, with Brydon Carse capitalizing on his Christchurch ten by taking crucial wickets from Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell.
England are still not favorites to win, but those two wickets, in the final 20 minutes of the day, felt a step closer to a series win.
Without Brook, things could look very different. He began the winter with a triple century in Multan, and last week at Hagley Oval he lucked out for 171. Now, in difficult conditions and with his team in trouble on the first morning of the second Test, he played perhaps his best innings yet : 123 off 115 balls that were interrupted by the only dismissal that was likely to intervene: a run.
Ollie Pope contributed a brilliant 66, his second successive half-century from No. 6, but no one else got past 17 in an innings marked by two collapses: four for 43 against Matt Henry and Nathan Smith after New Zealand won an important toss. , then six. for 63 for each side of the tea.
However, it was Brook’s batting brilliance that will live long in the memory. ‘Crisis… what crisis?’ It might well be the Bazballers’ motto, but Brook took nonchalance to another level, advancing on Smith and lifting him over extra cover into traffic on Kent Terrace. The over cost 20: the counterattack had begun.
England took control on the first day of their second Test against New Zealand in Wellington.
Harry Brook reached his eighth Test hundred and extended his phenomenal overseas record.
Twice more, against Will O’Rourke and Smith, Brook danced toward the bowler and dove over the offside ropes, a shot so fraught with risk that it takes supreme confidence and hand-eye coordination to pull off. . A delivery by O’Rourke and an offside by Glenn Phillips completed a quintet of sixes.
Before long, he was smashing a 91-ball century, the second-fastest (after 80 against Pakistan in Rawalpindi two years ago) and England’s 11th-fastest of all time. Only two players have two entries each in that top 11: Brook and Ian Botham.
At Hagley Oval, his elegant hitting game was marked by five knockdowns. Here, he only gave one chance in the 50th over, when a direct hit from Smith (picking up the ball in his follow-up after Pope had rushed for a single) would have caused his downfall.
By the time Smith hit the stumps in the last over before tea after Brook had advanced too far down the track and failed to make up his ground, he had taken his Test average to 61.80 and his overseas average to 91.50, only surpassed by Don Bradman. Let’s not forget that his strike rate is 88. These are ridiculous numbers. As if it weren’t already obvious, England have their next great player.
In his wake has flourished Pope, who is in danger of defending the number 6 spot so well that he may have to stay there.
Only the manner of his dismissal was a disappointment. After he got away with a missed delivery from O’Rourke, he made the same mistake, this time providing a simple catch to Rachin Ravindra, running to his left from short leg.
The rest had come and gone in a blur. Zak Crawley became the second player, after West Indies’ Chris Gayle, to score a six in the first over of a Test, but lost his partner Ben Duckett for a duck, edging Henry at second slip, and it was later launched by Henry himself. 17.
Joe Root, for three, toyed with Smith at first slip, where Mitchell held back a screamer, before Jacob Bethell, after two good straight deliveries, was strangled leg-side for 16 by the same bowler.
England’s Brydon Carse (right) took two crucial late wickets to put England in the driving seat
Carse built on his ten percent in Christchurch by taking the crucial wickets of Williamson and Mitchell.
In the first Test, Brook and Pope had scored 151 in 31 overs. Now they made 171 of 26.2, even more, even faster. But from 217 to four, the Pope’s departure opened the floodgates.
Ben Stokes followed in O’Rourke’s next over, coming defensively to second slip for two. And Brook’s exhaustion brought about a swift conclusion, a hectic innings epitomized by Smith’s figures of 11.4-1-86-4.
The match was in balance throughout the final session. Gus Atkinson prolonged Devon Conway’s woes when a loose drive flew towards Brook at second slip, while Carse made Williamson look as human as he has been in all series.
The ball that England thought had got him out was unplayable: straightening after delivering it, he overcame Williamson’s defensive push to knock down the stump and sent Carse spinning freely towards cover in celebration.
But England did not let the no-ball penalty distract them. Stokes made Latham cut 17, his first Test wicket since July, and it was 64 for three when Ravindra’s inside edge shot off his pads in the general direction of short square leg. Haring towards the ball was that man, Carse, who lunged at full length and made an impressive catch: 64 for three.
Carse was irrepressible now, coming in at full speed to find Williamson’s lead with another peach, then inducing a glove on the leg side of Mitchell. In both cases, the Pope completed the honors behind the stumps.
England finished the day with Carse bowling on six two-legged ramps and gullies, and night watchman O’Rourke fighting for survival. Fifteen wickets and 366 runs – it was just another day at Bazball’s office.